1. Our memories and thoughts float for eternity in a void.

We live our life and collect memories, thoughts and dreams. When we die, everything perishes save these. In the void, we keep thinking, imagining, dreaming… till eternity.
Methinks… This is the earliest belief I had as a small child and it still sticks with me till this very day.

2. Each of us becomes a star.

I read in the foreword of a book by Arthur C Clarke that scientists had discovered about 100 billion stars. And 100 billion people have walked the Earth so far. That means there’s a star for every person who dies. Maybe that’s what happens to us. When we die, we become a star, mighty and big and full of energy, with the power of sustaining worlds. Grand isn’t it?
Methinks… If this is true, then I’d like to meet the dude who was once our Sun.

3. Don’t take yourself too seriously; you are merely part of a computer program for some higher entity.

This has been thought of in some form or the other in notably the The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and the Matrix series. We are all merely tiny cogs in a giant wheel of which none of us understand or will ever understand. What happens when a part perishes? Nothing. It just ceases to exist and is replaced by another part. You and I are merely “replaceable parts” my friend!
Methinks… This one is good. Enjoy this life while it lasts and don’t think of life after death.

4. Hello! Where are you? We are already dead!

This one was thought up by writers centuries back. We were part of a glorious existence before this life and we all messed up big time! That’s why we are here on Earth, which is actually the Hell of the previous world. We are doomed to be here in some form or other till eternity.
Methinks… This one also makes sense. I first heard it when I was very small.

5. We all become ghosts.

We all become ghosts and wander on this Earth indefinitely. The world is full of the ghosts of all the people, animals and creatures who ever walked this Earth. Since ghosts are made of zero matter and occupy zero matter, they all occupy the same space as we do. They are mere observers or maybe have a world very much like that of Septimus Heap. So right now I (who am writing this blog) and you (who are reading it) are surrounded by thousands of ghosts.
Methinks… Yikes!!!

6. We all join with the Great Soul.

There was a Great Soul of which we were a part. After death we go back and rejoin it. (An old concept in Hinduism) We were all part of a collective consciousness before birth and will become part of it after death. It’s all interconnected. The Web of Life et alia.
Methinks… That guy/gal I can’t stand is actually part of something of which I am a part?

7. We simply get recycled.

What happens to a car when we stop using it? It goes to the scrap yard. Then it gets recycled. Who knows which piece ends up where? Ditto with us. Some part of our body becomes the soil, the air, some animal… Our memories and thoughts get spread out too and become part of the consciousness of Mother Earth.
Methinks… It would be nice to travel simultaneously to many parts of the world in this manner.

8. Nothing.

That’s right. Nothing happens. We just cease to exist. There is no soul. Just as our body perishes, so does our mind, along with its memories, thoughts and desires. Like the last scene of the Terminator in the Terminator movie. Switch off. Blank.
Methinks… I am meeting a childhood friend today after many years who believed in this. Wonder what he thinks now.

9. Re-incarnation.

Re-incarnation Type A: You keep getting re-incarnated as a human being again and again and again maybe till the end of the world.

Re-incarnation Type B: You are a lower life form. Then you get re-incarnated into a higher and higher form, till you finally become a human. You’re one step away from God. (An old concept in Hinduism)

Re-incarnation Type C: Earth is just one in billions and billions of existences. You keep getting re-incarnated in all of them endlessly.

Methinks… It’s getting all too complicated for me.

10. Heaven. Hell. Judgment Day.

This is the oldest of the lot. You live a life on Earth. You do good deeds and bad deeds. Then you are judged on the basis of that and spend an eternity in heaven or hell (or purgatory).
Methinks… This is the least of all I believe in. Think over it. I don’t know about God’s timescale, but this universe will go on for billions of years. Imagine doing something for a few billion years based on something which you’ve done for 60-70 years. Sounds like an exam paper, very unGodlike. Then what about poor souls who died as babies. Then what are the rules of karma etc etc. Sounds like very complicated mathematics.

Then of course, there are many many more things which may happen to us which we can’t even begin to comprehend…

© Sunil Rajguru