Afterlife

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Afterlife (disambiguation).
After death, Life after death, and Hereafter redirect here. For other uses, see
After death (disambiguation), Life after death (disambiguation), and Hereafter
(disambiguation).
Part of a series on
Anthropology of religion
GuideToTheAfterlife-CustodianForGoddessAmun-AltesMuseum-Berlin.png
Ancient Egyptian papyrus depicting the journey into the afterlife.
Anonymous-Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru.jpg
Paradise of Bhaishajyaguru discovered at the Mogao Caves.
Basic concepts[hide]
Afterlife Animism Bora Communitas Comparative religion Divination Divine language
Evolutionary origin of religions Fetishism Great Spirit Henotheism Initiation
Liminality Magic Mana Monotheism Polytheism Transtheism Revitalization movement
Rite of passage Ritual Sacred language Sacredprofane dichotomy Shamanism Theories
about religions Totem Veneration of the dead
Case studies[show]
Related articles[show]
Major theorists[show]
Journals[show]
Religions[show]
Social and cultural anthropology
v t e
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death or the hereafter) is the belief
that an essential part of an individual's identity or the stream of consciousness
continues to manifest after the death of the physical body. According to various
ideas about the afterlife, the essential aspect of the individual that lives on
after death may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, of an
individual, which carries with it and may confer personal identity or, on the
contrary, may not, as in Indian nirvana. Belief in an afterlife, which may be
naturalistic or supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death.

In some popular views, this continued existence often takes place in a spiritual
realm, and in other popular views, the individual may be reborn into this world and
begin the life cycle over again, likely with no memory of what they have done in
the past. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and
over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or
Otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and
metaphysics.

Some belief systems, such as those in the Abrahamic tradition, hold that the dead
go to a specific plane of existence after death, as determined by God, or other
divine judgment, based on their actions or beliefs during life. In contrast, in
systems of reincarnation, such as those in the Indian religions, the nature of the
continued existence is determined directly by the actions of the individual in the
ended life, rather than through the decision of another being.

Contents [hide]
1 Different metaphysical models
1.1 Reincarnation
1.2 Heaven and Hell
2 Ancient religions
2.1 Ancient Egyptian religion
2.2 Ancient Greek and Roman religions
2.3 Norse religion
3 Abrahamic religions
3.1 Judaism
3.2 Christianity
3.3 Islam
3.4 Bah' Faith
4 Indian religions
4.1 Hinduism
4.2 Buddhism
4.3 Sikhism
5 Others
5.1 Traditional African religions
5.2 Shinto
5.3 Unitarian Universalism
5.4 Spiritualism
5.5 Wicca
5.6 Zoroastrianism
6 Parapsychology
7 Philosophy
7.1 Modern philosophy
7.2 Process philosophy
8 Science
9 Popular culture
9.1 Film
9.2 Television
10 See also
11 References
11.1 Notes
12 Further reading
13 External links
Different metaphysical models[edit]
Theists generally believe some type of afterlife awaits people when they die.
Members of some generally non-theistic religions tend to believe in an afterlife,
but without reference to a deity. The Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that
generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife.

Many religions, whether they believe in the soul's existence in another world like
Christianity, Islam and many pagan belief systems, or in reincarnation like many
forms of Hinduism and Buddhism, believe that one's status in the afterlife is a
reward or punishment for their conduct during life.

Reincarnation[edit]
Main article Reincarnation
Reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that an aspect of a living
being starts a new life in a different physical body or form after each biological
death. It is also called rebirth or transmigration, and is a part of the Sa?sara
doctrine of cyclic existence.[1][2] It is a central tenet of all major Indian
religions, namely Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism.[2][3][4] The idea of
reincarnation is found in many ancient cultures,[5] and a belief in
rebirthmetempsychosis was held by Greek historic figures, such as Pythagoras,
Socrates, and Plato.[6] It is also a common belief of various ancient and modern
religions such as Spiritism, Theosophy, and Eckankar and is found as well in many
tribal societies around the world, in places such as Australia, East Asia, Siberia,
and South America.[7]

Although the majority of denominations within the Abrahamic religions of Judaism,

Christianity, and Islam do not believe that individuals reincarnate, particular
groups within these religions do refer to reincarnation; these groups include the
mainstream historical and contemporary followers of Kabbalah, the Cathars,
Alawites, the Druze,[8] and the Rosicrucians.[9] The historical relations between
these sects and the beliefs about reincarnation that were characteristic of
Neoplatonism, Orphism, Hermeticism, Manicheanism, and Gnosticism of the Roman era
as well as the Indian religions have been the subject of recent scholarly research.
[10] Unity Church and its founder Charles Fillmore teach reincarnation.

Rosicrucians[11] 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.[12]

Heaven and Hell[edit]

Main articles Heaven and Hell
Heaven, the heavens, seven heavens, pure lands, Tian, Jannah, Valhalla, or the
Summerland, is a common religious, cosmological, or transcendent place where beings
such as gods, angels, jinn, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate,
be enthroned, or live. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings
can descend to earth or incarnate, and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the
afterlife, or in exceptional cases enter Heaven alive.

Heaven is often described as a higher place, the holiest place, a Paradise, in

contrast to Hell or the Underworld or the low places, and universally or
conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of
divinity, goodness, piety, faith or other virtues or right beliefs or simply the
will of God. Some believe in the possibility of a Heaven on Earth in a World to
Come.

In Indian religions, Heaven is considered as Svarga loka, and the soul is again
subjected to rebirth in different living forms according to its karma. This cycle
can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana. Any place of existence,
either of humans, souls or deities, outside the tangible world (Heaven, Hell, or
other) is referred to as otherworld.

Hell, in many religious and folkloric traditions, is a place or state of torment

and punishment in an afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict
hells as eternal destinations while Religions with a cyclic history often depict a
hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically these traditions
locate hell in another dimension or under the Earth's surface and often include
entrances to Hell from the land of the living. Other afterlife destinations include
Heaven, Purgatory, Paradise, and Limbo.