Life, Death, Afterlife.... HellYeah

While studying for my exams in my room, I was disturbed by a constant knocking sound. It came from a Buddhist monk next door knocking it for a dead person, believing that it helped the dead person, not that I have anything against it but I think its more for the living.
Anyway, the question for today : Is there a life in the afterlife?

I'm a little confused myself but do you believe in an afterlife, as in do you go somewhere after you die? Almost all religions tell a different story. Some people believe in different stories themselves. Some say you go to heaven. Some say you go through purgatory. Some say its a dark conciousness where there is nothing and you just float around forever. Some say its multiple levels of hell. Some say you just dissapear.
So, what is your belief?

Maybe there is no afterlife, because life is actually a before-life and the afterlife is actually life in itself. Or is this life actually death and the afterlife another death. What constitutes matter. What is material life? Is it just a reflection of a spiritual existance or is it the true form of everything? What will we become after we die (or enter life) Are we still matter but in a different spiritual form? Are we a totally plane of existance? Something disconnected from where we are now.

Does heaven and hell really exist? What do we need to do to get there? If what happens here is totally disconnected from the spiritual plane, how does doing good help us get to heaven? Is heaven even the better place? Maybe, maybe hell is a equally good place but with different qualities? Is where we go chosen by a higher power? Is the higher power fair? Is there even a higher power?

Too many questions for now.....