Afterlife
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| “ | Let's do some living, after we die... | ” |
| —Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, "Wild Horses" | ||
Afterlife usually refers to some form of "life after death". This could be "eternal life", "reincarnation", or something more abstract or weird. Common to most versions of an afterlife is that believers maintain there is a "soul" that outlives the material body. This "soul" is believed to be a spiritual part of the body that will live forever (or at least for a very long time) without the need for a specific body.
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[edit] History
Many, though not all, religions have some sort of belief of this nature. The Old Testament writings prior to the importation of Greek ideas into the Levant say nothing about an afterlife, and in fact Ecclesiastes says For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. This idea quickly became supplanted by the idea that believers will live on in heaven. As this is considerably more reassuring to those who fear death, it survived and propogated as a religious meme.
[edit] Reasons for popularity
As stated before, the concept of an afterlife is a very popular and widespread meme within religion and spirituality. As the primary purpose of religious belief seems to be about giving reassurance and meaning, the idea that there is yet more to be discovered and experienced outside the mortal and physical world is undoubtedly very attractive. Many people may easily look at life, see how crap it really is, and wonder "is this it?" - hence expanding life to another realm or another life beyond may seem like a very comforting thing to believe in. Humans and other animals fundamentally fear death, it's what keeps us alive long enough to procreate so it's natural and expected for people to be curious and quizzical about what happens after life. The end of consciousness and eternal true nothingness seems disheartening and scary. The afterlife concept goes some way to curing this fear.
[edit] Where you spend it
The afterlife in religion is also linked intricately with reward and punishment. In Christianity there is heaven for the good and righteous and hell for the evil and homosexuals. Heaven is often peaceful and blissful... and fundamentally boring. Therefore it is often the fear of hell rather than the attractiveness of heaven that keeps Christian believers in line.
In fact in Christianity the eternal punishments are remarkably gruesome and inventively sadistic - with both medieval and modern depictions of hell (that are notably not found in the Bible) showing brimstone, burning and torture for the pleasure of Satan himself. Though it must be admitted that even if they did exist in the Bible would to nothing to enhance their credibility.
There are many other versions of the reward and punishment meme though. Klingons have Sto'Vo'Kor for the honorable and Gre'Thor for the dishonorable. Meanwhile, in contrast to the Christian eternal boredom, paradise for (male) muslims sounds like one long party with a never-ending string of willing Houris.
Those who do not believe in an afterlife often rationalize the afterlife as being tortuously unending. Remember that eternity isn't just a few years, but an eternity upon eternity. Eternal life would be meaningless, and atheists and others who do not share a fondness of the afterlife like to point out that life is given more meaning because it is finite. If there turns out to be no afterlife, it would be a waste of the one life we have if we spent it just trying to get to heaven and nothing more.
[edit] It's so good, you can bet on it
The also afterlife plays a key role in Pascal's Wager, which contrasts the infinite gain of heaven (by believing) and the infinite loss of hell (for not believing) in an effort to show faith in God is favorable.
[edit] See also
[edit] Eternal links External links
- Afterlife Telegrams: Have your message delivered to a dearly departed loved one. For $5 per word [1] you can have a terminally ill person memorize your message and "attempt to" deliver it to a dead person's soul when they "meet" them.
- THE SCIENTIFIC PROOF OF SURVIVAL AFTER DEATH This respected website gives no evidence about any afterlife, they refer to "scientific documents" from the nineteenth century, etc., without giving enough evidence so a reader can judge them.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ It's either a donation or a fee, they haven't decided.