Life After Death
Introduction classical point of departure in defining Death seems to be Life itself. Death is perceived either as a cessation of Life - or as a "transit area," on the way to a continuation of Life by other means. While the former presents a disjunction, the latter is a continuum, Death being nothing but a corridor into another plane of existence (the hereafter). A logically more rigorous approach would be to ask "Who Dies" when Death occurs. In other words, the identity of the Dying (it which "commits" Death) is essential in defining Death.
Those of a religious nature would argue that we are far more than that; they would argue that we have a soul. A soul is, for a layperson hard to imagine. How do you describe it? It is not something that we can detect, it is a spiritual thing without any physical substance, and it is this that supposedly lives on after our mortal bodies have died. So where is the soul while we are alive? It can be assumed that it must reside in the brain, as that is where we reside. It can also be assumed that when the brain dies the soul is released. That being the case the soul is able to survive without the need of a body, it is obviously independent of the body. So why does it need a body in the first place? Perhaps it needs a body to develop and is unable to leave it until the body dies.
We can alter our life today simply by learning not to fear death. And by fearing death less we discover that we live life more! Shakespeare comments on this in Julius Caesar:
It seems to me most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."
Gladys Hunt, in her book, Don't Be Afraid To Die, says, "Psychiatrists are now saying that death is the most important question of our time and that fear of death festers a variety of psychoses... Some psychiatrists believe a massive panic over death pervades young and old alike in our culture."
What about people who are dying? How does their fear of death limit their remaining months, weeks or days? Does it limit their remaining life experience due to a fear of accelerating their death? Does it distract them from their experience with loved-ones due to a fearful focus on death? And is it possible that our fear of death negatively affects our ability to heal from life- threatening, although not yet terminal, illnesses and conditions? Although we may never know the answers to these questions, there is no question that people's fear of death only adds to there suffering with a multitude of effects.
Facing death is raw and scary both for the person dying and for the loved ones close to the one who is passing on. Relating from the heart as separation nears is profoundly intimate and often terrifying. Some people ask to have no contact with their loved ones as they die because it is too painful to feel the emotional bond or the other person's pain and loss. Likewise, the one(s) being left may also disconnect in order to escape heart or soul wrenching pain.
Psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Moody, in his classic book Life After Life, has pioneered in showing us that consciousness continues after death. His new work, under way, is truly remarkable. His subjects sit in a dimly lit room, focusing relaxed concentration on a mirror slightly above them (so they won't see their reflection). Eighty percent of the time, they are able to perceive those on the other side. Remarkably, some of the experimenters have witnessed those from the other side, the dear departed, actually step forward from the mirror! (This was a personal communication).
All the prophets of God called their people to worship God and to believe in life after death. They laid so much emphasis on the belief in life after death that even a slight doubt in it meant denying God and made all other beliefs meaningless. The very fact that all the prophets of God have dealt with this metaphysical question of life after death so confidently and so uniformly - the gap between their ages being thousands of years - goes to prove that the source of their knowledge of life after death as proclaimed by them all, was the same, i.e., Divine revelation. We also know that these prophets of God were greatly opposed by their people, mainly on the issue of life...
Life After Death Bertrand Russel presents a logical argument against the existence of a continuous human soul that would survive after the death of the body. Stating that "the continuity of a human body is a matter of appearance and behavior, not of substance," Russel argues that because our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are inextricably bound with the body, those very thoughts, feelings, and behaviors perish as the body does (89).
Life After Death Is there such a thing as life after death? This is a question which has attracted the attention of philosophers, scientists, and religions for centuries. The difficulty with the question of life after death is that there exists no genuine persuasive proof on the question one way or another: attempts to prove the phenomenon are seldom universally persuasive. In examining some realms in which the question of life
Life After Death Different Cultures LIFE AFTER DEATH What Lies Beyond Death Islam Islam was founded in 622 A.D by Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) in the Holy city of Makkah. It developed in the Middle East in the 7th century and according to Islamic Encyclopedia, Islam is one of the major and widely spread religions of the world (Campo, 2009). The Holy Book of Muslims, "Quran" states that this life is a trial,
Life and Death and Freud and Nietzsche What are the similarities between Plato's concept of life after death and the early Christian concept of life after death? How did later Christians combine these concepts? What is the evidence that Jesus came back to life after execution? Plato is often considered as one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived. He wrote about the concepts of justice and social order, of moral right
It is impossible for science to "overtake" the light but not impossible for humans to experience it. While light is pleasing, it is not lasting for the poet. When it is no longer present, what remains is something that is almost opposite to light. The poet describes the experience as a "quality of loss / Affecting our content, / As Trade had suddenly encroached / Upon a Sacrament" (17-20).
All of these scenes indicate that there might be little more than nothing after life. This poem allows us to see that Dickinson was not happy with accepting the traditional attitudes toward death and dying. Another poem that examines death is "The Bustle in the House." Again, we see death is uneventful. Elizabeth Piedmont-Marton claims that in Dickinson's poetry, "the moment of death seems often less momentous than ordinary" (Piedmont-Marton)
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