Death, Afterlife, and Transcendence in World Religions

Key Terms in the Study of Death and Religion

The four categories of human being are biological, psychological, sociological, and religious. The four types of transcendence are ancestral, experiential, cultural, and mythic.

A disembodied spirit is the survival of a person through consciousness and will but without a physical body. Spiritual embodiment is a body not associated with the physical body in death but signifies a person's survival of death in the form of a spiritual or astral entity.

Reincarnation is the rebirthing process in which a person survives death by being born again in a different physical body, whereas resurrection refers to a person surviving death by being born again in the same physical body.

Hindu liberation is known as moksha — liberation from samsara, the birth-death-rebirth life cycle. The Hindu hierarchical structure refers to the caste system, in which individuals are born into one of four distinguished social classes: the priestly class, the warrior class, the merchant class, and the labor class.

Dharma in Hinduism refers to the duties, obligations, moral expectations, righteousness, and responsibilities expected of people based on their class in society. The Cosmic Order in Hinduism refers to dharma and the social class/caste system as supported by the sacred texts, the Vedas. Karma is a cause-and-effect concept in Hinduism and holds that good actions bring good results. Atman refers to the Self — the spiritual entity of an individual that persists through the life cycles and must ultimately be realized to achieve moksha. Reincarnation in Hinduism refers to rebirth within the endless samsara cycle.

The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture that tells the story of a warrior, Arjuna, and his chariot driver, Krishna, who is later revealed to be a manifestation of the god Vishnu. Yama is the lord of death in Hinduism. The three types of yoga in Hinduism are karma yoga (the yoga of action), bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion), and jnana yoga (the yoga of knowledge).

The Holocaust refers to the genocide of nearly six million Jews during World War II, as endorsed by the Nazi Party. Iman in Islam is the inner construct of the religion and refers to a believer's faith in the spiritual and metaphysical realities of Islam. Ummah in Islam refers to the complete unification of the entire Islamic world. The Qur'an is the religious text of Islam.

The apostle Paul was an early Christian missionary whose letters and writings are greatly referenced in the New Testament of the Bible. The Return of Jesus is considered the Second Coming of Christ and refers to the return of Jesus to Earth. Immortality and resurrection in Christianity refer to the eternal, heavenly existence Christian followers expect to experience after death; the Resurrection of Jesus provides proof that rebirth in a heavenly existence following death is possible. The Kingdom of God in Christianity refers to heaven and the place of afterlife for deserving Christian believers.

Nirvana is a heavenly equivalent in Buddhism and is a state of mind centered in peace, free from anger and desire. The Four Noble Truths in Buddhism are: (1) life means suffering; (2) the origin of suffering is attachment; (3) the cessation of suffering is attainable; and (4) there is a path to the end of suffering. Emptiness in Buddhism refers to dependent origination, in which all actions and reactions arise together in an interconnected web of cause and effect.

The apocalypse, according to the Book of Revelation in the Bible, refers to the revelation of Jesus Christ as Messiah. Dante's Divine Comedy is an epic poem that includes three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Islam is defined as the monotheistic faith and religion of Muslims as revealed by Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah.

The Three Faces of Death and the Concept of Death Before Dying

Understanding the meaning of death is a shared human concern, as every individual will ultimately face their mortality. As shown by many world religions, human beings have long acknowledged death, conceptualized its meaning, and questioned what happens when we die. When focusing on the meaning of death and dying, one can take a structured approach and dissect the human experience. There are three aspects of death: physical, psychological, and spiritual (Kramer: 12). One concept explored by most religions is death before dying — experiencing a spiritual death before experiencing physical death. This understanding relates to human actions in this world as people strive to achieve spiritual identity and connect with a spiritual self prior to death. For as long as there has been recorded history, human beings have explored the meaning of death, defined its different aspects, and sought spiritual transformation before biological death.

The meaning of dying is not solely a biological experience, and death may be viewed through at least three perspectives. As described by Kramer, the three faces of death are physical, psychological, and spiritual (12). The physical aspect of death is the biochemical result — the irreversible loss of brain waves, cardiac function, central nervous system activity, breathing, and all other biochemical processes (Kramer: 12). The psychological face of death is described by Kramer as the "termination of one's personal aliveness" (18). Psychological death can be understood as the anxiety of facing death so severe that it threatens personal identity (Kramer: 18). It is mostly associated with the concept of self — generally regarded as an individual's personality, identity, and understanding of oneself — and marks the loss of association with one's idea of self. The third face of death is the spiritual aspect, which signifies the transformation after death in which a person is stripped of earthly identities and roles and experiences some type of birth as a new person (Kramer: 12). In terms of western beliefs, spiritual death is a process whereby an individual experiences a form of salvation (Kramer: 22). In eastern beliefs, it is a process of self-awakening (Kramer: 22). Whereas psychological death is a disconnection from self, spiritual death triggers an awakening or rebirth from the old self to a new self.

The concept of "death before dying" refers to experiencing a spiritual death before experiencing physical death. More specifically, it means losing one's earthly identity, dying from self, and transforming to a spiritual notion of self before biological death (Kramer: 78). In many religions, death before dying marks the journey to lose one's identity within the greater identity of a god or spiritual entity, prior to physical death. Human actions on earth are supposed to be in constant motion toward spiritual awareness. Human beings who connect with a spiritual identity choose actions that reflect what their religion or higher power expects and dictates.

Gaining an understanding of the meaning of death requires viewing death from different perspectives. Physical death is biological death; psychological death is the disconnection from self; and spiritual death is the loss of personal identity followed by a rebirth into a new identity in the likeness of a greater power. "Death before dying" refers to achieving spiritual death prior to physical death, and explains human actions as those that drive a spiritual connection to be experienced both on earth and after death. The meaning of death has long provoked human inquiry, and multiple perspectives are needed to understand the full significance of this transition.

Conclusion

Hebrew, Christian, and Muslim faiths each present views on the afterlife, heaven, and hell. There is significant overlap between the three belief systems, as they generally hold that hell awaits those who live wrongly and heaven awaits those who live righteously. Although Hebrew beliefs on heaven and hell are less developed in their texts, Christianity and Islam have foundations set in Jewish practice. Christian followers are expected to undergo a transformation — being "reborn" into an image of the Creator — before experiencing eternal life in heaven. Muslim souls experience a journey while awaiting judgment, and a good life will be rewarded with immortality in paradise. The three religions share common elements regarding heaven and hell, as their religious principles have various parallels and build upon Hebrew traditions.

Taken together, the world religions examined in this paper — Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam — each offer a rich framework for understanding mortality and what lies beyond it. Whether through the Hindu path of realizing the Atman to achieve moksha, the Buddhist pursuit of nirvana through the dissolution of self, or the Abrahamic promise of heaven for the righteous, human beings across cultures have sought meaning in death and constructed elaborate belief systems to guide both how they live and how they die.

Works Cited

Chidester, D. Patterns of Transcendence: Religion, Death, and Dying. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2001. 1–216. Print.

Kramer, K. The Sacred Art of Dying: How the World Religions Understand Death. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988. 27–166. Print.