See, I don't go for the mind/body duality. My brain is part of an intricate system that completely penetrates my body, that is bathed in hormones and neurotransmitters, that is influenced and altered by internal and external stimuli. And that makes me, me.
And when that goes, 'I' go.

Energy cannot be destroyed. It may change form but it exists somewhere in the universe therefore when we die, the energy that makes us alive goes somewhere. I kind of like the idea of reincarnation. Some people think they are going to be at the right hand of God. Not sure why the left hand wouldn't do. Being left handed, I have often thought of that phrase as leftie discrimination.

When we are born, our neural development gives us the tools to acquire consciousness through interaction with our enviroment. The consciousness, itself, is not there when we are born.

Our consciousness consists of the dognitive structures and schema which we have developed. It cannot exist outside of the neural structure which created it and stores it. When we die, it is simply gone.

When we die, we die. We cease to have consciousness.
I also do not believe in the concept of a "soul".
I think it's just another term people like to give "consciousness".
To me, all the existential angst so many people carry, is just a waste of the time
they have on this rock. I've never understood the obsession people have with it.
We're here, we live, we die. End of story.
What we do with the time we get between birth and death is the ONLY thing that actually matters.

Our bodies are conceived and these bodies are run off energy. Our thoughts and our emotions all come from the part of the body called the brain and central nervous system. Our brains are developed enough we have self awareness. Once the body dies we no longer consume energy. We also no longer have thoughts and emotions

For me, There's no reason to think any form of consciousness extends beyond the death of the mind that creates it.
No soul, spirit, ghost, hoodoo.
. Birth. We're just another life form with the ability to think in abstracts exceeding the ability to realize them. The result of procreation, nothing else.
. Until someone comes up with repeatedly verifiable examples otherwise, anything else is just wishful thinking. 'What if' is a fun game, but opens the door to any idea, however ridiculous.

You know you're in the right place when someone uses "concomitantly" properly. AHHH! I love this site!! To your point - Energy cannot be created or destroyed, so where does it (consciousness, energy, spirit (?)) go? It is an interesting question, and there are very smart people on this site that can address this better than I. Personally, though, I think the energy has to go somewhere - does it end up being reincarnated, as some Eastern religions hold? I would love to hear what others think. Thanks for the question!

"......the worms crawl in .....the worms crawl out....."

I guess what I'm asking is: how is a body animated with a "soul", and how does that soul leave at death?

First, you'd have to show me what a soul is, what properties it has, and how it coexists with the physical anatomy of the body, and then we can even begin to guess how the two bring about an "animated" body-- by which I'm guessing you mean not only alive but also conscious.

So far, we have 0 evidence of a soul-- though I'd be willing to entertain any presented. That makes the question kind of moot. It'd be like saying "well how does a transmission animate the body and where does it go on death?" As far as we know, human bodies don't have transmissions.

The things that make you uniquely you aren't there at birth, so it stands to reason that it's a unique combination of the influences, experiences and relationships of your life and how you process them that add up to who you are, and when your brain stops processing they're gone. It's left for those left behind to process the emotions they feel about shared experiences and the feeling of loss can be so powerful that we try to find ways to stay connected. It's too difficult to just let go of something in the same instant it takes a person to die, so we often allow our need to hope something remains take over.

While there are some unknowns, there is much we do know thanks to curiosity and scientists. We even know which areas of the brain control different emotions, thoughts and also movements. We know about DNA, about Genetics, and about how they can interact with our body chemistry, environment, and others. We know that there is a naturally occurring body chemical that can cause euphoria and also has been shown to create not only religious fervor but also the belief in out of body experiences and near death experiences.

We know the reason CPR can work is that the brain can go six minutes without oxygen. We know that the body besides the brain doesn't die instantaneously but in a matter of minutes. We know that there are two smaller primitive brains located else wherein our bodies and no guys I'm not talking about your buddy.

What is known and shown by questions, experimentation, and the drive to find an answer, is that we, the universes, our earth, all sentient beings are evolving and have evolved since that first second. While we cannot produce a long grey beard as an answer, we have something much bigger, so much better. And it is all out there awaiting those looking for answers to their questions. The simpler idea of a soul or a single or series of gods shut down that curiosity and that drive to find out more to understand the immensity of reality. And while we look for a single answer that shuts down all of that wonder, that curiosity, we don't see that life, everything is evolving, that it never stops.

If there is so much that we do know, think of the immensity of what is unknown, what we can find out not due to some god or if we adhere to some prescribed regime, but to those whose curiosity compels them to not only ask why but to experiment until they and we have that answer, and then a further compelling new question.

I approach that subject akin to a tape recorder. It starts blank, you enter a sound and that is imprinted to the tape as a magnetic scree. When you erase a recorded tape you are demagnetizing it, so the tape started out without any in formation on it, read no energy, you added energy recording noise. When you erase the tape you have removed that energy or in some cases modified it. I'm sure there are a lot pros and cons to this idea but hey, it's what I think.

Physics says that energy can't be created or destroyed, that means that it has to somehow transfer our transmute.
I like to think that gives us hope that in some way what (or who) we are aren't lost.

I consider myself a fairly morbid indiviual, so.... I'm thinking a coffin is probably pretty boring, the ole dirt nap thing doesn't seem too exciting. Creamation? Nah...what good is ashes for? Maybe kitty litter. So, if they grind me up and use me as fertilizer for a young tree at least it is a contribution to something living....hee hee hee

@marga -- Let's turn your question around so that birth comes first, like it does in real life.

Before you were conceived, there was no you. You didn't exist. During gestation, some development of self began as soon as there was brain to receive inputs from body, but until you popped out of the chute, the you in you was rudimentary. Undeveloped. So far, I think consciousness is the sum total of bodily inputs (that means all inputs -- heart, lungs, kidneys, skin nerves -- everything) plus all external inputs (your environment, other humans occupying that environment, etc.). You is a process that continues for however long you are alive. That's what happens when you are born -- the process starts.

Everything that occurs between birth and death is filling in the blanks, a hopefully long period of becoming. The you of yesterday is not the you of today. Want a simple example (slightly exaggerated)? Yesterday morning you didn't think twice about getting into the car and driving through traffic to work. On the way home you witnessed a terrible accident with multiple fatalities. Today you have to fight yourself to get in that damned car and go to work. Environmental input has changed the you in you.

So, we have come through however many years filled with environmental inputs and bodily inputs that have been constantly changing the whole time. The differences between the you on your deathbed and the shiny, squeaky clean little you who appeared in the delivery room ages ago are worlds apart. The time is coming. You experience a tunnel vision that begins to dim -- and you know it -- you are aware of changes coming faster and faster. When you take your last breath, the you in you begins to dwindle as the brain receives fewer and fewer inputs from the body. The environment no longer feeds much at all into the brain. The brain begins rapidly to degrade because of a lack of oxygen, and as it does so, it will be subjected to all sorts of weird thoughts and visions. When the brain is finally dead, you are back where you began before conception. You don't exist. You as an entity are no longer. That is why it is crucial to make the most of what you have while you have it and it is the foundation for making sure you don't screw it up for others. What you do while there is a you in there is critical.

I think that the idea of a soul that lives on is caused by not only fear of death but fear of our life not having importance or meaning beyond that last breath.

By the use of electrical stimuli, it has been proved in multiple experiments by different scientists and researchers' experiments with living humans' brains that the area dealing with souls and religious fervor is located behind your left ear. You can thank many scientists for answering your question.

Nothing will happen you will be non existent just like before you were born.

Don't believe in the "soul" only the ones on footwear are real.Personal opinion.

I like most of the answers so far. When you have a picture of a tree by a lake on your computer and you delete it, where do the tree and the lake go?

When you die you’re body decomposes. Consciousness is created by our brains. They decompose too.

What do you mean by ‘a soul’?

I think you must define your parameters more clearly. Life is reality or amorphous, depends where you're coming from ot to......see what I mean?

Consciousness is a function of the brain, when death occurs the brain ceases to function.
Please define what a soul is? (don't tell me it's energy) and give me proof of it's existence.

There was a doctor in the 19th Century who made a contraption that would weigh the body alive, then at the moment of death weigh it again to try and see what the soul weighed. It must of been fun growing up in the time. BTW, he never could get a negative weight to indicate a soul.