death, desire and belief

Seems like there are so many different ways to approach this seemingly infinitely vast experience of life. Essentially though, at the very base of this, there are two of primary interest to me lately. One approach is to use force of will to move through the experience of life, usually in the pursuit of specific desires, goals and outcomes. The other approach is to surrender personal will and take life as it unfolds, accepting the experience of whatever comes with no particular interest or attachment to form or outcome. In a sense, running out the clock.

I've been doing more research on death lately, along with contemplating the nature of mind in relation to reality. It seems to me that desire may essentially be the driving force behind the continued manifestation of reality as it's experienced. It's all generated by and within the Mind (the greater Mind which perceives and experiences, not the collection of superficial thoughts and impulses that's conventionally called the mind). Desire is the reason existence continues, the driving force for continued experiencing. The experiencer desires a certain experience, so the Mind projects the means to have it. When the desire is fulfilled, experiencing begins the process of dissolution. Unless a new desire takes its place, thereby energizing the Mind to manifest further circumstances for experiencing.

So, it seems most of all to depend on what one wants - as in the one who experiences, the one who perceives, the one who thinks, the one who desires. Based on NDE reports, people tend to experience what they believe they will after death. So if there is belief and desire either for something (let's say Heaven as an example) or for not-something (let's say Hell), experience will continue immediately in those directions following the death of this body and the accompanying dissolution of the former experience. At the moment of bodily death, the Mind will continue to generate experiencing in the direction of the desired outcome.

The observable universe is, after all, a projection of the Mind. Everything is experienced within it. Sounds are heard within, sensations are felt within, sights are seen within, tasted within, smelled within. It's all perceived and interpreted in the Mind. The world appears to be "out there" but all experience of it occurs/is generated within the Mind of the experiencer.

Beliefs seem to influence this process by creating settings, situations, objects and goals to be desired. If there is belief in the substantiality and desirability of something, then it becomes the locust of the process of manifestation for the experiencer. Essentially, if desire is there it means that the experiencer believes, on some level, that the experience of something in particular is more desirable than nothing. Therefore, experience continues to be manifested to meet this desire for something rather than nothing. If desire isn't there, meaning that one desires nothing, then (perhaps) nothing follows after death. Experiencing simply runs its course and dissolves.

This explains why, despite speaking on reincarnation, the Buddha knew he wouldn't be reborn. He was finished with the game of desire, finished with seeking, with manifest existence entirely - aside, perhaps, from his final desire to experience sharing his insights before departing. And so, upon death, the Mind no longer projected a world in which he would experience something. He, and all of manifest existence for him, simply dissolved.

If one is carrying the desire to experience Heaven after death, the Mind will generate an experience that reflects the beliefs around what Heaven will be like and create a situation in which it can be experienced. If one's perception of reality aligns with a conventional Christian outlook and there's belief in that conception of Heaven, that's what the Mind will manifest to continue the game of desire, only now with different properties depending on the beliefs. If one carries the desire to be forgiven for one's sins after being sent to Hell, then what's generated is a situation in which one can experience that. If one dies while carrying the desire to have lived a different kind of life in this world as it was already experienced, that's what's generated - continued experiencing of this world in a new set of circumstances (ie reincarnation/rebirth). In the case of one who still desires but believes that no further experiencing will follow after death, the Mind will still continue generating experiencing based around the desires of the experiencer. The form of the experience may be Earthly or not, depending on what's desired and believed at the moment of death.

Desire is the driving force behind existence for the experiencer of it. Mind generates it, belief shapes it and desire compels it to continue. Without desire, the energy and momentum driving existence fades away. It has no further reason to be.