Essay on What Happens to our soul when we die?

Submitted By jackgrahamHD
Words: 939
Pages: 4
Open Document
What happens to our soul when we die?
Collins Dictionary definition of a soul: The spirit or immaterial part of man, the seat of human personality, intellect, will and emotions, regarded as an entity that survives the body after death.
Although a lot of people accept this dictionary definition, the soul can mean different things to lots of other people, and to people in different religions. In Christianity, a soul is defined as the unique spirt, personality and consciousness of each and every human being and upon the physical body perishing, will be joined again with God. In Hinduism, it is believed that a persons soul is in an everlasting cycle of life and death; they believe that the cycle can only be broken once a person has achieved enlightenment. In Islam a soul is the true self of every living being, once out of the body, will never be reunited with it until Judgement Day.
Acknowledging that the majority of religions have a rather diverse understanding of what they believe a soul actually is, and what its purpose is on earth, their ideas for what they believe will happen to the soul after the physical body dies are also very different from one other. For example, Muslims believe that when you die, there are two angels of death who come to extract the soul from you to put it in Heaven. If the person who has died has led a good life, then his soul will be able to leave the body easily. If he has chosen to lead a bad or sinful life, then extracting his soul will be much harder and much more painful for him. In Buddhism however, they believe in the wheel of life, "samsara". It is an ancient symbol that has the same meaning in Buddhism and Hinduism. It symbolises the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. When one revolution of the wheel is completed, life begins again with rebirth. What you will be reincarnated as is down to what good you did in your previous life. If you were good and never sinned, you might come back as an aristocrat, or anything considered socially respectable; but if you sinned and you were unlawful, then you might be reincarnated as a very poor person or a badly treated animal. Christians believe that there is an afterlife. Although the body dies and is buried or cremated, they believe that their unique soul lives on and is raised to new life by God. Many Christians also believe that there is a special place in the Kingdom of God (Heaven) for people who believe in different faiths, and there is also place for many people who have not even believed in God whilst on earth but have ‘done the will of God’ most of the time without even knowing it.
Archeologists have discovered evidence of Egyptians having very firm beliefs on life after death. The Egyptians believed that once a person had died, the god Anubis would take the deceased’s soul through the Underworld to what is called the "Weighing of the Heart" ceremony where their heart would be weighed on a scale against Goddess Ma'at's feather of truth. The entire ceremony was recorded by the God Thoth and observed by the God of the Underworld, Osiris. If the heart weighed more than the feather of truth, then the beast Ammit would eat the heart and prevent the deceased from entering the afterlife. However, If the heart weighed less than the feather of truth, the deceased would be permitted entry into complete
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on What Happens to our soul when we die?

Similarities Between Daoism And Confucianism

Death is the one thing we know for sure is consistent in our world. For surely dying is inevitable. The fear of dying is a common thread that binds us all. Maybe, it has to do with the fact that we do not know what comes after death or maybe it is the pain that might come with it. Regardless, whether it is both or a combination of both, the unknown state of the human consciousness of the afterlife creates this fear. There are a variety of religions that have their own view point of afterlife. It…

Words 869 - Pages 4

Narrative: Reincarnation and Spook Essays

Spook What happens when we die or Is there life after death? There are many questions like these that doesn't have an answers but has many beliefs. Some religion say that we become soul, some say we got to either hell or heaven, some say we take another birth in other word reincarnation. The book called "Spook", that I researched on also talks about after death and it is about what science has to say about it. The author of this book is Mary Roach. She grew up in a small house in Etna, New Hampshire…

Words 673 - Pages 3

Socratic Philosophy Vs. Stoic Philosophy

and gained great knowledge about many interesting philosophies. My favorite philosophy had to be the Socratic philosophy, however Epictetus’ cosmology and the stoic philosophy also caught my attention. I believe that we are constantly searching for ourselves and trying to find out who we really are. I believe the study of philosophy can definitely benefit anyone and everyone, and it can truly lead every individual to happiness. I will focus on differentiating and comparing the Socratic philosophy and…

Words 1654 - Pages 7

Suicide Bombers Research Paper

even today, September 11 is regarded as one of the darkest days in our country’s history. It may seem difficult to even imagine a reason that would make a person want to take so many innocent lives. Despite this, the problem of terrorism exists and is alive, and terrorist groups are recruiting new members at a faster rate than ever before. With the number of terrorists increasing, we begin to wonder what makes a terrorist want to do what they do. According to Professor Ervin Staub at the University…

Words 1863 - Pages 8

Is Reincarnation Real

subconsciously is afraid of death because we don’t really know what happens after we die. One might wonder if souls are reincarnated how can there be enough souls for the growing population. Three lines of evidence demonstrate reincarnation is real. There have been multiple stories where young children have remembered parts of their past life leading to the idea of reincarnation. Doctors have done multiple studies on patients that have had near death experiences (NEDs) and what they experienced. Many of the…

Words 1585 - Pages 7

Truth and Plato Essay

specifically that if something of this sort ever happens to him, both sisters must mutually agree upon the ultimate decision of whether or not to proverbially “pull the plug.” This is a massive decision that will take great deliberation upon both parties to inevitably come to common terms with one another. Essentially, both sisters have their own aspect of what they should do regarding…

Words 1056 - Pages 5

Life After Death Essay

judgment day would happen in their lifetime, they believed in imminent eschatology, this is where judgment day can happen any when, here and now. In the writings of Paul 1 Corinthians 15, there are a variety of key beliefs about resurrection to early Christians. Firstly because we are being saved our sins will not be forgiven as it makes us different to Jesus, ‘Christ died for our sins’. Secondly we should also not sin, work hard and stay sober because judgment day can happen any day, ‘let us eat…

Words 1383 - Pages 6

Should We Be Allowed Or Forbid Death Research Paper

In what ways do we allow or forbid death from instructing us on how we are to live? Remember to restate the question in your answer. Write 3 paragraphs supporting your arguments and make sure to use quotes from the book. Death is a very seemingly strange idea, but it is one of the certain things that is going to happen in our lifetime if the Lord doesn’t come back first. Many people want to escape the fact that they WILL die, and on top of that, you never know when it might happen. Som humans…

Words 427 - Pages 2

Goffman Why Me Analysis

does someone have the life they do. Interestingly, except for this idea of being born into a certain life, “why me” normally has this negative connotations. Individuals think “why me” when they loss their job, their car breaks down in the pouring rain, or a tree falls on their house. “Why me” is never is asked when someone wins the lottery, luck is normally the response to situations like that. This question is very complicated as it tries…

Words 1242 - Pages 5

The Poem Thanatopsis By William Cullen Bryant

expresses a message to people to help them embrace live and appreciate the world around us while we have the chance. Bryant combined nature, death and religion to symbolize the beauty of afterlife and how everything connected to become a powerful enlightment. In “Thantopsis” Bryant connected nature and religion with death, recarnation being a main point of this poem. Religious people believe that when a person passes they are then reborn into nature and in order to fully live death has to occur…

Words 562 - Pages 3