What Happens When I Die?

What happens when I die?

Cartoon: floating up to heaven with wings

Mainstream science has a short answer: when your brain stops, you stop. Lights out. The end.

But thousands of people have come close to death (hearts stopped, doctors working on them) and come back with stories. They describe floating out of their body, a deep sense of peace, bright light, even meeting people they'd lost. These are called near-death experiences, or NDEs.

Doctors and researchers have collected thousands of them. Many think they point to something carrying on after death. Others aren't so sure. There are links to their interviews at the bottom of the page, so you can make up your own mind.

None of this is new. Buddhist and Hindu teachers were writing detailed guides to dying, and to what comes after, centuries before Western doctors got curious.

But it's a tricky subject. You can't exactly run an experiment on it. Even people who've spent a lifetime meditating say the afterlife can be pretty confusing. Add a generous sprinkling of guesswork, religious rules and plain old nonsense, and you might decide it's best to just wait and see.

A travel guide to the other side

Not keen on waiting? Here's what I've pieced together from Eastern and Western writings, research, and my own exploring.

Rule 1: You're still you.

Your awareness carries on.

Rule 2: What you believe is what you get.

Expecting fluffy clouds, a comfy sofa, and cherubs peeling you grapes while the Angels' Symphony Orchestra plays your favourite tunes? Then that's exactly where you'll be. As sure as the Pope's a Catholic.

Rule 3: You have to really believe it.

Here's the catch. It's not the beliefs you say you have that count. It's the ones hiding underneath. You can tell yourself you're heading somewhere lovely, but if part of you secretly believes you deserve punishment, guess which belief is holding the tickets?

Those sneaky hidden beliefs are the ones you shoved to the back of your mental wardrobe years ago. They're the ones that decide what's waiting when you arrive.

The rules are the same on both sides

Starting to spot a pattern?

Hidden beliefs don't just shape the afterlife. They're shaping this life, right now. (That's what the Beliefs page is all about.)

Which means you don't have to wait until you've got your wings to sort them out. You can start today.

People say you can't take it with you. Turns out you can. Most of us just pack the wrong stuff.

So have a clear-out before the trip. Travel light.

Want to dig deeper?

Near-death experiences

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: The Near-Death Experience (video)
A Swiss-born psychiatrist and a pioneer in understanding death and dying. She compared death to a butterfly leaving its cocoon.
Bruce Greyson: Near-Death Experiences (video)
A psychiatry professor who has spent decades studying NDEs at the University of Virginia.
Mayim Bialik talks to Bruce Greyson: Exploring near-death experiences (podcast)
A relaxed chat about what people report.
Peter Fenwick: On Near-Death Experience (video)
A brain specialist who studied more than 300 NDEs. He's refreshingly honest that nobody fully understands them yet.

Past lives

Brian Weiss: From past-life sceptic to believer (video)
A psychiatrist whose patient's past-life memories changed his whole career.
Roger Woolger: The rules are the same (video)
A Jungian analyst and past-life therapist.
Michael Newton: Past Life Therapy Journey (video)
Andy Tomlinson: Past Life Regression and Reincarnation (video)

Beyond the body

Jurgen Ziewe: The Superdimensions: What is heaven like? (video)
The author of Multidimensional Man explores states beyond out-of-body experiences.
Frederick Travis: We create our reality (video)
A brain scientist explains how every experience physically changes your brain.