Preview

Cross Cultural Beliefs About the Afterlife

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3652 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cross Cultural Beliefs About the Afterlife
Cross Cultural Beliefs about The Afterlife.

Seminar in Individual Differences and Personality

Abstract

A study of American undergraduates indicated that the beliefs about the nature of life after death were quite complicated. A 41-item questionnaire produced 12 independent groups of beliefs. Belief in an internal locus of control and that one’s life is owned by God were associated with a more positive view of the afterlife, as was being Roman Catholic rather than Protestant. The most common beliefs were that one is reunited with family and friends, that the afterlife is comforting, that there is Heaven and that the transition is peaceful, all believed by more than 90 percent of the students.

The afterlife is an idea that the conscious or mind of a being continuous after physical death occurs. There are many different believes about how the afterlife will be and what effects that outcome. In many popular views, this continued existence often takes place in an immaterial or spiritual realm. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion. Deceased people are usually believed to go to a specific planet after death. Regardless of the lack of evidence that is typically believed to be determined by a God. This is based on their actions during physical life. In contrast, the term reincarnation refers to an afterlife in which only the “essence” of the being is preserved, and the “afterlife” is another life on Earth or possibly within the same universe.

Lester, Aldrige, Aspenberg, Boyle, Radsniak, and Waldron (2001-2002) based their research proposal on what Flynn and Kunkel (1987) found. Flynn and Kunkel (1987) used data from about one thousand respondents in the 1983 from a General Social Survey to analyze beliefs that the people had for life after death. They found three groups of beliefs. One is Otherworldly: life of peace, tranquility, paradise of pleasure and delight, loving



References: Ambwani, S., Warren, C., Gleaves, D., Benito, A., and Fernandez, M. (2008). Culture, Gender and Assesment of Fear of Fatness Flynn, C. p., Kunkel, S. R. (1987). Deprivation, compensation, and conception of an afterlife (2002). What Is the Afterlife like? Undergraduates Believes about the Afterlife. Omega Center for the Study of Sluiced

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hindu Terms Map

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages

    |Reincarnation |Life after death, a person who is unenlightened or has |The entry of a soul into a new body upon the former |People believe that when they die they will come back |…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I can remember how when I was young I believed death to be a phenomenon of the body; now I know it to be merely a function of the mind−and that of the minds of the ones who suffer the bereavement. The nihilists say it is the end; the fundamentalists, the beginning; when in reality it is no more than a single tenant or family moving out of a tenement or a town (42).…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I. We must believe in the idea that when someone dies they remain on earth until they are either heard or their unfinished business is completed.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Recently I faced a near death experience, and this assignment has brought back some of those feelings of mortality, and questions like I am satisfied? However, after I spent more time on this assignment, I felt an acceptance come over me, because I realized I lived life for enjoyment of myself and others. This realization helped me decided how I wanted to die, and I decided to base it off of how I actually could. Some details were hard to describe about my life, because, while I like to plan everything out for my life, like a road map, I choose to leave somethings to the wind. In all, I’m left with a queer feeling of calmness and happiness, which I hypothesize is due to a belief in meeting all my life…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gwen Harwood

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Experiences and relationships can also shape one’s appreciation of life and understanding of the nature of death. This is shown in part…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A prime idea that is constantly diverse between religions is the idea of death, body and soul. Linear religions such as Christianity primarily believed that death was a punishment for the bad and wicked. This idea was adopted from the fact that human beings were created to live forever, however after the fall of man and Original Sin, man was condemned to mortality. This idea, however, was challenged by Mother Teresa who described death as ‘going home to God’ and that this life we live is only part of a journey that’s headed towards God.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    My view on life changed, before it was just questions; if life mattered at all and if there was a reason or purpose to live, and if any of my actions meant anything in the long run. Another thought ran through my mind often, what if everything is set, fixed in time and if so, do my actions or thoughts mean anything and if life meant anything. Now, I focus on the present, whether there may be a ultimatum at the very end or not, if there isn’t a purpose then it is my purpose to make a purpose. That is how I see life now. On the other hand, death, I used to fear death, its inevitability, its abruptness, and the unknown. But now the fear turnt to curiosity of what comes after, although I believe that there's nothing, and I ignore its inevitability as nothing can stop an unstoppable force, its abruptness is a matter of my carefulness and…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Theories surrounding the understanding and meaning of death tend to focus on either religion or medicine. Religious attitudes to death are more abstract, while the medical world attempts to separate the living from the dead and the ill from the healthy, providing rationality in the face of demise (Seale 1998, p. 75). Seale (1998, p. 76) describes religion as a means of relieving death anxiety for the living; explaining that those who believe in an afterlife have a less dramatic relationship with death. Harding, Flannelly, Weaver and Costa (2005, p. 253) substantiate this idea with findings that show significantly less death anxiety and considerably more death acceptance amongst religious groups. Moreover Freud (cited in Koenig, 2001, p. 98) sates that “only religion can give meaning to life”. In contrast Seale (1998, p. 75) explains the medicinal outlook on death in two distinct veins, the first being the “best hope” for those who are suffering and are close to death and the second being a “reasonable account” for why all people must die. In addition Seale (1998, p. 77) places medicine and death in direct opposition stating that medicine seeks to cure the “natural death”. Contrastingly, Zola (2011, p. 487) states that the role of medicine within death is not concerned with saving lives, but instead with the controlling of terminally ill or elderly patients. This thought is ripe throughout work surrounding palliative care (see Conrad 1992), however some scholars see the implementation of medical care as simply providing support for those on the verge of passing (Zimmerman & Rodin, 2004, p. 122). In summary, both religious and medicinal approaches to understanding death by the living are still both extremely popular, however the array of works which document…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Resurrection however is different it is believed that depending on whether one has had faith in Jesus Christ we will be resurrected and either go to heaven or to hell. Despite Jesus’ own example of physical resurrection, it would appear that for the rest of us as St Paul said, it is the soul which “is raised in incorruption”. Some doctrines do teach that there is a bodily resurrection but it is mostly unclear whether that body is spiritual or physical, but whichever we will not be resurrected to live a life like which is lived on earth.…

    • 622 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Afterlife Beliefs

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page

    What happens to us when we die? Is there an afterlife? These are the questions that many of us come up with at some point in our life so it worth studying and understanding them. Some religions put so much emphasis on afterlife and its importance such as Islam, some religions, such as Buddhism, believe in reincarnation and some other religions, like Confucianism, believe in no afterlife of any kind and do not talk about what might happen when one dies. In this paper I will compare and contrast the perception of afterlife in a few world religions and discuss how believing (or not believing) in afterlife of some kind would change our way of life, our morality, and our actions. The issue of abortion and suicide, as today’s important global issues,…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    A common belief among many groups of American Indians is when a member of their tribe passes, their soul passes on into the spirit world. They believe that they will still be able to communicate with their loved one through dreams or through the intercession of medicine people (Handbook of Patients’ Spiritual, 2013). Some tribes believe the land of the afterlife is more structured with a higher being ruling over the souls that have passed on. A less common belief, but one that is still predominant in some tribes, is the belief that the dead pass on and become part of the earth if their bodies are not disturbed from peace.…

    • 1864 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The fear of death is often cited as one of the main motivations for religious belief. This school of thought has existed since the time of the ancient philosophers, with the Roman Lucretius (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC) subversive statement that "fear was the first thing on Earth to make gods"1. Over the hundreds of years since, many notable scientists, psychologists and philosophers have reinforced the idea that religion stems out of a desire for immortality. Even Albert Einstein was a proponent of this theory, writing in his 1930 article Religion and Science, published in the New York Times, “With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions - fear of... death"2. The question then becomes do religious beliefs actually make death easier emotionally? Only recently has globalization given us the ability…

    • 1121 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Afterlife Belief

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page

    This story shares with us one belief about the afterlife, furthermore it may answer the question; what happens when we die? I can't answer this question for myself, although i do have a few beliefs. The belief that you always come back to life as another being after you die is one i very much belief in. Heaven is another well known belief, in my opinion it is very surreal and something i do believe in as well. I’ve been told many stories of the afterlife, however most were about belonging in the afterlife in spirit form. The most dominant belief i have about the afterlife is that after you die you still exist, although outside your body in spirit form. I think we are told stories of the afterlife so we can be at ease that there is an afterlife…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Followers accept the worldview of the religious tradition to which they belong and the make sense of life in light of these beliefs.…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For many years, the existence of an afterlife has been a universal question. It seems impossible to many, yet over the past few decades, it has become more acceptable. I genuinely believe that there is an afterlife because it is supported by religion, science and society. To begin with, most of the major religions embrace that view, for example in the Holy Quran it is written: “Every soul shall have a taste of death: and only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense.” Quran 3:185.This verse clarifies that every action whether good or bad has to be recompensed by either a reward or a punishment, and that is the idea of the afterlife. Furthermore, scientists confirmed that human’s body go through a process of decomposition…

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays