Do you ever stop to think what happens to you when you leave this place, when you breathe your last, when you finally, due to the failure of vital bodily systems to keep pumping blood, pushing air and firing synapses, cease to exist in this physical world we call Life?
Do you think a person with thoughts, energy, vibrant enthusiasm, humor, intelligence, emotion, passion and spirit ceases to completely exist altogether or do we simply continue our existence elsewhere in a different realm or a further, deeper, greater dimension?
Do we really become food for worms, mulch for the cemetery garden, dust returning to dust?
Or is there more, another reality, an eternal existence and, if so, have you ever pondered the nature of such an existence?
What have you wondered when you’ve wandered in off the busy, hectic, chaotic activity of your life filled days just long enough to find some silence, a bit of solitude and a nagging question that irrespective of religious leanings must sneak in sometimes if ever so fleetingly?
Have you ever stopped, silenced your soul, your spirit, yourself long enough to entertain the little question, “Where do we go when we go from here?
The Wild Mind 
Yes I have.
Do I have an answer? An unequivocal NO!
Religion, agnosticism, empiricalism, faith, socialisation, choice, among many other things, all influence one’s thinking on this subject. To me it’s like pondering the imponderable.
I’ll leave it to those more philosophical; more religious or simply better informed to offer an answer.
TC!
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Great answer! I think these questions all the time, finally had to write them. I’m not sure I have any answers. I’m not certain there is any way to really know any answers.
I know what I think.
But I’m not certain what I think is necessarily accurate either.
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For what it’s worth, I believe that all we have and are ever going to have is right here, right now. I cannot know with certainty that this is the case, any more than deists can know with certainty that their god exists (though many of them would dispute this point). But this is what I believe, and I’m perfectly comfortable in that belief. The only thing that galls me is my inability to live–every minute of every day–in the way that such a belief would seem to warrant, and even demand. But I guess that’s part of the nature of being human. Like Joni Mitchell said: “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” The lesson: Beware the parking lots of life.
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Kip,
Totally agreed that faith/non-faith is beside the point. It’s an exasperating dilemma, to say the least: being unable to do what we know we ought, and only too able (and willing) to do that which we know we oughtn’t. And yet, many people of faith might counter that it is only their faith which enables them to do what they believe to be right and avoid what they believe to be wrong. Free from the authority of divine injunctions, the irreligious might attribute their choices to their own innate sense of right and wrong. Either way, I think everyone has weaknesses and imperfections, and must learn to control them in their own way, as best they can.
Regarding the question of where we go from here, if anywhere, I’ve shared my belief that Earth is the final destination. However, who wouldn’t like for there to be a wonderful new existence waiting ahead? What never fails to dazzle my brain and fire my imagination is this extraordinary pump called the human heart that continues to beat over and over and over, day in and day out, often for nearly 100 years (and sometimes more). What is the power that makes it continue to beat like that? Is this phenomenon purely and merely physiological? I guess if I was a doctor, maybe I’d say yes. But since I’m not a doctor, I view what this amazing organ can do as something like the most astonishing magic trick performed on planet Earth. What keeps a lump of matter pumping like that? Learned or speculative explanations are welcome!
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Yeah, I don’t know, Kip. That’s pretty heavy stuff. I have a hard time believing anything about this amazing world occurred by chance and my naive, idealistic demeanor wants to believe there is a purpose in it all….but sometimes….it all gets complicated. I’ll let those more convinced or studied or both add their thoughts.
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