Life After Death: Does it Exist?

                My belief in life after death is somewhat limited, as to believe in such: either a plane of existence

separate from ours, reincarnation, or otherwise, would require some form separate consciousness to travel, upon death, from one’s current body to their “reborn” body or afterlife plane of existence. Simply put: a soul. As such, empirically driven science and even simple materialistic logic has yet to determine the existence of any form of soul or spirit independent of the corporeal body. To claim the existence of such a state is based entirely on conjecture and religious beliefs that have been used to explain what could not be explained for millennia. This argument could be stretched out into a significant number of directions in relation to religious debate, so I will make all attempts to limit this to matters pertaining to the soul and afterlife. In addition, for simplicity’s sake, the concept to be used as an example of the afterlife will be that of the Jewish based faiths, though in eastern religions, the concept of hell can easily be replaced with the cycle of rebirth, and heaven with enlightenment or nirvana.

                 Most importantly in this discussion is the reasoning behind the two opposing sides. Where the side in support of the existence of a soul and an afterlife has an alternate purpose in life, the side, which does not support the former, has none. The reasons for religions to support a belief in an afterlife are quite easy to evaluate. Firstly, many religious laws are essentially there for the same reason as any civil laws are (some even coinciding with them). Thus, adding to the consequence of one’s actions the threat of eternal damnation would certainly help to keep in line those who were of strong faith, or even those who were so unsure of things to obey unquestioningly. Secondly, belief in some overarching purpose to life would aid those in dire circumstances and help in staving off depression. One could even go so far as to say that the belief in life after death is an invention based on peoples’ inability to comprehend the possibility that they could simply cease to exist: that there is no meaning or purpose to life. The aspect of laws, however, is no longer as much a necessity in modern times, as civil laws are more readily enforced, people are far more educated in general, and many possess moral guidelines by which to live their lives; a number of which are not religious in nature. Many religious laws and customs even seem inconsequential and meaningless by today’s standards, having lost their original intent entirely through societal change. With that in mind, disbelief in religions really has no ulterior motive of which to speak. Many atheists posit that one can get through life without the need for religion as a moral compass, or as an emotional crutch, and that getting through life on materialistic logic alone is quite viable, especially in contemporary society. The only reason for atheism is to view life without the need for dogmatic beliefs to effect the way one views things

                 However, aside from the immediate effects of one following a belief or disbelief during life, there are a set of consequences that would take effect after death. In the event that there essentially is no continuation of life after death, the materialist would have expected nothing to occur after upon dying in the first place. Whereas, the one who holds a theistic belief would end up being in a state of betrayal; not necessarily an active state of feeling betrayed, but more the fact that the person would have spent much time worrying about their belief and actions in life for no reason at all. On the other hand, in the event that there is an afterlife and a god, the believer would, assuming they had followed the correct religion and led a proper life, be welcomed into paradise. It is here that the greatest problem lies: many religions, in their orthodox context, consider the unbelievers to be the same as those who had committed horrible atrocities during life, and as such would be subject to the undesirable form of afterlife. Suppose, however, that those who chose the wrong religion, or no religion at all, were denied paradise because they had not followed the correct faith in life. Now take into account that there are no definitive answers as to which faith is the right one, and that certain laws written in scriptures can be misunderstood. This then becomes a matter of whether the god is a forgiving one who accepts the believers of all faiths or non-faiths into the desired afterlife based on their intentions, or if we are dealing with a merciless and spiteful ruler. If the truth were the latter case, then how great would that ideal afterlife truly be?