I have lots of beliefs about that, but that will have to wait for another interview.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 August 2023 source ↗
time
What happens when we die?
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
A recurring late-stage question in The Guardian Q&A, with materially different answers on publisher-hosted pages.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
One of 24 questions in The Q&A here.
On the record
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
Read by age
Any age
In their thirties 9
In their forties 5
In their fifties 10
In their sixties 10
Seventy and beyond 10
Other people get sad.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 September 2023 source ↗
I don’t think we’re meant to know.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 September 2023 source ↗
Neil Gaiman
Author of fiction, comics and screenplays
I like the idea of being atoms that other people can breathe in, and fabulous worm food.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 October 2023 source ↗
I am so curious. We had my son christened because there may be a god but, equally, my partner is a science teacher, so I am also completely open to the possibility that nothing happens.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 November 2023 source ↗
The worms get to feast.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 December 2023 source ↗
Our friends are sad and miss us for a bit but, hopefully, they find other people at the party.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2024 source ↗
I don’t know and I don’t really care – I’ll be dead.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 January 2024 source ↗
I like to think that my friends, my auntie and my mum are up there having a big party and that I could join them.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 April 2024 source ↗
I don’t know and I don’t really care, because I’ll be dead, so it won’t really matter.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 September 2024 source ↗
Marina Abramović
Performance artist
Twenty-one grams of energy goes into the universe.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 October 2024 source ↗
Earthly life is merely the infancy of our soul. What comes after physical death is, I imagine, like returning home.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 November 2024 source ↗
I really hope there is a big pearly gate.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 December 2024 source ↗
I don’t know, and I’m completely OK with not knowing.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 January 2025 source ↗
When my kids ask, “What happens when we die?” I say, “Do you remember the place you were in before you were born? I think we go back there.”
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 January 2025 source ↗
We go back from whence we came.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 February 2025 source ↗
I think that we dissolve into the soil and new things sprout from that.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 February 2025 source ↗
Massive DMT release, your perception of time dilates, you realise you can fly, then it all goes black, and you start again, only this time … you’re a slug.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2025 source ↗
When my mother died in my arms, I feel I witnessed her spirit leaving her body, so let’s just wait and see.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 March 2025 source ↗
An accounting is given of our lives. Did you give more than you’ve taken? Hurt more people than you’ve helped?
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 April 2025 source ↗
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