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Personal ImmortalityMost religions and cultures until present times certainly understood death as a passage from this life to some other world. The "spirits of the ancestors" or the "saints in heaven" continue to live in another world while maintaining influence on this one. This was often explained in terms of the personal
immortality of the soul: unlike the perished body, the soul or true self somehow survives the death-experience. Ancient Indian traditions often ascribed to belief in the soul's heavenly existence in fellowship with the gods, an existence which lasted forever. Older Greek teaching, based on the Platonic idea of the two spheres of spirit and matter, understood that the soul, unlike the body, is uncreated and indestructible. The destiny of the soul is eventual union or reunion with the Absolute. The modern Spiritualist movement refers to the "soul" as the "astral body" which separates from the body at death and progresses through a series of spheres to the ultimate sphere, union with God.
Another popular idea associated with life after death combines the understanding of the soul's immortality with the
resurrection of the body. Although belief in this idea springs from the Jewish tradition, it was not universally accepted by all Jews. Even at the time of Jesus (2,000 years ago), there was a dispute between the Pharisees, who accepted bodily resurrection at the end of time, and the Sadducees who firmly rejected such a notion. On this occasion, the Scriptures report that Jesus sided with the Pharisees. Following the death-resurrection experience of Jesus, Christians came to believe that Jesus' body and soul were united in his "glorious ascension" into heaven, a belief with which many Muslims also concur. However, contemporary understandings of personal immortality among Jews, Christians and Muslims display an amazing variety of interpretations.
Christianity was heavily influenced by both Jewish belief and Greek philosophy. One popular conception understands that body and soul are separated at death. The disembodied soul is immediately judged and may go straight to heaven (life with God), to an interim place called
purgatory (a Catholic vision of a place where souls are purged of imperfections and sins) or, indeed, to hell which is the destiny of the wicked. However, on the
Last Day (the end of the world), body and soul will be reunited. The understanding of this
resurrection of the body also varies. Some see this as the literal resurrection of the
physical body; others understand it to be a new,
spiritual body. Either way, there is expectation that God will raise
the whole person to everlasting happiness in heaven where "we shall see God and live" (St Irenaeus, second century).
Although traditional Jewish, Christian and Islamic beliefs include these notions of
heaven or
paradise for the righteous (the
elect or those who die in
grace), and ideas of
hell or
gehenna for the damned (those who fail to repent or die in
mortal sin), modern theologians have questioned whether the notion of a loving God is compatible with teachings of
eternal punishment. Some theologians suggest that, in fact, God
saves everyone. Others see
hell as a metaphor for life on earth lived without hope or love. Some argue it is a state of
non-being or nothingness which awaits those who freely and knowingly refuse God's offer of love and salvation. To say 'No' to 'God' and 'Goodness,' it is argued, is to say 'No' to 'Being.' This way, God respects human freedom without resorting to the role of a divine tyrant. Equally, modern theologians stress that we are unable to say very much about life-after-death, a mystery that awaits us all. The important thing is to love God and neighbour in
this life. However, one way or another, these three monotheistic faiths are the strongest defenders of the notion that our human destiny is
somehow best envisaged in terms of personal life with God beyond death, that is, personal immortality.
A Different Kind of ImmortalityWesterners and Christians in particular will find the idea of
non-personal existence in the afterlife somewhat of an enigma. This is not the absence of belief in immortality; it is the rejection of belief in
personal immortality. Stated differently, it is belief in
rebirth or
reincarnation, a notion that is widely misunderstood in the west. Reincarnation or belief in the
transmigration of souls is
not, for example, a way in which the
individual ego or
human psyche continues in existence after the death of the body. Whereas western philosophy stresses individuality, eastern thinking seeks
liberation from individuality. Hindu and Buddhist beliefs in what does survive beyond death are complex, subtle and varied.
One Hindu view is that the human soul (
atman) is an eternal, unchanging reality which shares in the same nature as
Brahman. Beyond the "wheel of appearance," this world of suffering, pain and ignorance, is the only one divine reality,
Brahman. Ignorance of this reality leads humans to chain themselves to this illusory world of change. Consequently, upon death, the soul transmigrates from one body to another, a process which may take numerous births and rebirths. However, the ultimate goal of human life is to be released from the endless cycle of birth and death. The process assumes that one is liberated from individuality or separateness in the final death and re-birth through total union with
Brahman. Here, nothing of the illusory self survives since there will be, in the end, only
Brahman.
Buddhist teaching on reincarnation shares Hindu belief in
karma: good actions lead to good births; bad actions lead to less fortunate rebirths. This
law of karma governs the universe--and the universe, for Buddhists, includes many worlds apart from this one. So, while Buddhism rejects the notion of the survival beyond death of any ego, psyche, self or
atman, it understands that human actions in this world continue to affect our life in this world as well as all other lives and worlds. Everything is interconnected. The goal of human life is the achievement of
nirvana which is the complete negation of desire and individuality.
Nirvana is nothingness, emptiness, the void.
Nirvana, the enlightened way of life without desire, suffering or ignorance, is achievable in this world. When the enlightened person dies, this is the end to the wheel of rebirth and suffering. Beyond this, the Buddha taught only silence: we cannot understand
nirvana, the state of perfect bliss, with the ordinary categories of human thought--and human ignorance.
Some kind of belief in reincarnation is as natural for many Eastern religious traditions as belief in personal immortality beyond death is for followers of the Monotheistic religions. Despite their differences, both kinds of "life beyond death" myths share a common belief in the divine destiny of human persons. They also assume that human destiny is related to the good or evil deeds that one performs in this life. There is a sense that the whole universe is interconnected and that one's life has purpose, meaning and destiny in light of this connectedness. To what extent these beliefs are understood literally or metaphorically is a matter of immense variation not only from one religious group to another, but also among theologians within the same tradition.
Who Am I?[..] one's identity is largely determined by the network of relationships we all experience in different ways among ourselves, our intimate human contacts, society and its institutions, and the physical world. Moreover, each of these relationships is shrouded with varying degrees of mystery. Even with all the wisdom of the religions and the insights of science, human beings remain a mystery to themselves. Modern psychology affirms that our conscious knowledge and activity represent but small islands of knowledge within a sea of unconsciousness. The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung speaks of the "collective unconsciousness" through which the shared experiences of all persons, cultures and the entire cosmos are somehow stored in the personal unconsciousness of each individual. Who I am is certainly more than my own conscious thoughts and desires.
Who I am is less a state than a process, journey or adventure. To be human is to be an explorer, not just of the external world but also of the inner world. Again, Carl Jung perceives that human travels across the seas to other continents and across the skies to other galaxies are symbolic of the spiritual quest for personal identity. Scientific fiction stories, for example, may be written or filmed for entertainment, but underlying such stories is the classic search for human identity in an often hostile environment.
Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? These are the existential questions that underlie human personhood and life adventure. Unsurprisingly, they are also the questions at the heart of the world's religious traditions.
…
(from: The Human Quest, Gerard Hall sm;
http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/gehall/Human_Quest.htm)
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). But on a serious note, the contents of the Urantia Book can not be correctly interpreted with only partial understanding; my grandparents always taught me that knowing a little of something or only hearing part of the story is equivalent to knowing nothing. Informed decisions can't be made without accurate information. Can you imagine the outrage that would be caused if TUB's comments about race were taken out of context? We'd probably be accused of Nazism. When I first began to read the Urantia Book, I read it piecemeal, and was completely confused until I read Part IV (which changed my life in ways I don't have the time to elaborate on, perhaps that could be another discussion for another day). The point is, TUB's flavor can only be truly appreciated after you consume it's contents; appetizers do not do it justice. As for anybody else being able to do the miracles Jesus performed while on earth...I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole.