What Happens When You Die?

[godnotgod]

Absolute truths in that you must die in order to live. This spiritual awakening is not a thought experiment. We do not think our way into a new way of being. We actually have to be that way. This requires a death of our old ways, our old plans. This transition requires a passage through the present moment, to gain the understanding of what YAHWEH means when he says "I am who am" as you explained. Those who live are the ones who experience this death. Those who do not, do not live.

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Again, you are describing the temporal and the relative. Going back to the original question, regarding the return to where one has always been, defines a place, a center, from which one experiences 'life and death'. When life and death are no more, what is the place Chopra is speaking of? In other words, he is referring to a condition beyond life and death, a condition that 'always is'. The Zen Buddhists refer to this condition of non-existence as The Unborn. If you are unborn, you are deathless. Only those who are born can die.

Chopra's referring to the place 'where one has always been' implies that such a place is eternal, and that you have, in reality, never left it, though you may believe you are subject to 'coming and going', ie; 'birth and death'. Upon awakening, one sees that the self one thought one was never really was, and so could not have been born or have died. There is no self that is born or that dies. The true state of being is that of The Unborn, the place where you always have been, always are, and always will be. This is the Absolute. It is No-Death. The rest is just a dream.

'All this world is filled with coming and going. Show me the path where there is no coming and there is no going'
Zen aphorism

 

[godnotgod]

Enjoy this video....

Alan Watts - Death - YouTube

 

[godnotgod]

How can spiritual life alone be everlasting life?
Even people with deep spiritual lives die.
Thoughts die at death..

You are still in the realm of 'life and death'. You think them to be separate existences apart from one another: they are not; they are two faces of the same experience, which is 'life-death'. You then proceed to extend and project these concepts of temporal existence as 'everlasting' life, and 'everlasting' death, pitting one against the other, polarizing them to the extreme as absolutes. But in reality, there is neither, because the absolute is non-dual, and therefore has no opposites. It is this transcendent state, this awakened state, which Chopra is speaking of, that place where 'you have always been', and that is this eternal Present Moment, which always was, is, and always will be. For one to realize this state of being requires a spiritual awakening and transformation, wherein one now sees clearly that what one thought was 'reality', is but a dream, and where who one thought one was, is pure fiction. You imagine that there is a self which goes on after it's death, to experience 'everlasting life', when no such self actually exists.

But to answer your question in a more direct manner: how can spiritual life not be everlasting life? If you can see what you think of as both 'life and death' occuring within a timeless spiritual realm that is ever-present, then you will get a better picture of Chopra's allusion to 'returning to where you always are'. That place is unaffected by life and death. It is unborn and deathless.

 

[godnotgod]

In order to return, we must have been somewhere else in the first place. We come to this life, and we go to the next in the simplest terms. But life is full of many comings and goings, through which we learn. Life and death happen, which makes them absolute universal truths to me. I think he is merely saying that the going (the big death) is not an end, which many world religions would agree with.

The key to 'returning to where one always is' lies in awakening. The self that lives and dies is an illusion; it is dreaming. Spiritual awakening imparts the realization that the authentic Self is dreaming the self that is living and dying. The authentic Self is always present; it is Unborn and Deathless. There is no 'next life' in the sense of a future existence in another realm, in another time. There is only this eternal Present Moment.

 

[loverOfTruth]

"What happens when you die, is you return to where you always are."

Here is a preview of Life after Death from the Islamic perspective ...

Belief in Life after Death - The Religion of Islam

 

[URAVIP2ME]

The key to 'returning to where one always is' lies in awakening. The self that lives and dies is an illusion; it is dreaming. Spiritual awakening imparts the realization that the authentic Self is dreaming the self that is living and dying. The authentic Self is always present; it is Unborn and Deathless. There is no 'next life' in the sense of a future existence in another realm, in another time. There is only this eternal Present Moment.

Scripture speaks of more than this present moment but a future for some to be resurrected to heaven [another realm], but the majority of mankind to be resurrected [awakened] back to life on EARTH. On earth [this realm] starting with Jesus 1000-year reign over earth.

To be deathless one would have to be death proof.
Adam died proving he was not deathless or death proofed.
Adam was a living soul [ Gen 2 v 7]
At death Adam became: a dead soul or a lifeless soul.
A dead soul because: the soul that sins dies- Ezekiel 18 vs 4,20

Spiritual awakening would be when one can compare the spiritual qualities, or God's standards, in comparison with the world's standards and seeing with the mind's eye and heart the wisdom of the superiority of God's wisdom applied in one's lifestyle.
- 1st Cor. 2 vs 10-16

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

That very closely mirrors my "theories" and I stress theories and not beliefs because I cannot be absolutely sure.

I find it quite plausible that the "soul" (for want of a better word) is an emergent property of heightened complexity and their needs only be the one IMO and it idea that it resides inside your body as an incarnation is just an illusion. The universe goes through several phases which can be described by science as phase transitions and at a certain critical phase there is the emergence of this property we call "consciousness", particularly when critically complex structures such as brains evolve.

As for reincarnation I do have my doubts, and I am highly sceptical of those who claim to remember any events of their past lives or even if the "soul" is an incarnation in the first place. The incarnation IMO is just an illusion as we only just think there is a little spirit living inside us. So if there is no incarnation in the first place it does not make much sense to believe in "re"incarnation.

 

[ericoh2]

In a recent interview, famed medical doctor and spiritualist Deepak Chopra stated the following:

Q: What happens when you die, Deepak?

Chopra: What happens when you die, is you return to where you always are. If you realize right now that there's no such thing as a person, you'll be all set.

Q: What do you mean, I'll be all set?

Chopra: Then if you shift your identity to that consciousness that is differentiating as observer and observant, you'll know there's nothing to fear.

Q: You have no fear of death.

Chopra: No Sir! Why? Because I don't exist in the first place!

Q: Can you get reincarnated as a soul?

Chopra: [Sighs] Wisps of memory and threads of desire, which are specks of information, latch onto specks of consciousness and show up as recycled human beings. But in the bigger picture, the observer, the observed, the process of observation, is a single reality.

Q: So... Deepak Chopra, as I know him [questioner taps the sitting Chopra solidly on the knee for effect] my friend Chopra... doesn't exist?

Chopra: A transient behavior of... the total universe.

What do you think Chopra means when he says:

"What happens when you die, is you return to where you always are."

Here also is the video of the interview:

[youtube]erOD_2AxzI0[/youtube]
Deepak Chopra "Life After Death" Interview Hottype - YouTube

What happens when you die? The snake eats it's own tail.

 

[Iti oj]

DMT floods your system

 

[Dingbat]

I believe my meatsack decomposes and feeds other lifeforms. What else happens I'm not entirely sure nor am I truly worried about.

 

[nightingale.sc]

Die is the end of life in this world, but will start a new life in another world. It is my personal thoughts

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

Often something after death disturbs be much more than just nothing, because if there is nothing I can never know that I am dead.

 

[godnotgod]

Often something after death disturbs be much more than just nothing, because if there is nothing I can never know that I am dead.

Who is it that lives?

Who is it that dies?


http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VN8jwM4HbI

 

[godnotgod]

Often something after death disturbs be much more than just nothing, because if there is nothing I can never know that I am dead.

Who is it that lives?

Who is it that dies?

[youtube]6VN8jwM4HbI[/youtube]
Alan Watts - Death - YouTube

 

[KeeperofSecrets]

That very closely mirrors my "theories" and I stress theories and not beliefs because I cannot be absolutely sure.

I find it quite plausible that the "soul" (for want of a better word) is an emergent property of heightened complexity and their needs only be the one IMO and it idea that it resides inside your body as an incarnation is just an illusion. The universe goes through several phases which can be described by science as phase transitions and at a certain critical phase there is the emergence of this property we call "consciousness", particularly when critically complex structures such as brains evolve.

As for reincarnation I do have my doubts, and I am highly sceptical of those who claim to remember any events of their past lives or even if the "soul" is an incarnation in the first place. The incarnation IMO is just an illusion as we only just think there is a little spirit living inside us. So if there is no incarnation in the first place it does not make much sense to believe in "re"incarnation.

Cool thoughts. Just a thought of my own. People ask about the spirit, or our souls and if they actually exists because some view that or feel that it is so. But is the spirit seperate from our creator and does it exist? The answer could be to answer another question. What causes the intelligence of our dna and other things to appear to have motion toward growth, evolution, and death? These are things we can see and measure and be sure are not an illusion.

 

[godnotgod]

That very closely mirrors my "theories" and I stress theories and not beliefs because I cannot be absolutely sure.

I find it quite plausible that the "soul" (for want of a better word) is an emergent property of heightened complexity .....

Your second statement reflects the first. My understanding is that this idea of emergence is nothing more than a theory. It is not known how the transition occurs.

The idea of a soul or a self is an idea that implies local consciousness. The other idea, however, is that consciousness is non-local. The impression that it is local is merely a function of the ego, making it an illusion.

In other words, it is not, as science imagines, that the brain creates consciousness from which a localized 'mind' emerges, but rather that non-local, universal consciousness, which is already present, creates and grows* the brain. The brain is therefore a tool of consciousness to store certain functions in the background which it no longer needs to consciously attend to, such as breathing, blood flow, etc., as well as automatic reactions such as fight or flight when danger is sensed. This way, consciousness can attend to what is occurring in the present without preoccupation with ordinary, everyday functions.

In the West, we are fixated with the idea that the brain is the center of consciousness, but in the East, there are several centers of consciousness within the body. In kundalini, for example, the dormant consciousness at the base of the spinal chord is stimulated via meditative practice and its powerful energy travels upward along the spinal chord to supercharge the brain, thereby rendering its full potential beyond our ordinary consciousness.

http://www.newbrainnewworld.com/?Awakening_of_Kundalini


*Research of long-term meditators such as Buddhist monks has revealed that their cerebral cortexes are thicker than the ordinary layman.

 

[godnotgod]

The universe goes through several phases which can be described by science as phase transitions and at a certain critical phase there is the emergence of this property we call "consciousness", particularly when critically complex structures such as brains evolve.

And yet, we have simple structures such as grass, having no brain, performing complex processes such as photosynthesis, which a human brain cannot 'think' into occurring.

 

[KeeperofSecrets]

I must disagree. The whole idea of the Resurrection is that death is conquered. This idea of conquering death comes as a result of ignorance as to the true nature of both life and death. When one understands that death cannot be conquered, that death is inextricably tied to llfe, one no longer fights death; one accepts it. However, upon acceptance, one realizes the illusory nature of both life and death. That is why I asked about the path that is neither coming nor going. Life and Death are relative, and therefore, temporal. What lies beyond them is the Infinite, the Absolute, and that is what Chopra is referring to when he says he only returns to where he has always been. The wave emerges from the sea and returns to it. In effect, nothing has happened.

I never heard of this belief before! But since I believe that my creator is alive and that I make up part of my creator, than it is ever changing, and so if my deaths out come is to return to my origins, its probably not going to be the same, and there for alot has happened.

Like for instance in the travels and deaths of cosmic rays, it couples, changes or transforms, and than eventually it does cycle back to its origins, but its no longer the same from the cycle and diverse interchanges made.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Cool thoughts. Just a thought of my own. People ask about the spirit, or our souls and if they actually exists because some view that or feel that it is so. But is the spirit seperate from our creator and does it exist? The answer could be to answer another question. What causes the intelligence of our dna and other things to appear to have motion toward growth, evolution, and death? These are things we can see and measure and be sure are not an illusion.

When Adam lost his healthy human perfection his DNA became imperfect.
Adam, as our family head, then passed down his then imperfect DNA to us.
If Adam would have remained obedient to God, I think, Adam would be alive today.
Alive on earth meaning having perfectly healthy DNA and Adam would have perfect human health with having a sound heart, mind and body.
So, Adam's sin started the motion toward sickness and death.

Didn't Adam exist as a 'living soul' according to Genesis 2 v 7 ?
At death then Adam became a dead soul or a lifeless soul.
The soul, according to Ezekiel [18 vs 4,20], says the soul that sins dies.
Adam sinned Adam died.

Whereas God's spirit is his powerful active force that God's sends forth to accomplish his purpose.
- Psalm 104 v 30

 

[godnotgod]

If Adam would have remained obedient to God, I think, Adam would be alive today....
So, Adam's sin started the motion toward sickness and death....
Adam sinned Adam died.

There is no possible way that Adam and Eve could have obeyed God, and God knew it. God deliberately placed an irresistible, succulent, and provocative temptation right in the paths of his innocent children, BECAUSE HE WANTED THEM TO EAT OF IT!

The so-called 'Forbidden Fruit' is actually a symbol for Higher Consciousness and Divine Union with God. Even the serpent told A&E that God did not want them to eat of it because their eyes would then be opened and they would 'see as God sees'. All of this finger-wagging is just a ploy on the part of God to get his children to partake of the free gift of Divine Union. Tell children NOT to do something, and the moment you are gone, what is the first thing they will do? Right!

The orthodox story handed down to us has been corrupted, and achieves separation from God, the exact opposite of the goal of all religious endeavor. The serpent is not Satan or a devil; he is none other than the Godhead himself in disguise.

Whereas God's spirit is his powerful active force that God's sends forth to accomplish his purpose.
- Psalm 104 v 30

What 'purpose'?