What is meant by "life after death?" To some it means that we live on in our children or that our life work influences future generations. But there is another belief which many people hold: that they will be conscious of themselves after their death and that they will meet with people they have known who have died before them, as represented by the picture above. This belief can be summarized by the line from the hymn: "When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there." This belief will be challenged here.

       Almost no one wants to die. Many people, if offered the option of living forever, would gladly accept.  Since so many people want to live forever, skepticism should be applied to any claims for eternal life. The human tendency to believe what we want to believe has always been troublesome in the search for truth.

       Discussions of this problem are often dominated by the notion that there is some mystery about death. It is popular to say, "We don't know any more about death than we did thousands of years ago." Actually, we know significantly more about consciousness and the brain than we did just a few decades ago, and we are learning more all the time. What we know about the brain is that any time we interfere with the functioning of the brain, in whole or in part, consciousness is affected. Consciousness is directly dependent on a functioning brain. There is no evidence of its independent existence, and there is a mountain of evidence of its direct dependence on brain functioning.

       An analogy will be helpful here. Is the light on in your refrigerator when the door is closed? No? How do you know? Well, perhaps you have done an experiment. Perhaps you have noticed the little button that turns the light off when the door is closed. But it would be possible to believe that by special intervention of God the light stays on anyway. This seems to be the position of those who believe in "life after death."

       Grouch has called to my attention an excellent  summary  of the arguments against life after death.

       Humans have since prehistoric times cultivated a belief in life after death and the reasons for this are obvious.  Nothing scares us more than the thought of death, of not being with our loved ones, of being denied the varied and wonderful pleasures of life.  To assuage this deep fear, one of three methods may be pursued.

       The first method is, a cure for death could be found.  This has been attempted by alchemists in the Middle Ages searching for the elixr of life and Spanish explorers who searched for the legendary "Fountain of Youth" in the New World.  In all cultures, myths abound of human heroes stealing, being given, or stumbling upon the gift of immortality.  According to a tradition in the Roman Catholic Church, Lazarus lived to see some 20-odd generations of his descendants--an improvement over normal mortality though not immortal.  Most gods invented by Man's creative powers have been immune to the ravages of time and able to heal any wound.  All modern gods now worshipped are said to be immortal.  No one speaks, therefore, of the age of a god, since it has no bearing on the god's physical self (if such exists--theologians argue such trivia for extraordinary lengths).

       Today, scientists raise the alluring possibility that we may, with continued research over the next century, assuming we avoid nuclear or environmental holocaust, attain immortality for human beings through technological means.  Already, we have learned many methods of increasing our lifespans through proper diet, exercise, and attitude.  Not enough is said about attitude: calm and steady works best.  Read our position statement on Rational Living to learn how to raise yourself up out of depression or negativity, if you suffer from either of those.

       The second method of overcoming the fear of death enjoys greater popularity among the effeminate than the masculine, as Gibbons notes in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (see our Library).  A believer pretends that death is, if not actually desirable and to be sought after by means of a blade to the wrist, a mere passing from one state of existence to another.  Reincarnation is the variation favored in the East, while  in the West and Mideast the dominant version involves constructing an imaginary world that somehow exists all around us or in the sky or below the earth or some obscure location, as yet unknown, in the Universe.  This imaginary place is called the spirit world, Heaven, Hell, Limbo, Paradise, the other side, the afterlife, what have you.  New names for the imaginary world are developed every so often by gospel singers experimenting with dangerous originality.  When we die, a convieniently undetectable "thing-a-ma-jiggy" is supposed to seep out of our nostrils or other orifice and transport itself to the "spirit world," there to be immediately welcomed by dead friends and relatives.

        Some imaginary worlds are constructed differently.  A Judge, or group of Judges, or masculine voice from the clouds, issues dramatic judgements upon spirits, punishing them for infractions of one rule or the other made up by shamans on earth.  Punishments include being burned with a cigarette lighter, slapped on the wrist, denied supper, or subjected to cruel wisecracks.  The latter punishment is the most feared.  A charming view of this afterlife is presented in a painting by Dore called "The Judecca Lucifer."

        In order to gain a competitive advantage in the ever-fickle religion market, some shamans introduced a degree of liberalism in their system and claimed that not all spirits will be punished.  The judge, or judges, apparently will reward the spirits who gave money to the shamans.  The more money given to the shaman, the more reward.  If however, a poor person sacrificed every last penny for the local temple, she might enjoy just as fancy a reward as a rich man that gave only a portion of his wealth.  Or not; theologians differ on this, as on other issues.  Big fancy rewards also are given to those who served the shamans in some important way or killed people who believed differently than the shamans.  Hebrews, Christians, and Muslims have all at one time or another been promised eternal Paradise and the good graces of the Heavenly Father for mercilessly butchering those who held a different faith.

If you believe in life after death, why not cats that fly over the moon?

The make-believe method offers satisfaction to the gullible, but those with a degree of intellectual honesty often have difficulty at one point or another believing everything that they are told.

       The third method, the least common, apparently, if television and popular movies are any indication, consists of simply accepting reality as we perceive it.  There has never been a case where a person has returned from the dead.  Also, the dead do not communicate with the living, not ever.  Nor have the dead provided any evidence that they continue to think or act.  Therefore, the answer to the question of whether there is life after death is a simple and resounding "No."

       There is nothing to fear in the dark, no mystery surrounding death, no supernatural creatures lurking in cemetaries or morgues, and no ghosts from the past.  Morticians do not work in fear that the corpses might suddenly spring to life again.  Grave diggers hear no whispers from the ghosts of bodies buried in cemetaries.  Soldiers in battle have nothing to fear from the corpses around them and are not avenged by the spirits of those they have slain.  Death is final--all notions to the contrary are hokum.

       Machiavellian leaders have every reason to encourage a belief in the afterlife and to encourage religion itself.  A system of thought where questioning is forbidden strengthens the power of a dictator, while harming a democracy.  Religion casts an opiate haze over the eyes of the people, making them passive and easily used for whatever purpose is at hand, be it war or exploitation at the hands of the wealthy owners.  Without a culture that nourishes a healthy skepticism, the ruling class may act without scrutiny.  The rulers, by the way, are well aware of this, which is why we observe multi-millions regularly being donated to already wealthy conservative religious interests.  Such donations, whatever the ultimate consequences for the citizenry, are, in the United States, tax-deductible.

       Accepting the finality of death requires courage, honesty to oneself, and intelligence in order to peer through the smoke-screen cast over the entire subject by the enormously powerful and wealthy religious corporations, which in the United States pay no taxes and suffer little public scrutiny.  However, by adopting this third method, the realist then finds himself back at the original predictament, a fear of death.