Is there life after death? | Sam Harris, Bill Nye, Michio Kaku, & more | Big Think

Do you believe in an afterlife?

The far more intriguing question is what happened before you were born? It’s easy to think of death as going to sleep and never waking up…but we all woke up having never gone to sleep

Existence of life in itself is just as mysterious as the possibility of life after death.

Approximately 2 weeks before my dad died, I had a dream that me and my family were at a funeral home planning his funeral. My dream was so vivid I actually thought it was a memory, and not a dream. I woke up in tears, thinking that my dad had died only to realize that it was just a dream.
I felt very disturbed, however. I couldn't get it out of my head. Two weeks later, I received a phone call from my brother telling my that dad had a massive heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. He was going there now to meet the ambulance. He asked that I would bring our mother there. I knew then that dad was actually dead.
The next day, the entire family met at the funeral home to plan the funeral. I had never been to the funeral home before. When I walked in and we all sat down I realized it was exactly as my dream two weeks prior. I was completely freaked out. Everything was exactly as the dream including the colors of the walls, the furniture, the placement of the furniture, even where we sat.
Since then, my life has changed. I could tell you more but it would be too long to describe. Regardless, I know without a doubt there's something more, I just don't know how it works. We somehow continue. What happens to us, where we go, who knows?

Idk if life exists after death or maybe they go to another universe or are born as a different person in this world but I believe the people you love will never leave you. I lost a friend two years back and still whenever I remember him, I can feel him. I can feel him in the corner of my room or looking at me when I'm crying and seeing his pictures. They say that people leave and memories fade. No, neither people leave nor do the memories fade. Both stay with you till your end, you just need to change your perspective and they're always here, always:)

What Einstein said to his friend's wife is intellectually superb and yet deeply comforting as well.

No one ever complains about having died.

I have a different view of life and death... I believe we are all made up of energy.. and in theory ... "Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be transformed from one form to another." Such is life.

its just like sleeping but u never wake up u wont know but this scares me alot

“I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” - Keanu Reeves

I’m not afraid of death. I’m afraid of how I’m going to die.

When my grandfather died , my dad woke up in the middle of the night and he saw him standing before him, and he came to tell him that he was alright.

I don’t know if this was real or not, probably a manifestation of grief for him.

2 quotes that help me conceptualize and grieve with death:

"Life is merely a brief gap between 2 eternities of darkness"
"Don't be sad about all the time you didn't get to spend with someone, be thankful for all of the time you did get to spend with them"

Our human lives are too short to spend sad, and miserable. We must accept death as a natural process, and realize it is a beautiful thing. Death was never meant to be scary, it's a time that every human will experience. We all will have a day, where we take our final breathe, and end this beautiful journey with our loved ones. Each and every person reading this comment will one day experience true peace. A feeling that will last for eternity. Weather we have some sort of consciousness after death, or if there is truly an afterlife, be happy that you lived, you did it, you made it, and be happy when it's over. Don't be scared of death, be present and stay kind.

Knowing that im going to die one day kind of humbles me and really just makes me slow things down and not worry so much about this materialistic life and let things take its course

You can be sad--that's human nature. Before my Dad passed I asked if he would let me know he was okay after he passed. My Dad said "you have your beliefs and I have mine.". But twice after he passed I heard him call my name. The second time my right ear and the right side of my head vibrated intensely when he said "Joey." I also saw my Mother after she passed. She looked young and so happy. They still exist. I don't care what anyone says.

Having experienced ego death I have come to the conclusion that the thing I’m afraid of losing isn’t the thing I am and subsequently there’s nothing to fear

On November 7th of 2014, the mother of my son and my best friend was murdered by a deranged ex boyfriend who she had recently left. He shot and killed her and then immediately took his own life while my 5 year old son and his older sister and brother watched in horror as their mother bled to death.
A month before this took place, I had met my soul mate, my lover, the mother of my now three beautiful teenage daughters, but most importantly, my best friend.
She was diagnosed colon cancer in October of 2020 and on October 1st of 2021 shortly after completing Radiation and Chemotherapy treatments, she passed away during a surgery to basically hook her colon back up.
I don't normally leave comments and it's difficult for me to speak of these never-ending nightmares that have destroyed so many lives and that have become my reality.
My apologies for dumping this on everyone and I can assure everyone reading that it's not an attention seeking comment nor am I looking for sympathy and compassion from random strangers on a comment thread.
I only wanted to state that no matter what happens in our lives and in this reality, I have to believe in an afterlife because other than now being a single father of four wonderful and truly amazing children, holding onto to the belief that one day in the future we will all meet again in an afterlife is the only thing that keeps me going.
We have to keep the faith that we all meet again, one fine day.
Time doesn't heal all wounds and I am sorry to disappoint those of you who believe that it does.
Death becomes apart of you that you have to learn how to incorporate into daily life structure and routine or else the guilt and regret will eat you alive and take whatever is left of you.
Two very small words, Regret and Guilt, but believe me when I say this and take it from someone who truly understands, they are by far, the two heaviest emotions that a person can feel and carry around with them each and every single day.
It honestly takes everything inside of me just to make it through most days.

-When the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn and people die but real love is forever.

It's October 8th, 2022 - 1:38am
and you all see what I am doing.
Watching afterlife videos on YouTube.
There has to be something after this life.
This just can't be all that there is.
Humans are very unique and we are the only species in the known universe that understands from an early age that we are going to die. That alone has to count for so much!
But these are just humble opinions and thoughts of a lonely and cursed man.
I wish I could be the one to confirm that there is indeed, more to life than what we can currently perceive and attest to and that we will get to see the ones we love and miss again in another life but unfortunately, all I can do I share my story and to let others out there who have lost family and friends that you're not alone and that you have to keep going.
Humans are very resilient and we're certainty stronger than we give ourselves credit for.
In the last seven years alone, me and my children lost everything!
It scared me and kept me awake at night for what seems like countess nights worrying about how am I now going to raise four kids and provide for them and get them all the help that they needed.
It was so overwhelming and nerve-wracking but as the days pass, I found that all you can really do is take each day as it comes and just make the most of it and the time that we have left with the people that we love and care for and to always try to be the best version of you that you can possibly be so that you have no regrets and you have the satisfaction of knowing that no matter what ends up happening when the time comes, we can all leave this place knowing that we gave it everything we had and that we never gave up....or in.
My apologies again and for this message being all over the place at times...but that's just how bad and fast my mind now races and never really seems to stop.

PTSD is pure Hell.

This should have been a 20 second video with all of the speakers just saying "I don't know"

True story. I am a retired ob gyn. 20 years ago I was practicing in a small town in nc. One night at 2 am I was managing a difficult labor and was trying to decide about doing a c section. The labor room had more than 5 family members who were anxious and angry and making threats so I went out to the nurses station to think. I was there alone when an elderly man with the kindest most intense eyes I have ever seen walked up, leaned on the counter and said "I just want you know everything is going to be OK". He said he was her grandfather. He told me about an nde he had when he was 25. He survived and his wife died when their car stalled on a train track. He described his nde as suddenly being in a vast field of flowers with colors too beautiful to descibe. He walked until he came to a stone wall. His wife was on the other side and told him he had to go back. He had already been pronounced dead and was laying on a gurney under a sheet when someone saw him move. We talked for at least 30 minutes. His granddaughter had a healthy baby 3 hours later and I never saw the man again. At her postpartum visit 6 weeks later I asked her to tell her grandfather that I appreciated his talking with me that night. She looked at me like I was insane and said he had died 5 years earlier. She confirmed that her grandmother had been killed by a train when she was young. Wierd don't you think?

1:18. I've always said that the biggest downside to living is losing more of the ones you love