I don't post this because I'm looking for a rigorous philosophical discussion on Ask Reddit (there's more appropriate places to take that to), but to simply answer the question on my views.

I'm religious, but I don't think any of us can claim the exact mechanism of how everything would work after death, only conviction from whichever revelation you choose to accept. I do believe in an afterlife, but also recognize that the text I follow (The Bible) can support a variety of views on salvation. This is just a natural consequence of many people trying to describe a transcendental idea across time and culture.

Personally I hope for a sort of universal reconciliation. We can experience salvation in this life, which is ideal for a number of reasons, but the opportunity doesn't die with us. This experience upon death is one of facing an ego death in the face of perfect knowledge and spiritual perfection - what we cultivate in this life prepares us for this experience. If we allow ourselves in this life to be hateful, spiteful, and closeminded, only focused on getting our own without regards to others (generally sinful in other words), then we carry that with us and are not ready to accept the ultimate truth and principles of the universe, and cut ourselves off from "Heaven" or whatever you'd like to think of it as. Our "punishment" in this sort of limbo phase is to live in our own spite while rejecting realization we can't escape. The theme of humility also takes place here - we need to reckon with and acknowledge with all the harm to others and the world we have ever done. Accept that we did bad things and sit with the full impact of that. Quite simply, because we can't bring any of that ego baggage with us to a place of unity with the transcendental.

This isn't an entirely off the wall view - my conception of heaven and separation from it came primarily from Orthodox theology. This also leaves open a religiously inclusive possibility, or it could be that only one has it right and that's the path to preparing ourselves. I leave that open to finding out.