afterlife, continued existence in some form after physiological death. The belief that some aspect of an individual survives after death—usually, the individual’s soul—is common to the great majority of the world’s religions. Of those religions that include belief in an afterlife, almost all subscribe to one of two versions: reincarnation (a continuous cycle of death and rebirth in new bodies or forms), or an eternal life, which will occur in either a heaven or a hell, depending on the individual in question.
In ancient Egypt, especially in the 3rd and 2nd millennia bce, the moral community between the living and the dead was an important part of society. It was thought that the world hereafter might be located near the tomb of the deceased (and thus near the living), in the celestial domain of the sun god, or in the underworld realm of Osiris. The modern Western idea of eternal life can be traced back to the ancient Mesopotamians, who conceived of a netherworld known sometimes as Arallû, Ganzer, or Irkalla, among other names. Just as the heavens were thought to physically exist high above believers’ heads, it was believed that this netherworld existed below the earth’s surface. The land of the dead was neither a happy nor a fearful place; it was the spiritual antithesis of the heavens and a gloomy version of life on earth. Nevertheless, all mortals were bound for it, regardless of their actions while alive.
Other Western peoples adopted this idea. The Hebrew people called this underworld Sheol (“the place of the dead”); in ancient Greece the word was Hades. But after some time, these cultures added complexity to the concept by incorporating the idea of a second destination for those who had lived virtuously. Moreover, the original destination for the dead became progressively worse, transforming into a hell of fire and darkness. So extreme were these two fates that by the 5th century ce, a third option was clearly necessary for the majority of individuals, who did not merit the eternal rewards of true saints but also did not deserve eternal torment. The solution to this issue, which developed slowly over time, was purgatory, a place where the morally middling could be made acceptable for eventual admission into paradise.
The idea of reincarnation can also be found in Western texts. At least some ancient Greeks, for example—among them Socrates, Pythagoras, and Plato—believed that the dead lived again. The Poetic Edda (a 13th-century Icelandic collection of heroic and mythological poetry) suggests that Vikings believed in reincarnation as well. However, the modern concept of death and rebirth as a cycle governed by karma and samsara (Sanskrit: “flowing around”) is derived from the Hindu religion on the Indian subcontinent. It is first recorded in the Upanishads, a set of Hindu scriptures composed from the mid-5th century through the 2nd century bce. According to these writings, every living being—including every plant, animal, and god—eventually dies only to have its soul inhabit a new form. What kind of new form the being adopts is dependent on the karma (literally: “actions”) it performed in its previous life. This cycle continues because the soul desires to live, so that it can enjoy the pleasures of life.
However, the Upanishads teach that nothing the soul might encounter in this world will ever bring it true peace; this cycle (samsara) is forever unsatisfying. Eventually, a soul recognizes the futility of its attempts at happiness and begins to seek its salvation instead through freedom from its earthly desires. Through spiritual practice, individuals comes to fully comprehend their divine nature and no longer identify with their bodies. With their desires thus vanquished, individuals are no longer reborn but find moksha (liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth). The definition of moksha varies depending on the Hindu sect or Hindu-derived religion in question, but in most cases it can be described as a kind of heaven.