In this DailyMail article from April 19, 2025 Rupert weighs in on the biggest question of all, along with several influential thinkers from the arts and sciences. Below is Rupert's answer—see the PDF for answers from Paulo Coelho, Uri Geller, Carlo Rovelli, Elif Shafak, Lord Sumption, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain MBE, and Libby Purves OBE.
MY speculation is that we can go on dreaming after we die, but we can’t wake up because we no longer have a physical body to wake up in. We are ‘trapped’ in a dreamworld.
All of us dream, even if we forget most of them, and in our dreams we have another body – a dream body – in which we move around, talk to people, sometimes even fly. Our dream body is obviously different from our normal physical body, which is lying asleep in bed.
After we die, we may live on in our dream body, even though our physical body is dead. The dreams we experience after death will depend on our memories, hopes, fears and relationships – and also on our religious faith.
If we believe that after death we will be helped by deceased family members, saints, angels and, for Christians, Jesus Christ, then this may well be what happens.
We may undergo continuing personal development in this afterdeath dreamworld.
We may ultimately pass beyond it into a state of union with ultimate reality, such as that encountered in mystical experiences while we are alive.
In this after-death journey, we may be helped by the prayers of those who are still alive.
I pray for family members and friends who have passed on, and I hope that when I die people will pray for me.
Rupert Sheldrake, a former fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, is a biologist and author.
