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Sunday 10 July 2011

Afterlife

Most people in the world believe you go to another place after you die, such as heaven or hell. Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe in this.


Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile was a causeway from life to death to afterlife as they thought people’s spirit traveled down the Nile after they perished.

Garlic, watermelons along with other food were often placed in the burial tombs of Egyptian kings to nourish them in the afterlife.

Though much of ancient Egypt's culture has been preserved, hardly any of its homes survived. This was not accidental; Egyptians built their dwellings of perishable material. All that mattered to them was life after death and thus the home of the dead was their chief concern.

The Ancient Greeks did not believe in life after death. Theocrates wrote: "There is hope for those who are still alive, but those who have died are without hope."

Ancient Greek writers like Aristotle viewed death as the withdrawal of faculties such as growth, sensation, locomotion, and intellect. These were governed by the 'soul' which had distinct parts responsible for the various faculties. The soul also had an immortal entity. which continued to exist after death.

Ancient Romans believed good behavior in life meant living with gods after death,

The Roman writer Pliny believed that the souls of the dead resided in beans.

Christians believe that if you accept Jesus of Nazareth as your savior, you will spend eternity in heaven after death; if you do not accept him, you will be separated from him after death.

Domenico Beccafumi's Inferno: a Christian vision of hell

Some religions believe in reincarnation (to come back to life as a different person or even animal). These religions include mainly Buddhism and Hinduism.

Hinduism specifically believes that at death the soul leaves the physical body. But the soul does not die. It lives on in a subtle body called the astral body. The astral body exists in a non physical dimension called the astral plane. Here the soul continues to have experiences until it is born again in another physical body as a baby.

On the British interview television programme Face to Face, John Freeman asked the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung if he believed in life after death. Jung pondered for a moment, then with great humility replied: "I don't believe, I know."

There are also those who do not believe that there is an afterlife, and that you simply cease to exist once you die. Atheism is based on refusal of the existence of a God and even in an afterlife.

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