No one knows for sure, but here are some interesting theories.
1. Fade to black: After the initial explosion of endorphins, a bright light appears, and then everything goes dark. The life cycle comes to an end as does consciousness. It's like the period in between dreams while sleeping. Absolute nothingness. Since there is no evidence for an afterlife, some scholars, including Stephen Hawking, believe this is the inevitable result of death.
2. Heaven/Hell: The concept of an afterlife predates Christianity. Christians perfected and added to the Grecko-Roman concepts of heaven and hell. The only evidence for the existence of these destinations comes from near death experiences. However, those accounts are suspect. It is unclear as to whether these experiences are the result of the brain attempting to make sense of death, reacting to extreme stress of the event or something else.
3. Reincarnation: Reincarnation is the cycle of life, death, and rebirth advocated by Buddhists, Hindus, early Christians, and other faiths. People are born, live their lives, die, and then return to live again as another person (or even as an animal). Some faiths tie reincarnation to behavior in this realm. If a person behaves badly, they accumulate bad karma, and return in a lower state in the next life. If they accumulate good karma, they return better off in the next life.
Unlike options 1 and 2 above, there is some evidence for reincarnation. There are many stories of people speaking dead languages or recognizing images and people that they have no connection to. Some of these incidents are explainable. However, a number of them are not. This does not indicate that reincarnation is fact. However, it does mean that more research is required.
4. Become one with the Force: Any engineer will explain that there is no reason for the human body to function. The body runs on electrical energy. Once the body dies, that energy must go somewhere. Energy can not be created nor destroyed. Where that energy goes is anyone's guess. Christians claim it is the soul and it goes to heaven or hell. A Buddhist might say that energy is reincarnated or reaches Nirvana. Nirvana might simply be the natural world. What happens to consciousness is another question.
5. Nothing ever dies: Time is not linear. We just perceive it that way. As a result, we are born, grow up, get old, and die. However, all of time occurs at once as opposed to linearly. Therefore, nothing ever dies. Life is eternal because all of time happens at the exact same time. Some believe the mind simply reboots after death like a computer or a video game because of how we perceive time.
1. Fade to black: After the initial explosion of endorphins, a bright light appears, and then everything goes dark. The life cycle comes to an end as does consciousness. It's like the period in between dreams while sleeping. Absolute nothingness. Since there is no evidence for an afterlife, some scholars, including Stephen Hawking, believe this is the inevitable result of death.
2. Heaven/Hell: The concept of an afterlife predates Christianity. Christians perfected and added to the Grecko-Roman concepts of heaven and hell. The only evidence for the existence of these destinations comes from near death experiences. However, those accounts are suspect. It is unclear as to whether these experiences are the result of the brain attempting to make sense of death, reacting to extreme stress of the event or something else.
3. Reincarnation: Reincarnation is the cycle of life, death, and rebirth advocated by Buddhists, Hindus, early Christians, and other faiths. People are born, live their lives, die, and then return to live again as another person (or even as an animal). Some faiths tie reincarnation to behavior in this realm. If a person behaves badly, they accumulate bad karma, and return in a lower state in the next life. If they accumulate good karma, they return better off in the next life.
Unlike options 1 and 2 above, there is some evidence for reincarnation. There are many stories of people speaking dead languages or recognizing images and people that they have no connection to. Some of these incidents are explainable. However, a number of them are not. This does not indicate that reincarnation is fact. However, it does mean that more research is required.
4. Become one with the Force: Any engineer will explain that there is no reason for the human body to function. The body runs on electrical energy. Once the body dies, that energy must go somewhere. Energy can not be created nor destroyed. Where that energy goes is anyone's guess. Christians claim it is the soul and it goes to heaven or hell. A Buddhist might say that energy is reincarnated or reaches Nirvana. Nirvana might simply be the natural world. What happens to consciousness is another question.
5. Nothing ever dies: Time is not linear. We just perceive it that way. As a result, we are born, grow up, get old, and die. However, all of time occurs at once as opposed to linearly. Therefore, nothing ever dies. Life is eternal because all of time happens at the exact same time. Some believe the mind simply reboots after death like a computer or a video game because of how we perceive time.
