Since the beginning of human life on Earth, one question has bothered our society more than anything else. This question, as easiest as it might sound, is the one question that had driven our society more and more towards new ideas, new inventions, and new perspectives. Is the one question that while trying to give an answer to it, has defined us: from reasonable to unreasonable, from the most intelligent creation that has ever walked on the face of the Earth, to simply: beasts Man, by nature, is a curious being, always wondering, always asking, and always searching for one thing that he does not have, for one thing that he does not know. Always why and how and what. These questions has driven human society to the edge, only to know that there is something more, only to know that no man can know everything, no man can learn everything, no man can have everything. Despite giving a bunch of answers to the matter and at the same time the inability to give a proper one which would have satisfied everyone, humanity, is still in search for the real truth. Is there life after death? Does our existence ceased once we stop breathing? Do we experience a rebirth, or do we go someplace else? The quest for answering these questions is still on going and humanity will never stop wondering what is his purpose here on Earth and beyond. Throughout ages different explanation were provided, form ancient scriptures, to religions perspectives, from scientific proofs to real life experiences, all of them tried to give the proper answer, but as society evolved so did the answers. As new explanation did come to life, the old ones seemed more and more unreasonable. As I try to cite them all, I will also try to shed some light about our fate, but even though this is impossible I will let you to be the judges of that. In ancient times the perception of afterlife played a very important role in Egyptian society, as well as in both Roman and Greek one. According to Egyptian scriptures of the time, when a person dies parts of his body know as Ka and Ba would go to the Kingdom of the Dead, while his soul would wander in the Fields of Aaru, the Egyptian heaven. (Wallais,
1906). Egyptian also believed that only a mummified body lying on a coffin was entitled to have an afterlife. (Bard, 1999). The Greek and the Romans had the same belief system about life after death.
According to Greek Mythology, Hermes the messenger of the Gods, would take the soul of a person to the House of Hades, named after the Greek God of the Underworld, and would leave the soul on the River Styx. This place was known as the place between life and death. Once the river was crossed the soul would be judged by the King of Minos and would be send to Elysium, Tartarus or the Fields of Punishment. The Romans shared the same ideas but with different names, for example Hades the King of the Underworld according to the
Greek mythology, was known to the Romans as Pluto. While mythology is old and remains mystic to us, different contemporary religions are somehow more reliable for the man of the 21st century. Judaism, the religion of more than 14 million people around the world, gives different interpretation to the afterlife through its different books. According to writings that were latter incorporated to Tanakh, the Jewish bible, She’ol is the place of the dead. Solomon states in the book of Ecclesiastes: “All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust.” Western interpretation of the name
She’ol, also based on Solomon scripture, tells that it is a place deep into the Earth. The
Talmud gives another interpretation, which is that after death the soul is brought to judgment, and those who have lived a pure life will enter into the World to Come and sinners will enter
Gehenna a place for the purification of the soul. Another perspective for the afterlife according to Judaism is Reincarnation, even though we do not have any example in the
Talmud for this, reincarnation is strongly emphasized by rabbis throughout the world.
(Buber, 1928). Two other religious, both based on Judaism, Christianity and Islam, shared the same ideas about the afterlife. According to Christian scriptures, as well as in Islamic one, people after their death go either to heaven or hell. In Islamic belief are known as Jannat and Jahannam. Once they are dead their soul will be judged and the righteous and those who are free of sin will go to paradise, those who are judge as carrying mortal sins will go to hell. Earthly life is only a temporary one; it is only a test for those who want to enter Heaven’s gate and worship their creator eternally. In Western and Middle Eastern civilization, the perception for the afterlife is quite the same, you either go to heaven or hell. But in Eastern religions such perception is not acceptable. In Hinduism according to Bhagavat Gita a book of Hindu religion, after one’s death the soul gets rid of the old body and finds a new one. In Hindu belief the body is nothing but a shell and the soul within is indestructible which takes different lives in a cycle of life and death called Mukti. (Coburn, 1984). Another Eastern religion who talks about the rebirth is the Buddhist religion, but contrary to Hindu belief, in Buddhism the reincarnation will be conditioned by the way a person conduct his earthly life, known as karma. To illustrate this, if a person during his life has committed shameful acts he will be reborn in a lower body state, such as a goat or a ghost. On the other hand if a person has committed action based on love, generosity and wisdom he will be reborn again as e human being. (Payne, 2006) Along with religion, science has tried to explain life after death. A study conducted toward the beginning of the last century by the physician Duncan MacDougall, tried to give an explanation about the afterlife by measuring the weight lost by a human once the soul departs the body. MacDougall weighted dead patients in order to prove that the soul was material and thus measurable. This conduct resulted in a shocking discovery showing that the body weighted 21 grams less after the patient had died. Other scientist such as William Crookes and philosophers Henry Sidgwick and William James have dedicated their lives to the study of phenomena related to life after death and in 1882 they founded The Society for Psychical Research. After 25 years of parapsychological research, Susan Blackmore came to the conclusion that there is no empirical evidence for an afterlife. David Fontana however on the subject of parapsychology has said that "the evidence for survival is so strong that anyone who cares to study it is likely to end up convinced".(Fontana, 2003). A nurse from Swansea, a city in Welles, Penny Sartori in 2008 following 10 years of research published a book about near death experiences. She explained that people who felt this out of body experiences were able to explain in detail what happened in the room while they were elevated above themselves, even though their bodily eyes were closed. Near death and out of body experience are common and recorded in many hospitals and scientific environment nowadays. People who experienced this phenomenon believe that they were, for some moment, standing in presence of god and surrounded by their dead ancestors. Throughout history our society has tried to explain what happens after death. From ancient scriptures explanation, through more recent religious one, up to until now days scientific proofs and personal experiences humanity has provided many answer with different and bizarre explanations. While our society have emerged to the 21st century more wisely than ever, we are still unable to provide a decent answer, or at least we think so. Maybe we have provided one, or maybe we have not and we will never do. But one think is for sure, despite going to heaven or hell, being reborn as another human being or animal, dead people know one thing: It’s better to be alive.

References Bard, Katheryn (1999). Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge. Wallis, Alfred. (1906). The Egyptian Heaven and Hell. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd. p. 37. Coburn, Thomas B. (1984). Scripture' in India: Towards a Typology of the Word in Hindu Life. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 52 (3): 435–459. Roach, Mary (2005). Spook – Science Tackles the Afterlife. W. W. Norton & Co.. ISBN 0-393-05962-6 Fontana, David (2003). Does Mind Survive Physical Death? Cardiff University and Liverpool John Moores University, UK: 3 – 22 Payne, K. Richard (2006). Tantric Buddhism in East Asia, Wisdom Publications, Boston, p- 74