From the start of civilization, religion and the belief in supernatural beings began becoming widespread across the world, persisting on influencing the actions of people for thousands of years. People used religion in order to explain the ways of nature, as well as have something to rely on as a civilization, such as Kemetism, in which people went to heaven or hell with the weight of the hearts, or Christianity, where people who lived a good life and also worshiped Christ. However, an aspect of nature that humans struggled to understand was death and what lies beyond it. Thus, in this essay, I will theoretically explain the afterlife, and theories that hope to explain the meaning as well as the consequences of death.
The theory of afterlife that numerous civilizations believed in had a crucial similarity to each other, that the afterlife was dependent on the actions individuals performed while they were alive and had a physical form on earth. This influenced individual believers to work with honesty and principles, and not violate the basic rules and regulations of life. However, it is debatable whether this afterlife actually exists or is just a myth and belief that people believe in in order to live a better life.
In order to have real evidence of afterlife existing, scientists have been looking into near death experiences, or, NDEs. NDEs are experiences in which the heart stops and the person is dead, but even after some time doctors luckily save the patient. Victims of NDEs have a vivid experience of being dead, and what they say is unexpected by most people.
There are numerous religious beliefs regarding the existence of the afterlife, and most stories mention loving relatives coming to them in heaven when they live a smart and good life, and getting eternal punishment in hell if their lives are unworthy of a prize in the afterlife. For instance, in christianity, heaven is a reward for people who are perfectly incorporated into Christ. Moreover, in Catholicism, people have to have faith and be baptized as well as believe in Jesus in order to reach heaven.Similar to these beliefs, NDE victims say they experienced talking to a “judge” and either going to hell or heaven, and when they get back to consciousness, the relatives in heaven say “it is not your time yet”.
People who experienced hell report being “lost”. Most of these people were drug addicts, committed crimes, or basically lived a terrible life. One of these people was Howard Storm. Howard Storm was a man who was quick to anger, as well as not a very pleasant person in society. When he faced death due to a perforated intestine, he reported that faceless figures with black robes on them walked him to a place portrayed by people as “hell”. He said that he felt like his whole body was being torn apart, and, although he did not have a religion, prayed for himself. Then, as a response, he was taken to a place where he saw his life being replayed like a movie before him. He said he last heard a voice telling him to fix the mistake he made in his life, before he finally came back to life on earth.
Moreover, near death experienced people say they had tunnel-vision, and the world went bright white in front of them, making their way to heaven. Although it may be thought that there is an afterlife after what these people say, however there have been theories that possibly prove this thought wrong.
The dying brain hypothesis is a theory in which scientists think that the loss of oxygen in the brain makes people hallucinate, as well as have tunnel vision. Similar consequences happen when people fly too high in the air, part of the reason why jet-controllers wear oxygen masks when they drive the vehicle. This is caused by dmt, which causes sudden bright light and tunnel vision when the brain loses oxygen.
However, there is also a theory that attempts to prove the existence of the human soul. Souls have been a common belief, and people believe that it is the human’s soul that reaches the afterlife when the physical body diminishes. Thus, an American scientist named Ducan Macdugall launched an experiment to try and measure the physical weight of the human soul. He measured the weight of people who were about to die from physical-wearing diseases such as diabetes. Then, after the measurement, he waited until the patient died, then measured their weight. The weight from when he measured the patients before death had decreased by 21.3 grams, or “three-fourth of an ounce”. This theory is commonly known as the 21-gram theory/experiment.
Although the 21-gram theory was conducted and had a result of the “soul” actually having weight, most people and scientists didn’t think of this experiment as exact or promising due to the fact that no one else could confirm his theory, and the 21-gram theory did not work on 15 dying dogs in which he did the same experiments to; the dogs weighed the same when they were alive and when they were dead.
Moreover, scientists have figured out that the brain actually reacts as well as is active when a person is dead. They say that the brain acts similarly to when a person is dreaming or meditating when they are dead. Due to this evidence, scientists believe that there is a role for the brain even after death. Religions such as Kemetism, dead people talk to the judge of the dead, Osirus, and figure out where they belong in the afterlife, hell, or heaven. The brain functioning even after death may be a sign of people talking or thinking after death, which mystifies scientists more about the topic of life after death. The part of the brain that reacts after death is the cortex part, which means that dead people have the ability to think as well as visualize in their current state.
In an experiment conducted on 4 dead patients, the conscious levels spiked up after they were off of life support and officially faced death. Then, after about 5 minutes of death, the brain lights up wholly, a reaction that happens when someone is engaged in something or talking with someone. However, only some parts of the brain were firing up, especially the cortexes in the brain. This suggests that the person/dead person was aware of what he/she was doing and where they were, as well as sensing the five senses(touch, smell, sight, sound, taste), and was engaged in something physical.
The human body’s cells actually hibernate for a few minutes after death, before actually decomposing. Beliefs in religion have suggested a procedure before arriving somewhere between heaven and hell. Since the body’s cells are designed to wait before decomposing, there may be a connection between them and the victim of death thinking rationally before death. Numerous religions portray a procedure a dead person must take in order to reach heaven or death, and in the procedure, it takes rational thinking as well as the concept of choice. Moreover, movement in the brain after death suggests that the brain is used after death, implying the possibilities of an afterlife.
The concept of reincarnation as well as the afterlife has been a popular topic that has been experimented on as well as debated on for centuries, gradually stabilizing its position in peoples’ minds via numerous religions. Moreover, death has always been inevitable throughout history, avoiding numerous attempts of human beings who try to defy it. Thus, religions have come up with stories that lessen the worry of people afraid of death. There were numerous scientists trying to prove the existence or the absence of the afterlife, but none prevailed. However, I do believe that, through theoretical evidence, there is an existing afterlife after a human’s death.
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