Some cultures believe that when you die, you are reincarnated. Others believe that death is a time of rejoicing as you are going home to the "Father". Others (like the eastern civilizations) believe that death is meerly a transition from one life to another. You will have to decide on what "death" is to you. As with any belief, it is your personal belief and no one can tell you what to believe. You will know by what you feel inside. I am only sharing what I have found is mine and how it has helped me.

To talk about death, I must also talk about birth. My belief is that we were all spirits (or souls) in the heavens before we were born. We choose to be born because our soul needs to experience life to help it grow or we are helping another soul learn a life lesson. It's like the saying that you can't learn to walk unless you fall a few times. A soul cannot grow unless it can experience life. Ever get that feeling when you meet someone that you have known them all your life but don't know why? Maybe you knew them as another soul. I don't pretend to know all the answers as to why people do certain things or why this person did this or why this happened to a child, etc. We don't always know the answers till we get back "home". When we are born and we are a small child, we start to lose our memories of before. Listen to a small child and they will tell you they see angels, they have talked with God, etc. But many times, adults brush it off as vivid imagination, etc. The child grows up forgetting because they are conditioned to believe that it doesn't happen.

So we go through life doing things we don't know why except that we want to achieve success, be rich, etc. We forget to "live" because we are to busy caught up in our own trap. I can best illustrate this by asking "If you were told you had 6 months to live, what would you do and how would your life change?" I have known people to go through this and I will relate to you what they told me.
Many said they would have spent more time with family, friends, and spouse. They would not have wasted so much time on being mad at someone just to prove a point. They would have had taken more time just to have fun. Their lives changed because they took the time then to sit and gaze at a sunset and enjoy it's simple beauty. They enjoyed the smell of the woods and flowers. They enjoyed laughing. They took the time to rekindle old friendships, forgive people and ask for forgiveness, talked about what really was important to them and started to listen to others. In talking to them and listening to them, I learned from them what was really important and I don't have to wait till someone puts a timeline on my life. We should live each day as if it's our last because you never know when tomorrow will never come. Tell people how you feel about them. Don't wait till they are gone and then you are saying it an eulogy. Let them hear it now. Take the time to smell the flowers now because flowers sent you when you are gone, you will not be able to enjoy. You can not take material things with you but the memories you leave behind will live on and many will consider them priceless.