What Does Death Feel Like?

@ dru is ready.
Ah, so you think the chemical creates the afterlife. I totally missed that in your original post.
That's a really, really interesting concept, especially what you said about what might happen to people who don't receive the chemical. Gosh, I feel slightly weird now. I'm going to have to think about that some more. Wow.

@ bashful
It's not, like, a necessary 'belief', but it's an idea. I think that science and spirituality integrate deeply and so I'm always look at the possibilities. I don't necessary believe that this creates the afterlife, but it could or it could also be a gateway.

I think death would be like when I get low blood sugar and you feel like your soul is leaving your body. A sort of tingly and numb feeling...

I think it would feel like when u have a really good sleep and you don't ever want to wake up from it but like I'm not entirely sure if you GO anywhere. I'd like to think that after death you get rewarded for being a good person. I don't want to be too opinionated about it because there are endless possibilities. They say that after you die, your brain has seven extra minutes to go through all of your memories. It's like you're dreaming one last time and you know when you're dreaming everything is like slowed down. So like what if that was happening right now and you didn't know?

But I think it FEELS like your soul or senses and emotions slip away. You don't feel anymore pain or worry or fear. Just peace and bliss. Kinda like when the dentist or someone gives you laughing gas and you just don't care anymore but to an extent where you just let yourself slip away.

Oops, I'm a little late on this one! Caught my attention though so I might as well add my two cents. From what I've seen and experienced, I think it differs from person to person. State of mind (suicide attempt or car accident) and other factors.

My boyfriend had cancer (rest his soul) and after his surgery, he was vulnerable to viruses. I won't go into detail here, but his mother wouldn't allow me to visit him so our mutual friend went in for me. From what I heard he caught something and his lungs filled with liquid. At first he seemed in pain but as I talked to him on the phone he calmed and just left us. I can't say what he felt, but I know he spent a lot of his life in misery and with death he found peace. I can imagine he felt no pain after a few moments.

I died for 2 and a half minutes. I felt like someone was sucking the breath away so I fought. The more I tried, the more I felt a warm embrace wrapping around me and beckoning me closer. It was so desirable, so peaceful and calm. It was more vivid than the things here, everything was intense like on an acid trip times one-thousand. It was a high in a way, something so sweet like a mother's embrace. It was serenity and I wanted it. Luckily, I had people there that wouldn't let me leave yet.

God, I've been thinking about death realistically and it's been scaring me. In my mind, I imagine that you have a sense that you're dying, and then you enter this whole new place/experience and it's a huge moment of realization where you start to understand everything is different and you have totally transcended from the real world. In my mind, though, it feels lonely, because all the things you love are very far away from you and you feel sad over the things you didn't do, now knowing you'd end up here in the end. I don't know where that feeling comes from, but it makes me feel sad and afraid, and for once think I'd like to distract myself from my thoughts.

I agree with everyone else on the whole I've-been-thinking-about-death-a-lot-recently thing. I was raised as a Christian, so I guess I never really thought of or feared death. Well, recently I've been terrified of the thought of death. My friends and I were having a long discussion about an afterlife and just what happens to us in general after we die. I've had many, I guess, paranormal encounters where I've come to believe that we do amount to something after death, whether it be a full-on spirit/ghost or just orbs of energy/light. If I were to end up as an energy that was still able to oversee the Earth, I would be perfectly fine with it. The thought of dying and just rotting in the ground as the world moves on terrifies me, though, and I try hard to think that I'll embody some sort of spiritual presence.

It feels a lot like putting yourself in a cardboard box and forgetting how to get out

I came close to dying once due to an illness...
For me, it was scary.. I know that's probably obvious as everyone is at least a little afraid of death but it wasn't just scary in the sense of the unknown, it was a new fear I'd never felt before... I suddenly became afraid of falling asleep although sleeping was all I'd want to do.

I felt as if falling asleep meant I might never wake up.. Things started crossing my mind that never had before: I had to get my affairs in order.

There are days I don't remember but people tell me about. I would fall asleep and have dreams about dying on the days leading up to it. When the day actually happened that I was sent to ICU, everything felt like it was covered in fog or plastic wrap. The world was blurry, I had no energy, even talking was hard. I remember that my heart felt like it was missing beats and going very slow. But I also got that warm feeling that Harleen described.. It's like every time I would sleep, I would feel like I was wrapped inside a blanket of warmth.. and I would dream of these horrible things like me having a seizure and hitting my head and bleeding everywhere and then just feeling like I was drifting away... but it wasn't scary. It felt okay. But sleeping made it worse, I found out later I would often vomit in my sleep or convulse.

So just in that near-death experience, I think there is a moment of panic and resistance and then warmth and serenity and then it's all over.

I wouldn't really know - obviously - though for some reason, my own personal thoughts won't really let me believe that everything is over after this life. I mean, I might not necessarily go anywhere, in fact, I might just be floating in a very deep darkness for a long, long time -- before maybe waking up as something or someone else entirely. The concept of death is interesting as well as very mysterious. People always want to know what happens after / once they die, and there is no real answer for it.

I heard that when/if you die in your sleep, It's like a really bad nightmare, but then I heard it's peaceful.

Disclaimer: *I am a religious girl who is proud of her faith, however I respect all values, beliefs, and people, and I love you no less*

Personally I feel when you die you are washed in the presence of God. You talk to him, confide in him, and connect with him your full life, but it is in this moment when you reunite with him, as you have not seen him since birth. He welcomes you home, and breathes his blessing into you as you take your lass breath.

I've been told your whole life plays like a slideshow when you're about to die. And honestly, I kind of like the idea of making it how you want it to be. Not to sound cliche, but as My Chemical Romance TBP era put it so nicely, your happiest moments play over again. Wouldn't it depend on how you die though? Like sure you can go peacefully in your sleep, but what if you're well...tortured to death? Just asking, I'd like to take comfort in the hope that the body would go into shock, thus making it less painful.

I feel like death will always be painful or not so painful depending on how you die. I also feel like once you're dead you've reached a finish line of sorts. We're living a rat race, and death is the long awaited finish line, I'm so not trying to sound morbid or rude as I type this, mind you.

I feel like for a brief moment you would feel a lot of pain. While everything in you just slips away. And then a calm, kind of empty but full that the same time. All the bad things are gone, sure so are the good, but it would just be peaceful. At least i think and hope so

I think death is like falling asleep.

You don't notice the exact moment in which you slip away, but you don't need to. You can feel it approaching you, but you never see it hit. And then you're gone, and you're never the wiser. After all, in sleep, you aren't aware you've slept at all until you've awoken, and if you never awaken, you will never know.

I've had lots of theories on this. One of mine is that you experience your very last moment for what seems like eternity. Whether that moment is one of pain, or of fear, or one of care and love with your relatives surrounding you, that is what you see and feel for the rest of eternity, even when your body has decomposed. It's the last thing that you're consciously aware of, so to you, it would feel like you're living it forever. If that makes any sense.

I think the one that I believe more is that you simply cease to exist. Everything goes dark, your thoughts stop, and your body stops. You're not aware of the moment that you stop existing - you just cease to be. It's like before you were born. You don't remember that because you didn't exist. I believe that a similar thing waits for you after you die.

They say that when you die and if your brain is still alright and well, it'll replay all the memories that you have for seven minutes. Thinking of that part makes me very sad somehow.

And then about the afterlife... I have a few theories. The first one is sort of scientifically. Our souls are energy themselves, I think. If it's wrong, blame it on me. Anyway, energy can't disappear, it can only be altered to another form. Therefore if our souls are energy then we'll go into something else. It's probably reincarnation, or ghosts, or spirits, or just blending in with the nature. I'm not sure if we'll keep our consciousness the same way as if we're alive, if you get what I mean. Dead bodies are just bodies without souls in them anymore, right?

The second one, it's nothingness. You shut down. I have no idea what and how nothingness is like, so let's not mindfrack ourselves on that even further.

The third one is like the first theory, but it depends whether people still remember you or not. I heard something like, your existence is only here when someone knows about/admits it.

And the last... heaven. No hell? Well, I read in my religion textbook that 'hell' is just being a lost soul that doesn't know where they're supposed to go, or lost from God, and being lost = tormented and confused. I really do hope it's true. Those fiery place sounds too... you know.

I wrote this at midnight and it sort of creeped me out, so... That's all I'll say for now. :)

I actually agree with some of the answers. I think its all in what just happened prior to the moments you die. I mean if you have something horrific, like a stabbing, a shooting, a car accident, or (sorry to get gruesome here) if you are being torn apart by zombies and eaten I would imagine it being excruciating. Then there are the lucky ones who don't have to suffer in that manner and go in their sleep like my great aunt did.

I'm sure that death doesn't really 'feel' like anything. I imagine it like you're falling asleep; it just happens on it's own. I like the idea that you see your life flash before your eyes as you die, all of your happy moments so that you can finally be at peace.