The Continuity of the Existence of the Human Soul - Essay Example

Life after Death Afterlife refers to the concept of there being some life after someone has died. This takes place when an essential part of a person consciousness or identity exists even after the individual’s physical death. There are many ideas about afterlife. However, one thing that is common with all the ideas about after life is the belief that the essential parts of human beings that usually remain in existence of their death is always part of their souls or even the entire soul. Most ideas agree that the existence after physical death usually take place in the spiritual realm. However, some ideas of afterlife are based on the notion of rebirth. Other ideas believe in the existence of an afterlife where dead people reside in a supernatural environment determined by gods or other supernatural beings based on the activities and beliefs of the dead while they were still alive. With reference to the already existing afterlife, this paper aims at presenting a creativity based new afterlife idea. It is a common notion that afterlife always comes in the form of a punishment or reward for the things that people do during their lifetime. This afterlife idea is based on the things that people do during the time when they still live (Sebold 89). The things that people do when they are alive are always a matter of choices. Some people choose to do good while other chooses to do evil or bad. It will seem unfair for those people who choose to do bad things to be treated in the same way that those who always did good are treated. If in any case life would completely end at death, then the two types of human beings would be absolutely the same (Coward and Coward 101). However, this idea of afterlife seeks to reward those people who did good during their lifetime while making sure that those who did wrong would always be denied the benefits that those who do good get. This idea of an afterlife has its basis on social classes and rebirth. Social class is a very influential thing in human life. Therefore, being in a higher social class will definitely make the life of the individual seem better (Zevin 90). On the other hand, when someone’s social class is lowered they will definitely live a lifestyle that is less comfortable when compared with the type of lifestyle that they used to live before. Social class in the idea is used to either reward good deeds during lifetime or punish bad ones during the same period. Social class refers to the hierarchical and the categorical classification of human beings in the society. The most common classifications of social class are the lower, middle, and upper social classes. In this idea of afterlife the term social classes is used with reference to someone’s relationship to means of production, social, political, and economic influence that an individual have (Zevin 76). The lower class can be referred to as the class of people whose capability with reference to the above mentioned factors are highly limited. The middle class has the moderate capability while those who belong to the upper class are believed to have a very high capability in terms of the above mentioned factors. This idea believes that all human beings are reborn regardless of whether they used to do good things in their previous life or not (Zevin 98). This is just like the reincarnation theory which asserts that human souls are always reconnected to other bodies. In this idea the soul is what is passed on from one life to another. A person does not have any memories of their previous life but they have same character that they had from their previous life. Under this idea rebirth is the way through which nature accords people punishment or rewards for the kind of life that they used to live during their previous lives. When people are reborn, they either live better lives or worse ones depending on the kind of lifestyle that they led during their previous life. This will mean that the people that did good during their previous life will definitely live better lives while those who were economical with goodness will be treated economically in their next lives. The idea is that people are given other chances to do better, but under worse circumstances, if they performed poorly in their previous lives. When someone does well they are rewarded and when they do not, they are punished through worse life conditions. This is different from the theory of immortality which believes in reward or punishment through eternal life in heaven or hell respectively. When a person spends their entire life in the middle class, it is almost definite that they will not live in the same social class in their next life. This will solely depend on whether they do good or bad during the time they are living (Albom 112). This idea of the afterlife does not have basis of religious or cultural beliefs, but rather has its basis on the things people do. The idea asserts that regardless of whether a person is a Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist, all that will determine what social class they live in their next life is the things that they do when they are alive. For instance, a person who currently belongs to the middle class will find themselves in either the lower class or the upper class depending on the kind of activities that they are involved in during their lifetime. Someone in the middle class who does good things will find themselves in the upper class while someone in the same class who does bad will find themselves in the lower class. It is evident that people would like to know exactly what will happen to people who are the extreme end in any case their actions during their lifetime accords them a promotion or demotion that goes beyond the existing social classes (Zevin 67). This idea, belief that people in the upper class who do got that earns promotion will get rewarded by everlasting divine existence. This means that these individuals will live as divinity with the ability to control nature in favor of the good people in the society. They are the ones that are responsible for controlling the good things in nature. This makes them highly ranked than any human being, regardless of the class in which the human beings belong to. On the other hand, people who belong to the lower class but fail to do good during their lifetime risk being demoted to creatures that are considered to be of lower values. People will find themselves being animals in their next lives because of the way they act during the period which they are alive (Zevin 89). This will act as an eternal punishment for their failure to act well so that they could climb the social ranks to the point where they will be given the eternal reward of living among the divinities. Such people spend the rest of their eternal existence as animals and will always come back in the next life as a different type of animal for the rest of their eternal existence. The other question that will certainly arise from this idea is the question of what happens to those individuals who do both bad and good things during their lifetime. Under this idea, such people will be judged depending on the magnate of the goodness or the badness of their activities during their lifetime (Zevin 54). A person who had done more good things than bad things will be promoted while those who had done worse things than good things will be demoted. One thing that should be noted is that the level of promotion or demotion will depend on the magnitude of the activities in which the people involve in. For instance, even though people can sometimes belong to the same social class, there is always a difference in the level of comfort in which they involve. This difference in comfort is brought about by the difference in the magnitude of the goodness or badness of their actions during their lifetime. However, a number of people who do not know much about this idea would raise the question on exactly what will happen to the people who happen to have done good and bad things equally (Albom 67). As much as the possibility of this happening might be low, it can still happen. In such cases it should be noted that such individuals will not have any changes in their social class in their next life. According to this idea of an afterlife, such people do not have any change in social life because they are given another chance to improve on their goodness so that they could be promoted to the next social class after the one that they live next. They also live in the same social class in order for them to have another chance so that it could be determined if they are more attracted to doing bad or doing good things. If the result that follows has the same result then they will still be in the same social class in the life that proceeds that lifetime. It is evident that this idea of an afterlife is based on the continuity of the existence of the human soul. The fact that it advocates for the reward of good deeds and punishment for the bad ones, it is likely to positively affect the behavior of the people who believe in it. It is also likely to appeal to people from almost all religions because of the common belief in the reward for good deeds. The fact that it has no religious affiliation will also make it more appealing. This idea of afterlife advocates for eternity of the souls which ends in eternal happiness or eternal suffering depending on the kind of life that is led during the first three lives. It should be noted the this afterlife idea is based on the punishment or reward of the things that people do when they are alive. Work Cited Albom, Mitch.Five People You Meet in Heaven (book with Cd), Level 5 - 2,300 Headwords. Pearson ELT, 2012. Print. Coward, Harold G, and Harold Coward. Life After Death in World Religions. Maryknoll N.Y: Orbis Books, 1997. Print. Sebold, Alice. The Lovely Bones: A Novel. Boston: Little, Brown, 2002. Internet resource. Zevin, Gabrielle. Elsewhere. , 2007. Internet resource. Read More