afterlife or Heaven - what's the difference?

[astralsuzy]

To me the afterlife is when you die your spirit/soul lives on to another place. What place, I do not know. Heaven may not be true. It could be just a fantasy place. We are taught to believe there is Heaven but is there? There may be no such place as Heaven. No one really knows. They only think there is a Heaven.

[Rah nam]

Most incarnates will spend some time, even briefly, in the non physical earth realm. It all depends on their clarity at the point of crossing.
Those who came from the astral realm, which are most incarnates, will most likely return there at some point.
Anyone who chooses the dark path (control) will take their own way.
Incarnates who belong to the three pillars of service in creation, will return instantly to their own realms.

[Lord_Viskey]

"Afterlife or Heaven" is a good example of dualistic thinking - both concepts may be appropriate, or neither one may just as easily be true.

I think it may hinge an awful lot on our mental ability (agility?) ... because to realize either or neither probably has everything to do with whether we are "conceptualizing" the sensation (creating an "object" out of our conclusion), or simply "experiencing" the sensation ("letting it flow" over, around, or through us; as it were)...

To tie all "mindful association" to whatever the phenomenon might be, is the same (in my mind) as "relativity thinking".

I fully agree with others submitting to this topic, that there are a multitude of "planes" to let our minds dwell upon, but more importantly, I further believe there is a concept about "purity" that has to be included as an integral part of the discussion.

If I were to associate "levels of purity" to where one finds their mental state to be in, I'd realize that Heaven has to be the highest state of mind that my own mind has agreed to identify with, and all other states, conditions, or variations that are not being held in the "highest order of purity" (specifically : as in reference to how the "original" Intelligent Designer has intended for them to be), are merely lower, and descending realms (in quality) to dwell within.

Such conclusions are perhaps more fitting for the intrepid soul to contemplate, dice up, analyze, or otherwise find an unusual amount of discomfort with while being there. Having those sort of contemplations, would to me, confirm that I am in a temporary state of "afterlife existence" and, in fact, not in the intended heaven I was heading for.

Hope they have road maps in the afterlife. I may need one.

[Brave-Soul]

Maybe it is not either heaven nor afterlife as it has to be a direct experience to understand what it really is.

[Lord_Viskey]

i worry sometimes, how abridged our imagination & visualization talents have become (people in general) … to surmise something so profound; so vast; so challenging - as to address an issue that might have eternity as its address - in just two words of comparison.

care to exercise that pseudonym of yours a little further and elaborate on this perception, brave soul?

i like to see things from other perspectives from time to time… and that comment hasn’t given me a lot to be intrigued with.

[crumbz]

Originally Posted by iamthat

Indeed. The lower astral planes seem rather unpleasant. But there is no external judge sentencing a person to eternity in these lower planes. Instead people find themselves there due to their own thoughts and actions, and they can leave anytime by changing their thoughts and actions, perhaps with just a simple prayer for assistance.

This seems to be a consistent theme in all writings about the afterlife.

I'm not sure if any of you have visited this place in Singapore called 'Haw Par Villa'.

It's got this Hell Museum kind of place, with structures depicting 10 courts of hell. There is a Buddhist belief that there are ten levels of hell - the worse one's wrong doing, the deeper the level of hell they will go.

Ieeks. I've always been terrified of that sort of concept.

I remember visiting that place just out of curiosity many years ago. They had scary depictions of the sort of tortures bad souls go through in the different 10 levels. Scared the cra* out of me lol.

I guess this could be equivalent of the concept of the 'lower astral planes'?

Or perhaps it is just a roundabout way to tell people "Now be good! Or you're gonna get tortured when you kick the bucket."

I'm more inclined to think like what 'i am that' says; people will find themselves there if they think they deserve it but once they change their thoughts, hopefully they won't be stuck in these negative places anymore.

I hope so. The alternative of being stuck in lower astral planes similar to the so called 10 courts of hell isn't a chirpy picture * gulp *

Like 'Lord_Viskey' said...I hope they have road maps in the afterlife! I'll be grabbing on to one with my trusty marker pen and asking "So which way is to the nicer places again?"

Originally Posted by bobjob

What do you call the dimension we'll find ourselves in after death - is it 'Heaven' or is it 'the afterlife'?

Is there a difference between the two and if so, what is it?

It is the same dimension we're in now, but you no longer have a body. Heaven is reality itself, the eternal state of absolute perfection and death is not required to get there nor is it a ticket.

[lostsoul13]

Heaven is a place- created with hell- afterlife is being in your own projections to our amusement: what’s right for one isn’t right for the other…

I haven’t reached a place in my reincarnations where I experienced either yet: mostly suspended animation… but I suppose my deaths in fire take away my sight & hearing for next new avarta… it would be hundreds of years, yet regaining them.. I learnt to just accept it.. life’s difficult and different in my future reincarnations…

Thankful for what I have today!!

[Lord_Viskey]

Originally Posted by lostsoul13

Heaven is a place- created with hell- afterlife is being in your own projections to our amusement: what’s right for one isn’t right for the other…

“what’s right for one isn’t right for the other…”. begs the questions :
”by whose decision do we find ourselves in either place?”

and :
“does the mortal soul have any ability to decide (in real time as opposed to being ‘the result of past behaviors’) by means of its own talent where it wants to be?”

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by bobjob

What do you call the dimension we'll find ourselves in after death - is it 'Heaven' or is it 'the afterlife'?

Is there a difference between the two and if so, what is it?

I would suspect almost everybody on this Forum have died so many times that the answer is mundane to answer but then...........