your theories about the afterlife

[slyfor]

well, everyone has his own oppinion on this, so i think it would be appropriate to make a thread on it.
post it all here, ill start

i believe in a different kind of reincarnation then the indian theories (if you live a good life, you'll come back as a human, lived a bad life? you'll become a animal) i believe in a whole lot of theories, but im going to talk about the most intresting one here

what if we have already moved trough lives, what if life is just a phase of learning? maybe, life is just the beginning, maybe you'll just keep living normal lives, until you are ''worthy'' of the next step?

ive always been facinated with the afterlife (dont worry, im not depressed) and it would be great if you posted your own theories here

[RedFeather]

I don't believe that the kind of life you've lived dictates species - that's a rather prejudiced way of looking at it. I'd be more than happy to be a hawk again, thank you! This human crap life just isn't fitting for me...

BTW... I've met WAY too many animals who have beautiful spirits for that to be the case. There's no way animal spirits = bad people. No way at all.

Meh, anyway.

I believe in reincarnation, however, I believe that we often choose what happens to us in our lives, what we are, and what it is we are to learn. I also feel that sometimes making the wrong decisions (killing someone, or being abusive, for instance) will bear consequences for you, but then, such is life. Always.

I do believe that when you die, there is sort of a space in between lives that you go to, so that your spirit can spend time resting, contemplating your previous life, or planning your future, etc. - I think, though, that the time spent there depends on the individual. I am not sure what that space/world is like, perhaps it is based on what feels best for the individual?

Anyway... that's me.

[Thylae]

I believe that we generally incarnate as humans after we are animals, yes, but we only become humans after because being a human is so much more difficult. If you look at it, you don't see many animals commiting suicide, or having so much creativity even ruthless power that humans do. Unfortunately this is not because humans are superior, but because more responsibility comes with it. Face it, most of us humans (yes therians are humans) are pretty bad sometimes, we need to learn to be "good".


-Serangety

[Equinuus-Felinity]

Hm...the afterlife...

Well, there was a time recently that I didn't believe in an afterlife at all. I figured that this was it. Period.

But then I sort of got to thinking that our souls have gotta go somewhere, plus, I've always had a side thought in my mind about reincarnation. So, I've come to the conclusion that there is a place, like RedFeather said, where we go between lives. I think it's a place like in the book "The Five People We Meet When We Die". We wait for awhile in a place we've chosen that feels comfortable for us, we contemplate our past life(s), consider the future live(s), and maybe even wait for people to come and learn from us (a bit fuzzy on this).

And once done there, we come back in a new form to learn more. And maybe we don't even come back to this earth. Perhap there's different planes for us to move around in during all our lives so that we can continue to learn.

And a belief that's come to me even more recently is the idea that this world has ended before, and will end again, only to be recreated in (possibly) a new way.

Yes, that is my belief on the afterlife thus far. I'm still building on it

[Lieka]

I have difficulty thinking about this, and have only half-ideas, but what I think is this:
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, yes? A basic law of energy. The energy of the soul must go somewhere, and come from somewhere, so I suppose re-incarnation.

That I worked out from evidence. I don't really know how to think where the soul actually goes or rests. Surely thinking of that is only what you want to happen? Surely you can't tell?
So that's as far as I got! ;D

... a lot of the above doesn't make sense, sorry. Tired.

[Nousagi]

My beliefs are the same or similar to all of yours.

I don't believe that any life forms are lesser to that of a human.

Back on the mention of fate/karma, I do strongly believe in karma. I have my own twisted version of fate, where yes we do have a plan laid out for us but with everything we do the path toward that goal can change drastically or not even lead to the same ending. I used to say that I don't believe in fate at all, but after some personal experiences, I do think that sometimes things are "meant to be".

I also believe that there is some sort of transitioning period before a soul moves on to become another life form. For instance, one of my ferrets needed to be put down and I did a spin-off of Shinto burial rituals for him. Even though his body was dead, I could still sense a lingering presence from the place we buried him in. He didn't stay long though, and is definitely gone now.

But I also believe this is why we have ghosts. For some reason the spirit is not able or is unwilling to move on.

[Lanina]

I am very unsure about this. I think that different kinds of stuff can happen after death, it's very individual. Some choose to live again (reincarnation), some get to a place in afterlife (like Valhalla) and other just ... die. I'm very including, and until I die I can't know for sure.

[Equinuus-Felinity]

I agree with Lanina. You can't really be sure what's going to happen in the afterlife, because none of us has been there and come back and said "Okay, here's the truth of it!"
Not that anyone would believe that guy when he comes around anyway.
The most we can do is hope that whatever comes after this is good.
Unless of course, we've already stuck our foot in it and wound up in some world between heaven and hell (cause this place isn't so bad one could call it hell, but it certainly isn't valhalla either!)

[trissana]

when you die, you will again be reborn. almost all religions say this

[wilfnelson]

I hold by the idea of in the end you are weighed and good people go to Heaven, bad people go to Hell and if you are neutral holding cells

that is my belief and ive seen too much to believe that people can choose their lives as they want. the most ive even seen of anyone coming back is when possessed people know stuff only dead people know like where the will is

personally this life isnt fun and unless you are very clever the afterlife isnt going to be either

[arc]

The whole basis of religion is to attempt to comprehend what our brains simply cannot comprehend. I believe good and bad would be relative to what you as an individual would perceive as good and bad. I don't believe so much in good people and bad people as I do in people who feel good and people who feel bad.

Good people with a strong christian faith may have stolen something of minor value and feel a guilt they cannot console themselves. As a result this may have consequences on their soul. Likewise, someone who steals because they have little to nothing and doesn't care what the bible says would not have consequences on their soul if at the same time they experienced no guilt in what they were doing. Keep in mind my argument here is on the basis of faith, not fact.

The concept that as long as you have no regrets in life you'll have an excellent afterlife is really not as easy as it sounds. If you commit despicable acts and never feel remorse it's because your brain is not comprehending basic human emotions. On the flip side, in most people the human brain is naturally inclined to feel guilty, even if for no good reason at all. Call it karma, call it genetics, call it whatever.

I guess the real trick is to wait it out. We'll all figure it out someday.

[reflections]

I've always believed in reincarnation, or at least something like it. Due to my experiences with past life regression and my journey's to a Spirit World, it's concreted my belief in reincarnation. I feel that when our bodies die, our souls move on to the Spirit World - whatever one may called it in life, be it Heaven, Hell, the Summerlands, or what have you, where we're reunited with friends and family. I think that we can then decide if we wish to rest, to watch over family, to roam, to become a guide, or to be reborn.

I also don't think that reincarnation is limited to one species or one breed. We're reborn into whatever to learn a new lesson or experience. But, that's just me. :-)

[Jared]

I believe in the resurrection of the dead, who will become immortal, but I don't know what happens to the soul while the body is still dead. If it were not for Jesus' sacrifice, we would stay dead forever. I believe that Jesus Christ will be our judge, and that those who trusted Him during there lives will go to heaven, and that those who denied Him will be sent to Hell. I believe that heaven is far more beautiful than we can ever imagine and that Hell is many times worse than whatever we can come up with.

[seriptus]

I think that everyone has the soul of a certain animal or any other living thing, and that the soul is transferred into a different body every time the current body dies. Usually, there is enough of a certain animals to where the souls of only that type of animal get put into the bodies of those animals. With the decrease of a species, there are less bodies to be occupied, and the result is therianthropy; where a soul is placed in the body of a different species, so that even though memories are refreshed with every rebirth, there will always be the animal's soul in the human's body which is not meant to be. That is why we (therians) feel misplaced in our human bodies.