It's sad to say it, but everyone just simply cease to exist, but not me.

I imagine I'll get to do whatever I want when I die. 

The cease-to-exist-theory seems like the most plausible to me. Since then you don't have to explain how the mind (soul, conciousness or whatever you like to call it), which when you're alive is made up by neural-signals in your brain (or that's at least how I've interpreted my biology books), suddenly no longer needs those neural-signals to exist.

My brain stops working and the material I am made of becomes other things. So yes, I no longer exist, the idea might be daunting but I won't be around to experience it.

YOU RUN INTO A TALL MAN IN A ROBE WHO CARRIES A SCYTHE AND TALKS LIKE THIS.

I suppose the absence of all being would make the most sense for the reasons that others have stated. I'd still be interested if any atheists view death differently though. It would be nice if there was some form of exsistance after death, however this could just be wishfull thinking.

The undiscovered country is just that I think.  Anything beyond our embodied consciousness would simply be beyond human conceptualization or description.

So the door's wide open, or slammed shut, depending on how you take it.

______________________________

recommended:  two books by Mary Roach, 1. Stiff, and 2. Spook.  Well researched and--believe it or not--fun.

I heard we go to heaven or hell?

Hopefully my corpse will be put to some use.  The donor code on my health card should ensure that.  I thoroughly dislike the idea of being kept bodily in a grave for people to visit, or even worse in an urn as burned and ground up bits, but as I won't exist, it doesn't matter one way or the other.  I believe it is unnecessary to think about something that can't be the case while I do exist.  The mutual exclusivity of life and death make pondering on death... well, pointless really.  That it must happen is a matter of course -I am alive after all.

I revert to the same status I was for 15-18 billion years before I was born non-existant

Every human being has been 'dead' before, what were you doing 100 years ago?

 The answer you didnt exist/were dead

Absolutely no mystery to it what soever

Just as with God, it is all utter speculation.

Since the consciousness is an insubstantial thing, it does not follow the rules of physics as we know them. The only thing we know for sure is that we cannot be here in this body forever.

Perhaps there is an afterlife, perhaps reincarnation, perhaps there is nothingness.

For those who think we permanently cease to exist, I ask you where the consciousness came from when you were born. Logic suggests we go back to that incorporeal state, which can only be described as "different from now".

Do you remember what life was like before you were conceived?  Death will be just like that. 

Death.

...or God isn't as big of a dick as we think he is...

Yes, thus the comment. 

The universe, even dimensions, must be so vast beyond reckoning that I believe that over an infinite amount of time, that something so irrational will occur that I will spontantiously appear ontop of a flying dragon soaring over a light emitting black hole.

I believe this is one of religions greatest crimes is that it removes the appreciation we have of life and how lucky we are to be on a planet that seems relatively forgiving in the midst of black holes, colliding galaxies, and spinning super dense ping-pong sized balls. You must convince yourself that the purpose in life is to enjoy it to the fullest, and leave a loving legacy to the generations to follow.

Here's how it will unfold. The flying car will be invented and then houses will be built that hover hundreds of feet above the ground. There will be advanced technology where you push a button and your dinner instantly materializes before your eyes. People will have robots and vision phones and walk their dogs on tredmills. People will have last names like Spacely and Jetson.

It's gonna be cool. Sorry you'll miss it.

EXACTLY!!! I like the anology: "We return to the same place we were before we were born."

It depends on what you mean by "cease to exist". If you mean simply that our consciousness and sense of self will cease to exist, then yes. If you mean that our body in its living form will cease to exist, then yes. But the matter that comprises us will continue on.

Naturally.

Seriously, when I die - that's it.  My "self" will return to nonexistance. 

EXACTLY!!! I like the anology: "We return to the same place we were before we were born."

This reminds me of at least two songs:

Spring and a Storm by Tally Hall

Return to Innocence by Enigma

I never said you had to like them. *shrug* 

I, the son of god, will return to the heavenly host and wait for all you bitches to arrive for judgement.

 I heard that you punks were talking crap about me and I had to come down here to verify it. 

There are more plausible reasons.

I think nothing happens after we die. Once you're dead, you're dead.

When I was a Christian, the notion of an afterlife was always brought up. I suppose it would be nice to see all of your friends and relatives and know they were okay. It would also be nice to get answers to every question you've ever had. Then what else? So even when I was a Christian, I decided I didn't like the idea of an afterlife. Especially when I realized some of the people that claimed to be Christians. And also, it's said that you are to spend your time praising God in Heaven. I hated church to begin with, now I gotta spend eternity do that? So I decided I didn't want an afterlife. I think this was one of the signs of my future mindset.

However, if given the choice of any sort of afterlife... I would choose this:

A beautiful landscape that changed to whatever I wished. The trees would bear fruit. That fruit would be Poptarts. The river that flowed through the land would be Ginger Ale. I would be served (in more ways than one) by my favorite porn stars. All of my friends would be there. I would have access to any movie, TV show, song, or other such media. I could also switch the media feed to an earth view to watch some of the stupid shit going down on that planet. I could also observe the rest of the universe from this vantage point. I could also hang out with any person either living or dead. 

I think that sounds so much cooler than streets of gold or harps or fluffy clouds. I mean, if you compare the two, wouldn't you rather blow yourself up for that than Allah's balls or whatever?

When I die, I want to be blown up. My body is to be soaked in gasoline after the autopsy. Explosives will be jammed in every orifice. My body is to then be taken to the desert where scenes from "Casino" were filmed. I will be propped up and naked. On my body in big, purple letters, it will read "Supafly TNT." The explosion will be captured from multiple camera angles. The footage will then be sold to cover the cost of the explosive funeral and anything left over will go to my beneficiaries.

So, in summary:

My imagination > yours

AW SHIT!

I think the reason why people want an afterlife is the uncertainty of death. No one really knows what happens after you die. And you could get the Pope to worry on his deathbed because even though he believes Jebus will take him to that big building of unfiltered child molestation in the sky, he still can't prove it. He accepts it on faith. Also, the human body is a machine that will fight to not shut down. That's why drowning people sometimes hurt the people trying to rescue them.

I don't care what any religious person has said to you, everyone has doubted their faith at some point in their life. So what do we tell them when they're dying? Harps, clouds, golden streets, all that shit. We've developed this to make the thought of dying seem less scary. And have you ever gone to a religious funeral where the person being planted isn't said to be "in a better place," regardless of whether or not they were a first class son of a bitch? No preacher is gonna say "Well... we know where he's not goin'..." Why not? Well, for one, that fucker wants to get paid for the service and no one's paying for that. And second, it makes the religious mourners feel a little better. And that's why when someone dies, even if it is by the most horrible circumstances imaginable, a religious person will say "It's God's will." They actually think that shit puts someone's mind at ease. They don't realize how fucked up it sounds. That's why people say "sorry" when someone dies. "I'm sorry your mom died." Why? Did you kill her? Could you have saved her? No. You just say "sorry" because that's the only word you can think of at the time. It lets the person know that you feel bad about their loss and that you're there for them. It's just customary, really. I think it's all about comforting the grieving.

Well, I don't need to here that. I was sort of playing Devil's advocate for God. I like the way Penn Jillette said how he felt about losing his mother. He said that he knew it was just probability that she was going to die and that it wasn't some weird, evil plan made up by God. And certainly, she wouldn't be suffering anymore. I suppose the only reason I defended the other side of the argument about the other side  is because even though I don't believe I like for people to see why some people believe the things they do. I think if we can see why Christians believe in Heaven, we can have a better understanding when we try to get our points across about why we don't believe in or even need Heaven.

I think those video tombstones would be cool if I were to be buried. I'd make a video saying "GET ME OUT OF THIS FUCKING BOX! I ONLY HAVE A FEW MORE MINUTES OF AIR LEFT!" I'd fuck with people's minds from beyond the grave. I don't know why people believe in ghosts, either. You'd think if ghosts were real, one of them would clearly state to the world that ghosts exist and then tell what happens in the afterlife.

I don't know, and I don't pretend to.  As far as we can tell there is nothing beyond the brain as far as concience is conserned, so the best we can guess is that when the brain becomes dirt, so do we.