This is the first script in a series of 6 podcasts on whether we survive death and if so what is in store for us. Listen to the sound track of this episode
When someone dies, we speak of them ‘passing’, as if death were a move – a passing over – to somewhere else. It implies entering a different kind of existence. And we sometimes hear folk saying ‘Dad is up there looking down on us’ or ‘Grandma is my guardian angel’. Yet we cannot be 100% certain we will live beyond the grave. Occasionally we might bump into someone who cannot even conceive of a non-physical existence. For them ‘When you’re dead, you’re dead’. So when the grim reaper comes, will we each perish or survive?
It’s worth pointing out that there are research studies showing that the human mind can work outside of space and time: outside of the limits of physical reality. I’m thinking of the evidence for extra-sensory perception, i.e. telepathy, clairvoyance, & precognition.
If you don’t happen to believe these findings, what about the facts of ordinary awareness? Does this not also show some part of us can exist outside of physical reality? We dream, remember, feel, and think. Although my awareness is affected by the natural world, my consciousness itself is not part of the observable, objective universe. No scientist can observe my subjective experience. Why cannot human consciousness thus exist after one’s body dies?
And what about human motivation? Things like light, rocks, and biological cells cannot apparently have intentions. So, science denies any creative design in nature. Yet human consciousness itself has aims. At least mine does. I want to please my loved ones, I have plans to go on holiday, and try to make my writing useful to readers. Don’t my intentions define in some way who I am? Who I will always be?
What do the world’s spiritual teachings say about whether we survive death?
Furthermore, religious and spiritual traditions, from both the western and eastern world, teach some sort of human survival after death. For example the cultures of the Native North Americans, the Australian aboriginals, and the ancient Egyptians all believed in an afterlife and a spirit world.
In the past, Christianity had hell-fire and damnation for the wicked. In Britain these days, the churches, still say there is a life after death. However, they now tend to have a ‘wait and see’ attitude to exactly what it will be like.
So, if consciousness continues, what sort of after-death existence would this actually be? Would we retain a sense of who we each are – our personal identity? Be aware of other people? Have sensations and be able to move about? And what about the question concerning those people who have led a life building up seriously negative karma? Individuals who harmed others because of their selfish life. What kind of afterlife will they have?
According to Ravi Zacharias (Indian-born Canadian-American Christian writer) when you think of it, one of the fundamental questions of life is to do with our destiny. You’ve asked, I’ve asked, every thinking person asks. “Where am I headed after I die?”
Today many Christians no longer mention hell as a place after death. Some may accept there is real evil influencing us. But they ask how could those who worship a loving Father believe in eternal damnation by a punitive deity? And the figure of Satan is often seen as superstitious nonsense. The topic of hell has become embarrassing to many of those who had been brought up with church beliefs.
Nevertheless, the words ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ continue in common parlance. We say ‘I’m in heaven‘ meaning the feeling of peace and contentment. A ‘hellish’ state of mind, is when our ‘inner demons’ are troubling us. We also speak of a terrible situation as ‘hell on earth’ and ‘a living hell’. When catastrophic things happen, the phrase ‘all hell is breaking loose’ comes to mind. In other words, in using the term ‘hell’, people are referring to a state of mind rather than an external place.
If we survive death what is an afterlife like? Will we each be conscious of our individuality? We examine this question here.
Copyright 2020 Stephen Russell-Lacy
Author of Heart, Head & Hands Swedenborg’s perspective on emotional problems
