Life After Death: Afterlife Within the ealm of Ancient Greek Beliefs
The question as to what happens after death is not fathomable within human reason. As such, it remains one of the biggest mysteries of life. The belief in life after death is what keeps the hopes of the human race intact even in the face of the tragedy of death. The concept 'afterlife' appears absurd in light of rational thought yet strangely familiar. Since time immemorial, numerous theories and beliefs have emerged in bid to work out this disarray. As for Christians, there is a mainstream belief that revolves around Heaven and Hell for rewarding righteousness and punishing evil respectively. In Hinduism, the belief is that upon death, the human soul deserts the body and reincarnates in a different form based on 'actions and consequences.' In Ancient Greek religion, there was a wide range of beliefs. As it appertains to…...

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References

Buxton, R (2004). The complete World of Greek Mythology London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Fairbanks, A (1900). "The Chthonic Gods of Greek Religion" The American Journal of Philology (The Johns Hopkins University Press) 21 (3): 241 -- 259.

Long, J. B (2005) "Underworld" Encyclopedia of Religion (Macmillan Reference USA) 14: 9451 -- 9458.

Mikalson, JD (2010 Ancient Greek Religion West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

But everyone deserves their fate: 'It was with conscious knowledge that the people of this world sinned, and that is why torment awaits them'" (Nadler 54). The writer of Ezra even provides some specific guidance concerning what can be expected by on the day of judgment, with the just and righteous being guarded in silence by angels until they are presented to God but the souls of the wicked for doomed to wander aimlessly until their day of judgment to give them ample time to contemplate their wrongdoings and what is in store form them once God gets hold of them: "The soul of the just person, freed from the confines of the mortal body, will, before the final judgment, be present before God and will contemplate his being.... The souls of the wicked, on the other hand, are condemned to wander aimlessly, anticipating with dread the final sentence…...

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Works Cited

Burland, C.A. "Is There a Life After Death?" In Man, Myth & Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural, Vol. 1. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 1970.

Grabbe, Lester L. Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period: Belief and Practice from the Exile to Yavneh. London: Routledge, 2000.

Nadler, Steven. Spinoza's Heresy: Immortality and the Jewish Mind. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001.

Rayner, John D. Jewish Religious Law: A Progressive Perspective. New York: Berghahn Books, 1998.

religious views afterlife held ancient Mesopotamian ancient Egyptians
Ancient Mesopotamians believed that the world was a sphere that was divided in two parts -- one occupied by the living and one occupied by the dead. Gods were present in both environments and controlled much of what happened in the world of the living and in the world of the dead. Even with the fact that this civilization emphasized that a ferry individual carried individuals from the grave to the Underworld, there is limited information concerning what happened to dead people once they got there. Mesopotamians were generally pessimistic with regard to the afterlife and believed that it involved a horrible place where individuals would go through great pains.

In contrast to Mesopotamians, Egyptians were optimistic concerning afterlife and actually focused on preparing a deceased person in order for him or her to experience pleasurable experiences once they reached the world of…...

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Bibliography:

Cohen, Andrew C., "Death rituals, ideology, and the development of early Mesopotamian kingship: toward a new understanding of Iraq's royal cemetery of Ur," (BRILL)

Hornung, Erik, and Lorton, David, "The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife," (Cornell University Press, 1999)

Death and Afterlife
"If you believe only in an afterlife, you are restricted to a very limited, dualistic view of time. There is only 'here' and 'after.' But if life is continuous, if the soul never stops making its journey, a completely different worldview opens up" (Deepak Chopra, 2000, p. 258).

How do various religions -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism -- view the afterlife? hat are the beliefs of these faiths as to what happens when believers pass away? These questions will be addressed in this paper.

The Afterlife From the Perspective of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism

In Judaism believers use the Old Testament exclusively. In the Old Testament there are many passages that refer to the afterlife, including Job 20:26: "And when after my skin this is destroyed. Then without my flesh shall I see God" (Morse, 2005, p. 155). Another reference to the afterlife in the Old Testament comes from…...

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Works Cited

Chopra, Deepak. How to Know God: The Soul's Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2000.

Gerner, Katy. Religions of the World. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2008.

Huda. "Islam: Definition of 'Youm Al-Qiyaman.' About.com. Retrieved October 28, 2011, from 2011.http://Islam.about.com/od/heavenhell/g/qlyama.htm?p=1.

Morse, Donald R. "Can Science Prove the Soul, the Afterlife and God?" The Journal of Religion

Wang Chong and Lucretius on their beliefs of afterlife. We will also discuss how their beliefs were shaped by other philosophers of their time. Finally, we will conclude by providing an analysis of the subject matter.
ome and Lucretius

The success of the oman Empire is often attributed to the auspicious religious beliefs that permeated that society. A book entitled, The World of ome, describes the thoughts of the historian Polybius who asserted that The quality in which the oman commonwealth is most distinctly superior is in my opinion the nature of their religious convictions. I believe that what maintains the cohesion of the oman state is the very thing which among other peoples is an object of reproach: I mean superstition... It is a course which perhaps would not have been necessary had it been possible to form a state composed of wise men, but since every multitude is fickle,…...

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References

 

Art conveys the values and beliefs of a culture, including prevailing attitudes toward death and the afterlife. Often imagery associated with death and the afterlife will contain religious symbolism or iconography, because religions tend to be occupied with questions related to human mortality and the nature of the soul. Some cultures were preoccupied with preparations for death and the afterlife, and have left behind a panoply of objects testifying to their beliefs and practices. For example, Egyptian art includes richly decorated tombs, mummies, sarcophagi, and urns. Other cultures like Christianity link death directly with the role of God. European Christian art from the medieval period onwards stresses the central image of Jesus dying on the cross, and that death is either depicted in a bloody and vivid fashion or it is depicted as a spiritual transition from the mundane world to the world of the spirit. Finally, some works of…...

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References

"Canpoic Jar." Penn Museum. Retrieved online:  http://www.penn.museum/collections/object/301556 

"Egyptian Mummy." Penn Museum. Retrieved online:  http://www.penn.museum/collections/assets/201402_300.jpg 

"Funerary Plaque." Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved online:  http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/54.11.5 

"Virgin and Child." Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved online:   -- 11http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/101841.html?mulR=1695477908 

Additionally, many of the inscriptions in the temples were written in a deliberately elaborate and confusing hieroglyphic script to safeguard their meaning against those who could read standard hieroglyphs. The language in these inscriptions is one that was dead even at the time that they were being written. It was not the spoken language of the period, but a priestly revival of a much older stage of the Egyptian language. This clearly illustrates that other world myths most likely existed even prior to the Egyptians belief in the after-life.
World mythology, religion and cultural beliefs will always remain an enticing mystery, as people search and yearn for something to believe in. Death and what occurs afterwards is one of the most fascinating aspects of any religion. The beliefs of the ancient Egyptians differ from many present-day theories of what occurs after death. Most people currently believe in some form of…...

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Bibliography

Robinson, B.A. "What Happens at the time of our Death?" Religious Tolerance. 2004.

Religious Tolerance.Org. 07 Aug. 2006  http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_deat.htm .

Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Mankind's Search for God. New York: Watch

Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1990.

169)
As a result of their religious beliefs, even though not routinely practiced, the Romans, by contemporary standards, were highly superstitious. ri-malchio routinely took extreme precautions to attempt to ward away bad luck. On the other hand, Encolpius appears less superstitious, in fact, sarcastic in regard to the posting of a slave to ensure no one trips over the dining room threshold (sec. 30) (Ruden, 2000, p. 169). Animal sacrifice, another religious practice in/or Roman religion, reportedly helped secure divine favor in exchange of a gift. he animal sacrifice was generally an inedible piece of the animal. Sometimes the religious person would withhold his gift until he was assured he had his gift or that it was on the way. Encolpius, for example, does not automatically make a sacrifice, but names animals he will sacrifice to Priapus "once he gets his virility back (sec. 133)" (Ruden, 2000, p. 169). When…...

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The traditional Roman religion did not provide an-swers to life questions for the ancients, while the philosophical religions, reportedly did provide some answers. During Petronius' time, Stoicism and Epicureanism rivaled each other for the hearts and minds of men. Sto-icism would win. Stoicism, founded in Athens about 300 B.C.E. By Zeno of Citium, constituted the practice of being enduring, Those who were stoic mastered suffering, as well as their emotions for what they perceived as higher cause.

This practical prescription of the ancient belief system included the following logic: "To be virtuous is to live according to the will of God (a monotheistic lan-guage was used), which is manifested in nature. If one observes nature, it is plain that God decrees constant change" (Ruden, 2000, p. 185). The Romans perceived that to harmonize with na-ture, one became compliant with change, yet did not seek positive change. This religious practice, in turn fostered numbness; permitting a myriad of things to be sought, including "health, material well-being, human relationships, honor) and avoided (illness, poverty, loneliness, shame) but purists insisted that the only really important attainment was controlling one's attachments (Ibid, p. 186).

Controlling ones attachments contributed to the "perfect" Stoic. Their detachment reportedly mimicked the detachment some perceived God to possess. In the afterlife, they claimed one who had become the perfect Stoic sage could achieve unity with God. Suicide to stoics served as a religious act, in which the person signified the human will's ultimate transcendence over circumstance. In general, due to various be-liefs about the person's soul and the value placed on honor, Ro-mans were somewhat tolerant of suicide. They considered it a great evil to defend themselves. In doing

Schwartz happens to be a Gemini, but John had a one in twelve chance of getting that one right. John continues to take stabs at guessing more about Gary Schwartz's family, guesses that are completely and probably deliberately vague. Not only could the mediums be making wild and general guesses but they could have also acquired information through traditional sources or nonverbal cues. For example, the medium might have known beforehand that Schwartz's birthday fell during the Gemini month, and that his mother's name contained the letter "S" in it. Barring such obvious fraud, guesswork seems as plausible an explanation as any other.
Schwartz fields accusations of fraud at several points in his book. One of his rebuttals is that "mediums need not be perfect," they just have to be better than everyone else (54). In fact, Schwartz designed all of his studies with this premise in mind, using a…...

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Works Cited

Hyman, Ray. "How Not to Test Mediums: Critiquing the Afterlife Experiments." Sceptical Inquirer. Jan 2003. Published online by Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Retrieved 26 Nov 2004.  http://www.csicop.org/si/2003-01/medium.html .

Schwartz, Gary. The Afterlife Experiments. New York: Pocket, 2002.

eligious Studies
The world's spiritual traditions and religious practices have major groupings. However, in these groupings there is no uniformity of practice. Various religions have different culture and ways of practice. This practice began in the 18th century as developing civilized societies. Different cultures of the world have had an influence on the religious beliefs of the people. For example, Hinduism borrows from the Indian culture, Islam from Muslim culture and Taoism from particular cultures in china. Traditionally, scholars of religion recognized the fact that, different religious beliefs have the same philosophy of searching for the truth. It may argue that religion is an act of worship given to God irrespective of religion.

Overview of Christianity and Islam

Christianity as a religion teaches salvation from sin. The religion also teaches issues of eternal life, physical death as well as the resurrection of Jesus Christ the messiah. The religion began as a missionary religion…...

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References

Van Voorst, R.E. (2006). Anthology of world scriptures. Belmont: Cengage Learning.

Hume and the Lack of a Causal Link Between Our Known Experiences and the Existence of a Supreme Being
The "here and now": That is what concerns David Hume. There is simply no value in discussing such amorphous intangibles as one can infer from "the course of nature." More precisely, humans -- of them, philosophers -- cannot and should not be enticed to "regulate" their "conduct" by parameters such as the afterlife or God. Hume grounds his thinking in causality -- specifically the lack of causal link between "the experienced train of events" and the existence of a perfect being.

To understand Hume's view that contemplations of God are "uncertain and useless," one has to begin with Hume's philosophical methods. Hume is an empiricist philosopher. Hume works to bring the rigors of scientific methodology to the otherwise more fluid process of philosophical reasoning. The critical lynchpin here is Hume's distinction between matters…...

It can be argued that they have no way of knowing the outcome of their reactions. And indeed, nor does Chris. What differentiates Chris from the rest of the crew is the love he feels for Rheya. Love in the end is the essential force that enables him to forgive both Rheya and himself, and in the end love both redeems and kills him. This dichotomy furthers the ineffability of both death and the god force symbolized by Solaris.
Chris chooses to remain on the doomed station rather than face further life without Rheya on earth. He has no way of knowing what the outcome will be and most likely believes that he will simply die. His "redemption" is therefore not based upon faith, but rather upon the love emotion. Emotion in this case takes the place of faith in redemptive force. Furthermore, his "afterlife" entails life with his love…...

Modern Protestantism tends more to suggest that salvation is purely the work of God, and that the human need only accept salvation and all past and present sins will be forgiven, requiring them to do nothing more to be saved. In this schema, good works are merely acts of devotion. In either case, the death of Christ provides forgiveness for sins, and the soul which has been forgiven is upon death taken into heaven where it is purified and allowed to live eternally in luxury thereafter. The only downside, here, is that one has only one life in which to accept Christ. Anyone failing to do so in that time, is sentenced to never-ending punishment and pain.
The uddhist idea or Enlightenment, on the other hand, leads to a Nirvana which is the cessation of pain and suffering and one-ness with the universe. This enlightenment comes from the individual learning…...

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Bibliography

Chandra, Summet. "Allah and Krishna are the Same Person." Prabhupada Hare Krishna News Network, http://religion.krishna.org/Articles/2000/10/00184.html

Names of Paradise," Al-Islam. http://dictionary.al-islam.com/

Robinson, B.A. "Introduction to Islam" Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.   &  http://www.religioustolerance.org/isl_intr1.htm http://www.religioustolerance.org/isl_intr.htm 

Robinson, B.A. "BUDDHISM: Comparison of Buddhism & Christianity" Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.  http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism4.htm

Thus, Sam argues that although the world often seems unjust (and is filled with innumerable instances of evil), yet P. is solved through the belief that every condition (good, in this case) necessitates an equal and opposite condition (evil, as it were.) However, Gretchen counters by asking whether those who behave in an evil way are ever punished for their transgressions, and whether there is any motivation for people to not simply act in their own best interests, whether or not this involves behaving in an immoral manner. Sam's rejoinder appeals to the afterlife as the site in which the importance of morality becomes manifest: "But the doctrine of an afterlife, in whatever form, says that this isn't the whole story" (47). However, Sam disregards the fact that God is purported to pardon many sinners, which would ostensibly mean that he regularly pardons instances of injustice.

The dialogue between Sam and…...

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References

Anselm. Proslogium. Trans. S.N. Deane. Internet History Sourcebook. Fordham University, Aug. 1998. 10 Sep. 2012. Retrieved from  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/anselm-intro.asp .

Aquinas, T. Summa of Theology. Trans. B.P. Copenhaver. Publisher Unknown, 2005.

Hopkins, J. A New Interpretation of Anselm's Monologion and Proslogion. Minneapolis: Arthur J. Banning Press, 1986.

Hume, D. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Unknown Publisher, 1779.

Dante
One of the great ironies of Dante's Inferno is the centrality of earth-bound fame, moral reputation, praise and blame. The importance of reputation would seem to contradict Virgil's efforts in leading Dante through Purgatory to impart a more meaningful moral message. Yet it is important to remember that Dante travels alive; Virgil's lessons are instructive in a direct and practical manner. Dante ascertains life lessons from those he encounters in the afterlife, so that he may improve his prospects for earthbound fame. The importance of fame seems paradoxical when considered in light of the transitory nature of existence. However, Purgatory presents the consequences of a poor public relations scheme. Investment in moral reputation has the potential to strengthen The Divine Comedy's overarching pretensions, by linking the importance of one's earthly life to the life beyond.

Dante makes it clear that reputation does not necessarily have to be pristine to be good;…...

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Work Cited

Alighieri, Dante. Inferno. Retrieved online:  http://www.bartleby.com/hc/

I. Introduction
A. Definition of life after death
B. Brief overview of different beliefs and explanations
C. Thesis statement: Despite varying beliefs, there is no concrete evidence of life after death

II. Religious beliefs
A. Christianity
1. Belief in heaven and hell
2. Resurrection of the body
B. Islam
1. Belief in an afterlife
2. Reckoning of deeds on Judgement Day
C. Hinduism
1. Concept of reincarnation
2. Karma and rebirth

III. Scientific perspectives
A. Near-death experiences
1. Accounts of individuals who claim to have seen a glimpse of the afterlife
2. Criticism of NDEs as....

I. Introduction

Hook: Begin with an intriguing question, anecdote, or thought-provoking statement to capture the reader's attention.
Thesis Statement: Clearly state your stance on the existence of life after death, providing a brief overview of the arguments you will present.

II. Body Paragraph 1: Arguments Supporting Life After Death

Discuss cultural and religious beliefs that suggest the existence of an afterlife, highlighting common themes and variations.
Cite evidence from religious texts, rituals, and traditions that support the idea of life beyond the physical realm.
Provide examples of near-death experiences, out-of-body experiences, and reincarnation cases that are often interpreted as evidence of....

Plato's Theory of Forms

Plato's theory of forms is one of the most influential and widely-studied philosophical theories in Western history. It is a complex and multifaceted theory, but at its core, it is the idea that there is a realm of perfect, eternal, and unchanging Forms that exist independently of the physical world. These Forms are the true essence of things, and the physical world is merely a shadow or copy of the Forms.

Essay Topics:

Plato's theory of Forms: An overview and analysis.
The relationship between the Forms and the physical world.
The role of the Forms in Plato's epistemology....

1. The influence of Greek mythology on Chaucer’s "The Canterbury Tales" and Boccaccio’s "The Decameron"
2. The portrayal of Greek gods and goddesses in Chaucer and Boccaccio’s works
3. The role of fate and destiny in Greek mythology and its connection to the themes of love and tragedy in Chaucer and Boccaccio’s writings
4. Comparing and contrasting the use of Greek mythological figures in Chaucer’s and Boccaccio’s works
5. The significance of classical allusions and references to Greek mythology in the literary techniques of Chaucer and Boccaccio
6. The role of heroism and epic narratives in Chaucer and Boccaccio’s works, drawing parallels to Greek mythological....