(Redirected from Life after death)
The 'afterlife', or 'life after death', are generic terms referring to a "continuation" of
existence, typically
spiritual, experiential, or
ghost-like, beyond this world (eg.
planes of existence), or after
physical death (eg.
near-death experience,
reincarnation). The major views in this area derive from
religion,
esotericism,
metaphysics, and
science. Also there are those with opposite views, such as the
materialist-reductionists, who state that the topic is
supernatural, therefore does not really exist or is unknowable.
The afterlife in different metaphysical models
In metaphysical models,
theists generally believe some sort of afterlife awaits people when they die.
Atheists generally believe that there is not a life after death. However, other atheists like
Buddhists, tend to believe in an afterlife like
reincarnation but without reference to
God.
Agnostics generally hold the position that like the existence of God, the existence of supernatural phenomena, such as souls or life after death, is unverifiable and therefore unknowable. Some philosophies (i.e.
posthumanism,
Humanism, and often
empiricism) generally hold that there is not an afterlife.
Afterlife in modern science
Modern science, in general, either describes the universe and human beings without reference to a soul or to an afterlife; or tends to remain mute on the issue.
Scientific method offers few tools for investigating the concepts. One famous study, was conducted in 1901 by physician
Duncan MacDougall, who sought to measure the weight purportedly lost by a human body when the
soul departed the body upon
death.
[1] MacDougall weighed dying patients in an attempt to prove that the soul was material, tangible and thus measurable. These experiments are widely considered to have had little if any
scientific merit, and although MacDougall's results varied considerably from "21 grams," for some people this figure has become synonymous with the measure of a soul's mass.
[2] The 2003 movie
21 Grams was based on MacDougall's findings.
Others, such as
Francis Crick in 1994, have attempted a ‘scientific search for the soul’.
[3] Lastly, we have the views of
Frank Tipler, who argues that
physics can explain
immortality.
[4]
Some investigations have been conduced which failed to find evidence that out “out-of-body” experiences transcend the confines of the brain. One hospital, in order to validate claims of out-of-body experiences, for example, placed an LED marquee above its patients’ beds which displayed a hidden message that could only be read if one were looking down from above. As of 2001, no one who claimed
near-death experience or out-of-body experience within that hospital had reported having seen the hidden message.
[5]
History of afterlife beliefs
ca 1500 BC: Egyptian
The afterlife played an important role in
Ancient Egyptian religion. When the body died, a part of its soul known as ''ka'' (body double) would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. While the soul dwelt in the
Fields of Yalu,
Osiris demanded work as payback for the protection he provided. Statues were placed in the tombs to serve as substitutes for the deceased.
Arriving at one's reward in afterlife was a demanding ordeal, requiring a sin-free heart and the ability to recite the spells, passwords, and formulae of the
Book of the Dead. In the Hall of Two Truths, the deceased's heart was weighed against the ''Shu'' feather of truth and justice taken from headdress of the goddess
Ma'at.
[6] If the heart was lighter than the feather then they could pass on, but if it were heavier they would be devoured by the demon
Ammit.
Egyptians also believed that being mummified was the only way to have an afterlife. Only if the corpse had been properly
embalmed and entombed in a
mastaba, could the dead live again in the Fields of Yalu and accompany the Sun on its daily ride. Due to the dangers the afterlife posed, the Book of the Dead was placed in the tomb with the body.
ca 1200 BC: Zoroastrian
Zoroaster teaches that the dead will be resurrected and purified to live in a perfected material world at the end of time.
ca 3000 BC: Hindu
The
Upanishads describe
reincarnation, or
samsara. The Bhagavad Geeta, the holy book of Hinduism talks extensively about the afterlife. Here, the Lord Krishna says that just as a man discards his old clothes and wears new ones; similarly the soul discards the old body and takes on a new one. In Hinduism, the belief is that the body is but a shell, the soul inside is immutable and indestructible and takes on different lifes in a cycle of birth and death. The end of the this cycle is Mukti or salvation.
ca 800 BC: Jewish
Writing that will later be incorporated into the
Hebrew Bible names
sheol as the afterlife, a gloomy place where all are destined to go after death. The
Book of Numbers identifies
sheol as literally underground (), in the Biblical account of the destruction of the rebellious Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their 250 followers, although it is speculated that this passage should be read literally, signifying an earthquake or split in the earth.
ca 700 BC: Greek
In the
Odyssey,
Homer refers to the dead as "burnt-out wraiths." An afterlife of eternal bliss exists in
Elysium, but is reserved for
Zeus's mortal descendants.
ca 400 BC: Greek
In his
Myth of Er,
Plato describes souls being judged immediately after death and sent either to the heavens for a reward or underground for punishment. After their respective judgments have been enjoyed or suffered, the souls are reincarnated.
ca 200 BC: Jewish
The
Book of Enoch describes
sheol as divided into four compartments for four types of the dead: the faithful saints who await resurrection in
Paradise, the merely virtuous who await their reward, the wicked who await punishment, and the wicked who have already been punished and will not be resurrected on Judgment Day.
[7] It should be noted that the Book of Enoch is considered apocryphal by most denominations of Christianity and all denominations of Judaism.
ca 100 BC: Jewish
The book of
2 Maccabees gives a clear account of the dead awaiting a future resurrection and judgment, plus prayers and offerings for the dead to remove the burden of sin.
ca 100 AD: Christian
Jesus and the
New Testament writers of the
Bible books mention notions of an afterlife and
resurrection that involve ideas like
heaven and
hell. The author of
Luke recounts the story of
Lazarus and the rich man, which shows people in
Hades awaiting the resurrection either in
comfort or torment. The author of the
Book of Revelation writes about
God and the
angels versus
Satan and
demons in an epic battle at the end of times when all
souls are judged. There is mention of ghostly bodies of past prophets, and the
transfiguration.
ca 150 AD: Christian
The
Acts of Paul and Thecla speak of the efficacy of prayer for the dead, so that they might be "translated to a state of happiness."
[8]
ca 200 AD: Christian
Hippolytus of Rome pictures
Hades as a place where the righteous dead, awaiting in the
bosom of Abraham their resurrection, rejoice at their future prospect, while the unrighteous are tormented at the sight of the "
lake of unquenchable fire" into which they are destined to be cast.
382 AD: Eastern Christianity
Gregory of Nyssa formulates belief in the possibility of
purification of souls after death.
[9]
ca 400 AD: Western Christianity
Saint Augustine counters
Pelagius, arguing that
original sin means that the unbaptized go to hell, including infants, albeit with less suffering than is experienced by those guilty of actual sins.
ca 600 AD: Western Christianity
Pope Gregory I repeats the concept, articulated over a century earlier by
Gregory of Nyssa that the saved suffer purification after death, in connection with which he wrote of "
purgatorial flames".
ca 900 AD: Zoroastrian
The
Pahlavi text ''Dadestan-i Denig'' ("Religious Decisions") describes the
particular judgment of the soul three days after death, with each soul sent to heaven, hell, or a neutral place (
hamistagan) to await
Judgment Day..
ca 1100 AD: Western Christianity
The noun "
purgatorium" (Latin: place of cleansing
[10]) is used for the first time to describe a state of painful purification of the saved after death. The same word in adjectival form (''purgatorius -a -um'', cleansing), which appears also in non-religious writing,
[11] was already used by Christians such as
Augustine of Hippo and
Pope Gregory I to refer to an after-death cleansing.
ca 1200 AD: Jewish
Maimonides describes the
Olam Haba ("World to Come") in spiritual terms, relegating the prophesied physical resurrection to the status of a future miracle, unrelated to the afterlife or the Messianic era.
ca 1200 AD: Norse
The
Prose Edda describes
Hel as an unpleasant abode for those unworthy of
Valhalla, which is reserved for chosen warriors who die in battle.
ca 1300 AD: Jewish
The
Zohar describes
Gehenna not as a place of punishment for the wicked but as a place of spiritual purification for the souls of almost all mortals.
[2]
ca 1500 AD: Protestant
Martin Luther denounces the doctrine of
particular judgment as contrary to the
Bible, professing instead the belief that
the soul sleeps until
Judgment Day.
John Calvin denounces Luther's doctrine, writing instead that the souls of the elect rest in blessedness while awaiting the
resurrection of the dead.
ca 1700 AD: Swedenborg and the Enlightenment
During the
Age of Enlightenment, theologians and philosophers presented various philosophies and beliefs. A notable example is
Emanuel Swedenborg who wrote some 18 theological works which describe in detail the nature of the afterlife according to his claimed spiritual experiences, the most famous of which is
Heaven and Hell.
ca 1800 AD to present
Many
New Age and
Science Fiction beliefs become more popular. The variety of beliefs is greatly increased and continues to change, or becomes more eclectic by incorporating beliefs of the past.
1832 AD: Latter-Day Saints (Mormon)
Revelation to
Joseph Smith, Jr. and
Sidney Rigdon concerning the Three
Degrees of glory: Celestial, Terrestrial, and Telestial. ''
Doctrine and Covenants'', Section 76.
1918 AD: Latter-Day Saints (Mormon)
President
Joseph F. Smith of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presents an elaborate vision of the Afterlife. It is revealed as the scene of an extensive missionary effort by righteous spirits to redeem those still in darkness - a spirit prison or "hell" where the spirits of the dead remain until judgement. It is divided into two parts: Spirit Prison and Paradise. Together these are also known as the Spirit World (also Abraham's Bosom; see Luke 16:19-25). They believe that Christ visited spirit prison (1 Peter 3:18-20) and opened the gate for those who repent to cross over to Paradise. This is similar to the
Harrowing of Hell doctrine of some mainstream Christian faiths. Both Spirit Prison and Paradise are temporary according to Latter-day Saint beliefs. After the resurrection spirits are assigned "permanently" to three degrees of heavenly glory (1 Cor 15:44-42; Doctrine and Covenants, Section 76) or are cast with Satan into Outer Darkness. (See Doctrine and Covenants, Section 76.)
1945 AD: Christian fiction
C. S. Lewis writes ''
The Great Divorce''. In this work of fiction, people who are already in hell are given a "field trip" to heaven. They get to look around and decide whether they would like to leave
Hell and stay in
Heaven. Every one of the subjects finds reason to reject heaven. Lewis is not suggesting that this will actually happen ("It is appointed to man once to die, and then comes judgment," Hebrews 9:27). He is showing that the excuses people used to reject Christ when they were alive on earth would be retained even if they got a second chance, because their character hasn't changed, and God's ways are still abhorent to them.
Current religious beliefs about life after death
Afterlife as reward or punishment
Many religious traditions have held that the afterlife will resolve justice by assigning rewards and punishments to people according to how they lived their lives. This belief can be found throughout the ancient world, especially in Greek and Roman religion, as well as in various Asian religions. To the extent that the afterlife is a form of justice, it is usually restricted to humans, as other animals are not held responsible for their actions.
Abrahamic religions
In the monotheistic traditions of
Judaism (see
Jewish views of the afterlife), and most sects of
Christianity, human
souls spend
eternity in a place of
happiness or
torment, such as
Heaven,
Hell,
Purgatory or
Limbo (in Islam, Mizan, the instrument used, to compare the things of good and bad in the afterlife by someone, compares everything a person has done, and it is believed limbo does not exist according to the Quran) . (in Judaism, "eternity" is not applicable to heaven, hell or limbo doesn't exist, and time spent in "purgatory" is definitely not eternal.)
Salvation, faith, and merit
Most Christians deny that entry into Heaven can be properly earned, rather it is a gift that is solely God's to give through his unmerited grace. This belief follows the theology of
St. Paul: ''For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.'' The
Augustinian,
Thomist,
Lutheran, and
Calvinist theological traditions all emphasize the necessity of God's undeserved grace for salvation, and reject so-called
Pelagianism, which would make man earn salvation through good works. Not all Christian sects accept this doctrine, leading many controversies on grace and
free will, and the idea of
predestination. In particular, the belief that heaven is a reward for good behavior is a common folk belief in Christian societies, even among members of churches which reject that belief.
=== The dead as
Angels in
Heaven ===
In the informal folk beliefs of many Christians, the
souls of virtuous people ascend to Heaven and are converted into
angels. More formal Christian theology makes a sharp distinction between ''angels'', who were created by
God before the creation of humanity, and ''saints'', who are virtuous people who have received immortality from the grace of God.
The
Sufi mystic
Rumi beliefs in different
development steps of the soul. The souls of virtuous people become angels and later they will return to God.
Universalism
Some sects, such as the Universalists, believe in
universalism which holds that all will eventually be rewarded regardless of what they have done or believed. On that note, perhaps it is that on the other side of life, in a space we would call death, it would be more than likely that we know everything instantaneously, which would soon be followed by boredom. Perhaps it is because we would be bored in knowing everything that we come to here in life and take the present form of humanity, unknowing and curious, yet knowing that it is impossible to know everything without wondering "Why is the Universe Eternal" and failing to realize that it is Eternal to keep us Entertained with Possibility.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses understand
Ecclesiastes 9:5 to preclude an afterlife:
For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they any more have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.
They believe that following Armageddon a resurrection in the flesh
[12] to an Edenic Earth
[13] will be rewarded to 'both righteous and unrighteous'(but not wicked) dead and that eternal death (non-existence) is the punishment for sin lacking repentance after Armageddon. Although those who are not dead when Armageddon occurs will be judged and possibly slain during Armageddon because of their potential regretless sins. They believe that death is the price for sinning (that is why most dead will be resurrected - they paid the price already).
[14][15]
Deists
During the European Enlightenment, many
deist freethinkers held that belief in an afterlife with reward and punishment was a necessity of reason and good moral order.
Punishment, retribution, and deterrence
Over the centuries, concepts related to punishment have changed, and so have attitudes about punishment in the afterlife.
Earlier views of punishment as retribution have largely given way to a modern view of punishment as properly serving to deter or rehabilitate.
(See for example
punishment;
Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria;
Jeremy Bentham; and
Michel Foucault)
At the same time, views of punishment in the afterlife have softened.
For example,
Thomas Aquinas and
Jonathan Edwards wrote that the saved in heaven will delight in the suffering of the damned.
Hell, however, doesn't fit modern, humanitarian concepts of punishment because it can't deter the unbeliever nor rehabilitate the damned.
Believers have come to downplay the punishment of hell.
Universalists teach that salvation is for all.
Jehovah's Witnesses and
Seventh-day Adventists teach that sinners are destroyed rather than tortured forever.
Mormons believe that there are three possible
degrees of glory in the afterlife, none of which are hellish.
In the 1990s, the
Catechism of the Catholic Church defined hell not as punishment imposed on the sinner but rather as the sinner's "self-exclusion" from God.
Afterlife as reincarnation
Another afterlife concept which is found among
Hindus,
Rosicrucians,
Spiritists, and
Wicca is
reincarnation, as evolving humans life after life in the
physical world, that is, acquiring a superior grade of
consciousness and
altruism by means of successive reincarnations. This succession is conceived to lead toward an eventual
liberation or
spiritual rebirth as spiritual beings. However, some practitioners of eastern religions follow a different concept called
metempsychosis which purposes that human beings can
transmigrate into animals,
vegetables or even
minerals. One consequence of the Hindu and Spiritist beliefs is that our current lives are also an afterlife. According to those beliefs events in our current life are consequences of actions taken in previous lives, or
Karma.
Buddhists, however, believe that
rebirth takes place without a
self (similar to soul) and that the process of rebirth is simply a continuation of the previous life. The process of being reborn as any other being is based on your
karma. And from a Buddhist perspective, the current life is actually a continuation of the past life. If one dies with a peaceful state of mind this will cause fortunate karma to ripen and a fortunate rebirth as a human or god will follow. If one dies with a negative state of mind this will ripen negative karma and a lower rebirth such as an animal, hungry ghost or hell being will follow.
In
Tibetan Buddhism the
Tibetan Book of the Dead explains the intermediate state of humans between death and reincarnation. The deceased will find the bright light of wisdom, which shows a straightforward path to move upward and leave the cycle of reincarnation.
There are various reasons why deceased not follow that light. Some had no briefing about the intermediate state in the former life. Others only used to follow their basic instincts like animals. And some have fear, which results from foul deeds in the former life or from insistent haughtiness. In the intermediate state the awareness is very flexible, so it is important to be virtuous, adopt a positive attitude and avoid negative ideas. Ideas which are rising from subconsciousness can cause extreme tempers and cowing visions. In this situation they have to understand, that these manifestations are just reflections of the inner thoughts.
No one can really hurt them, because they have no more material body. The deceased get help from different
Buddhas who show them the path to the bright light. The ones who do not follow the path after all will get hints for a better reincarnation. They have to release the things and beings on which or whom they still hang from the life before. It is recommended to choose a family where the parents trust in the
Dharma and to reincarnate with the will to care for the welfare of all beings.
Rosicrucians,
[16] in the same way of those who have had
near-death experiences, speak of a
life review period occurring immediately after death and before entering the afterlife's
planes of existence (before the
silver cord is broken), followed by a
judgment, more akin to a Final Review or End Report over one's life.
[17]
Some
Neopagans believe in personal reincarnation, whereas some believe that the energy of one's soul reintegrates with a continuum of such energy which is recycled into other living things as they are born.
Sikhs also believe in reincarnation. They believe that the soul belongs to the spiritual universe which has its origins in God. It is like a see-saw, the amount of good done in life will store up blessings, thus uniting with God.
A soul may need to live many lives before it is one with God.
See also
References
1. Spook – Science Tackles the Afterlife, , Mary, Roach, W. W. Norton & Co., 2005, ISBN 0-393-05962-6
2. Urban Legends - Reference Page (Soul man).
3. The Astonishing Hypothesis – the Scientific Search for the Soul, , Francis, Crick, Touchstone Books, 1995, ISBN 0-684-80158-2
4. The Physics of Immortality – Modern Cosmology, God and the Resurrection of the Dead, , Franl, J., Tipler, Anchor, 1997, ISBN 0385467990
5. The "God" Part of the Brain - a Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God, , Matthew, Alper, Rogue Press, 2001, ISBN 0-9660367-0-0
6. Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, , Katheryn, Bard, Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0-4151-8589-0
7. Fosdick, Harry Emerson. A guide to understanding the Bible. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1956. page 276.
8. Acts of Paul and Thecla 8:5
9. He wrote that a person "may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, ''after his departure out of the body'', he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been ''purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire''" (emphases added) - Sermon on the Dead, AD 382, quoted in The Roots of Purgatory
10. [1] The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 06 Jun. 2007.
11. Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, ''A Latin Dictionary''
12. Acts 24:15 KJV
13. ''Insight on the Scriptures'' vol. 2 pp 574-6
14. ''Reasoning From the Scriptures'' pp 168-175
15. Jehovah's Witnesses website on Hell
16. Max Heindel, The Rosicrucian Christianity Lectures (The Riddle of Life and Death), 1908, ISBN 0-911274-84-7
17. Max Heindel, Death and Life in Purgatory - Life and Activity in Heaven
Further reading
★ ''Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion'' by
Alan F. Segal, Doubleday, 2004
★ ''Brain & Belief: An Exploration of the Human Soul'' by
John J. McGraw, Aegis Press, 2004
External links
★
Is there life after death? - An Evangelical Christian perspective
★
www.spiritualtravel.org - A Tibetian Buddhist View of the Afterlife
★
What Happens When You Die? - A Luciferian's View of the Death Process and Collective Reincarnation
★
Dictionary of the History of Ideas: ''Death and Immortality''
★
Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife
★
www.yourafterlife.nu - Various Accounts of the Afterlife
★
Common problems with the concept of Heaven
★
Rosicrucians: The Light Beyond Death
★
Afterlife at
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
★
VERITAS Research Program
★ (Extensive 1878 text by
William Rounseville Alger)
★
Eternal Perspectives - Articles About Eternity from a Biblical Point of View by Randy Alcorn
★
Buddhist View of Death & Dying
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