What Happens After We Die?
My mum recently asked me what I think happens after we die. Not being religious, I think my response surprised her.
The death of my sister has been weighing heavily on my mum’s mind, and she recently asked me what I think happens after we die. She knows I’m an atheist, so she wasn’t expecting anything spiritual or religious. Even so, I think my answer gave her some comfort, so I thought I’d share it here.
My initial response was very direct: nothing. She paused, then asked:
What? Like just blackness?
No. “Blackness” still implies something. I think death is the absence of anything at all. Just like before you were born: there’s no consciousness, no awareness, no blackness. Simply nothing.
But I could tell she wanted more than a blunt philosophical answer, so I went a bit deeper.
Reincarnation…?
I genuinely believe that, after we die, we’re all reincarnated. Not spiritually, but literally.
Every element that makes us - oxygen, nitrogen, iron, calcium etc. were forged in the heart of a star through nuclear fusion. Lighter elements like hydrogen and helium came from earlier processes, but the vast majority of what we’re made of was created in stars.
So yes, dear reader, you’re made of stardust. 🌟
When we die, all of those elements that make you you break down and are reabsorbed into the universe. And basic physics tells us that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So the energy that powered you is also recycled back into the cosmos.
So what happens after we die? Given enough time, the elements that formed my body and the energy that animated it will likely be used again to create new life. It won’t be me in any conscious sense, but some part of what once was me will exist in something else.
That feels like a kind of reincarnation.
Final thoughts
I don’t think this was the answer my mum was expecting, but she told me she liked it. It gave her some comfort to know that even though Lisa is gone, the physical stuff that made her is being recycled. In that sense, she isn’t truly gone. None of us are.
What do you think happens after we die? I know this is all a bit deep and meaningful, and a departure of what I usually post. But this is the shit that’s rattling around my grey matter at the moment. 🤷🏻♂️