Asking the Clergy: Do we have life after we die?

In the midst of life, how often do we think about what happens after we die? This week’s commenters discuss their beliefs about what happens to us before, during and after our time in the physical world.

RABBI ANCHELLE PERL

Director, Chabad of Mineola

One of the fundamental beliefs of Judaism is that life does not begin with birth, nor does it end with death. This is articulated in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to G‑d, who gave it.” There isn’t anything after life because Jews believe that life never ends. It just goes higher and higher. In the afterlife, the soul is liberated from the body and returns closer to her source than ever before. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, would often point out that a basic law of physics (known as the First Law of Thermodynamics) is that no energy is ever lost or destroyed; it only assumes another form. If such is the case with physical energy, how much more so a spiritual entity such as the soul, whose existence is not limited by time, space or any of the other delineators of the physical state. Certainly, the spiritual energy that in the human being is the source of sight and hearing, emotion and intellect, will and consciousness, does not cease to exist merely because the physical body has ceased to function; rather, it passes from one form of existence to a higher, exclusively spiritual form of existence.

DONALD GENDO ZEZULINSKI

Senior student teacher, Clear Mountain Zen Center, Island Park

Personally, I do not have a concrete concept of an afterlife. The more I look at the idea, the more I’m not clearly seeing separations of before life, during life and after life. Of course, after life has a much stronger pull emotionally than before birth simply because of how I perceive the flowing of time. There is nothing I can do about what happened before I was born, but I might be able to affect what happens after I die. For me, though, before life, life and after life are inseparable even if most of it is out of my view, consciousness or control. My spiritual practice is more concerned with how I am interacting with the world and people around me without being attached to gaining a reward after this body no longer exists. Countless years ago, things moved in such ways that eventually met to become what I call “me,” and I’m fairly confident that what I call “me” is a continuous flow interacting in innumerable confluences, eddies and the like for countless years to come. To me, those segments called life and after life are simply life. Birth and death are just events in life everlasting.

ANU JAIN OF JERICHO

Member, Jain Center of America

In Jainism, the concept of life extends beyond current existence, and the belief is that there is life after life. According to Jain philosophy, our future lives are shaped by the accumulation of karma from our past lives and our actions in the present life. The soul, according to Jainism, is eternal and undergoes a cycle of birth and rebirth, known as samsara. The type of life form the soul takes in each cycle is determined by the nature of one’s karma. Jainism asserts that the soul is indestructible, and it transmigrates into a new body based on the merits and demerits earned through its karma. This cycle of birth and death continues until the soul attains liberation, known as moksha, which is a state of total freedom from the birth and death cycle. Jainism outlines a path to moksha comprised of a trinity of principles referred to as ratnatraya. These three essential components are Right Perception (Samyak darshana), Right Knowledge (Samyak jnana), and Right Conduct (Samyak charitra). By cultivating these aspects in one’s life, individuals aspire to attain moksha, breaking free from the cycle of reincarnation and achieving a state of supreme spiritual fulfillment.