Death

All (male) dogs are sons of bitches.

All humans have rights (and lefts).

If all dogs go to heaven, do all cats go to hell?

All people go nowhere, but around the sun, yet again.

My take on death:

There are no afterlives. Once you die, you're dead.

That's it, kaput, over, done, finished. No more. Oblivion.

Except for decay, decomposition, the transformation of your flesh to flies.

Those are the only wings you can hope for. Forget becoming an angel. Everyone rots.

Unless you're mummified or burned into cremains. But nothing you would call you.

Death isn't black or silent. There is no consciousness. It's non-being, non-existence.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Even your bones will disappear.

Time is eternal: infinite past, infinite future.

There was a before the big bang, and

There will be infinite 'years' even after the earth no longer revolves around the sun.

In aeons of time, our lives are like blips. In the vast of space, our size is infinitesimal.

Death, The End. We are like bubbles: you're gonna pop.

But we are not alone. It happens to everyone. The universal fate.

Life is transitory, ephemeral, temporary, fugacious.

No consciousness after life, as before-life.

Merrily, life is but a dream. And you wake up. Or die.

All good things must come to an end. Bad things, too.

When your number's up, you're finished.

Nothingness. Always. Eternally. Forever. Infinity.

Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis. Zero.

For all. Forever “and ever.” Ha.

Living dead. Zombies, vampires, buddhists.

One with the Universe, dead matter, burning stars, void

all people, no sides or sects or aversions or attachments.

Emptiness, insubstantiality, void, impermanence

The Awakened One, Buddha

it seems obvious.
but I admit I could be wrong.  I'd actually like to be!
I still think the only "souls" are the soles of our feet...
Eternal reward sounds fun.  Heaven would rule.
Or at least a few thousand more years of life!!
But what is heaven?  Heaven is not being in hell.
I would forego heaven to make sure no one was in hell.
Bodhisattva consciousness.
Getting people out of hell sounds like a rewarding and happy project.
 
....Theoretical blather.  Heaven and hell is now!
Help create an enlightened society.  a better world.
shambala.  utopia. heaven. disneyland? berkeley?
whatever you wanna call it! earth, ideally.
one person at a time, one day at a time, self-help protocol

i wanna say you don't have to believe in heaven to get there.
Henry Ford said "if you think you can, or if you think you can't, you're right"
That's the sense in which you should believe, as I see it -
(not waiting to wake up somewhere ideal after death).

Heaven and hell are all in your head, not necessarily:
being in prison, or a war-torn country, or dying of cancer.
or
Some friends, some good food, some music, some exercise endorphins, some money or gifts, a movie, a good book, sex, enough sleep, comfort...

happiness is relative.  There's always someone better or worse off than you.

Grateful Dead?  Death is the end of suffering, certainly.  Resting in peace, in the hope of rising again, a slick way of putting it.  a "certain hope".  The hope is certain, but the rising is most definitely not.  I am convinced immortality isn't possible, like the fountain of youth of yore.  You wouldn't want to keep aging!!  And if you're dead, you can't be grateful.  But you can be grateful you are ABOUT to die (Or that you are not already in hell).   Deathbed forgiveness is a valuable service, if it relieves the suffering attached to (the/one's) fear of going to an afterlife hell. 

derivative thought (from the above paragraph)
about a bout.  the-ology.  God is 'one'.  weird.  Bob Weir.  strange.  Camus' the stranger.

death psychology
1.in hell on the deathbed (already), grateful for death as the end of suffering
2.in hell on the deathbed, from the fear of going to afterlife hell.
3.in peace on the deathbed, hopeful for heaven
4.in peace on the deathbed, without hope for heaven or fear of hell.
some mix of all of the above!  see what happens!
go to the light?  the left hand path?  the door to the right? 
choice of reincarnation, heaven, ghost, vampire, avatar... oblivion
hell (in norway?!), purgatory, different levels of heaven/circles of hell, limbo
what fun

personally, i think certainty of oblivion is both the truth, and the best choice.  Maybe I'll hope for heaven when the time comes.  But the surprise will be greater if I don't!
my godfather, Richard Zonca, died recently (11/22/2015)
"entered into rest", not a bad euphemism.