What happens after you die?

Death is one of the only certain things in this world. Yet, it is a nearly impossible concept for us to grasp.

Even modern scientists can’t fully explain death.

Is it instantaneous? Does life continue after we die? Do we go to heaven or hell? Do we come back in a different life altogether?

While religion gives us the framework for dealing with death, what happens afterward is ultimately a deeply personal belief.

Inside spoke with members of three different religious backgrounds to see what they believe about life after death.

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion based on the traditions, beliefs, and practices attributed to Siddhartha Guatama, commonly known as Buddha. The core beliefs of Buddhism include samsara, karma and rebirth.

For Jie Shao, Vice President of the Buddhist Study Association, and freshman Sarabeth Couch, life and death is a continuous journey.

“We believe that life continues. There must be something after death,” Shao says. “We believe this life is a cyclic existence.”

Buddhists also believe in reincarnation and karma, Couch says.

“Negative emotions are going to negatively affect your next life. They affect what you will become or what your body manifests itself as. There isn’t necessarily an ‘afterlife’ so much as life just keeps going.”

Along those lines, being a compassionate, generous person ensures that you come back as a higher creature in the next life, like a human or a god.

“If you’re really greedy and you care about money too much, then you might manifest yourself as a lower creature, like a dog or an insect,” Couch says. “Do good stuff so you don’t become a lesser creature. Not having attachments or addictions to anything, living a pure life, you do this until you reach Nirvana.”

Before Couch studied Buddhism, she says she used to cringe at death. If a pet died, she blamed herself even if the animal might have been old or sick.

“I think that Buddhism has really shown me how natural death is, and it has taught me that death is not something that I should be repelled by or something to be terrified of,” Couch says. “Buddhism has made me consider the cycle of nature and compare it to human life and realize that death isn’t unnatural. It is inevitable, and it is everywhere.

“People will live and then they will die, just as everything does. Buddhism teaches us not to be ignorant of death, but instead to embrace it as natural.”

Baha’i

Baha'i was founded by Baha'u'llah. The Baha'i faith states that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for its unification as one global society. There are around 8 Baha'i students at IU, says Bantz.

For senior Natalie Bantz, the afterlife is less concrete.

“There is no way to really describe the afterlife,” she says. “Our life continues through different worlds. It’s a spiritual journey.”

“The afterlife is not set in stages, but the spirit continues,” Bantz says. “What we do in this life affects what comes next. It’s comparable to birth. Our physical life starts in the womb, and when we are born, we begin the journey to become closer to God.”

The soul develops in the physical world, just like the physical body develops in the womb.

“We don’t believe in heaven or hell, but the closer you get to God is like ‘heaven,’ and the farther away you get is like ‘hell,’” Bantz says.

When one of her friends from high school passed away last year, Bantz grappled for support from her Baha’i community. But Bantz’s faith helped her realize that because of her friend’s lifestyle, she was better prepared for the afterlife.

“I take a lot of comfort knowing that my friend’s stellar personality and depth of thinking will have well prepared her for her amazing adventure into new Worlds of God,” Bantz says.

Atheism

The term "atheism" comes from the Greek word "atheos," which literally means "without gods." There are about 60 atheists in the Secular Association at IU, says Quaderer.

For Allen Quaderer, masters student of geology, life isn’t about believing. It isn’t about a higher power or spiritual journey. It’s about the facts.

“I associate with what is known as ‘empirical rationalism.’ I live my life essentially by what is demonstrable. I live my life by what can be tested, by evidence, by rational, realistic thought,” Quaderer says.

He has studied the age of the earth, the nature of our existence, and what the future may hold.

“I’ve found myself realizing that we are just another kind of step in the timeline of the planet Earth,” he says. “When I die, I’m gone. I have no reason to believe that after humans die, we go anywhere else. I have no reason to believe that we’re not just one speck of consciousness between two eternities of darkness.”

It sounds blunt, but Quaderer isn’t antireligious. He’s read the Bible cover to cover, but he simply doesn’t believe.

Quaderer says many are quick to challenge him.

What’s the point of living? What motivates you to be good? With no promise of heaven or another realm after death, is life worthless?

“On the contrary,” Quaderer says. “It makes this life, the only life I know I’m going to have, of far greater value. Why am I nice? I’m nice because I was raised by nice people. I want this life, which I believe is the only one we get, to be as comfortable for as many people as I can. I do it because I want to.”