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). Moreover, the sense that the "I" that exists now is the same as the "I" that existed yesterday is but an illusion, based on the fact that we possess certain memories and neural pathways that create the sense of a continuous self. Really, though, what we take to be the continuous "I" is nothing more than well-worn neural pathways, which Russel compares to a riverbed.

Because experimentation in this area of thought is impossible, Russel's argument does not amount to scientific,…...

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…...

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Bibliography

Shakespeare William, Julius Caesar, 1599

Hunt Gladys, Don't Be Afraid To Die, 1971

Dr. Moody Raymond, Life After Life, 1988

Holy Quran

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 after death has been approached -- by philosophy (exemplified by Socrates and Plato), and by science in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (exemplified by Sir Oliver Lodge) and by contemporary research (focusing on near-death experience) -- I hope to demonstrate that the persistence of belief in life after death remains, because the alternative is unappealing to the majority of people.

We must first consider the question from the standpoint of philosophy. In philosophical terms, life after death is generally considered a…...

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References

Alexander, E. (2012). Proof of heaven: A neurosurgeon's journey into the afterlife. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Beauregard, M. (2012). Brain wars: The scientific battle over the existence of the mind and the proof that will change the way we live our lives. New York: HarperOne.

Beauregard, M and O'Leary, D. (2007). The spiritual brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul. New York: HarperOne.

Burpo, T. And Vincent, L. (2010) Heaven is for real: A little boy's astounding story of his trip to Heaven and back. New York: Thomas Nelson.

Life After Death Different Cultures
LIFE AFTE 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, and this world is a place where humans prepare themselves for the next and eternal life. According to the doctrine of Islam, death is the end of a physical life. After this life, a new period of rest begins in which the soul remains in the kind of sleep. Muslims also believe that in this position of rest, the righteous people are able to see visions of God while the wicked see the vision of hell. This position continues until…...

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References

Campo, J. (2009). Encyclopedia of Islam. Encyclopedia of World Religions.

Edwards, L. (2001). A Brief Guide to Believes, Ideas, Theologies, Mysteries and Movements. Westminster John

Knox Press.

Meyer, J. (1997). Christian Beliefs and Teachings, Second edition, University Press of America Inc.

Life and Death and Freud and Nietzsche
hat 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? hat 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 and wrong, and about the dichotomy of life and death. Throughout a person's life they are inexorably moving ever closer to their own demise. It is inevitable and yet people are terrified of this event even though it is as natural a part of living as is breathing or the beating of your heart. In one piece, Plato expresses his beliefs on the immortality of the soul (Peterson 214). He explains this in different ways, first of which is the…...

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Works Cited

Peterson, Michael, Hasker, William, Reichenbach, Bruce, & Basinger, David. Reason and Religious Belief: and Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. New York, NY: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.

It is impossible for science to "overtake" the light but not impossible for humans to experience it. hile light is pleasing, it is not lasting for the poet. hen 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). Here we see the emergence of despair and loss when the light is gone. The light is a severe contrast with the darkness alluded to in the other poems mentioned here but above all, the contrast demonstrates the poet's ability to write about diverse topics.
Death is a source of inspiration for Emily Dickinson and while this make seem creepy to many readers, it is actually brave for the poet because death, even today, seems taboo for many artists. This may…...

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Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. "A Light Exists in Spring." The Complete Poems of Emily

Dickinson. Ed.

Thomas Johnson. New York: Little, Brown and Company. 1960. Print.

-. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." The Complete Poems of Emily

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) and it is "one of the most disturbing and powerful characteristics of Dickinson's poems" (Piedmont-Marton). "The Bustle in the House," demonstrates this assertion very well with its idea of humanity continuing to get along with the "industries" (the Bustle in the House 3) of life after a loved one dies. The heart of the dead is swept up (4), making it seem like the process of death needs a clean sweep and that is it. Mourning is nothing more than…...

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Works Cited

Dickinson, Emily. "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 8th edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press. 2009.

Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 8th edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press. 2009.

Some keep the Sabbath going to Church." The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 8th edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press. 2009.

Tell All the Truth but Tell it Slant. " the Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 8th edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Press. 2009.

Life and Death in Shanghai
Reflective Study

Nien Cheng, a lady of wealth, culture, and social refinement, was unused to the treatment she would ultimately receive at the hands of Mao Zedung's Red Guards. Viewed as a natural enemy to a Communistic regime - based on a measure of wealth and education - the mostly teenaged "Red Guards" invaded homes and workplaces in search of people disloyal to Zedung and the political environment of the day.

Considered "too aggressive and too independent in mind and spirit for a Chinese woman," Ms. Cheng would be humiliated in "town meetings" where false and unfounded accusations were used to force a confession of subterfuge and espionage, tortured, imprisoned for over 6 years without news of her only daughter, Meiping, who had been murdered by Maoists revolutionaries for refusing to denounce her mother as a spy, and placed under house arrest.

The Red Guard destroyed everything she owned,…...

Paradoxically, states with harsher criminal statutes and higher conviction rates tend to maintain fewer inmate developmental programs because high-volume prisons tend to be run on a for-profit basis that discourages "unnecessary" spending. The most cynical suggestion is that decreasing recidivism is against the financial interests of private prisons and (although to a lesser extent,) those of government-run prisons as well (Schmalleger, 2008).
Other aspects of many types of contemporary criminal trends may also significantly undermine any strategy of deterrence through awareness of strict prosecution and sentencing. In that regard, law enforcement authorities across the nation have catalogued volumes of information about criminal subcultures in general and of the street gang mentality in particular (Pinizzotto, Davis, & Miller, 2007). Urban street gangs in particular have given rise to a culture of remorseless violence and disregard for the consequences of even the most violent crime that largely precludes any real deterrent value…...

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Works Cited:

Dershowitz, A. (2002). Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age. New York:

Bantam Books.

Friedman, A. (2005). A History of American Law. New York: Touchstone.

Gerrig, R, Zimbardo, P. (2008). Psychology and Life. New York: Allyn & Bacon.

Virginia Woolf, the author focuses her attention on a number of scenes to bring home a central idea to her reader. Through her considerations of people, insects, and a variety of other elements Ms. Woolf considers the deeper meanings of life and the various meanings it might have for individuals and the collective of humanity. By a variety of essays that range from the death of a simple moth at a window to the complex writings of Horace Walpole, Virginia Woolf appears to contemplate the many ways in which life might make itself meaningful via death, perpetual pain, and creativity.
Virginia Woolf's interpretation of death as life's ultimate purpose in its simplest form is provided in "The Death of the Moth." The author describes a moth that flies "by day," which is caught at a window. She also describes night moths as somewhat pleasantly exciting a sense of darkness, which…...

.....deathbed, Morrie reflects on his life, and relays several messages about the meaning or purpose of life. Ironically, one of the main messages of the story is that life does not necessarily have a greater or cosmic meaning. Meaning is found in what is immediately before us, in the day-to-day existence and especially in relationships with others. Life's meaning is found in accepting life for what it is rather than wishing it could be something else. The meaning of life can therefore be best understood by appreciating what we have now instead of wishing we were different or that things were different.
Second, and following from this, the meaning of life is located in the small details, things we can frequently overlook -- finding beauty and joy in every day, even on bad days and in situations that are painful or uncomfortable. Meaning is especially found in friendship, caring for others,…...

Periechontology
In order to understand the underlying concepts of faith with respect to philosophy, first it is important to understand 'philosophy' adequately. Jaspers was concerned about noting the originality and singularity of philosophy and he frames it as "to elucidate" (erhellen). As per Jaspers, this clarification or elucidation does not come to philosophers through an external agent but it happens by itself during the philosophical process and this happening is an innermost act. (Wildermuth, 2007). Philosophers understand the meaning and philosophy behind actions and things as they seek to explore hitherto mysterious, unexplained happenings and phenomenon.

However, only a few philosophers speak about the death. Even then, the best they can reveal about death is about its awareness. As such, although death is an unavoidable event and that is the only knowledge we have about it. All are aware that they have to face death one day and it will come eventually.…...

According to Coble (2010), Chinese reporters found themselves unwilling to demonstrate their countrymen as helpless victims of the Japanese. Therefore, the narrative that pervaded the era in the form of "news" reports and statements of "fact" was often colored by a collective attempt to focus on the potential unity and strength of the Chinese as a nation. This is therefore a trend that persisted in the collective narrative of the massacre at Nanjing, and the national perception of those who suffered because of it. While suffering was part of this narrative, it served to demonstrate the reaction of the Chinese people as a collective as one of heroism and a spur to action rather than being the hapless victims that so many indeed were.
Also, as far as the Nanjing massacre specifically is concerned, the relative silence that surrounded it both during and after the war is also the result…...

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References

Coble, P.M. (Feb 10, 2011). Remembering China's War with Japan: The Wartime Generation in Post-War China and East Asia. Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 45, Iss. 2.

Cooke, P. And Silberman, M. (2010). Introduction: German Suffering? Screening War: Perspectives on German Suffering.

A good example is the 1985 murder of convenience store clerk Cynthia Barlieb, whose murder was prosecuted by a district attorney bent on securing execution for Barlieb's killer (Pompeilo 2005). The original trial and all the subsequent appeals forced Barlieb's family, including four young daughters, to spend 17 years in the legal process - her oldest daughter was 8 years old when Cynthia was first shot, and 25 when the process ended without a death sentence (Pompelio 2005). During those 17 years, Cynthia Barlieb's family was forced to repeatedly relive her murder.
hen a person is murdered, it is understandable that American society demands justice, particularly on behalf of the victim's family and loved ones. But we can not advocate capital punishment under the guise of protecting the interests of victims' families, and then cut those members out of the process when they do not support the death penalty. and,…...

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Works Cited

American Civil Liberties Union (2002). "ACLU Praises Supreme Court Refusal of 'Sleeping Lawyer' Case as 'Acknowledgment and Reminder' of Death Penalty Problems." Retrieved Sept. 30, 2006 at  http://www.aclu.org/capital/unequal/10466prs20020603.html .

American Civil Liberties Union (2002). "DNA testing and the death penalty." Retrieved Oct. 1, 2006 at  http://www.aclu.org/capital/innocence/10392pub20020626.html .

Amnesty International (2006). "Death penalty." Retrieved Sept. 30, 2006 at  http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/index.do .

Antonio, Michael E. (2006). "Arbitrariness and the death penalty: how the defendant's appearance during trial influences capital jurors' punishment decision." Behavioral Sciences & the Law. March 2006.Vol.24, Iss. 2.

As one performs their dharma, they earn karma, which is the cause and effect aspect of Hinduism. Karma explains good actions bring good results, and by obeying this principle and dharma, one can experience rebirth into a "better" life that puts one in a stronger position to achieve moksha. The ultimate goal for any Hindu soul is to achieve moksha, which is the liberation from samsara, the cycle of life and death (Chidester: 85). The critical aspect of Hinduism is realizing when the body dies, the Self (Atman) does not die. The Self is carried from life to life, through reincarnation, and the secret to death is to realize the Supreme Self hidden in the heart through meditation and grace (Kramer: 30). Realizing Self in Hindu customs is required to achieve moksha, and be liberated from the endless round of birth, death, and rebirth of samsara. Only when the…...

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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, NJL

Paulist Press, 1988. 27-166. Print.

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....

1. The concept of an afterlife in different religions and belief systems
2. Near-death experiences: are they evidence of life after death?
3. The impact of belief in an afterlife on how people live their lives
4. Scientific perspectives on the possibility of life after death
5. The role of reincarnation in various cultures and religions
6. The idea of heaven and hell in different religious traditions
7. How different cultures view death and the afterlife
8. The ethics of euthanasia and how it relates to beliefs about life after death
9. Personal experiences of individuals who claim to have communicated with the dead
10. The relationship between beliefs....

Afterlife Concepts and Beliefs: An Exploration of Diverse Perspectives

1. Theological Perspectives on the Afterlife: A Comparative Analysis of Major World Religions

Examine the beliefs about the afterlife held by Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other major religions.
Analyze the similarities and differences in concepts such as heaven, hell, reincarnation, and karma.

2. The Role of Near-Death Experiences in Shaping Beliefs about the Afterlife

Explore the phenomenon of near-death experiences (NDEs) and their impact on individuals' beliefs about what happens after death.
Discuss the common themes and variations reported in NDEs, such as tunnel visions, encounters with deceased loved ones, and feelings....