Why do we die? I'm not so much asking in terms of a scientific answer as much as a theological one.

And a second question: have you done or are doing anything in order to prepare for your own death?

I know this is not a pleasant subject, but I do think it worthy of discussion. Also, I don't see this thread leading to a debate as much as just an exchange of different ideas that people have about death.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

My theory on life is that we are all here to learn a certain number of lessons, and that the number of lessons depends on which incarnation you are working on, and how many lessons you have left to learn. Death comes when the predecided upon number of lessons is learned. Since death is an ending to one lesson and the beginning of another, then it is looked forward to, in a way. I am not in a hurry to die, but I don't see it as the ultimate end.

Does that answer your question?

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"Philosophy is a walk on a slippery rock
Religion is a smile on a dog."

,,,

When l was working in the Toronto Hospital's Emergency Wards l found myself keeping track of how many people l was directly responsible for saving their life . When l got to seven in a row things started to change and l remember the 'first' client in those Emerg Wards who died in my arms ,so to speak .

It was busy +++ and l was transcribing Doctor's Orders when an ambulance pulled up and they brought in a forty seven year old married father of two young children .

All we knew was that he was unconscious and had fell off a ladder while painting his bathroom . We all ran to him as the 'code' could also be heard on the speakers . I was the first Registered Nurse to get to him and l initiated CPR . I was doing the compressions as another pumped oxygen into him via oxygen tube we had inserted down his throat to facilitate breathing .

There were five Doctors there by now but we couldn't bring him back to life . The RN Charge Nurse stated the client had a 'good output' meaning that my chest compressions were moving his blood but he was dead .
The female Doctor told me to "Stop CPR" but l couldn't pull my hands off him as l knew l was his last hope for life . The Doctor repeated to me to "stop CPR" and again l could not stop but then she said it again with authority and l literally had to 'pull' my hands off him and let him die . He had a broken neck but we did not know this at that time .

We were all so busy that we all then scattered to our Posts and l continued with my work and realising that this man was the first l had lost to death in the Emerg settings and this was difficult for me .

Soon l was back on track doing my Doctor's orders and about fifteen minutes had passed now and suddenly l looked up because l heard horror screaming and crying .

The man's family had arrived and l had to tell them of their worst nightmare , that their dad and husband had died .

Pure horror for all of us that shift and l had forgot that the family did not know and it threw me off guard and l was facing life 'straight in the face' when that man's family came into Emerg .

I hung on till the end of my shift and on the one hour drive home l prayed and l was so sad and all l wanted was to hold and hug my young daughter and as soon as l got home l held her and l cried so much and felt so sad and also so lucky to be free and alive .

That was a tough one for me to post here but it is true just as all l have said here at this fine Site .

I have much to say on death and l look forward to reading other's realties here .

,,,

Okay , l'll get straight to it ,,,. In Emerg in North Toronto an ambulance brought in a forty year old lady and she was very overweight and with no vital signs or in other words she was clinically dead .

I began CPR with no effect as nothing worked to bring her back .The shock didn't work and nothing we injected her with worked .
She was laying on the stretcher naked and one of the Doctors had taken a pen and drew a line around the indentation of her liver which was very large . Another Doctor came running in and looked at the ink line around her liver and asked ," what is that" ? The Doctor in charge threw out a chuckle and smile and stated , " that is her liver" and both Doctors laughed .

This discusted me and l did not work for the Hospital as l was sent in to cover the overload and l was from a Nursing Agency hired by the Hospital so l moved around from Hospital to Hospital .

When the two Doctors laughed l was so angry and so sad for this lady l decided to save her .

As in all of my previous Healings , l felt a sensation that allowed me the 'sense' that if l tried to save someone l knew it would work before l did it because when l got that sensation prior to the Healing l knew by that sensation that the Healing would work so l had basically 100% sureness that if l attempted to Heal her it would work .
I was afraid to do it in front of so many Health Professionals but since the Doctors had already given up on this lady and even were laughing at her dis-position l decied to go for it at all costs of using 'Voodooo" as some of the Doctors later called it , what l was doing in Healing everybody .

So during that moment when the lady lay there dead the Head Doctor stated "anybody got any ideas , l don't know what to do " and all the Doctors and Nurses were at a stand-still of how to bring this lady to homeostasis and life itself .
I knew l had to do it . when the Doctor asked if anybody had any ideas of how to save this lady l stated ,
" Watch this' .
The lady was naked and l looked at a spot on her chest that l knew it was the spot because there was a light shining on it and l knew from other Healings l had done that when l see that light that is where l massage and l placed my right middle and ring fingers on the spot and Massaged counter-clockwise .
There was a lull of silence in the room as everybody stood there with there mouths open wondering what the heck l was doing . Then the lady jumped as if she got a shock and became alive and was thrashing her arms and legs about as l still remained massaging . The Charge doctor stated to me ,,
" Ron you better stop massaging her , you are getting her too aroused " and then laughed . I did stop and then returned to my post and the lady went on to ICU where she survived .

Later in the elevator an Intern from Emerg stated to me .
" I here they're using Vooodooo down in Emerg "
I knew he meant me and that l better had stop Healing in such a fashion there at that Hospital .

Honest l swear this is true .

,,,

All my Healing events are outstanding and unbelievable and all true . But getting to the nitty gritty of this thread l will state again what l saw with my own eyes forcing me to believe in some kind of life after death .

As most of you know , my first wife died in a tragic car accident when she was twenty seven leaving me alone to love and educate and be with my then seven year old daughter.

First l must state that l was born with the gift whatever , of being able to be awake in my sleeping body when l want to . I am l assume a Master of such whatever it is and also Remote Viewing .
I was asleep in a dream of my first wife and she had a big hug hold on me and her lips were on mine in one long extended kiss which seemed to go on forever . It was not a 'wet dream' but seemed as if it was on the way to one however it did not happen and soon l realised that the dream had transitioned into an out of body state and l was now awake in my sleeping body and her lips and embrace was still happening . Because l was a Pro at out of body l was not afraid but was l was aware that l was in an out of body state and that my first wife's dream or whatever should have stopped by now . I was still in the kiss and she had me embraced and l was awake but my body was asleep .
I knew now that something really weird was happening and it was happening as l slowly awoke myself .
I snapped out of the out of body state and had my eyes closed and when l opened them she was still there in this kiss and still had me embraced as in a hug and long kiss .
I now panicked as l knew she cannot be there , but she was . l was wide awake by now and still in her embrace and long kiss .

As soon as l realised that l was surely awake l thought to myself , " you can't be here , you are dead " and at that moment after l thought that , her eyes opened and we made direct eye to eye contact but she seemed to be frightened or something .
As l looked into her eyes as she was still in this kiss with me ,, her eyes widened as if she was becoming aware of something and then her body still in the kiss started to change from normal to ,, just as if you filmed a dead person through time degenerating or go from normal to worms etc and then dust .. [ like that little monster guy in Tales of the Crypt .] Her body began to superimpose and when her mouth started to change to the worms and maggot stage her mouth was still on mine and l felt and saw and could taste the worms etc and it made me sick and l was in great horror shock and l was gagging now and l had to get away from her so l rolled rapidly from under her and when l got to the side of the bed l was gagging and l watched her finish the process she was in and she continued to worms and maggots and then dust and then POOF she was gone .
I was still vomiting and gagging as l was half off the bed and half on the floor wondering ,,

'What was That "

Now today l know what it was and l even have a " Mooskee Math" equation
for the whole thing .

Yep , l swear to God this is true and was no delusion illusion or whatever and l must live with it knowing how l sound when l say it and also knowing you cannot believe it although at least one person here at this fins Site does believe me but l am not trying to make you believe me . I am just stating the facts ma am ,, just the facts .

Hi pinski and Rev Kelly and metis and ,,and the ghost lol .

You guys should seem lucky that you get to talk to the only person on this Planet who has 'necked' with a ghost lol and from my extensive research l believe l am the only one who has necked with a ghost ,, and the rest of such amazing reality .

As sure as l am that l necked with a ghost l am also sure that l saw my deceased 4.8 pound dog Mooskee's stuffie or teddy bear move . It was on the back of the couch because l put it there as it was my Mooskee's friend . I was laying alone on my bed two weeks ago and l heard a noise . I opened my eyes and l saw the stuffie move across the room and land back on the couch where l had put it .
So somehow the stuffie moved to the chair and then back to the couch and l caught it in motion when l opened my eyes . What l saw was the stuffie in mid air moving from the chair by the TV to the back of the couch and when it got to the couch a trail of the stuffie followed it and caught up to the stuffie and sort of blended in to the stuffie as 'one' stuffie .
I do know what it was and it does show me that in certain realms we can travel more than the velocity of light and the stuffie showed me this .

But also it shows again that post life or what appears to be non life is alive perhaps in another realm which l seem to be able to enter .I know how this sounds and try to imagine what all this looks like from my side , knowing it is true and 100% true .

Okay , so far by my calculations l need no Faith to show me what l already saw and know and that is that not only can a dead person come what appears to be alive over two years -dead but also that the stuffie or say non -life showed mobility which can only be assumed as 'life'

"It surely isn't easy being me"

Perhaps when seen by what l know we do not die but we 'transition' into another realm maybe lol

Since my precious dog Mooskee left me to puppy paradise in the sky l have had two for -real happenings . One is the stuffie moving across the room and the other is when l woke up and was about one foot levitated above my bed and l slowly went down and onto the bed . When l awoke to this l was very surprised because between me and the bed was about a foot and then l slowly descended down to the bed .

This would terrify a regular normal person , but after necking with a ghost assume anything is possible today .

Then , also the last two weeks l woke up and everything seemed as when l am in an out of body state , but 'me' and my body were awake and the first thing l thought l stated and it was this,,

I woke up and l thought l was dead . I then stated,,

" Well Lord you finally did it , you took me ".

And then everything seemed to transition back into normal viewing or normal reality , without the ghost ,, etc lol .

Death is not all it appears to be and the only way l could probably convince anyone of my stuff is for me to take a 'lie detector test' , which l am willing to take any time any day . But of course l am not saying this to convince you because even if you believe me it does not change anything and the stuff l am presenting will never reach beyond this Site and l know this and l am saying this because it is true and cannot be exploited .

Also ,, those who believe in life after death ,, those lives must be somewhere if they are alive after their death and from my calculations the dead are amongst us and through time some have managed to show themself after they have been dead and buried and ghosts of this type have been written of always and if these beings are real then they are l assume much closer then expected and may be even the Matter which is presented in the things we make and create because it seems every thing on this Planet was once alive in one form or another from microscopic to whatever . Is anybody following what l am saying ?

There is so much more along this line . When l read what l just wrote l can certainly see how crazy l sound and if l read that 'you ' saw and did those things l guess l would feel that you have a few screws loose too So l just thought of deleting them but then l think who cares if l delete them or not ?
That is the funny part of all this l am saying ,,, noone can believe it and isn't that funny really when you think of it because l must assume that l was shown all that stuff because no one will believe it lol so l am a good host to see what we should not be seeing because no one will believe me so it is safe that l know because no one would believe me anyway .

If the President stated he necked with a ghost ,, well you can imagine,,,.and it is the same with me I have to live with it and if l didn't apply humour to it l would no doubt go insane with it as well as being alone with it .

Unreal .

First of all, I find the responses to be very interesting, but in a positive way.

From a scientific perspective, death is necessary since it makes both room and nourishment for new life-- sort of like how Hindus tend to picture Shiva (death) and Vishnu (life). Shiva is not synonymous with evil because once one experiences death, they are either reincarnated to new life or they reach moksha, becoming one with God. Personally, I have no "religious" beliefs about death since I have no clue what may happen after we die.

As far as preparing for death, I tend to follow the Buddhist tradition of meditating on my own death and the death of others for my evening meditation. My wife and I decided a couple of decades ago to be cremated and we both decided to follow the Jewish tradition, even though my wife is Christian, of having a quick funeral with a closed casket.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein