Mike Starr is Dead from Overdose

[Fresco]

Mike Starr (Alice in Chains bass player and Celeb Rehab participant) died from an OD:

http://www.tmz.com/2011/03/09/mike-starr-mixing-drugs-roomate-methadone-anxiety-medication/

Just curious, but what to everyone's best knowledge will happen to him in the afterlife??  Will he attend some astral rehab clinic, or will he continue using heroin??  Obviously nobody knows for sure, but whats your best guess??

[CFTraveler]

Of course there's no way to know what will happen or what should happen, but if I had to guess I'd guess in the beginning, he'd be confused as to where he is or what reality is (especially if he died confused, or in pain or some other type of messed-up mind state) and it would take some 'time' to realize what happened.  Then, as he realized what happened, the usual process for the recently deceased would begin....etc.

[Fresco]

Then, as he realized what happened, the usual process for the recently deceased would begin....etc.

Which is what exactly??

[CFTraveler]

Depends who you read, and what you've experienced, and how much you trust it.

[Mattoid]

He'll reflect on the life he led, and the choices he made along the way.

[Hesperus]

Hopefully and I would like to think that there will be help for his troubled soul in the afterlife. RIP Mike Starr

[DH]

From all I've read and experienced, he should have plenty of help when he's ready.

[CFTraveler]

From all I've read and experienced, he should have plenty of help when he's ready.

I agree.

[Summerlander]

Alice in chains made some great music. Nobody knows what happens when you die. According to The Tibetan Book of the Dead (which I am currently reading), the intermediate state that you enter after death appears to describe what we encounter when we project. Tibetan buddhism is a philosophy that interests me because it claims that everything is consciousness. It also states that what you first encounter upon death highly depends on your state of mind at the time.

Theoretically speaking, Starr is probably doing heroin in some belief system consctruct of his without realising that he is not actually taking drugs or actually doing anything because he is dead. What appears to be action in the realm he dwells on is nothing but the thought of it which is amplified to emulate physical reality in that frequency.

Wherever he is, best of luck to him and I hope his journey is a pleasant one. Hopefully he'll discover there are more amazing things to experience than just the idea of getting high on heroin.

RIP Mike Starr

[Xanth]

From all I've read and experienced, he should have plenty of help when he's ready.

I'll third that. 

[Astral316]

Wasn't a AIC fan but I did follow Starr's struggle on Celeb Rehab/Sober House. He seemed like a genuine guy... shame he lost the battle.

Theoretically speaking, Starr is probably doing heroin in some belief system consctruct of his without realising that he is not actually taking drugs or actually doing anything because he is dead. What appears to be action in the realm he dwells on is nothing but the thought of it which is amplified to emulate physical reality in that frequency.

If I had to hazard a guess I'd say this is what he'll be dealing with, for a while anyway. Throw in a Layne Staley cameo and the scenario pretty much writes itself.

[personalreality]

oblivion.  non-existence.  dead, done, over.  the same fate awaits you all.

obviously i can't know that for sure, but when you bank on an afterlife, you wind up wasting your life in addiction or some other way.  trust me on that one.  so for all it matters, he no longer exists.  the energy in his body is reabsorbed into the earth and he is no more.

[Killa Rican]

I never would of thought you believed in that XD

[Summerlander]

oblivion.  non-existence.  dead, done, over.  the same fate awaits you all.

obviously i can't know that for sure, but when you bank on an afterlife, you wind up wasting your life in addiction or some other way.  trust me on that one.  so for all it matters, he no longer exists.  the energy in his body is reabsorbed into the earth and he is no more.

Well, ask yourself two questions if you really believe that...

1- Can you imagine an afterlife?

2- Can you imagine what it is like to not exist?

Death is still a penumbra. You can neither prove nor disprove the possibility that consciousness survives physical death.

[Lexy]

oblivion.  non-existence.  dead, done, over.  the same fate awaits you all.

obviously i can't know that for sure, but when you bank on an afterlife, you wind up wasting your life in addiction or some other way.  trust me on that one.  so for all it matters, he no longer exists.  the energy in his body is reabsorbed into the earth and he is no more.

  there is a belief that under certain circumstances you will be reabsorbed into gaia consciousness. considering Mike basically threw away his life, he may no longer exist at all.

[Pauli2]

90% of the so-called "overdose" victims have less than 40% of a regular dose in their system. So the overdose myth is clearly wrong. The problem with almost all morphine-type drugs are that they can make the heart stop at completely random points, even on football athletes!

[Killa Rican]

Why wouldnt he exist? Im pretty sure no matter how one dies they are going through the same processess in the afterlife everyone else will have to go through. No room for exceptions really. But then again it also depends on what you believe.

[Lexy]

He did not try to awaken, he stayed asleep...worse, he chose to be drugged out...couldn't handle being present...he did not want to exist but yet he exists in the gaia consciousness, in the akashic records.

it's his soul that may no longer exist, souls can be destroyed, absorbed, it all depends.

[personalreality]

90% of the so-called "overdose" victims have less than 40% of a regular dose in their system. So the overdose myth is clearly wrong. The problem with almost all morphine-type drugs are that they can make the heart stop at completely random points, even on football athletes!

Sorry Pauli, you're kind of wrong here.  The reason for most overdoses has nothing to do with exceeding "safe" amounts of the drug (which you are right about).  Here's what happens.  An addict is a very habitual person, in many more ways than are apparently obvious.  Since this is heroin related we'll use that as the example.  The human body is a magnificent machine that is capable of taking in information from sensory cues and then predicting the subsequent effects of some stimuli.  This is simple classical conditioning.  An addict tends to use their drug in the same set and setting every time.  Very rarely does their location and company change when they are shooting up.  So, after extended amounts of use, these sensory cues get programmed into the brain/body in such a way that the body knows when the addict is about to pump the body full of opiate.  In an effort to counterbalance the imminent introduction of opiate, the body releases hormones and neurotransmitters to counteract the effects of the drug.  This is one of the reasons that an addict has to use more and more drug.  The body is taking preventative measures to help lessen the effect of the drug on the body (like depressed breathing and slow heart-rate with heroin).  So as long as the addict continues to use in the familiar set and setting, they are probably going to be fine and won't overdose (unless they do an ungodly amount of their drug) because the body has seen the cues and knows what's coming and therefore takes the appropriate steps to lessen the effect of the drug on the body.  Now, the #1 cause of overdose (which I know from not only overdosing [in which I used a significantly less amount than I normally did in a shot, but I was in an unfamiliar location], but from university classes on physiology and substance abuse, as well as from drug education programs in rehab for heroin addiction) is the addict using their drug in the normal amount that their body is used to, in an unfamiliar set and setting.  When the addict uses their drug in a place they haven't really used in before and with people and other environmental cues that they haven't used with before, their body doesn't get the cues it needs to start counteracting the imminent introduction of opiates.  So the addict continues to cook up a normal sized shot and inject it.  However, now there are little if any bodily defenses up to protect the body because your brain/body never got the signal that this was coming.  SO what was a normal shot for that addict becomes lethal because the body isn't doing anything to lessen those effects.

Sometimes an overdose is just an overdose, where the addict just did too much (which I have done using I.V. Cocaine numerous times).  But more often than not an overdose happens because the addict was out of their element and their body wasn't prepared for what was coming, even though the actual dose would have been far from lethal in normal circumstances (normal for that addict).

On a side note, I'm surprised that so many people found my explanation for this guy and the afterlife so objectionable (coming from me).  I mean, what's the simplest answer to the question "what happens when we die?".  We're dead.  Dead and gone.  Scientifically, that makes the most sense (that our energy is reabsorbed in a different form, but our personality is lost).   From a philosophical/spiritual perspective, banking on an afterlife seems detrimental to personal growth to me.  There may be an absolutely glorious afterlife in which I retain full consciousness and personality just as I know it in this life.  I may learn all the secrets and mysteries of reality and more than that I'll be able to completely comprehend all of them.  I don't know.  What I do know is that I'm alive right now and that is about all that I'm really sure of.  So why should I speculate about the possibility that my personality/consciousness will continue after my body is dead when I have a perfectly good life that needs to be lived now?  I find it interesting that when I was at rock bottom and deep in opiate addiction, I was 100% positive that there was an afterlife.  Now that I'm sober and have grown considerably (and matured), I'm not so sure about an afterlife.  But more than that, I don't really even think about it anymore.  I'll definitely find out some day because aside from being sure that I'm alive now, I am also sure that one day I will die and I am excited to see what happens.  But until then, this life is more than interesting enough.

[skiax]

P.R.,
       Your post left a hole in my head where the thoughts swirl and jumble. Neat trick!

[personalreality]

That tends to happen a lot when I talk to people.

[Astral316]

When the addict uses their drug in a place they haven't really used in before and with people and other environmental cues that they haven't used with before, their body doesn't get the cues it needs to start counteracting the imminent introduction of opiates.  So the addict continues to cook up a normal sized shot and inject it.  However, now there are little if any bodily defenses up to protect the body because your brain/body never got the signal that this was coming.  SO what was a normal shot for that addict becomes lethal because the body isn't doing anything to lessen those effects.

I'm no doctor but this sounds like pseudoscience. If a drug user needs a psychological stimulus to trigger the body's defenses (doesn't the body actually crave the drug in the addict anyway?) the "pre-high ritual" would be more than enough in a situation where he's out of his normal surroundings. I would think it more likely a drug user is less comfortable around strange people in an unfamiliar environment creating anxiety, more intense side effects, increased heart rate, etc. Even then I doubt this is the typical reason for drug related deaths.

Sometimes an overdose is just an overdose, where the addict just did too much (which I have done using I.V. Cocaine numerous times).  But more often than not an overdose happens because the addict was out of their element and their body wasn't prepared for what was coming, even though the actual dose would have been far from lethal in normal circumstances (normal for that addict).

More likely if it's not taking too much of the drug that kills the drug user, it's the heart or respiratory system being weakened over time to the point where they (seemingly randomly) fail.

On a side note, I'm surprised that so many people found my explanation for this guy and the afterlife so objectionable (coming from me).

I wasn't surprised, I figured it was meant to stir a reaction. I don't agree with it, but there are far more ridiculous viewpoints than atheism so I left it alone.

I mean, what's the simplest answer to the question "what happens when we die?".  We're dead.  Dead and gone.  Scientifically, that makes the most sense (that our energy is reabsorbed in a different form, but our personality is lost).

But no scientist has detected any energy separate from the flesh and blood human that reabsorbs in a different form.

From a philosophical/spiritual perspective, banking on an afterlife seems detrimental to personal growth to me.

Like with any other piece of information you can either use it to grow or use it to justify stagnation.

So why should I speculate about the possibility that my personality/consciousness will continue after my body is dead when I have a perfectly good life that needs to be lived now?

Because it's a topic related to altered states, a subject I'm assuming you're interested in since you're here. If you aren't interested by all means don't force yourself to do something which doesn't bring you joy. We all try to live perfectly good lives that need to be lived now... we do that by doing things that bring us varying degrees of hapiness.

[Summerlander]

Dear lord. It doesn't matter if he took drugs while he was alive. The drugs are in his physical body. what matters is the state of mind in which he was in. If he had an ecstatic pain-free death, then he may be happy in the afterlife assuming that there is one.

there is a belief that under certain circumstances you will be reabsorbed into gaia consciousness. considering Mike basically threw away his life, he may no longer exist at all.

If you observe life on Earth, you will find that things tend to expand, develop and adapt to their environments. Consciousness appears to do the same. It improves and continues to do so by learning and never sees the sight of its entelechy because it seems that there is always something more that can contribute to its expansion.

Why would consciousness, assuming that it is the quintessence of reality, decide that it should kill off one of its elements in the afterlife (i.e.Mike Starr)? Despite having been a drug addict, wasn't he more useful in waking life while he was alive than now that he is dead? Wasn't he musically creative? Didn't he effect loads of people by interacting with them? Didn't he change the world in some way? Isn't it more logical for consciousness to recycle his energy and use it to effect more of its aspects rather than just wipe it out. Isn't it more productive to use him and put him in other situations where he may again effect others and contribute to the experience and learning of other individuals rather than just obliterate him?

Regardless of whether an individual is good or bad, they will always be useful in some way because of what they represent. Doesn't it seem a bit illogical that an ever-expanding infinite and collective consciousness would just decide (or through some natural law) to wipe out an individual self when that self element still has potential?

[Fresco]

So why should I speculate about the possibility that my personality/consciousness will continue after my body is dead when I have a perfectly good life that needs to be lived now?

I thought discussing the after-life was kinda the point of this whole forum 

[Xanth]

I thought discussing the after-life was kinda the point of this whole forum 

His point, I believe, is the entire reason that we're actually here in this physical reality in the first place.

The point of doing astral projection isn't to escape this physical reality... it's to give you a 'leg up' so that you can further benefit your growth WHILE you're here.

This physical reality is essentially a learning game... we're tossed into this game not really knowing the rules.
Knowing the rules allows you to 'cheat' a bit and gain a greater understanding than you otherwise would have.