What do you think about life after death? Heaven? Reincarnation? Rotting in the dirt?

Through out human history, even before the Ancient Egyptians, there has been the idea that mortal death was not the end. All cultures, races, religions and belief systems past and present, have always had some form of ‘afterlife’ to look forward to. The idea that death in this life is not the sudden end of ones existence has been fundamental in shaping humanity and can be broken down into 5 main types; Reincarnation, Transmigration, Judgment Day,  The Paradise Afterlife and the ‘nothing’.

Reincarnation
Reincarnation or Samsara is the cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth as human form on this earth. The cycle of samsara is and only leads to more suffering until one gains enlightenment.

Transmigration
Transmigration is the eternal soul that moves from one form to another according to karmic considerations. The form can be another human being, a animal, plant or even a rock. The Karma or ‘actions’ that one has gained from the past life/s determines what form will be taken in the next life.

Judgment Day
This belief is that there in only one life on this earth and when you die the person is in either limbo or a heaven like state until such day that he or she will be resurrected  for the final judgment day or the final battle on earth.

Paradise Afterlife
When one dies the  person/soul lives in eternal  heaven,  kingdom  of  the dead or some  other form of  higher plane.  As well as the higher planes of  the afterlife there is the lower or hell planes of existance.

Nothing
This is the belief that when you die, that is the end, there is no more, you cease to exist.

Reincarnation and transmigration are the most common forms of belief that consist of different forms of either system, or a mixture of both. One typical view on reincarnation in the west; is that of coming back as an animal, like a tiger or eagle, when really this is transmigration not reincarnation in the pure sense. To wish to be born again as animal is not only going backwards in the level of enlightenment but you cannot decide what you want to come back as at this moment in time. Along with this view the other idea regarding reincarnation is that in a past life the person thinks they were Cleopatra or a famous King for example. These ideas are more of a fantasy rather than any real knowledge of  reincarnation/transmigration or the processes involved.
An interesting difference between western and eastern ideals regarding reincarnation was made very prominently to a doctor who wished to study reincarnation. When the said doctor told his colleges that he wanted to study this belief they all asked him why he wanted to do such a thing as everyone knew that reincarnation was not real. After he traveled to the east and told his colleges there what he was doing they all asked him why he would do such a thing as everyone knew that reincarnation was real!.

If we look back at history as well as how and why the beliefs of Heaven and the final Judgement came about we can gain a better understanding of these concepts. There are many different forms of Heaven and Hell as well as the other types of these realms but one of the main ideas is that these places are eternal. To be stuck in eternal heaven or hell because of our actions in our  very short life on earth not only seems to be ‘unfair’ but not very rational. The concept of eternity goes against one of the fundamental laws of the universe. The only constant is constant change, nothing can be eternal as everything changes.
Who decides where we end up? God is the main Judge in most religions but the only person or entity that can truly judge a person is oneself. You cannot lie or deceive your self and you are the only true judge.

In the Judgment  day or final battle ideal you either stay in heaven until the ‘day’ or you just cease to exist until the ‘day’. As with the concept of eternity  you cannot cease to exist and then just be resurrected,  energy as with everything is constantly changing into different forms, cessation of existence is an invalid idea as there will always be some form or another of energy.
This not only invalidates the ideals of eternity and cessation but also the concept of ‘nothing’ after death. No matter what happens after death or what belief you have there will always be ’something’ left of you as energy cannot be destroyed it just changes form. A simple example of this is a tree that is planted at the site of a person who has been buried.

Beside the want of not wanting to die and the fear of the unknown one of the main driving forces behind the idea of an ‘afterlife’ is consciousness. No one really knows what consciousness is or how it forms but we all have awareness which makes us unique on this earth and the idea that this consciousness cannot be destroyed as it too is energy is a comforting thought for many people.

There are many types and ideas or what happens after ‘death’ and we all should explore these ideas which can help us understand ourselves, humanity and the universe much better.