What Happens After Life; The End Is Never Really An End

Do you believe that life exists after death? Do you believe in reincarnation? Hell and heaven? If you do believe these institutions it is totally normal and psychologically adaptive.

Science V.s Intuition 

Science is counterintuitive. It has just started to understand and figure out how the mind works. It deals with things in a very practical manner, they test and believe the outcomes and the causes. Science bypasses and neutralizes our beliefs. We, humans, are dualists so the idea of the afterlife makes complete sense to us. Death has been seen as the final stage of being, so believing in an afterlife like heavenly paradise gives strength or hope for us to get through it. Humans are egocentric and we struggle to accept after a point we are absolutely nonexistent. Most religions share a common belief about the afterlife and the soul.

Religious beliefs

Reincarnation 

Reincarnation is the starting of new life in a different physical body after every death. It is also called rebirth. It is mostly believed by all Indian religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It is been believe by many ancient cultures. The different life forms we have taken depends on our karma. This cycle will be broken once the soul achieves Moksha. Reincarnation showed the strongest adherence to a dualistic philosophy.

Heaven and Hell 

Heaven is believed to be a place of pure lands, magic, gods, angels, saints, and ancestors who live there. It is known as a higher place, the holiest place, and a paradise. It is known as Svarga Loka in Hinduism. It is believed all the people who have done good go here.

Hell is the opposite of heaven. It is known for constant punishment, torture, and pain. It is believed all the people who have done wrong go here.

Adjustment to loss 

It helps older adults with acute and chronic stress to believe in religious practices such as prayers and meditation to give emotional support and manage negative emotions. It’s been shown in studies that these beliefs help in coping up with a loss.  Most Christians believe in heaven and hell, these depend on the individual’s behavior. These beliefs help individuals deal with sadness caused by the death of a loved one or anxiety about one’s eventual death. These beliefs help older adults by providing a sense of meaning during the last stages which consist of despair, fostering, and emotional attachments with the diseased.

Traditional beliefs about an afterlife where the deserving individuals get to reunite with their loved one, which provides acceptance and inevitability of one’s death. This may have protective effects on a range of post-loss psychological outcomes.  The belief that good people are rewarded in the afterlife may help restore one’s belief of the world or lesson anger over death and particularly on god if the death was sudden.

Afterlife beliefs protect against intrusive thoughts. These thoughts are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Painful thoughts about the deceased and the dead haunt the survivor. For example- A widowed person who believes in the afterlife and a chance to reunite with her spouse is less susceptible to distressing thoughts about death. The painful longing to be with one’s late spouse will be less painful for people who believe in the afterlife because these beliefs may help continue the attachment to the decedent.

Harmful effects about the belief of afterlife 

These beliefs can be protective or harmful depending on the nature and content of one’s own beliefs. The belief that the individual who has sinned will go to hell which consists of only punishment in the afterlife might be distressing and causing anxiety. These beliefs may be protective in short term only and may be harmful in the longterm. In the beginning, continuing bonds with the deceased may provide a sense of comfort but in the longterm, it will refrain widows to explore new relationships, roles, and activities.

Survivors Psychological adjustment 

Afterlife beliefs may or may not be true. The four potential influences are

1. Pre-loss psychological and physical health
2. Quality of one’s marital relationship press
3. Religious coping
4. Sociodemographic characteristics

Health may affect one’s religious beliefs. A person with poor mental health may have more negative views about the afterlife. A strong predictor of post-loss adjustment is pre-loss well being. Individuals with high marital quality will be motivated to believe in the afterlife and the prospect of reunification. People with religious beliefs are considered to cope better with loss.

I would like to conclude by saying the end is never really an end.

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