What happens when we die?

Famous people answer the big question...

Photo by Swarnavo Chakrabarti on Unsplash

Candy floss pink clouds. Shafts of golden light. That fuzzy feeling you get just before you fall asleep. Crocheted blankets. Powdery perfume. Euphoria in a festival field. Soft, dark earth.

I asked myself the above question - what happens when we die - and free wrote the first things that came to mind. Everything I wrote is comforting, warm. When I consider death I’m not thinking of myself, I’m thinking of those I’ve lost. I want them to be (as the frustrating saying goes) “in a better place.”

My grandma was incredibly religious. She believed, wholeheartedly, in heaven and hell. Her religion brought her a lot - a community, friendships, love. But, as the rest of her family - apart from her husband - didn’t attend church with her, or believe in the Bible as resolutely as she did, it must have terrified her the thought of us going to hell. Looking back, this is probably why she worked so hard to convert us. Not out of disapproval, but fear. Out of love.

I’m not sure what I believe. I wrote in this poem “I hope now the heaven you were promised, opened its gates” as that’s what I wish for my grandma. In this poem, where I ask my mum the questions I would like to have asked her, I wonder if she’s now exploring split second decisions, living in another world, exploring other paths. When I went to visit a medium I felt so sure that mum is often beside me, a floating presence who whispers in my ear every now and then. But, saying that, I don’t want her here all the time. I’d like her to be enjoying herself, perhaps smoking a joint with Janis Joplin or having a party with friends of hers, creating a dinner table out of stars.

From that I can gather one thing: I don’t believe everything ends. Either we move on elsewhere, or we remain here and we become part of the shimmer of the air. That helps me. Both when I consider my own death, and others. It helps to think of death as another adventure. That I might see the people I’ve lost (and those I will inevitably lose) again. But, equally, perhaps thinking of death as “nothing” and therefore nothing to fear (as Roger Taylor says below) helps others to live in a bright, fearless way.

Of course we could spend years debating what happens when we die… but we won’t know until it happens. So the most important thing is that whatever we believe helps us to live. To live with the reality of our own deaths, and to live with the grief of losing others. Ultimately, that’s all we can do.

Below I’ve compiled some of the most interesting answers to the question (as found in The Guardian’s Q&A slot) but I’d love to know what you think. What do you think happens when we die? And how does this help you live? Let me know in the comments.

Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

We become the stars. Andi Oliver

Our next life. Ann Dowd

You either go to heaven or hell. I am going in a first-class seat to heaven. Jason Derulo

Who knows? Charlotte Rampling

I believe there’s some level of consciousness that continues. Julian Lennon

I’d love to say that we are all going to see each other again, but when we go, we’re gone. Angela Harnett

We join the ancestors to look after the next crop of people. Beverley Knight

Who cares? Game over. Shirley Manson

There’s an enormous barbecue round John Torode’s house. Gregg Wallace

I believe we just continue. I don’t die, the world just stops. Carl Barat

I would hope I get to see the people that I’ve loved and lost. Matt Goss

I don’t know, and I think sometimes people get so obsessed with that question, they don’t care about the present. Make the most of being here. Martin Compston

I like to think our spirit goes into nature. Mary McCartney

HMP Satan or Costa del Heaven. Big Narstie

Most religious cultures will describe us as being made from dust and I think we return to the dust of the universe. Adjoa Andoh

Nothing – and, because of that, there’s nothing to fear. Roger Taylor

I have written about it quite a lot. I think that consciousness is not an enduring entity but we have the feeling that it is: that consciousness now is the same as it was a minute ago, or a day ago and a year ago, but in truth it is not at all clear what really links the consciousness of one moment to the consciousness of the next. If we could understand that, we would also understand what happens when we die. I certainly don’t understand it, so I don’t know. Yuval Noah Harari

It’s all over. But hopefully we leave a legacy in our deeds. Samira Ahmed

Julian Clary didn’t answer the question but his Q&A made me smile…