If there is an afterlife, I suspect it's much more complicated and messy than any religion, particularly the fundamentalist ones, have laid out. I suspect that purely because, well, this world is significantly more complicated and messy than our simplistic religious (or other ideological) narratives lay out.
I believe that the afterlife is more complicated than the simplistic Christian version of heaven and hell, but it is not more messy.
The book entitled
The Afterlife Revealed: What Happens After We Die is my favorite book on the afterlife, and it offers an alternative to the typical religious view. Interestingly, it is similar to the Baha'i view, although the Baha'i Writings don't elaborate on what we will actually experience in the afterlife.
In a chapter entitled Many Mansions, the author describes the seven spheres where people gravitate to in the spiritual world (afterlife). There is a lot more but the book is not online, so I had to type what is below.
"Hare's disincarnate father further explained that a spirit goes to a sphere for which it is morally and intellectually adapted; thus the first sphere above the terrestrial one, i.e., the second sphere, is the abode of "degraded" spirits, meaning not only evil spirits, but "misdirected" ones as well. He pointed out that there are millions of such spirits in the second sphere, what religions call Hell, Hades, or Purgatory, who are groping and unable to free themselves form the fetters of earthly conditions. This sphere is said to be the abode of as many spirits as all the five spheres above it. Nevertheless, contrary to the teachings of many religions, the spirits on this sphere are not permanently confined there as "onward and upward" is the motto of the spirit world. Sooner or later, spirits from higher levels are able to reach them and help them see the light."
(The Afterlife Revealed, pp. 110-111)
This is congruent with what Baha'is believe about the afterlife, that the soul will continue to progress in the spiritual world.
“Silver Birch explained that progression is constant through the spheres of consciousness and that earth provides a variety of learning experiences not available in the spirit world. “The whole object of earthly life is to have a variety of experiences that will fit the spirit for the next stage beyond earth when you have to pass into our world,” he said, further explaining that progress can be “quickened” by earth experience. Many souls, however, in exercising their free will, make wrong choices, thus failing to make significant progress during their earth experiences.
“You must be sharpened, purged, refined,” Silver Birch continued. “You must experience the heights and the depths. You must have the variety of experiences that earth provides for you.””
(Michael Tymn, The Afterlife Revealed, p. 154)
This is also congruent with what Baha'is believe about the purpose of this physical life as preparation for the afterlife.