Life After Death. Hinduism and Buddhism Reborn reincarnation. Opportunity to develop spiritually and eventually escape the cycle of life and death.

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1 Life After Death Christianity There is a life after death death is a stage we pass through. Paul spoke of a certainty of life after death persuaded people that struggle and suffering would be worth the fight. Resurrection Jesus proof that there is life after death. Islam Life after death is certain promised in the Quran. This life is the preparation for the after life we will be judged. Bodies will resurrect from the graves reward for believers and punishment for nonbelievers. Hinduism and Buddhism Reborn reincarnation. Opportunity to develop spiritually and eventually escape the cycle of life and death.

2 Anthony Flew Idea of life after death, reincarnation or resurrection is unfalsifiable no meaning. Logical positivists life after death is impossible to test empirically, cannot be falsified or verified. Life after death is an incoherent concept believers cannot show that it is unreasonable for people to believe in it. Kant Life after death is necessary for moral reasons. We have an innate sense to behave morally not because it will bring us good and we will be rewarded but because it is the right thing to do. We should strive to achieve the highest good summum bonum goodness is rewarded with happiness. We ought to strive for the summum bonum it must be possible because ought implies can we only feel we ought to do things which are actually in our power. Ought to save water by taking showers instead of baths this is possible. We do not feel that we ought to provide clean water for this whole planet this is out of our reach as an individual. In this life goodness is not always rewarded with happiness people may lead morally good lives and might be honest with everyone, but they might not make much money and they might suffer tragedies. Others who are selfish and greedy might prosper. Afterlife exists in order to achieve justice. Without God or an afterlife sense that we ought tot be good would be futile. Criticisms There is no reason to assume that there is any justice we might sense that there is a need for fairness but there is no evidence that things ought to be like this. Our sense that we ought to be good might be futile. Whatever life after death is like, it cannot compensate for the unfairness of this life.

3 The Soul The body can be seen as a vehicle in which a person lives in and needs in order to continue. Disagreement on what it is that identifies a person some people believe that the soul is what identifies people. John Locke Cobbler and the Prince wake up to find themselves in each other s bodies. Each have the appearance of each other which person is which? Is it the mind that makes the individual or the body? Is it appearance, memories, individual traits or something else? This theory raises implications for the ideas of resurrection and reincarnation. Saying that one person who has died is identical with another person in a different body is incoherent. When we say someone has a good soul different from when we say a person has a good mind. Most theists say that people have souls even when the mind and body has been destroyed. The soul develops a relationship with God it is conscious and makes moral decisions. Difficult to see how the idea of the soul and mind can apply to someone who has mental difficulties. Christianity and Judaism the soul and body are not separate different aspects of a single entity. Hinduism soul is more real than the body the person is the soul and the body acts as a physical vehicle which the soul inhabits. Buddhism there is no soul people s sense of being unique and having a immortal essence is based on illusion.

4 Plato The physical world and the world of Forms two separate realms. The same distinction between the body and the soul DUALIST approach. Soul has the ability to know the truth and understand the forms through reason. Body physical and knowledge can only be gained through physical senses and experience. The body is physical and therefore is in a constant state of change it cannot be the object of certain knowledge or the source of knowledge. The soul is capable of certain knowledge it is unchanging, immortal and exists before and after death. Inner and mental life (psyche) is the most important thing hopes, motives, opinions and emotions. The soul is the real part of a person temporarily attached to a physical body, but is destined to live on after death. Soul is made up of three elements three basic instincts animate us: Reason most superior, allows us to gain knowledge and distinguish right from wrong, as well as understanding the forms. Emotion emotion allows us to love and be courageous but if it is left unchecked we can become reckless and conceited. Appetite necessary because it encourages us to look after the physical needs of our bodies if left unchecked it can cause us to live hedonistic lives and be reduced to the same levels as an animal. The three elements of the soul necessary for balance of the individual. Analogy of the charioteer guiding two horses reason is the charioteer that guides the other two horses (emotion and passion) and keeps them in check to make sure they are heading in the same direction. Plato believed that reason and logic should always take the lead not our emotions and appetite. Plato believed that the soul survived the death of the body lived in the world of Forms before physical birth. When we learn things we are actually remembering them from the Forms rather than encountering them for the first time. Intuition comes from memory the soul s lives in the world of Forms before birth and gains true knowledge of ideals. We intuitively know what good, just or beautiful are because we have encountered them in their ideal form before birth. Phaedo wanted to show that Socrates had not failed in his mission to educate people.

5 Socrates argues that the soul continues to live on in a state where it has thought and intelligence after death it is undisturbed by the distractions of the body s demands. It is concerned with reaching the highest state important that the soul lives on because life is the essence of what a soul is. The soul animates the person by giving it life if a soul is a lifegiving essence then it was obvious that it must always have life. Cebes in Phaedo suggests that the soul dissolves at the point of death. Plato argues that everything comes into being from its own opposite something is big because there are smaller things. Qualities depend on their status relative to each other life comes from death and death comes from life endless chain. Uses the argument of knowledge to support his belief in the immortality of the soul: Meno slave boy with no education is given a puzzle to solve and he is able to work out the answer to the problem. Plato suggests that he must have been using knowledge he already had out intuitions are evidence that knowledge is attained before birth and that our souls had once lived in the world of perfect Forms. The Myth of Er Republic. Story told by Socrates in Plato s Republic. Soldier called Er dies on the battlefield 10 days later they find that Er s body has not decomposed. On the 12 th day Er came back to life and told everyone what he experienced in the afterlife. When he had died he set out on a journey in which he encountered judges who rewarded and punished the souls of the dead. Morally good people went upwards to a place where they were rewarded for their good deeds. Immoral people were punished with pain equal to ten times the pain they had inflicted on earth. Some had crimes so bad that they could never be released from punishment. Souls would choose themselves a new life on earth as human or animal, before being reborn. Only the philosophical understood the importance of choosing a new life of peace and justice benefited from the cycle of life and death. Myth of Er is meant to demonstrate the necessity of seeking wisdom through philosophy in order for the soul to benefit people understand what makes a good life, what leads to rewards and what to avoid. Once the souls had chosen their new lives, they were given some water to drink from the River of Forgetfulness except for Er.

6 Criticisms of Plato Plato s theory does not seem to match our experiences of ourselves as unified wholes does not do justice to the way we perceive ourselves as having a single, unified mind and personality. Plato s ideas about the soul depend on accepting his ideas about the world of Forms we do not have to accept this. Cycle of opposites is not supported by evidence many things are not brought about by their opposite black does not bring about white, hunger does not bring about satisfaction. We recognize things because of their opposites, something is warm because we understand coolness this does not mean there is some kind of cycle. Life can be the opposite of death does not mean that life is brought about by death.

7 Aristotle The soul and the body are inseparable. Analogy of a wax tablet with a stamp impressed on it the shape made by the stamp is inseparable from the wax soul is inseparable from the person. The soul is a substance essence. We cannot say that a baby, toddler, child, adolescent, adult and elderly person are all the same person the physical body is in a state of change. The substance remains the same continuing identity soul. The soul includes the matter and structure of the body with its functions and capabilities. Unlike Plato Aristotle believed that the soul could be explained in natural terms. Various kinds of souls plants have a vegetative or nutritive soul, but they have no ability to reason. Animals have a perceptive soul they have enough intelligence to distinguish between pain and pleasure. Humans have a higher degree of soul they have the ability to reason and can tell right from wrong. The soul is not a separate entity from the body it is dependent on the body. If an axe had a soul, the soul would involve chopping because that is the function of an axe the reason why it is structured the way it is. The soul of a human is the potential for rational thought and activity. This does not allow for the idea that the soul could survive the death of a body. Aristotle wondered if reason could survive after the body had died. His writing became complicated and difficult to understand and interpret it is not likely that Aristotle believed that people could suffer after death.

8 Richard Dawkins The Selfish Gene Materialist view there is no part of a human that is nonphysical. Consciousness cannot be separated from the brain nothing exists except matter. This rules out any possibility of any form of conscious life after death once the brain has died, the consciousness must come to an end. Humans are nothing more than survival machines dismisses the idea that humans have any kind of soul to distinguish them from other species. Humans, like all other creatures, are only interested in replicating themselves to survive into the next generation. Human beings do not have immortal souls humans are a mixture of chemicals survival machines robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes. River Out of Eden Life is just bytes and bytes and bytes of digital information. Richard Dawkins finds the evolutionary process aweinspiring also the achievements of great men and women. He does not believe that we need any additional soul to explain this. Human awareness developed as a result of evolution genes replicated themselves and work together the individual person is a colony of genes working together in an animal that has become so complex that it is aware of itself. Humans can make plans and imagine different futures consciousness has the evolutionary advantage. Religious belief in the soul and immortality no sound basis. They are beliefs based on wish fulfillment for those who lack courage and fear death cannot cope with the idea of their own mortality. Consciousness is no more than electrochemical events within the brain no person is capable of surviving brain death. Consciousness is not a special magic ingredient that gives humanity a special status it is wonderful aspect of evolution. The relation between consciousness and the brain remains a mystery to science we will never know for certain whether consciousness is more than physical chemical changes.

9 Christian Understanding of the Soul God gives people their soul as a divine spark made humans in his image. Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Genesis 2:7. Some Christians believe that the soul will be judged by God after death. People will have to repent their sins turn to Jesus to be saved. Those who don t repent will be separated from God forever. Traditional Christians soul is the subject of mental and spiritual states the essential person. The soul encompasses the mind and spirit it goes beyond mental intelligence. A machine could have the powers of reason and logic but could never have a soul because it would lack the spiritual capacity to develop a relationship with God. Thinkers have considered where the soul comes from: Creationism literal truth in Genesis God creates a soul for everyone the point of when the soul enters the body raises issues with abortion. Traducianism the soul is inherited from the parents same way that eye colour is inherited explains the problem of original sin people s souls must be tainted by Adam and Eve s actions because their souls were tainted through inheritance. Platonic Idea the soul preexisted in the body and lived with God before each baby was born solves the problem of how a soul can be eternal souls have no beginning or end.

10 John Hick Death and Eternal Life The earthly life is a vale of soulmaking testing ground for people where they develop their moral characters. People are given a choice about whether or not they should have a relationship with God. Hick believes that the soul has an everlasting life with God not unchanging in the Platonic sense. The soul has to grow and develop there is an evolutionary process to it, where people learn to make conscious choices out of their free will. They eventually reach a stage when they are able to live in a full relationship with God this process takes longer for some people. Hick believed that there is a physical rebirth after death the body is replicated by God. He accepts that the immortality of the soul is not something that can be proven in real life however he believes that it is not unreasonable and a rational person should accept it. Richard Swinburne and Keith Ward Human beings have souls which are distinct from physical bodies capable of survival after death. Richard Swinburne The Evolution of the Soul The soul and body are separate; therefore the soul is capable of surviving after the body has been destroyed. There are fundamental truths about us which cannot be explained in physical terms significant aspects of us which give us our identity are not to be found in our physical bodies. Human soul is unique capable of logic, ordered and complex thought. The soul is aware of its own freedom to make choices also aware of moral obligation. Souls allow us to recognize goodness in other people because of our souls we have a conscience. Keith Ward Defending the Soul. Without belief in the soul morality becomes a matter of personal choice and taste. We need moral claims the soul recognizes that they come from God in order to allow humans to progress and achieve special dignity instead of being like animals. Without the soul humanity lacks any sense of final purpose. Attacks materialist view that we are nothing more than physical organisms in Genesis God breathed life into Adam Man is made of dust; but he is filled with the spirit of God.

11 Reincarnation Being born into the world, after death, into a new body. Individual comes to live after death in bodily form. They cannot continue to live in the same body there is a new kind of body for the person to inhabit. Hindu Beliefs A person as an essential self known as atman. The atman is eternal and seeks unity with God. Spiritual wisdom comes when people recognize the ultimate identity of the atman with the divine once this happens there is no need for the atman to continue the cycle of rebirth = moksha. The atman holds a person s true nature it leaves the body at the time of death and enters another at birth this is how two apparently different people can be identical. Rebirth is controlled by the law of karma. Each deliberate action has consequences. Good actions will bring about good consequences bad action will bring about bad consequences. Those who lead morally good lives will have good fortune those who are selfish or violent or careless will suffer the consequences in the form of bad fortune. Sometimes we see that good people suffer this is because of the karmic fruits of their behaviour in their previous lives. If they cope with the suffering they will become closer to achieving moksha. The karmic fruits attach themselves the atman and keep it in the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. This is not seen as a judgment of God seen as a natural law. Everything that happens is something that they deserve the balance of good and evil karmic fruits attached to each atman will determine the quality of life. This sometimes makes Hinduism seem like a religion which lacks compassion for the poor and weak but these people are poor or weak because of their own behaviour. However, Hindus believe that those who care for the poor will reap the karmic benefits of their compassion. Everyone has an atman everyone is connected as part of the divine essence.

12 Buddhist Beliefs No belief in the soul Buddhist teach a doctrine of anatta soullessness. There is no God or no essential individual self belief in the self is based on an illusion and encourages egotism. A person is made up of five skandhas matter, sensation, perception, volition (acts of will) and consciousness. The five strands are interdependent and woven together to make a person who attracts karma. There is nothing more beyond this a wise person realizes that any sense of atman is an illusion. Believes in karma and the cycle of rebirth. Raises the questions what is it that is reborn if there is no essential person? How can it be that one person is the reincarnation of another, if there is nothing which stays the same from one life to the next? Buddhists will argue that the person is neither the same nor different. Analogy of a candle a candle can light other candles, but the two flames are neither the same nor different energy from one candle begins the flame of the next. Buddhist sacred text The Question of King Milinda deals with personal identity. Questions how rebirth how rebirth might work in the absences of any essential self. Nagasena wise monk visits the king and helps him understand the essential Buddhist teaching. The king is confused about how karma works because there is no self to which the karmic fruit can attach itself. Analogy of man stealing another man s mangoes.

13 Evidence for Reincarnation Ian Stevenson Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation Took examples from India, Ceylon and Brazil children who remembered past lives. Chose to use only children in his studies he thought they were less likely to lie or be motivated by attention seeking desires or lie for a long time. One case Swarnlata India. Driving to a town called Katni and she pointed to a house and said my house. She described how she had once lived there as a member of the Pathak family she commented on how the place had changed. Swarnlata performed songs and dances for her siblings claimed she had learned them when she was a member of the Pathak family. The songs were sung in Bengali Swarnlata had only been taught to speak Hindu. The Pathak s daughter Biya had lived there and learned the Bengali songs, had been married, and then she died. Swarnlata recognized Biya s family and greeted them with warm affection. Another case Imad Lebanon. Member of the Druse faith they believed that reincarnation happens at the moment of death. Imad was 5 years old when he met Stevenson they travelled together to vist the village that Imad claimed to remember Stevenson was able to see Imad s reaction to the buildings and people he saw. Imad has been making references to a previous life gave the name of the village where he said he had lived and the name of the family. The first words he ever spoke Jamileh and Mahmoud. When his speech developed he compared Jamileh to his mother said that Jamileh was more beautiful. Spoke on an accident where a truck hit a man and broke both his legs when Imad began to walk he expressed an unusual happiness about being to do so and often said how he was pleased he could walk. Imad s family concluded that in a previous life, Imad had been Mahmoud had a wife called Jamileh and was injured in the truck accident. Stevenson found out that a man called Mahmoud had lived in that village he still lived there. It was in fact a man called Said who had been killed by a truck which broke both his legs. Imad had never claimed that the accident had happened to him he had described it in detail. Another family member Ibrahim died of tuberculosis at the age of 25 the disease had affected his spine and he was unable to walk he had a mistress called Jamileh who was well known for her beauty.

14 Stevenson linked Imad to Ibrahim s character he believed it because he knew that if Imad s family had been lying, then they would have made less mistakes. Ibrahim had died in 1949 Imad was born in 1958 explanation was that there must have been an intermediate life, which could account for the people that Imad claimed to remember but could not be traced. Stevenson looked at explanations for these accounts: Fraud unlikely because the children had nothing to gain from sharing these experiences. Many found the media attention to be a nuisance. Swarnlata s family was offered money for her education from the Pathak family, but Swarnlata s father refused. It ocul dhave a negative effect on the females if they are claiming to have had a previous husband. Cryptomensia more probable where a person thinks they remember something, but in fact they have heard it from another source little to suggest that this could have happened deaths were not broadcasted. Genetic memory this is what enables a bird to remember how to build a nest even when they are young however there was very rarely a link between the child remembering and the deceased. Extrasensory perception this involves paranormal and telepathic links even if the children did have paranormal links, they only claimed to remember past lives, and they did not say they were in touch with another person who had once lived. Stevenson concluded that reincarnation was the most likely explanation however he thought that people should continue looking for other explanations of these cases. Criticisms of Reincarnation Contradict teachings of the Bible or Quran these religions teach that each individual is given one life and no more stresses the importance of the individual. Reincarnation is incompatible with the idea of the resurrection of the body. Cases of reincarnation usually come from countries where reincarnation is an accepted belief John Hick has considered Ian Stevenson s book and suggested that his book could be explained by some extrasensory perception. Reincarnation is not the only conclusion that can be drawn fro the cases. Stevenson argued that the weight of evidence makes reincarnation seem a possibility. Issue of personal identity when it comes to reincarnation there is no reason to claim that a person living now is someone who has died. Similarities are not the same as identity shared memory is not the same as identity. It is impossible for two different individuals to be the same person. Idea of karma may be unjust not fair for someone to suffer consequences of crimes or faults that they cannot remember committing.

15 Even in the space of a life time it could be argued that it is unjust to punish people for something that they did in long ago in their past especially if they are different people now. Link to the Death Row debate some prisoners find God and still have to suffer. For Hindus and Buddhists karma works perfect with justice it is seen as a natural law it will always be just.

16 Resurrection Christianity After Jesus died on the cross, he was resurrected this is evidence that this will happen to us. When Jesus died, his body was placed in a tomb on the 3 rd day, people discovered that the tomb was empty. Entrance had been guarded the whole time. Jesus was seen as a physical person walking around could be touched. He spent some time on earth in physical form then ascended into heaven it is not clear if he discarded the physical body and lived on in a spiritual form. Christians believe that life after death will involve some kind of judgment. Parable of the sheep ad goats in Matthew s Gospel 0 shows a separation between those who have treated people well and those who have been selfish and ignored the needs of others. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life Matthew 25:46. The story of the rich man and Lazarus shows a man who was too interested in material possessions and ignored the poor man at his gate he is sent to eternal punishment, but Lazarus is united with Abraham in heaven. They are both aware of each other s state but cannot do anything about their positions. Questions Raised by Resurrection Life after death must happen in some kind of space because physical bodies take up space. Peter Cole Philosophy of Religion (1999) If Christians are in a physical, resurrected state and physical environment, will they have to queue to see Jesus? Where will this physical existence be? And what will they be doing all the time? Resurrection implies that heaven must be a physical place climate, clothing, housing, and food? If our physical bodies now have needs, would we have the same physical needs of we were resurrected? It is difficult to conceive of a heaven where people need to eat and have haircuts. If someone dies at the age of 103 will they be resurrected as an old person? What about babies who die? Can a resurrected body grow, lose weight or hurt itself? What about imperfections? Will people still have disabilities in their resurrected bodies? Will people who are not so good looking become more beautiful? How will we recognise each other?

17 Heaven and Hell Christianity and Islam believe in the idea of a heaven and hell. Bernard Williams Wondered whether an eternity in heaven would really be desirable would it become boring after a while? We would literally have all the time in the world we would be able to do and achieve everything we wanted. Every target we set for ourselves would be achieved if we wanted to learn to play an instrument, we would have forever to master it. The excitement and anticipation of life would disappear part of the pleasure of living is making choices about what we want to do with our limited time. We enjoy setting challenges which we might or might not be able to achieve if and when we do achieve them, we feel a sense of pride. Some argue that in heaven God would make sure that this didn t happen we would miraculously never be bored just as we would never be sad and would never suffer. However, if this happened then it means our minds and emotions would be programmed like this and we would lose our free will. Questions why God didn t make us like this in the first place. The concept of hell raises issues can the existence of hell with eternal punishment that can never be escaped, be compatible with the existence of a perfectly loving and just God? David Hume raised this issue said that God s justice is questioned because a finite sin can never deserve an infinite punishment. Some argue that when we do wrong, we wrong God every kind of wrong deserves eternal punishment because wronging God is eternally bad. Pain for all eternity would be an unfair punishment for a minor offence. Even when a loving parent punishes their child, even severely, the punishment does not go on forever long enough to teach the child a lesson. Eternal punishment may also become boring we might become immune to the pain and suffering. What would eternal punishment achieve if there were no possibility for redemption?

18 John Hick and Life After Death Death and Eternal Life Religious belief carries cosmic optimism one day we will have the chance to improve ourselves and become perfect by overcoming our failures. Optimism is understood in terms of a succession of rebirths into this physical world people have the opportunity to grow and develop further. Optimism is then translated into the idea of heaven or/and hell. In our life after death when we have improved we will be able to look back on ourselves living in the present and understand the importance of the suffering we faced we will be able to understand how our pain was justified by its outcome. Hick uses the imagery of John Bunyan s Pilgrim s Progress we might have times where we doubt, just as the Pilgrim fell into Slough of Despond but we will then be able to look back at the end of the journey and see the progress. Hick accepts that life after death is not provable but it is not an unreasonable belief it provides a coherent explanation for the problem of evil. Rejects the idea of an eternal hell this is incompatible with the idea of a loving God. Argues that the belief in hell was developed as a form of social control encouraged people to be fearful of disobeying religious authority. It is not conceivable that a God of infinite love and mercy would allow his creatures to suffer a punishment with no escape. Religious belief is shaped by a person s culture someone in India is likely to be a Hindu, someone in France is likely to be a Catholic. Pluralist understanding of the truth of religion people can find truth in within their own faith. God would not prevent people from the possibilities of eternal life just because they came from another religious group. Hick believes that the body and soul are inseparable if there is an after life for the soul, then the body must be resurrected. God creates a replica of the individual in another world out of his omnipotence. The replica is exactly the same as the original person same thoughts, memories, appearance and personality except that it is a replica, made in the idealized state, because many people are disabled, injured etc. It is logically possible for people to exist in different worlds with the same identity. A person could die in one body and continue to live on in a new one while being the same person. When Hick uses the word replica hi is not using he word in exactly the same way that it would be used in a conversation. Imagine someone disappearing from place A and appearing in place B: London to New York.

19 The person who appears in New York is exactly similar to the person who disappeared from London. They have the same physical characteristics, same stomach content, same memories, beliefs and mental abilities etc. There is everything that would lead us to identify the one who appeared with the new one who disappeared. Everyone who knew the person would be confused but they would all admit it was the same person. Hick then asks us to imagine the same scenario but with an important change: The person has died a replica of him appears in New York a moment before death. This is not inconceivable not illogical to suppose that when we die, a replica of ourselves survives death and lives on in a new form of life. Hick followed the Irenaean theodicy afterlife is a continuation of soul making. In this life we cannot attain our true potential we develop after death and more on from selfcenteredness and realitycenteredness. Similar to Catholic ideas of Purgatory souls need to be prepared to enter the presence of God. Hick s belief in life after death is unusual he believes that it is not conditional on accepting a particular religion. God s love is incompatible with the beliefs of an eternal damnation incompatible with the claims that heaven is exclusively for members of one religion. Criticisms Hick s beliefs are inconsistent with Christian teachings of Jesus if people can get to heaven regardless of whether or not they accept Jesus, then his death seems pointless. Other religions would argue that Hick s views are inconsistent with their teaching. It removes and incentive for people to struggle and fulfill their potential to become better people in this world if we are all going to get to heaven in the end, then why struggle now? We could lead immoral lives. Hick s ideas that suffering on earth will be worthwhile and make sense in the end are overly optimistic support Dostoevsky s Ivan Karamazov nothing makes innocent suffering worthwhile God would have been better not to have made the world at all. Eternal salvation suggests a lack of free will we are all eventually saved so do we have any real choice? Hick undermines the argument that God wants people to make a free choice about whether they worship him or not. It could be argued that free will is worth paying the price for suffering. Replica theory a replica is not identical to the original no matter how similar it may be.

20 Disembodied Existence After Death Reincarnation and resurrection involve the idea of having a physical body for existence after death. Richard Swinburne We can imagine a situation where we could exist without a body it is a coherent concept. We sometimes have an intuitive sense of being different from our bodies we have bodies, not we are bodies suggests that we feel separate and distinct from the purely physical. We can have a mental process which is not translated into anything physical we can think of things without evidence appearing on our faces of in our body language. There might be something about us and our mental inner lives that goes beyond physical existence. Consciousness and the body are linked but also distinct from one another. Consciousness might be able to exist on its own. Brian Davies Some believe that disembodied existence is an incoherent concept. Just because we can conceive ourselves as being disembodied does not mean it is possible. We can think of many things being invisible, flying etc does not mean they are actually possible.

21 H. H. Price Survival and the Idea of Another World. We can have meaningful discussions about whether beliefs about the afterlife are true we have to establish that these beliefs are coherent. Survival after death is something we cannot imagine no point taking evidence for or against any further. Survival after death is not inconceivable. Price gives an idea of what an afterlife may be like could involve disembodied, or discarnate existence. Makes a comparison to dreaming dreams are made up of mental images and we feel as though they are real because we can hear and see things also have a sense that we have bodies. We are not bound by physical time or space. We can be home one minute, then somewhere else. After life might be made up of mental images (like dreaming) so vivid that people might not understand that they have died. Although we would not have bodies which would lead to sensory perceptions mental images would seem like real perceptions. Disembodied existence does not mean the end of personal identity mental images which survived death would be made from the individual s memories. As long as people had their mental images after death then that would resemble physical sensation and felt as though they had identities, then this would be enough. Imageworld would not be real the sense of having the physical characteristics would be enough to those who experienced it. Analogy of real silver and brass that has been plated to look like silver the plated brass is not the real object. It is unreal in the sense of giving the impression of being something that it is not. Price suggests that this world exists in a different kind of consciousness rather than a different location. Other world perceived as a having a space just like in a dream. It would be possible to move from one location to another without these places occupying space. The afterlife would be composed of the mental images of the individual person would make their own future. The places and people that the person is familiar with in this world would reappear in the next. Content of the afterlife would be drawn fro memories and desires people may find themselves encountering unpleasant experiences revisiting traumatic experiences which may have happened in this life. Acting out repressed feelings or inner conflicts. Nightmare from which the person cannot wake up once the desire or memories have reached the end of their life span, they will be replaced by others.

22 Implies that there is subjectivity in the afterlife afterlife may contain people from favourite TV shows and films but the afterlife of the actors are unlikely to contain me. Price suggests that telepathy might work in the afterlife there might be shared other worlds people might be able to move from one world to another. Price was not aiming to prove the existence of this afterlife he just wanted to show that the concept of disembodied existence is not a contradiction in terms. He did think that there was some evidence to support his suggestions telepathic contact with the dead and give reports of the afterlife there. Seem to have same interests and concerns as they had in their early life. Maybe we already slip into the other world when we are asleep. Criticisms Price s ideas are not consistent with Christian teaching there is a difference between coming up with a theory and that theory being true. Contradicts the beliefs or resurrection of the body. Christians may argue that Jesus demonstrated that there is a life after death physical resurrection. Once Jesus was resurrected, he could be touched and seen and he could eat. If life after death is how Price suggests it is, then there is no need for a God. If the individual survives in a dream world no contact with ultimate reality or God. There is no hope of an eternal life or coming fact to face with God and enjoying being in his presence. The afterlife is where the truth is revealed no distractions or delusions of the physical world. Price s view of the afterlife creates an illusionary world. Price does not take into consideration people whose mental processes are limited for them to have memories or desires. Babies who only live a few hours. People born with brain damage. They do not have the opportunity to have the same kind of mental process that other people have. People that are blind from birth would their afterlife be missing visual imagery? People with severe mental illnesses memories might not be accurate at all. Depression mental imager world created may be unpleasant. His ideas imply that to get the best kind of afterlife, we should surround ourselves with things that comfort and pleasure us in this life to avoid unpleasant images. Implies we should turn away from those in difficulty to avoid revisiting them after death.

23 However Price never suggested that the model of the afterlife would be good or fair does not suggest that the afterlife is determined by a good God or that we will be compensated for any suffering. Price argues from a Freudian perspective imagining that our wishes will come true in the afterlife. This can be seen as childish because it seems as though he is not able to cope with reality on earth. John Hick suggests that if we live in our own mental selfcreated worlds after death then we have little genuine contact with each other. Price argued that in the afterlife we come to realize that some of our desires were not good for us. We might grow and develop new desires to develop spiritually. Hick agrees with this in the afterlife the individual might grow and learn vale of soul making. Hick believes that life after death involves a continuation of the human process of becoming closer to God.

24 Near Death Experiences People claim to have outofbody experiences as if they re high above the room. Sensation of peace or an overwhelming presence seeing a bright light. Some view these claims as evidence for the existence of life after death. Raymond Moody Recorded descriptions of near death experiences found several key features that recurred in many different accounts: Sense of being aware of one s own death. Feeling of peace and painlessness. Sense of being outside the body being able to look down on one s body. Going somewhere dark and tunnel like. Encountering a presence or hearing a voice. Feeling an intense sense of being surrounded with love. Meeting people who glow with light often relatives or friends who have died. Looking back over one s whole life thinking about what was achieved and what was regretted. Being surrounded by light. Seeing beautiful colours. Kenneth Ring Included studies of blind people stated that they were able to see in the near death experience during the out of body experience. NDE s were not related to a person s religious beliefs. Sense of being surrounded by a loving presence same for strong theists and atheists. NDE s had lasting effects people were no longer afraid of death lives had been transformed new appreciation of the world and people less concerned about material possessions.

25 William James Varieties of Religious Experience. Religious experience could be validated by its lasting effects if the experience had made the person more caring and more moral. People become more appreciative of their families and the natural world more patient and compassionate and will lose their temper less often. Criticisms Small proportion of those who become clinically dead for a while indicates that there is no afterlife. People do not usually remember their experiences once they recover perhaps they were not close enough to death, or there is no after life. Feelings and sensations which are typical of NDEs can be experienced by people who take drugs similar senses can be caused by psychoses or hallucinogenic drugs. Build up of carbon dioxide in the brain releases endorphins that can lead to the same perceptions of a tunnel with a light at the end. People who are in a physical state of being near death similar psychological position to those who are on drugs similar sensations. Susan Blackmore conducted studies using infrared detectors and magnetometers detected nothing. This is hardly surprising if the soul does not have physical properties. Other experiments have been conducted to see if the sensation of looking down on one s body have any objective basis. Madelaine Lawrence electronic screen in cardiac rehabilitation ward displayed in a sentence which changed randomly and could only be seen from a bird s eye view. If a patient was having an out of body experience during an NDE they would be able to report what the sentence said. No evidence of patients being able to report what the sentence said. People have been so fascinated by NDEs expectations of what ought to be experienced. Might be influencing people s ideas and memories. NDEs feel real to the people experiencing them does not mean that they reflect external reality. Nightmares and hallucinations may feel real but they are not. People experience positive personality transformations after NDEs this does not indicate that there is an afterlife. Near death experience might not involve any physical illness it could be a narrowly avoided danger. Naomi Alderman witnessed planes hitting the Twin Towers realized that she could have died pursued a career she always wanted because she realized that life does not last forever Not just NDEs that cause life transofrmations.