What Happens When You Die?
When the body dies, body experiences stop. The person hasn’t changed. Leaving the body behind is always painless. Those who have made the transition all remark how easy the transition is.
When your body dies, you will have any one or more of afterlife these experiences:
- Those who experience a catastrophic death have no pain.
- Those whose bodies die after illness have afterlife visitors. They may have visitors who come to take them on “a trip.”
- A profound sense of peace comes over them.
- The person becomes healthy, without pain.
- A person who dies suddenly may experience being out of the lifeless body looking at it.
- People in the room with the dying person may notice an unusual mist and a silver or grey cord. There is a sense of strings snapping as the separation occurs.
What do you see when you die? While perceptions vary, common themes emerge, offering evidence of the afterlife.
Those Who Experience a Catastrophic Death Have No Pain
When a person’s body dies from an exploding or car accident or other sudden event, there may be a brief coma or period of unconsciousness during which the event takes place, or the person may suddenly be standing next to the lifeless body with no experience or recollection of the separation itself. There is never any pain. There are accounts of people being taken away from an impending disaster and watching it happen from the safety of a lofty position.
Those Whose Body Dies after an Illness Have Afterlife Visitors
For those who have made the transition after a period of declining health, the individual is greeted by people in spirit as the transition occurs all fear or anxiety dissolves and a profound peace comes over the person.
When Someone Dies, a Profound Sense of Peace Comes Over them
Allan Kardec, the nom de plume of Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail, a French educator and author who originated the philosophy he called “Spiritism,” wrote that he learned from mediums communicating with people in the next realm of life that the process of separation can be quick or can take some time. People who are materialistic and have no understanding of the survival of consciousness and have a fear of death inhibit their own separation so it takes longer.
At the Moment of Death, People Become Healthy, Without Pain
The question of “Where do you go when you die?” often arises, accompanied by a quest for reasons to believe in an afterlife. Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, speaking from spirit through the medium Anthony Borgia, describes his own transition that gave him the impression that the transition is so seamless it seems this world and the next interpenetrate each other. He had no indication he had made the transition, except that, in a moment, the physical sensations of his illness left him and he experienced a feeling of peace. This is a summary:
I previously shared with you the story of how, during my final moments of earthly sickness, I felt an irresistible urge to rise up and transition into the afterlife. The transition was so seamless that I remained fully conscious and in possession of my senses. However, I can further specify that there came a moment when the physical sensations of my illness suddenly ceased, and a sense of ease and peace engulfed me. I felt the urge to take a deep breath, and I did. This marked the moment of my physical death and birth into the spiritual realm.
Despite the transition, I found myself still in my earthly bedroom, suggesting that the spirit world and the physical world interpenetrate each other in some way. In the afterlife, I had a tangible body similar to my physical one, but without any aches, pains, or illnesses.
What Do You See When You Die Suddenly?
In another example of the ease with which the transition takes place, Thomas Dowding, who was a 37-year-old British soldier killed in World War I described his transition as he was killed on the battlefield. When you die, where do you go is a question answered clearly as he recounts feeling himself outside his body shortly after being struck by a shell fragment. The medium was Wellesley Tudor Pole. This is a summary of what he wrote:
The evening was pleasant, and I had no indication of danger until the sound of a shell whizzing past me followed by an explosion. Suddenly, something struck my neck with such force that I instinctively crouched, but it was too late. I felt an intense, crushing sensation in my neck that I will never forget. This was the only unpleasant incident that I recall. I fell to the ground, and without losing consciousness, found myself outside my body. It is a simple story, but you will understand it better this way. Death is such a small incident.
Just a moment ago, I was alive in every earthly sense, standing near a trench parapet with no fear or distress. Then, in just five seconds, I was standing outside my body, helping my friends carry my body down the trench towards the dressing station. They believed I was unconscious but alive. I had no idea if I had left my body due to shell shock temporarily or permanently. You see, death, even in the context of violent war, is such a small occurrence. I felt as if I was in a dream. It was like a dream in which something had hit me so I fell over. Now, I dreamt that I was outside my body. I kept thinking I would awaken and be ready to go on guard duty. It all happened so effortlessly. Death was a simple experience for me; there was no horror, no prolonged suffering, and no struggle. It occurs in a similar way for many.
Like me, thousands of soldiers cross over without realizing it. There is no shock of physical death; the shock comes later when one comprehends what has happened. In my case, I did not know anything other than what I have already shared at the time. When I realized that my friends could carry my body without my assistance, I fell behind them. I followed them in a curiously humble manner. Humble because I felt useless. We encountered a stretcher party, and they hoisted my body onto the stretcher. I wondered when I would get back into my body. I was still physically alive in my mind. Consider this for a moment before moving on.
A shell fragment struck me, and I felt no pain. My body had been robbed of life. Again, there was no pain. Then, I discovered that everything that thinks, feels, sees, and knows was still alive and aware. I had started a new chapter of life. Let me describe what it felt like. It was akin to running hard, and when I was hot and breathless, I threw away my overcoat. The coat was my body, and if I had not discarded it, I would have suffocated. There is no other way to describe the sensation.
What Does It Feel Like When You Die?
There are many accounts of floating out of the body in the moments after the body is abandoned. Some of the descriptions note a snapping of what seem to be strings attaching the person’s spirit to the body. This account is given by a physician in the life after this life communicated through a medium.
As I approached the moment of my physical passing, I felt myself being gradually lifted from my body, in a hazy, half-awake state. It was as if I was fragmented into different parts, yet still connected in some unbreakable way. Soon after my physical body had ceased all functions, my spirit was released and my form became whole again. I rose a short distance above my body, suspended by an unknown force. From this vantage point, I observed those in the room with me and deduced that a significant amount of time had passed since my physical death. It’s possible that I was unconscious for a period, as this seems to be a common occurrence, although not universal.
What Do People in the Room with Someone Who Has Died Notice?
People close to the person making the transition often describe phenomena in the room: a sudden light, at times blinding, a white, grey, or blue-white “soul mist,” coming up from the body, a vaporous body shape with the features of the transitioning person, a silver or grey cord or many threads from the body connecting to the vaporous body shape that dissolve or snap, the vaporous body rising and disappearing into a corner of the room, and the vision of loved ones who have come to escort the person from the earth realm. Some report seeing a transfer of energy from the physical body to the new, separate body, called an etheric body, life-body, subtle body, vital body, astral body, or spirit body that is a duplicate of the physical body. The spirit seems to move toward the head and exit from the top of the head, although some have described witnessing some vaporous form exiting from the solar plexus.
These phenomena are described by Dr. R. B. Hout, a physician, who gave this account of his personal observations at the deathbed of his aunt. This is a summary:
I became aware of something in the room that was previously undetectable by my physical senses. A hazy, fog-like substance hung suspended about two feet above the bed, gradually forming into the distinct outline of a human form resembling my aunt’s physical body. The physical body was writhing in pain, while the spirit-body was calm and peaceful, with a luminosity emanating from it.
As I watched, my attention was drawn to a silver cord connecting the physical and spirit bodies at the base of the skull. With each pulsation of light along the cord, the spirit-body became more alive while the physical body grew quieter and weaker. My deceased uncle and cousin also appeared in the room.
Eventually, the last connecting strand of the silver cord snapped, and the spirit-body was free to rise and stand erect behind the bed. It paused momentarily before ascending upward, with a smile of farewell breaking from its radiant features. This event was witnessed by me as an entirely objective reality, with the aid of my physical eye, over a period of 12 hours. Through such accounts, we find 7 reasons to believe in the afterlife, woven into the fabric of our shared human experience.
Crookall, The Supreme Adventure, 174.
Allan Kardec, The Spirits’ Book (Westlake Village, CA: Spiritist Educational Society, 2019; originally published in 1857), 116.
Borgia, Life in the World Unseen, 116.
Heagerty, Hereafter, 82-83 (citing Wellesley Tudor Pole, Private Dowding, Watkins Publishing, London, 1917).
Sophia Elizabeth De Morgan , From Matter to Spirit (London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, 1863), 148-149.
Crookall, The Supreme Adventure, 119-120 (citing R . B. Hout, Light 55, 1935: 209.
