Sorry to be the messenger of negative news, but one day, you will die.
This inescapable truth of existence has captivated our imaginations since the dawn of the written word and has worked wonders for religious establishments. Indeed, the promise of an afterlife reward is paramount to many teachings, dangled as a threat to herd the masses towards moral decisions while obeying obscure practices. It’s an impressive technique when considering the vast lack of proof.
Let’s skim over our options and see which we prefer. But choose wisely! Death is forever!
1. Reincarnation
The idea that our spiritual essence is repeatedly rebirthed into new physical forms is central to Dharmic religions. The most recognisable of these are Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. The details vary substantially between each system but usually involve the karmic law. Here, the good or bad actions of the individual determine the quality of their subsequent transmigration.
These rebirths are often not limited to Earth; for example, Buddhism identifies six realms of Saṃsāra existence, including separate domains for gods, animals, and hungry ghosts.
Many devotees claim that one can recall past lives. However, the Japanese new religion Tenrikyo teaches this is impossible. They state that memories are stored in the brain, which is simply an organic tissue left behind upon death.
Meanwhile, the new American religious movement, Nuwaubian Nation, explains the reincarnation process more clearly. Apparently, it occurs when the corpse turns to dust and a pregnant mother inhales those particles, fusing with the developing child. Ok then!
2. Paradise
Slide over to the west, and magical places await us after our demise.
The story goes that our souls will retain our consciousness and will be sent to areas corresponding to our Earthly acts. Our Abrahamic friends in Christianity and Islam popularised the notion, but it predates them through numerous mythologies. In Ancient Egypt, a heart was weighed against a feather. In Ancient Greek, three kings, namely King Minos, Aeacus, and Radamanthus, perform the critique.
Those who behave morally will be rewarded with access to Paradise. What this entails depends on who you speak to, but it usually includes:
- Liberation from suffering.
- An abundance of wealth.
- Eternal youth.
- Conversing with prophets.
- Reunion with lost loved ones.
The Quran throws in rivers of pure milk and honey for good measure. However, the Islamic holy book does not mention 72 virgins anywhere in its text. Sorry to disappoint!
The Heaven of Jehovah’s Witnesses is stricter. God will only permit 144,000 humans to enter His kingdom, which He established in 1914. I’m unsure I’ll make the cut.
3. Hell
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” — Revelation [21:8]
Dropping down from the glory of Heaven, we have the other place. Christianity and Islam perpetuate visions of screaming souls tortured by flames. But other faiths, like Tibetan Buddhism, depict the area as unbearably cold.
That said, none of these nightmares are worse than the joke religion Pastafarianism. In their Hell, all beer is stale, and their strippers are riddles with STIs. Oh, the horror!
4. Neutral State
Between the Heaven and Hell opposites lies a secret third place (or places).
One instance of this intermediate condition would be on the way to judgement. Souls cross into the afterlife using various methods, such as the Chinvat Bridge (Zoroastrianism) or the River Styx (Greek mythology). In Christian texts, there’s Purgatory, where spirits are purified and offered a path of redemption into Paradise. Wiccans, Neopaganists, and Theosophists alike speak of The Summerland, a happy realm where virtuous people can enjoy themselves between incarnations.
A smattering of faiths offer a special world for humans who are neither good nor bad. Ancient Greece accepted that most of us fall into this category and end up in the bland Asphodel Meadows, where we lose all identity. Catholicism speaks of a Limbo that recognises the unfairness of punishing certain unsaved souls. Examples include those who died before Jesus’ time and babies who perished before baptism.
The ancient Aztecs were even more specific. They offered different realms for different fates, such as women that died during childbirth or people who drowned. Conversely, Mesopotamian religions claimed that the afterlife was neither a place of punishment nor reward. Instead, every person went to the same Great Below. This conclusive dimension was considered worse than the beforelife, where souls resided in darkness and ate only dust and clay.
5. Return to the Source
By merging the paradise and reincarnation results, we find concepts like nirvana (Buddhism) or moksha (Hinduism). It is the ultimate goal of Dharmic religions: to escape the cyclic suffering and return to the divine.
Neoplatanism teaches that the world comes from and returns to the first principle of reality, known as The One. Indigenous Australians believe that the dead are absorbed into the unmanifested Dreamtime, often associated with the spirit of their native land. Turko-Mongolic religion Tengrism ticks every box, stating each human soul consists of different parts. Some of these segments reincarnate, while others rejoin nature, never to be reborn.
It is worth noting that certain Abrahamic religions dabble with these theories too. For example, Islamic mysticism, Sufism, believes in Fana whereby they shed the human ego and unite (Tawhid) with Allah. Baháʼí Faith views Heaven and Hell as symbolic representations of one’s closer proximity to God. Similarly, famed Christian theologist St. Augustine of Hippo taught that the absence of God is the true Hell, a religio-philosophy most likely inspired by Hermeticism or Neoplatanism.
6. Haunting
Spooky ghosts pestering the living is not just a horror movie subgenre. It is a core sentiment of many cultures. For example, those shamanistic religions that communicate with the essence of ancestors by performing rituals to appease these spirits. Subscribing theologies include traditional African diasporas and the Japanese Shintoism.
More mainstream doctrines teach of troubled ghosts trapped in our reality too. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism openly report such disturbances. And, of course, sometimes these spirits possess the living, which is prevalent in almost every religion’s narrative, including Christianity.
7. Simulation Theory
From the Indian philosophy of Maya to the Ayah al-Hadid in the Quran, you don’t have to seek far to uncover the popular idea that reality is but an illusion.
“And what is the worldly life except the enjoyment of delusion.” – Ayah al-Hadid [57:20]
In modern times, the suggestion that we live in a computer-generated world has developed various branches. Matrixism is based on The Matrix movie franchise, while conspiracy theorist David Icke reckons the moon controls our minds. Sure thing!
So perhaps when we die, they remove the VR goggles, and then we enter the next level of the game? Sounds fun.
8. Whatever You Want
Using the ultimate cop-out, some opinions state that the individual mind manifests the afterlife they most believe through visualisation. Another variation is that there are infinite astral planes, meaning there’s enough space for every eternity to logically exist. Religions that evade commitment include multiple New Age practitioners, a handful of shamanic traditions, and the esoterics of Theosophy.
9. Who Knows? Probably Nothing
Irreligion is the rejection of religion and the tales that go with it. Atheists swear that nothing happens after death. Agnostics correctly point out that we cannot provably know anything. But some doctrinal denominations are similarly inclined.
Judaistic texts are remarkably vague about the afterlife. They talk of Sheol as a place of darkness where the soul persists, but that’s the end of it.
Theravada Buddhism believes in reincarnation, but our personal consciousness ceases to exist upon passing, and therefore no awareness is involved.
There are also atheistic branches of otherwise theistic religions. Christian Atheism follows only the practices taught by Jesus and discards the rest of the Bible. Meanwhile, Hindu atheists reject personal gods and reincarnation cycles but follow the Vedic philosophies as symbolic guidance. No harm done!
10. Forget the Afterlife! Focus on Your Current Life!
Finally, we have systems that consider death musings a waste of our mental gifts. Instead, why not maximise the days we live now? Confucianism states that this life is enough. Korean religious movement Cheondoism aims to create Paradise on Earth. And while the schools of Taoism argue over hereafter details, some scholars believe one can achieve immortality using internal and external alchemy. So look into that if you’d like to stick around.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In