What Happens When We Die: That Depends

My story of visiting ‘the afterlife’ — it’s a wonderful place

Between being raised atheist and studying philosophy, I spent a good amount of my life trying to force myself to deny that there is any life after death. How can anything be true if we have no physical evidence for it? And yet, I now know that it is true — the soul is eternal. We persist.

It took a long time, the reading of many stories about near-death experiences, and internal soul searching to finally understand. And then even greater things happened to help me trust what I cannot see: that we don’t really die. We just transform.

One life is just a single story in a thread of many stories.

How do I know? Well, here is a true story that happened to me recently and gives me confidence in the continuation of a person’s soul after they’ve left their Earthly body. I hope it comforts someone reading this.

Not long ago as I’m writing this, I experienced the loss of someone very close to me. Someone I loved very much. It was devastating. It shattered my world. This person is so important and precious to my life that there seemed to be a strong spiritual bond. His presence on my path awakened me to higher levels of understanding in the universe. We will call him Clay here.

Before I learned of Clay’s tragic departure from this physical plane, I dreamt that I saw him in spirit. When sending someone to look for him, I was told that he is in Bali. He and I had talked about going to Bali together — Bali is one of my favorite places on this planet. Heaven on Earth.

So, in the dream, I traveled to Bali and walked through the jungle. Soon, I came upon a quaint, white hotel. I found him sitting in the hotel’s restaurant at the bar drinking, surrounded by all of his family. It was a family reunion. I can still remember some of the faces of his fellow revelers.

He looked over from the bar at me and said “I am so happy to see you! I love you, and everything is just fine.” He gave me a hug.

I woke up feeling good, thinking that all was well. Only later that morning did I learn that he was no longer on the Earth plane.

His Version of the Afterlife and Mine

Where do you go when you die? I think that depends. Perhaps I saw him in a place I associate with bliss, and perhaps we both manifested a Balinese hotel so that we could meet there. Perhaps that truly is where he is now, literally.

I do love restaurants and hotels in Bali, and where I saw him was a place I wouldn’t mind being. I am not sure I’d be drinking at the bar though.

The point is — when you leave your body, a family reunion awaits you. And it’s a good place to be. There’s no pain and you can apparently still enjoy drinks at a bar. Happiness pervades.

Perhaps your manifestation of what awaits you is wildly different. I don’t have all the answers. But I believe it’s nothing to be afraid of. The spirits don’t mourn. They’re enjoying their time with other spirits over there. Only humans mourn because we don’t know how to remember where we came from.

Why Stay Alive If Death Frees You? Boo.

The person I’ve described here is my twin flame. I was shattered when he passed into spirit form. This dream was some comfort, but it also made me mad that he’s up there somewhere drinking at a bar in Bali while I’m stuck here. I was pissed. Life is pain. Existence is hard. Living with the loss of him was too much.

But I must go on. It is not my time yet. I am not the type to remove myself from life forcefully. I might sometimes surrender to the sadness and think I’m happily waiting to die, but I won’t be “taking my own life,” as they say. My life was never really mine to take anyway. It belongs to the universe.

The Point Is: You’re a Soul.

This life you are experiencing is just one of many. You’ve died and been born many times. You’re a soul on a journey. All of the moments you’ve experienced have led you to this moment, but this moment is nothing to be too attached to.

He said to me through whispers in the ether: “You’ll be with me before you know it. Life goes by so quickly.”

Life is the thing that’s a dream. It is here and then, without warning, it’s gone.

So, all I can say is this — cherish the present moment. It’s really all we can do.

Hi, I’m Emily. I write about consciousness, philosophy, and deep considerations of existence. For more about me, have a look at my website. I also offer spiritual coaching and readings. If this post helped you, please consider ways you can support me, and I appreciate it deeply.

The divine in me recognizes the divine in you.

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