does our consciousness survive death?

There is a right answer. Things exist or do not exist regardless of our belief in them, but there is no answer that can be proven here. So what do you think?
I think yes.

No. I don't believe in an entity that exists separate from our brains. Brain-dead = consciousness dead = "soul" or "spirit" or whatever construct posited prior to the modern understanding of the body/mind as an integrated whole = dead.

I totally believe something lives on,I wouldn't call it consciousness but I do believe the dead still have a connection to us.....I believe in ghosts and spirits....I believe there's something beyond consciousness....

I certainly do.

My hummingbird visits are no coincidences.

....do you think it's your dad,Ziggy?....my dad's mom that was murdered came to me in a dream and it was very real...and there's other things too that happened that make me very much believe they can contact us if they want to...

Huh. I'm surprised. I expected "no" to be the majority answer. Of course, we don't have many weighing in on this kind of thing right now....

...we don't have many on anything weighing in right now

i would like to think so, but am doubtful....have had some things happen that cannot be explained, but until i actually see something when i am wide awake and alert,, then i will believe....i am the kinda person i don't believe unless i can see it for myself...and i guess someday i will, just hopefully not anytime soon...

claudicici wrote: ....do you think it's your dad,Ziggy?....my dad's mom that was murdered came to me in a dream and it was very real...and there's other things too that happened that make me very much believe they can contact us if they want to...

Stangely enough my Dad died 25 years ago and I've felt him near me every day. We were very close. My Mother and I had a more difficult relationship. She died summer before last. There was much contention during her last days between her so-called boyfriend and the family etc. I had to choose between flying to her bedside and possibly getting there too late or letting her pass and then honoring her at the funeral. I chose the latter and was criticized heavily but I did an outstanding job of making sure she was remembered properly. I put together a beautiful video rememberance to music that I worked very had on. When the lady who was supposed to do my Mother's make up for the viewing didn't show - I pulled out my make up with my sisters by my side and I fixed the make up on her fragile shell of a body that was left lying in a casket. I knew exactly how she would have wanted it. I also knew that her significant other couldn't pick out a proper burial outfit if his life depended on it, so I brought a pretty pink silk blouse of mine that was more appropriate and that she would have loved. It was the last loving gesture I could give her without her saying SOMETHING to guilt trip me, LOL.

She loved her hummingbirds and always had the feeders hanging on our back deck so she could watch them.

I didn't feel anything after she died...not for months. It felt strange to be so disconnected. Then the hummingbird visits started. One would fly up close to me and just hover at eye level...it happened at my cottage; then at work; then I moved to a house 25 miles away and it happened there and I moved again to my current place and one comes into my little patio area.

Last Friday after work I decided to take my first dip in the condo pool...it sounded quiet - no obnoxious kids and I REALLY needed a stress reliever.

I was floating on my back looking at the intensely blue sky and marveling at how beautiful the green trees were against it and there was a hummingbird. In the solace of the moment...very quiet hovering reminder. It stayed close by the whole hour I was in the pool. I decided to get out - took one more underwater swim to the end and it was gone.

My sister died from the same thing my mother did last summer - almost one year later. It's so sad and so strange. I am waiting for her.

Claudi - my Dad is in my dreams and they are really mundane dreams - we're just sitting at a dining room table at my aunt's house or watching TV but it's so REAL and we are just hanging out - almost as if to say; I'm just here hanging out with you as always. They are bittersweet dreams. I wake up really sad that it wasn't real but somehow very comforted.

Thank you so much for sharing those storys Ziggy...I know exactly what you mean about the bittersweet dreams...I am so sorry about your losses....how old was your sister?..may I ask why they died?...do you have other siblings?..was she the mom of your nieces and nephews?

My sister was 61; my mom was 85. Both had strokes. My sister had high blood pressure and diabetes and didn't know it because she never went to the doctor. I suspected she was having mini strokes and talked to my other sister (now 64) and cousins who called her and got her to say she would see a doctor, but the next day she had to be driven to emergency and she suffered a major stroke while they were trying to stabalize her. Both strokes caused an inability to swallow - no feeding tubes in our family so my mother had to be taken off support and just left to die in her bed. My sister just got the heck outa there - she failed quickly and no matter what they tried to do she was just determined to die. My brother is now 57. My dad died at age 65.

My sister was the mom of 5 of my nieces and nephews of which I only have a relationship with one, the oldest, because the rest are messed up...drugs and alcohol etc. It's quite sad.

Losing her leaves a huge hole in my family. I got my grades today and wished I could call her. She was very, very sweet - like a little earth mother, a lot like my grandma. Not a mean bone in her body...she would give you anything she had if you needed it. But we did have a lot of love and I'm thankful I called her once a week and always told her I loved her. She could have been very jealous of me - I was the baby and got everything she always wanted and never did; but she just loved me tremendously. I'm very fortunate.