{"id":3003,"date":"2025-06-18T17:31:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T00:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/?p=3003"},"modified":"2025-06-27T12:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T19:26:07","slug":"after-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/after-life\/","title":{"rendered":"After Life:\u00a0What Happens After We Die?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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After Life:\u00a0What Happens After We Die?<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n
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\n\n \n USC Dornsife scholars explore diverse cultural and religious views on the end of life and the mystery of what may follow.\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \n June 18, 2025<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\"AJust as ancient cultures created stories to explain the origins of the universe, the mystery of death has inspired diverse beliefs about what \u2014 if anything \u2014 comes next.<\/p>\n

For some, death means the complete cessation of consciousness. For others, it\u2019s a doorway to another realm. Visions of the afterlife vary widely. Traditional Christian doctrine holds that a person\u2019s deeds on Earth determine whether they spend eternity in heaven or hell. In contrast, many Buddhists believe in reincarnation \u2014 a continuous cycle of rebirth among different life worlds of heaven, human, animals, ghosts and hell.<\/p>\n

Yet, even Buddhists disagree about the exact nature of reincarnation. Mainstream Buddhist traditions teach that mean-spirited people are reborn as pretas,<\/em> or \u201chungry ghosts\u201d \u2014 a karmic retribution for misdeeds in a past life. While most Buddhist traditions acknowledge the concept of reincarnation, the question of who or what is being reborn remains highly contested. Many Buddhist schools reject the notion that reincarnation is tied to a distinct soul. \u201cThese monks say that rebirth is simply the continuation of existence but without the transmigration of individual identity,\u201d says Jessica Zu<\/a>, assistant professor of religion<\/a> and East Asian languages and cultures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Religious teachings on the afterlife have evolved \u2014 sometimes dramatically. During the Reformation, for example, the Church of England rejected the Catholic doctrine of purgatory, a temporary place of suffering where impure souls are cleansed of sin before ascending to heaven.<\/p>\n

This shift disrupted long-held Christian ideas around death and generated much anxiety for Elizabethan England, says Thea Tomaini<\/a>, professor (teaching) of English<\/a>. The era\u2019s unease is reflected in Hamlet\u2019s famous soliloquy, when he wonders, \u201cWhat dreams may come \/ When we have shuffled off this mortal coil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The human longing to transcend mortality continues to reveal itself in our enduring attraction to the illusion of eternal life. In the 20th century, cryonics promised bodily revival once technology caught up to the vision. Today, artificial intelligence fuels dreams of a transhumanist \u201ccyber forever,\u201d where consciousness is uploaded to the cloud for perpetual existence, says Tok Thompson<\/a>, professor (teaching) of anthropology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And yet, freezers fail. Computers crash. Hamlet\u2019s \u201cundiscovered country\u201d may still await us all. \u2014M.C.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\n Bang! Goes the Universe\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n
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\n USC Dornsife Magazine\n <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Spring \/ Summer 2025<\/h2>\n

The Life Issue<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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\n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAfter Life:\u00a0What Happens After We Die?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"USC Dornsife scholars explore diverse cultural and religious views on the end of life and the mystery of what may follow.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/magazine\/after-life\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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