What will happen to us after death?

This is the most interesting question ever. Almost all cultures and ancient peoples believe in an afterlife. It must be a part of our psyche, actually wired into our brains. The concept of afterlife has been discussed, argued, fought over, and dismissed more than any other human belief. It is a favorite subject of religion, philosophy, mythology and fiction.

The ancient cultures of the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans are based mostly on mythological ideas of an underworld where souls live after death. They talk about a ferryman that transports souls across the river Styx to Hades. If you have the fare, you get a gold coin that allows you to pass on to a better place, otherwise you go to the underworld slums. The Egyptian equivalent of final judgment weighs one's soul and if it light as a feather, you get a ticket to a good afterlife. Otherwise you end up in a cursed place. Egyptians believe that the afterlife is not all that different than present life. That's the reason the pharos piled up riches and even food in their tombs.

The historic religions, Jewish, Christianity and Islam, outline the idea of our souls leaving us after death enjoying eternal bliss with God in Heaven or suffering eternal damnation in Hell. They also introduce the idea of resurrection of a glorified body.

On the other hand, Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs and some lesser religions believe in Reincarnation, in which your soul lives in another body after death. In other words, you keep living another life; although, in some cases this could be in a lower creature. The Hindus base this on the concept of Karma, which is dependent on what you do in the previous life.

Science is skeptical about the afterlife. They believe that life after death is impossible because they don't have evidence that a soul exists. Scientists equate our body to a biological machine, albeit a very complex one. However, near death experiences have led some credence to the idea of a soul. People who experienced near death events, report seeing their bodies from above and also seeing bright light and meeting their deceased kin. Neuroscientists attribute these experiences to residual brain activity, and they declare that if the brain is truly inactive, which is equivalent to being dead, this kind of activity is impossible.

So, belief in an afterlife comes down to accepting the idea that we humans have souls, which by definition is a supernatural, incorporeal, immortal spirit that has possession of a body as long as it is living. The English word 'soul' ultimately comes from an ancient Germanic belief that the souls were born out of sacred lakes, which were thought to be the realm of gods.

What is amazing is that this concept has permeated society and persisted down from the earliest human cultures. It's a universal idea that most people believe in. Why is this? The reason is simple. Most people abhor the idea of death being so final. They ask: Is this all there is? Belief in God and an afterlife is powerful and gives meaning to our lives. Without it we are nothing. We are here because of a propitious, or pernicious (depending on how you look at it) accident of nature and have no real purpose other than to live and die like every other living thing on this planet. Most people I know don't like that. They believe in an afterlife because it makes sense that we humans are here for a reason and that our lives have purpose that transcends nature.
Besides, there is strong cultural belief in the idea of supernatural things like ghosts, spirits, demons and devils. These are the subject de jure of horror fiction and movies. However, we have no idea what a soul is. It's just another overused word that is impossible to explain.

We could consider a soul to be an essence of life, a property of the body that is essential for it's very existence. In other words, a body without a soul is dead meat, a useless hulk of tissue that quickly decays. But, what is this soul? What is it composed of? These are really hard questions to answer.

One thing we can say for sure is that a soul is not subject to the physical laws that we know. That makes a soul not part of nature or the natural world. It exists in some other plane of existence, a place where our physical laws don't apply. For one thing, a soul is not subject to the scourges of entropy. It can't decay, which means that it is eternal. We have to assume that a soul has a beginning because if it didn't, it would be like God, and there can be only one God. So, our souls were created. Some believe that they were created long before our bodies were made. I'm not sure about that, but it is possible. It could be that our souls were created and our bodies had to wait on evolution to be united.

The other thing we know about the soul is that it is subject to physical laws that we have no knowledge of. That means that we can't be sure how it works. How does it become associated with a body? What does happen to it after the death of the body? What role does it play in the mind of the body? Is it the location of conscience? I could go on for a long time with these questions.

Ultimately, according to some believers, our souls will be reunited with our resurrected bodies, which will be new, enhanced versions. Some would question how this is possible. What if our bodies are completely destroyed as in burning? Well, that's not a problem as I see it. Our atoms are never destroyed. They may be changed to other compounds, but they still exist. So, it is possible that our atoms could be reassembled into bodies. However, that idea does not explain how our bodies would be enhanced and be immortal.

The reason I bring this up is because I feel that religion doesn't explain these things. They refer to it but just say: take it on faith. That's where I have a problem. I want to know how these things are possible. That's the reason I have come up with some ideas that transcend religion. I say that the only way we can have an eternal resurrected body is if this new body is composed of something other than the material we are familiar with in science. In other words, the afterlife will be in a completely new universe, not this one, and I believe that it will be a virtual world. By that I mean that it will be all in our minds, which exist in our souls. And, you though the Matrix was a crazy idea. The fact is that some cosmologists believe that we are in a Matrix now. I don't, but I could see a supernatural version of the Matrix as our future new home.

There is one problem with that idea. There are two important Biblical references to a resurrected body. One is Lazarus, who was brought back to life by Jesus. I believe that Lazarus's body was just resurrected to a living body, not an enhanced body.

The other example is Jesus himself. He was resurrected in three days after dying on the cross. He appeared to many people, including Mary Magdalene and His apostles and disciples. He obviously looked like He did before death and He ate food and drank with people. He still had the wounds of his crucifixion. My only take on this is that Jesus was not completely transformed into a new body because He wanted to make sure that they (His apostles and disciples) recognized Him as the crucified Jesus. I think that He was transformed during His ascension. However, it does suggest that we will look something like we are now after our resurrection. Other than that, it's anyone's guess.

Thanks for reading.