Life after Death

Our earthly life will end one day because by their very nature Physical thing will perish for human
beings; the prospect of life after death is a desirable one for a number of reasons. Its because we
are scared of death making us sad and frightened. We also believe that there has to be something
beyond this life which gives importance to our limited earthly life therefore potentials can be
achieved in short period of time.
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame
and everlasting contempt
From religious point of view life is holy and precious (the sanctity of life) therefore it is difficult to
think of something valuable (life) ending so quickly which will fulfil our relationships with God.
For those who believe in post-mortem existence, the most important issue is that what exactly
survives death and lives on. This depends on what is meant by a person and the key to this is to
understand the relationships between mind and the body.
Theories of the body-mind relationships can be divided in two categories, monistic and dualistic
theories.
In dualism a human being is a body and a soul that can be separated. Human beings are souls/minds
and bodies that are distinct with only one part, the immortal soul, surviving after death. In monism a
person is a psychophysical unity. Mind/soul and body cannot be separated and the mind or soul
cannot survive without body. The materialist will argue that all human experiences can be explained
entirely by physical existence and will generally conclude that there can be no life after death.
However, the traditional Christian belief of bodily resurrection is a monist view, for both soul and
body are raised to an eternal life together as previewed in the resurrection of Jesus.

Dualism
Plato held a dualist view of human beings. The human body is inhabited by an immortal soul. The
soul has its origin and ultimate destiny in the world of Forms, and like the Forms it is deathless and
indissoluble. Plato gives as evidence the apparent foreknowledge of students of mathematical
concepts such as algebra. Knowledge is acquired by the soul in the world of the Forms and not
entirely lost when the soul enters the human body. Thus all true knowledge is recollection.
Descartes presents the classic dualist argument in his meditations. Descartes considers that he can
envision himself without a body, doubting its existence, but he could not deny that he was a thinking
being. He concludes that he must exist (cogito ergo sum) and that as the body can be doubted and
the soul cannot, then body and soul must be distinct.
Swinburne agrees. If X can be without Y then X and Y are distinct. This ties in with how we talk about
ourselves e.g. 'we have bodies' - the bodies change over time but 'we' can be the same. So we can
operate/think without any bodily signal. So our language seems to subscribe to this distinction.
Descartes believes that it is not clear what it would mean for a disembodied soul to survive death.
No mind to think, no body to move, no senses to experience. H.H. Price has attempted to explore if
it might be possible by making comparisons to dreaming. In dreams we experiences including desires
and emotions. So a life after death could exist as a dream world of memories, carried with us from
life.

Monism
Monism maintains that a human being cannot be divided into body and soul. Aristotle rejected
Plato's dualism. He wrote about body and soul but the soul was not a separate thing but the
potentialities of a thing, what its nature intends it to be. It is the form of every plant or animal (like a
blueprint or specification), and so is not separable from the matter whose form it defines.
At death the body dies. For the soul to survive death it must receive a new body, or the old body
must at some stage be restored to life. This leaves a gap, either in time or in continuity. How then
can we know if the new body and soul is the same person? This depends on what makes us a person.
John Hick developed 'Replica Theory' from this concept. He argues that if I disappeared and a replica
of me appeared elsewhere, we would, after much examination, conclude it was me. Similarly,
assume a person dies on earth and a perfect replica appears in heaven, it would be the same person.
'I exist as a psycho-physical being exactly like the being I was before death though now existing in
a different space'
For John Hick, everyone must appear in heaven at exactly the age they die on earth. He suggests
they then grow younger to their perfect age.
Bernard Williams argues that replication is not satisfactory, because it would be possible then to
replicate more than one new 'person'. Which would be me? He suggests that the criterion for being
the same person must be physical continuity. However, this is equally open to the problem of
reduplication. David Wiggins suggests that as a man can survive with half a brain after a severe
accident, then a brain could be split into two.

Reincarnation
As rivers flow to their rest in the ocean and there leave behind them name and form, so the knower,
liberated from name and form, reaches that divine Person beyond the beyond (Chandogya
Upanishad).
Wandering of souls, also called reincarnation, is the rebirth in another body (after physical death) of
some critical part of a persons personality or spirit. The claim is that reincarnated people remember
previous lives or even show similar physical marks from their previous life. Within Hinduism, life and
death are regarded as part of the cycle of existence. A person lives out their then, on death, their
soul, as the conscious character and memory-bearing self, is reborn again in another body. This cycle
goes through many lives until the soul achieves ultimate reality (nirvana) and is united with
Brahman.
The soul is not only reincarnated on earth. The soul has to face the consequences of the good and
bad deeds (karma) done on earth. However, these realms do not lead the soul on to nirvana. It is
only physical body on earth that the soul has the freedom but for it to discover the path to
perfection it has to go through repeated physical lives.
Rebirth
Buddhist believe in Rebirth because of three noble truths that are Anicca (everything changes),
Anitta (No permanent self) and Dukkha (suffering). Most important among these is the doctrine of
anatta (no soul). The Buddha taught that everything is composite, that is, temporary and
impermanent (anicca) and that all the existence is there unsatisfactory, imperfect and vulnerable to
evil (dukkha). The Buddha taught that rebirths on earth need not be as human beings. A rebirth
could be in a particular form to teach a quality that is missing. For example, an angry or impatient
person may be reborn as a tree to teach them to be still and wait. In the book of Gradual Saying, he
declared that more numerous are those beings who, deceasing as men, are reborn in Purgatory,
who are reborn in the wombs of animals, who are reborn in the Realm of Ghosts.

Resurrection
Bodily resurrection is an important concept in monotheistic traditions. It is based on the notion that,
at some future date (sometimes called Judgement Da), god. Through an act of divine love, it will
restore the dead to eternal life in bodily form.
Quran says does man think that we shall not assemble is bone, yes surely ys. We are able to
restore even his fingertips (3:4).
Muslims believe that, upon dying, a person enters an intermediate phase of life between death and
resurrection. Many events take place in this new world, such as the trial of the grave, where
everyone will be questioned by angels about their religion, prophet, and Lord. The grave is a garden
of paradise or a pit of hell; angels of mercy visit the souls of believers and angels of punishment
come for the unbelievers. People will be resurrected into their original physical bodies from their
graves, thereby entering the third and final phase of life.