I think we’re definitely gone, but I do think people leave traces everywhere from what they did in life, and live on and continue to make an impact through the ripple effect of that.
What happens when we die?
Question
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What did you want to be when you were growing up?
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How would you describe yourself in three words?
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Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
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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.
We don’t die. We change realms. Life is eternal. Living is not. Live while you are alive.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 July 2026 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 51 →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.
Disneyland x a million.
We go back from whence we came.
More from Ben Okri
View profile →“You don’t stand a chance of succeeding as a writer in this country. The demographics are against you.” They were wrong. The only demographic that counts is the human heart.
Composer, pirate, scientist, philosopher.
Alchemy. Love. Resilience.
Worrying at things.
Evolve or perish.
On a train journey to Arcadia many years ago while making a TV documentary.
More on death & what remains
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- What song would you like played at your funeral? 178 answers
- If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing? 54 answers
- What would you like to leave your children? 44 answers
- How would you like to die? 44 answers
Also answered this
Andrea Bocelli, Kelly Hoppen, Russell Mael, Nigel Havers, Winston Churchill, Albert Hammond Jr.
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