World View Chart Writing Assignment
Over the past weeks of learning, there has been a large amount of information gathered about how the different religions perceive varying topics such as human nature, good and evil, nature of God and that of humans, life after death and the origin of the universe. One of the most fascinating and enlightening topics among all of this is how people view death and if there is life after death or whether death is the final stage of a man’s life. The view of the afterlife in a religion is quite essential especially when it comes to a person’s faith. Death can thus form a part of a cycle of a greater plan and also it can form the beginning of a new life in a world that Christians call heaven. This paper will, therefore, look at all the varying religions and their perspectives in regards to life after death.
One of the most common causes of anxiety amongst people is the fear of death and is dominant even among individuals who normally do not experience the normal anxiety symptoms. The greatest cause of this fear is the fear of the unknown. Religious groups have over time tried to alleviate this concern by making efforts to explain what actually happens after death as they also strive to enlighten people about salvation, morality, and teachings of good and evil. There is a wide array of beliefs across all religions (Nagaraj et al, 2013). However, these beliefs can be narrowed down into two central beliefs where some religions believe in the idea of reincarnation and the rest of the religion believe in the idea of the dead going into a different spiritual plane, for instance, the perception about heaven and hell.
Reincarnation asserts that while a person dies in the physical form, the spirit will not die but rather it will be transferred to a new body since the soul is believed to be eternal. The most prevalent religions which strongly believe about the reincarnation idea include the Hinduism, Jainism and the Buddhism religions. They often refer to this religious pattern as samsara commonly known as the ‘karma run wheel of birth, later death and finally rebirth’. This religious belief argues that the soul leaves the current body and moves on to a new body based on the karma that was attained when that person was alive. Karma in these religions is viewed to be the good or bad plans or rather actions that affect a person’s future. In this belief, it is essential for the soul to experience varying things from varying perspectives so as to acquire the full life experiences (McClelland, 2010). For instance, Sikhism identifies reincarnation and karma but also argues that unifying with God will allow one’s life purpose to be fulfilled. The Hinduism and Jainism often receive the ultimate salvation which they refer to as Moksha. They thus use their purification rituals so as to help them acquire the ultimate salvation. Moksha in some ways is a type of being cremated and later manifested into the ocean.
Personally, this topic relates to how I live my life and this cut across all individuals. How I make decisions in life is solely based on my personal beliefs about death. Once I die I believe that my body will no longer be of any use as my spirit will either go to heaven or else to hell for eternity. The ultimate goal of my religion, therefore, is to reach heaven which is viewed as the ultimate destination and is regarded to be a paradise. Therefore in my day to day living, I have to lead a righteous life so as to attain that goal of my spirit reaching the promised paradise which is heaven. It is therefore interesting to understand one’s religion as the religious beliefs on this topic affects each person’s day to day living. All good things, therefore, must come to an end. Most people in the community, therefore, must understand that all good things whether good or bad must eventually come to a stop through death. Though this idea is frightening, most of the people may argue that everything that we know will cease to exist. However, most of the community members in my community follow the Christian religion and they have realized that their time will eventually end and hence people are prepared for what is to come next. Buddhism religion on the other hand view life after death in a way that when a person dies their body is brought back into a different body (Matthews, 2013). For instance, in my society, this is manifested within my social environment. Around our home, there is a stray cat that often hangs around the home and it has been there for the past ten years. According to one of my Buddhist neighbor, she says that my father was reincarnated as a cat that is the reason as to why the cat is always straying around our house.
References
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Matthews, A. W. (2013). World religions. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
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Nagaraj, A. K. M., Nanjegowda, R. B., & Purushothama, S. M. (2013). The mystery of reincarnation. Indian journal of psychiatry, 55(Suppl 2), S171.
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McClelland, N. C. (2010). Encyclopedia of reincarnation and karma. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland.
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