Individual character - After death? - Exploring Spiritual Questions

This is the third script in a series of 6 podcasts on what is in store for us if we survive death. So far I have looked at the question of death survival and in particular Emanuel Swedenborg’s account of life after death. If the descriptions of an afterlife are true, I now ask about what we might take with us after death? How will our individual character be seen.

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Do we survive as individuals with our inner character?

Dr. Raymond Moody, carefully studied the visions of people close to death. They reported similar experiences to each other he termed the ‘near death experience’. What the typical individual notices is as follows:

“A warm spirit of light appears and this being communicates in some non-verbal manner to get him to think about his past life and he sees the significant events of his life as it were played back to him.”

Those people who experience a near death experience commonly report this life review process as part of their vision.

Interestingly, mediums also report that sooner or later after death, each person’s spirit must undertake a life review. In the course of this review all the lessons that could be learnt from the recent earth life are explored. This is said to involve directly experiencing, within oneself, the emotional happiness and suffering caused in others by one’s actions. People don’t always acknowledge when they are being loyal, kind and helpful. Nor do they always realise when they have been judgmental and inconsiderate of others needs.

Will others see any faults in our character?

Swedenborg also describes how the inner character of people in the next life is gradually revealed so they can be each seen for what they are. Hypocrisy is exposed, pretence no longer works, and the soul is laid bare.

Our inner character is what we really want and desire. In ordinary living it often lies hidden. Who deep down doesn’t want social approval? So not many of us are so open with our true feelings and attitudes as to reveal what we are inwardly like – warts and all. Except possibly for those who share our home, other people do not know us clearly. We often pretend, even to ourselves, to be better than we actually are.

In my clinical practice with clients suffering from various personal problems, I’ve noticed they varied in their self-knowledge. The process of personal therapy can help unravel unnoticed reasons for why any of us act as we do. The counsellor helps to explore our true character.

We are told such an exposure happens in the afterlife. One way of putting it is to say that inner individuality can be seen in the light of truth but unacknowledged in the darkness of self-justification.

It is not difficult to imagine that, if true, in the life after death, there will be discomfort as the person faces their past desires and intentions. But this is a necessary step if spiritual progress is ever to be made. Some of us may hope we can be ‘purified’ in relation to any harm we might have caused in the earth life.

Do we become purified after death?

This notion of a ‘purification’ process seems akin to the notion of ‘purgatory’. This is a doctrine of the Roman Catholics regarding the afterlife. Also, Chinese folk religion speaks of, “Diyu” which is a mythological realm of purgatory. It is said to serve to punish and renew spirits in preparation for what is thought to be reincarnation.

Swedenborg describes what may be a similar process in the afterlife he calls ‘vastationes’. According to his view, this is when others challenge one’s mistaken assumptions and self-serving motives. If the individual is basically wanting to know what is good and feels genuine remorse for harm done, then any remaining self-centered attitudes can be set to one side. Those with basic good intentions undergo experiences which remove their mistaken ways of thinking so they live in light.

On the other hand, if the person isn’t interested in the truth about their life, they may well be defensive, and resist the process of enlightenment. They avoid taking responsibility for things. The consequence would be no learning and no improvement.

Albert Ellis (The founder of rational-emotive behaviour therapy) wrote “The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.”

The way I would put it is to say that in the afterlife following death the inner character we formed whilst living in the world will gradually emerge. Who we really are will be revealed to others and to ourselves. Individual differences between us come into plain view. Everyone would see those of us who have honest integrity. Likewise, those who have self-centered attachments.

Is the quality of life following death to do with our individual character?

Professor Fontana points out that those mediums who work with spirits sometimes insist that people do not change their natures simply by dying. For example, he quotes one as saying:

“Death does not make a saint of a sinner, not a sage of a fool. The mentality is the same as before and individuals carry with them their old desires, habits, dogmas, faulty teachings, indifference, or disbelief in a future life.’ (Carl Wickland)

I would argue that, if we each become the person we have chosen to become, then don’t we make our own fate? Arguably, it’s a bit like the idea of karma. I accumulate karma and positive or negative karma affects my destiny.

Individual character In a similar fashion, and according to Swedenborg, the quality of life experienced following death depends on the inner character that we have each formed for ourselves during life in the physical world. How each person grows and develops. What desires ruled our heart.

How does individual character affect our happiness?

If, during life before death, we had become kind and sensible then we will experience an afterlife surrounded by continued kindness and good sense. But those of us who had become selfish and foolish, will instead want to live in a different social climate. One where different social norms apply. A state of existence created by those whose lives are similarly focused on what they want for themselves. Not such a pleasant experience you might say. But would it not make us as happy as we are capable of being?

A selfish life leads to its own happiness or at least its own illusion of happiness. Such an individual finds pleasure in getting the better of others, of taking what they possess, in manipulating them to get one’s own way. On the other hand, an unselfish life gets its own delight in serving the community, in being useful to the family, and in looking for the good in others – even when friends and relatives are rude or unkind.

We may be wondering what will happen to us after we die if we happen to have a somewhat selfish character? In the next podcast we look at the validity of the concept of selfishness.