Life After Death: Fact or Fiction?
Death and resurrection for fictional characters may be quite common, but is it possible in real life? Many people, throughout history, have claimed they have died and come back to life again. Is it our fear of death and hope for an afterlife that fuels these claims and stories, or is there some truth behind them?
Near Death Experiences
People often do die for a few seconds to minutes and are brought back to life again. “Hundreds of people have already been resurrected from the dead … These were the victims of drowning, asphyxiation, heart failure, and the like, who suffered clinical death but were revived …” (Ettinger, 78).
These cases are obviously different from those of fictional characters because their deaths only last for short periods of time. Still, these “near death experiences” may offer insight into an afterlife.
Many have argued that when the body is in a near death state, it is common to have these sorts of hallucinations.
Some think the experience is caused by physiological changes in the brain such as brain cells dying as a result of cerebral anoxia, and possibly also caused by release of endorphins, or NMDA receptor blockade. Other theories encompass a psychological reaction to approaching death or a combination of such reaction and anoxia (Lommel).
In the paper, Lommel points out several interesting anomalies that are inconsistent with these theories. If brain chemistry was at the root of all these experiences, then it would happen to more than only 18% of individuals who are revived. Also blind people report the same out of body experiences. Finally, if some of these experiences happen when the patients’ brains are no longer functioning, how is it possible that they’re still having conscious experience and remembering it? (Lommel).
Alive Again
These people were only dead for, at most, a matter of minutes. There are accounts of people who have been declared clinically dead for much longer and managed to survive.
In order for this to happen, the body must be kept at a very low temperature. This is not the same idea as cryogenics. In cryogenics, the body is frozen at such a low temperature, no one would be able to be reanimated with the technology we have today.
A little girl in Canada’s heart stopped beating for two hours before doctors revived her. She was found frozen outside and once she was made warm enough, her heart started beating again. “Doctors theorized that the sudden massive drop in temperature could have saved her life, because young children tend to cool so quickly that their organs and their blood are preserved” (Warr).
What about Jesus? We know Jesus existed, but as for evidence of his resurrection, we rely on accounts written thousands of years ago. According to these accounts, the tomb where he was buried was found empty and 500 people claimed to have seen him alive after his death. There are also stories of Jesus bringing back another man, Lazarus, from the dead.
Reincartnation
Eastern religions have their own idea of resurrection. They believe in reincarnation. When we die, we don’t come back as ourselves or ascend to some higher plane of existence, not yet anyway. We come back to Earth as someone or something else. Eventually, the goal is to break out of this cycle of life and death and achieve enlightenment.
The idea of reincarnation today has also been integrated and transformed to fit in with other ideas and religions. “Many people who accept reincarnation in the West today claim that it can be scientifically proven. They usually ground their belief on past-life recall experiences, which represent the ability of certain persons to recall facts of alleged previous lives” (Valea).
Hypnotism, unfortunately, is very susceptible to the implantation of false memories. Still, other evidence exists. Children are often able to recall memories of places and events that they have never experienced in their current lifetime (Valea). People also sometimes have unexplained natural talents.
None of this evidence though fits in with the original idea of reincarnation. The body and soul are separate. Since memories are part of the body and not the soul, it would be impossible to remember anything about our past lives (Valea). But it is believed that our past lives make imprints on our soul. The feeling that we have met someone or been someplace before, even though we haven’t, may be authentic.
Vampires
Aside from religious resurrections, there are many who believe in the existence of vampires. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there is no such thing as an immortal vampire, not that we know of anyway. People who claim to be vampires will often readily admit to their mortality.
It’s a culture rather than an afterlife. “Most of these so called ‘vampires’ are merely imitators. They become entranced with what they have seen on the movie screen. Enticed by the thought of immortality and eternal youth” (Smith 128-130).
Ghosts
Vampires aren’t real, but can one exist as a ghost after death? A large percentage of the population does believe in ghosts and it would be scientifically impossible to disprove their existence. In fact, there is much evidence to support the existence of ghosts. There has been research done into mediums, EVPs and other paranormal phenomena linked with ghosts.
Everyone knows of at least one ghost story, has at least one friend who’s seen a ghost or has lived in a haunted house. My cousin's young daugter was staring at a doorway and told her mother there was an old, naked man standing there. They also witnessed several other strange occurrences while living in that house.
Denial
People do many things to protect themselves from the fear of death. If we were afraid, it would make it much harder to live our lives. We believe that bad things don’t happen to us, they happen to other people. We believe we’ll live eighty or ninety years, but the average person only to seventy.
People are in such denial, that overall, they are more afraid of public speaking than death. This strong desire to believe in an afterlife could be the basis for all these stories and accounts. Either that or there is some truth to them and there really is some sort of life after death.
