View of After Life is one of the most important parts of religious beliefs. Every religion, first of all, is based on such categories as nature of God, view of human nature, view of good and evil, view of salvation and, of course, views of the afterlife. In my mind, it is really interesting how the view of afterlife affects the people’s everyday life. It is the basic part of the religion. The most of the other things that connected with religion are proceed from the View of After Life. As an example, we will take Christianity. In this religion the view of afterlife directly connected with the way of man’s life. It means if the man was a trespasser he would suffer after his death.
Another example we could find in Hinduism. It maintains that one’s position in the life derives from karma, a kind of merit based on doing one’s duty in previous life (Segal, 2006). So, due to Hinduism, one’s life after death will depend on only one’s real life. It is worth mentioning that View of After Life in different religion has a fundamental impact not only on human but also on country’s system as well.
Each religion has its own peculiarities, but scholars do not deny the fact that all religions have not only differences but similarities. Each religion has its own understanding of spirit, but it presents in all religions without exception. Also, immortality is in all religions, but there are two types of immortality: immortality of spirit and immortality of the soul. Each religion has chosen what type of immortality is suitable for it. It is worth mentioning that idea of judgment is present in various religions, but it differs in terms of each religion. The idea of good and evil or sin and purity also presents in religions.
View of After Life in Hinduism is based on the twin doctrines of karma (you reap what you sow) and samsara (transmigration) that are at the center of eschatological beliefs of most Hindus (Maʻsúmián, 1995). So, we can regard karma as some kind of a law of automatic justice. There is a reward or punishment for each action that was made by man. And only karma affects who man will be in the next reincarnation. The row of variants is really numerous: from vegetable to human. Similar view on the life after death has Jainism. So, we can observe the direct connection between mortal life and afterlife in these religions.
The similar view presents in Buddhism. There is a state of Nirvana that human can reach only if he had been living his life in the right way. Those who did not live their life as intended will reincarnate so many times as it needed. The whole life of Buddhist is dedicated to entering in the state of Nirvana. They want to reach Enlightenment. And here we can also follow up the connection between mortal life and life after the death.
Daoism has its own doctrine of immortality, but the main difference that immortality concerns to the human body. It is interesting that Daoism prefers to save the body than a soul. Daoists see the hole creep out of soul in improving and salvation of body, first of all. There is a belief that immortality will gain not all people, but only the chosen. For the others who were not chosen Daoism propose to be for example in the state of the mouse, leaf or bug till their soul will dissolve in water or in the air. In most cases, Confucianism pays attention on relations between people, problems of education and the state. Concerning religion side of Confucianism, it takes some beliefs from Daoism. It also believes that the soul is dissolved after the human death within some period of time,
Shinto also has an idea of the soul. It calls kami. As in Daoism, Shinto believes that ideal is the harmonic existence with surrounding world. There is the idea of vestal and unholy. The man is deemed as unholy only if he has violated the world order. This regards as the biggest sin, and man will be punished after his death. Shintoists believe, death is the extinction of powers that will relive again. There is no developed understanding of the afterworld. They believe that souls of death people are near us in the human world.
It is worth mentioning that there is a little information about the afterlife in Judaism in contradistinction from the Christianity. Despite the fact that Christianity takes its origins from Judaism, there are only a few similarities considering the afterlife. The only thing that mentioned in Torah is the idea of Last Judgment, where all the righteous and the wicked will get what they deserved. Christianity has really developed an understanding of the life after the death. Life on earth is taken to be a pilgrimage through a wilderness to the promised land of life after the death (Holm & Bowker, 1994). Christians conceive life on the earth as some kind of test before the main holy life in heaven. There is also an idea of the righteous and the wicked.
I must say that religion will always affect the whole sphere of people’s life. Nowadays we can observe it everywhere. As an example, I will take Christianity. It influenced everything starting from the birth of the baby and ending with the death of family member, friend or neighbor. Religion decides what the believer will eat, where he/she will go, how he/she will regard to people who do not believe and etc.
Christianity, as a religion of the vast majority in my area, takes huge territories for building churches, cathedrals, and monuments. It takes lands for cemeteries that could be simply replaced by other important buildings that will serve for people. As for me, a belief how a man should be buried in Christianity should be changed, because it takes too many lands for cemeteries. With the course of time, a problem of land’s deficiency will appear as a result of misuse of land.
Every Sunday Christians go to the church. If you do not want to meet look of deprecation you should not work on Sunday or while there is a religious holiday. As an example of such holiday, we can take Easter, Christmas, Trinity Sunday and a lot of other important for Christianity holidays. In my mind religion has too big influence on people’s life. It is good that in our country religion and the state is divided because I’m sure that only a man should decide to believe or not believe.
References
Holm, J. & Bowker, J. (1994). Sacred place (p. 40). London: Pinter Publishers.
Maʻsúmián, F. (1995). Life after death (p. 4). Oxford: Oneword.
Segal, R. (2006). The Blackwell companion to the study of religion (p. 233). Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
