Afterlives

Afterlives refer to beliefs about continued existence after death. They appear in many cultures and religions, sometimes as personal immortality, rebirth, or a non-personal realm. The term also encompasses ideas about judgment, reward, punishment, and reunion with ancestors.

In Abrahamic traditions, heaven and hell are common destinations; some branches include purgatory as a temporary state of purification. In Judaism, beliefs range from a spiritual afterlife to a focus on the World to Come and resurrection. In Hinduism and Buddhism, samsara is the cycle of rebirth driven by karma, with liberation (moksha or nirvana) from the cycle as the ultimate goal.

Ancient Egypt conceived an afterlife journey through the Duat, with judgment by Osiris and continued existence of the Ba and Ka. In Norse belief, warriors sought Valhalla or other realms; Chinese traditions include the underworld Diyu and ancestral spirits.

Secular and philosophical approaches often reject personal continuation, proposing annihilation, memory extinction, or metaphysical naturalism. Some scholars study near-death experiences as psychological phenomena or cultural reports, not as evidence of an objective afterlife.

Afterlives influence ethics, ritual practice, funerary customs, and social structure, and remain a central topic in theology, philosophy, and anthropology. Scholarly work emphasizes variability across cultures and historical periods, as well as the human tendency to symbolize death with ongoing presence.