When I was younger, I would see little specks of dust sparkle in the sunshine and I was sure that it was my grandmother. Dust doesn’t give you a sense of warmth like that, it doesn’t make you feel like your grandmother is watching over you. I had wondered what was to happen to me when I die, with the multitude of options which was right. Yet sometimes I find myself wanting to be the dust in the sunlight that warms my loved ones heart.
Many people turn to religion to explain the unexplainable, a comforting hand that holds you as the fear of the unknown lurks around the corner. Some find solace in science like theories that energy can – not be created nor destroyed, or that the brain can stay active even after death has been declared. But rather I find peace in not knowing at all. It’s not about arguing whether which is right; it is simply that it doesn’t matter what happens when you die because you’ll never know.
Every religion has its own belief of what happens after you die, it’s one of the key components that guide people to choose a given religion. The majority of mainstream religions fall under one of the following beliefs or a combination of some: heaven or hell, reincarnation or resurrection. It brings hope to people that just because a heart stops beating doesn’t mean that the soul stops existing.
When we are kids many imagine heaven as a maniacal place among the clouds where everything is peaceful. This rings especially true for Kyra Kahana, a senior at CHS, who wishes for the afterlife to be like her childhood vision.
“When you’re a little kid and you think of heaven. You’re in clouds that are like cotton candy clouds, and you’re with all your friends who eventually pass. Your soul is there,” Kahana said. “If I had to create what I would want to believe it would be something like that, in the cotton candy clouds for like eternity with whatever greater being you believe.”
One scientific theory of what happens when we die is called “life recall.” It is the moments after your heart no longer beats when your brain still produces activity. Scientists have found that brain wave patterns are similar to brain waves that occur during dreams, memory recall and mediation.
“Something we may learn from this research is [that] although our loved ones have their eyes closed and are ready to leave us to rest, their brains may be replaying some of the nicest moments they experienced in their lives,” Dr. Ajmal Zemmar, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville, US, who organized the study (Frontiers.org) said.
This not-so-new idea of your life’s memory flashing before your eyes and giving you a moment to reflect on all the good you had while you were living is comforting now that there is a small chance that science backs it up. Neuroscientists are constantly looking for ways to explain what happens to the brain when death occurs and this study just might be the first step to a minuscule understanding of the seconds after death.
“On the spiritual side, I think it is somewhat calming,” Zemmar said. “I face this at times when you have patients that pass away and you talk to their families; you have to be the bearer of bad news. Right now, we don’t know anything about what happens to their loved one’s brain when they’re dying. I think if we know that there is something happening in their brain, that they are remembering nice moments, we can tell these families and it builds a feeling of warmth that in that moment when they are falling, this can help a little bit to catch them.”
On the other hand, there could be absolute nothingness after you die. You don’t remember what or who you were before you were born so who is to say that there will be anything after you die? Although this may seem like a somber thought, Elizabeth Clark, a CHS sophomore, fears the fact that you can’t plan death no matter what you do.
“I’m a person who plans out things, and not knowing what happens when you die and not having a plan — it’s just uncomfortable for me to think about,” Clark said.
Just because you are no longer alive doesn’t mean that what you accomplished while you were alive was for nothing. Even if after death there is only nothingness for your consciousness you still leave behind a legacy that lives on in your family, your friends and sometimes even your work.
Although at this point in time we have absolutely no idea what happens when you die but it doesn’t mean that we won’t find out. For most, death is feared not because you are gone from the universe, but because you truly don’t know what is going to happen. Kahana would rather know that there is absolutely nothing after she dies than not knowing what happens.
“Honesty, I think I’d rather know. I think it would bring me peace of mind,” Kahana said.
I find comfort in not knowing what will happen to me when I die. Despite wanting to have constant control over my life, I know that death is part of being alive. I’m grateful I got the chance to live, so what happens after is not my place to worry about. You don’t need to know what happens when the clock of your life finally stops because right now you are living and you have all the time in the world before the question of the afterlife is finally answered.`
