What happens after death?

You are either sent to an afterlife of some sort or you are reborn

My beliefs are very much subject to change but I go with what I know and understand and I've been trying to pull away from what I was taught as a child (I was raised religious). 

Science is still very limited on how it understands what happens at death but there are some things that are relatively well known. I rationalize death at the moment based off of the logic pulled from what's understood *now*. 

With that being said, I think it's exactly like before you're born. It's not nothingness because you don't even have a perspective in order to perceive said nothingness. I see that many people believe that a soul is very much a conscious entity that exists as you live and continues to exist even after the body has ceased to function. Death is perceived as a separation between this spiritual entity and the body it belonged to or existed in. But how does that entity retain memory if the organ that which houses memory (I am not referring to genetic memory here, but memory created through neurological pathways repeatedly fired over time throughout multiple sensory sections in the brain), the brain itself), is no longer functioning? It is, in fact, after death, rotting (unless of course it was burned along with the rest of the body during cremation). 

Now, as much as I am aware that science doesn't answer every question, it does give a good framework for answering questions. And one of the questions it has answered is whether or not matter can be created or destroyed. The energy that goes in between each individual neurological pathway (billions of them) can't be destroyed. It goes somewhere. That much is true. I personally think it gets dispersed throughout the universe evenly as soon as the brain is no longer functioning. Do I think it retains consciousness or sentience? No. Not at the moment. But it does get released back into the universe from whence it came. 

I think our memory (the kind we personally experience, not the kind kept by other people about us) is a brief gift in existence. And I think that's why it's so cherishable because it's so brief and temporary and unique.  

Sorry for the long response. I'm just glad to see a deep question here that had me thinking!! 

♓♓♈⬆️ 𝓑𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓪𝓷𝔂 ☿️♓♓♀️♂️♒

I think either waiting until the day of resurrection to see if you go to jannah or hell or just an unskippable game over screen

Hey there!

So, I think about that a lot too. And a while ago I came up with a theory that kinda fits to this question.

A perfect circle doesn't exist. The understanding of a perfect circle is that it has no sides, no surfaces. But if you look at circles in your life you will realize that that is impossible. Actual circles have and infinite number or sides/surfaces. Otherwise a car wouldn't be able to drive on the road for example. So, in conclusion: A perfect circle would be untouchable and unseeable. And what else can't be seen, touched, smelled, tasted etc.? Time.

My theory is that time is a perfect circle. Circles can be found everywhere in nature. A great example for this is the circle of life. We even record time in circles. Phrases like "history repeats itself". It is important to understand that time is not one singular circle. It is even proven that everything has its own time. Time moves different on the moon than it does on earth for example. Your feet age differently than your head. Time is infinite and finite at the same time (pun not intended). You can follow around a circle an infinite amount of times or you can start at one point and end at the same one or a different one.

This is where life falls into this. I believe that we live our lifes over and over again. In a perfect circle. But at the same time our own circle of life is part of another, bigger circle, like the universe for example.

Therefore I believe that we live the same life over and over again, forever. Life itself is finite, but the amount of times we live is infinite.

- L

Let's think about this:

Up quarks and down quarks make protons and neutrons. Together with electrons they build an atom. Atoms are building blocks of molecules, in which is building blocks of proteins. In which help build an organelle. There, creates a cell. In which are the building blocks of tissues. In, which are building blocks of organs. Organs make and organ system, in which makes an organism. You are at that stage of complexity.

Death is when the functionality in one of these and lower levels begin to fail and loses the battle against equilibrium. 

A cell undergoes death if the organelles begin to fail. You won't die, unless if you are a single cell. However, you die if your organs (that are akin to organelles in your cells), begin to fail. So why the difference?

The problem here is that in trying to survive life, this system is robust enough through time. Cells divide and your nervous system will try and avoid death. We don't think about it, for our brains are wired so that we don't think about death to avoid it. However, everything is different. We now have a layer on top, called civilization. Now we can think about it. Thats how religion forms. Death still happens, yet the civilization is robust enough to keep going. 

So, what this mean? Let's go back to the cell analogy.

A malfunction of a protein if severe enough can break the organelles. There the cell will die or turn into cancer. If a cell is cancerous, it can destroy the tissue and by proxy the organs. If an organ dies, then the system relating to the organ is damaged. There, if the system dies, the organism dies.

It's akin to a tower. Parts will break and fall, yet there are workers to avoid the collapse of the tower. However, the tower isn't sentient. So, by that logic we are not sentient, but why are we sentient?

Our nervous system, the brain helps with having sentience. Our brains are the reason why we exist. The body will die without the brain. What happens there after?

When the person dies, the lower structures are also going to fall apart. If you die, first, the organ system will fall apart. There cells, won't have any food. In which the atomic realm will fall apart. There your cells and by proxy your brain will die. You are not conscious. Death is noting. When you die you don't exist. So, death is akin to losing consciousness permanently. You just see nothing. As your body continues to fall apart in realms.

Civilization is part of an ecosystem. Ecosystem build biomes. In which earth is built in which is a planet. There planets build solar systems. solar systems build galaxies. There Galaxies build cluster. Cluster build Superclusters. Which is the universe is built upon. Death by this definition extends to all. At some point there is nothing left. No black, just void. Nothing Less, Nothing More.