LIFE AFTER DEATH
Soul Eternal
IS there any life after death? The answer to this tends, nowadays, to be in the negative because we are so used to thinking of life in terms of all the material elements of which it is apparently composed. We think of life developing when all the aforesaid elements are arranged in a particular order, and, as a corollary to that, we think of death as shattering that order and, in consequence, obviating all possibility of life after death.
T.R. Miles regards the concept of resurrection as a symbolic truth and refuses to accept it literally:
It seems to me that there is a good case for regarding ‘People have experiences after death’ as a literal, factually significant assertion capable in principle of being verified or falsified by experience. The only difficulty, in that case, is that, until we die, there is no means of discovering the true answer. Speculation, of course, is possible. It might be argued, for instance, that according to neurology awareness of the space occupied by our bodies (and of spatial relationships in general) is possible only when the brain is functioning normally, and that after death, when the brain disintegrates, no such awareness will be possible.
There are certain assumptions which suggest that disintegration of material particles in a body does not bring life to an end. Life has a distinct and independent identity which survives in spite of the change in material particles.
But there are certain other assumptions which suggest that disintegration of material particles in a body does not bring life to an end. And these assumptions carry considerable weight. We should be prepared to recognize that life has a distinct and independent identity which survives in spite of the change in material particles. It is known that the human body is composed of certain specific elements called cells. These are the fundamental units of living things, and are composed of microscopic particles with a highly complicated structure. A man is made up of more than a billion cells. It is as if cells were the tiny bricks of the human construction.
But whereas, real bricks remain the same as they were at the time of building, human cells undergo a constant process of transformation known as metabolism.
When a machine is in operation, it undergoes a gradual process of deterioration; in like manner, our body ‘machine’ is in a continual state of deterioration. Its ‘bricks’ are constantly being eroded and destroyed in the normal course of our daily lives. But we compensate for this loss by taking in food. Once digested, this produces various forms of cells which counterbalance any physical deficiency. Our bodies are, in fact, a compound of cells that is always in the process of change. It is like a large river that is always filled with water, without the water ever remaining the same. At every moment the old water is being replaced by the new. The container remains the same, but the water flows on.
Our bodies are so constantly undergoing changes that a time comes when all of the ‘bricks’ in our bodies have been eroded and replaced by new ones. During childhood, this is a fairly rapid process. However, as one ages, this process slows down day by day. Over an entire lifetime, on an average, all of the body cells are renewed every ten years. This process of the death and decomposition of the body goes on continually, whereas the inner man survives in his original form. At all stages of his life, he thinks of himself as being the same ‘man’ that he was in the past, and this, in spite of the fact that no feature of his, eyes, ears, nose, hands, legs, hair, nails, etc.— has remained the same.
Our bodies are like a large river that is always filled with water, without the water ever remaining the same. At every moment the old water is being replaced by the new. The container remains the same, but the water flows on.
Now if, along with the death of the body, the man inhabiting it died too, he should be diminished or depleted in some way by this total replacement of his cells. But this is not so. He remains quite distinct from and independent of the body, and retains his identity notwithstanding the death and decay of the body. Man is like a river. And the human personality is like an island in it, unaffected by the ceaseless flow of the cells. That is why a scientist has regarded life, or the human personality, as an independent entity that remains constant in the face of continuous change. He asserts that ‘personality is changelessness in change.’ Now if death means the end of the body, we might well say that whenever there is such a total replacement of cells in the body, the man actually dies on each occasion. And that if we see him moving about alive, he has really been resurrected. That is, a fifty-year old man would have experienced death at least five times within the short span of his life. If a man does not experience bodily ‘death’ five times in a row at ten-year intervals, how are we justified in believing that, on the ultimate occasion, he will have ceased quite finally to live?
Those who find this argument unacceptable—and modern philosophy is, in the main, opposed to the concept of the soul as an independent entity—will insist that the mind, or the internal entity, that is called man does not, in fact, enjoy any independent existence. Man is simply the outcome of the interaction between the body and the outer world.
All feelings and thoughts in man develop in the course of a material process, just as friction between two pieces of metal causes heat. Sir James Jeans is of the view that consciousness is merely a function or a process, and contemporary philosophers maintain that consciousness is nothing more than a nervous response to external stimuli. According to this concept, once a man dies, that is, when he biologically disintegrates, there can be no question of his survival, because the nerve centres which interact with the outside world and produce a set of responses which we call ‘life’ no longer exist after death. The concept of life after death, viewed in this way, appears irrational and unconnected with reality.
The process of the death and decomposition of the body goes on continually, whereas the inner man survives in his original form.
It must be pointed out at this juncture, that if this is the sum total of man’s existence, we should certainly be in a position to create a man—a conscious, living being. Today we are highly knowledgeable about the elements which make up the human body.
All of these are, obtainable in abundance, beneath the surface of the earth and in the atmosphere. We have examined in great detail the internal system of the body with a microscopic ‘eye’ and we are very well aware of how the skeleton, blood vessels, tissues, etc. have been constructed. Moreover, we have the services of so many expert artists who can copy the human body to perfection. If the opponents of the ‘soul’—concept are truly convinced that their views are correct, they should prove their point by constructing ‘human’ bodies, placing them in sets of circumstances where they receive the correct number and type of stimuli and then demonstrating to the rest of the world how these inert bodies begin to move about and talk in response to their environment. The plain fact that no man can create another man in this artificial way, that no man can breathe the spark of life into a lifeless lump of flesh, should be enough to convince them that there is a great deal more to life than permutations and combinations of cellular forms.
Apart from concerning ourselves with the probability of survival after death, we must also look at this problem from the angle of what purpose is served by having faith in such a concept. Religion makes it plain that life is not as Nietzsche maintained, just a blind and meaningless cycle of life, death, and resurrection, like an hour-glass being emptied of its sand, time and time again, for no particular reason: it is, on the contrary, a time of trial for the whole of mankind, and the afterlife is the time of reward or punishment. The purpose of belief in such religious tenets, therefore, is to strengthen the moral fibre of society by inculcating the fear of God in the individuals—of which it is composed.
No man can create another man in an artificial way, no man can breathe the spark of life into a lifeless lump of flesh.
The advent of the life hereafter assumes a high degree of credibility when we find, astonishingly, that the daily deeds of each and every human individual are being instantaneously recorded throughout the universe at all times. The human personality manifests itself in three ways: intentions, words and actions. All three manifestations are being preserved in their entirety, all being imprinted on a cosmic screen in such a manner as to make their precise reproduction an instant possibility. No detail of one’s life on earth will remain a secret. It will be possible to know who opted for the path of God and who opted to follow Satan, who drew their inspiration from the angels and who trod the ways of evil.
Since we soon forget the thoughts that pass through our minds, we imagine that they have been erased from our memories forever. However, when we dream of some long forgotten event, or when someone suffering from a mental disorder begins to reveal things that relate to a distant and not even dimly remembered past, it becomes evident that the human memory is not confined just to that part of existence which is consciously experienced. One may not be conscious of certain compartments of the human memory, but they nevertheless exist. Various experiments have proved that all of our thoughts are preserved forever in the form in which they first existed. And even if we so desired, we could not eradicate them from our memory. Such investigations have revealed that the human personality does not have its basis only in the conscious part of the brain. On the contrary, there is another major part of the human personality which exists below the level of consciousness. Freud dubbed this part the subconscious, or unconscious. The human personality is rather like an iceberg whose tip—one-tenth part of its total volume—is visible above the ocean’s surface, while the rest—a massive 90%—lies submerged, and therefore hidden from view. It is in this hidden part, the subconscious, that all of our thoughts and intentions are preserved. In his thirty-first lecture, Freud elaborates:
The laws of logic—above all, the law of contradiction—do not hold for processes in the id (inner nature). Contradictory impulses exist side by side without neutralising each other or drawing apart; at most they combine in compromise-formations under the overpowering economic pressure towards discharging their energy. There is nothing in the id which can be compared to negation, and we are astonished to find in it an exception to the philosophers’ assertion that space and time are necessary forms of our mental acts. In the id there is nothing corresponding to the idea of time, no recognition of the passage of time, and (a thing which is very remarkable and awaits adequate attention in philosophic thought) no alteration of mental processes by the passage of time. Cognitive impulses which have never got beyond the id, and even impressions which have been pushed down into the id by repression, are virtually immortal and are preserved for whole decades as though they had only recently occurred.
Religion makes it plain that life is not just a blind and meaningless cycle of life, death, and resurrection, like an hour-glass being emptied of its sand, time and time again, for no particular reason.
This theory of the subconscious has gained general acceptance in psychology, this in turn, giving credence to the idea that every good or bad thought that comes to mind is indelibly engraved upon the human psyche. The passage of time or different sets of circumstances do not cause even the minutest changes to occur. This process of thought registration goes on independently, and irrespective of human likes or dislikes. Freud, however, failed to take stock of nature’s purpose in taking such great pains to preserve a record of our intentions and their outcome within the subconscious. He thus felt the necessity of inviting philosophers to ponder the matter.
But when we look at this phenomenon in relation to the concept of the life hereafter, we immediately grasp its meaningfulness. It clearly shows the advent of the life hereafter as a distinct probability—as the time when every single human being will be confronted with a complete and accurate record of his deeds on earth. His own entity will be evidence of what the thoughts and intentions were which guided him in the course of his worldly existence.
“We verily created man and we know the promptings of his soul, and are closer to him than his jugular vein.” (THE QURAN 50: 16) Let us now consider what happens to man’s words.
“Each word he utters shall be noted down by a vigilant guardian”. (50: 18) No matter whether his words are sweet or bitter, true or false, good or evil, each and every one of them is being cosmically recorded, and man shall be held accountable for them, for this record will be consulted on the Day of Judgement.
Various experiments have proved that all of our thoughts are preserved, forever in the form in which they first existed. And even if we so desired, we could not eradicate them from our memory.
Whenever a man moves his tongue to utter some words, this movement produces waves in the air, just as a stone dropped into water will produce ripples. If you enclose an electric bell inside an airtight glass jar, pump out all the air so that the bell is in a vacuum and pass an electric current through it, it will ring, but the sound will be almost inaudible, because the sound waves from the ringing bell, cannot pass through the vacuum to our ears. The only sound which will be audible will be that which comes via the wires carrying the electric current, and it will be so extremely faint as to be almost undetectable. It is only when waves can pass freely through the air to strike the tympanum of the ear that the aural devices can pick them up and transmit them to the brain, thus making it possible for us to understand what we hear, whether it be the sound of a bell ringing, a bird chirping or a series of spoken words.
It has been proved that sound waves once produced continue to exist for ever in the atmosphere. Although our technology is not yet so advanced as to enable us to catch and reproduce these sounds, science is making such rapid and gigantic leaps forward that it will only be a matter of a very short time before we are actually able to do so. It has been accepted, in theory, that we shall have the physical means to listen to the sounds produced in ancient times, just as we receive the sounds relayed from broadcasting stations and have them made intelligible for us by radios.
The obstacles to the actual catching of sounds from ancient times are fewer than the difficulties of separating individual sounds from the complex mixture of noises produced at any given moment. The same difficulties occur in broadcasting. There are hundreds of radio stations all over the world simultaneously relaying innumerable and vastly different kinds of programmes at the enormous speed of one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second. One might imagine that the sounds received would be confusing and incomprehensible because of their speed, huge numbers and widespread diffusion. But this is not so, because the different radio-stations broadcast their respective programmes on different wave lengths, some on short waves, some on long, and we have only to adjust our radios to the appropriate meter-band and we can listen to any desired programme without the interference of other sounds.
Life hereafter is the time when every single human being will be confronted with a complete and accurate record of his deeds on earth.
The technique of segregating natural sounds has yet to be evolved. But the very fact that techniques already exist by which radio transmitters and receivers separate artificial sounds is a strong indication that sometime in the future, we shall be in a position to hear distinctly separate, naturally produced sounds. Then we shall have a first-hand account of all periods of human history through the medium of the sounds produced at that time. Once such a possibility is accepted, it becomes quite comprehensible that, man’s speech having been perfectly recorded in nature, everyone will be called to account for his deeds and misdeeds.
It came to light that when a former Prime Minister of Iran was placed under detention, a recording machine, which kept working round the clock, was secretly introduced into his room, so that every single word that he uttered, would be recorded and could be used in evidence against him when he was brought into court. In a similar fashion, God’s invisible angels are constantly hovering around every single individual on the face of this earth, recording with unfailing accuracy upon a cosmic disc his every thought, word and deed.
How are our deeds actually documented? Scientific studies have shown, surprisingly, that all our actions, whether in public or in a private, in broad daylight or in pitch darkness, linger in that atmosphere in photographic form. These photographs may be resorted to at any time to lay bare the innermost secrets of an entire life.
Recent investigations have shown that all objects continuously emit heat waves, (provided the surroundings are of a lower temperature) no matter whether it is in darkness or in light, in motion or at rest. For instance, suppose that after sitting in a room, a person gets up and goes out of the room, the heat waves emitted by the person’s body while in the room will still be there. With the help of certain thermal imaging devices a complete ‘photograph’ of the person can then be taken. Since this device functions by means of infrared rays, which can penetrate darkness, it does not matter whether the room was in darkness or in light. However, the thermal imaging devices in use at present are only powerful enough to register heat waves emitted up to a few hours beforehand.
All our actions can be documented on a cosmic scale, just as all the actions of actors and actresses on a film set are caught and registered on film.
In the near future, we shall be able to watch history on the screen. And it is quite probable that such a series of strange facts will come to light as will drastically change our entire conception of the past.
The remarkable performance and results of such devices show us that all our actions can be documented on a cosmic scale, just as all the actions of actors and actresses on a film set are caught and registered on film by the fast-moving, sharply-focused cameras of the film world. Whether you strike someone or help a poor fellow to lift up his burden; whether you crusade for a noble cause or stoop to collaborate in the evil designs of others; whether you are in the light, in motion or at rest, all of your actions are being imprinted on a cosmic screen. This is happening every second of every minute in every home. There is no way of stopping it. Once a story is filmed, it can be repeated on the screen even at far-off places and after long intervals. It is watched by people as if they were on the spot, witnessing everything as if it was actually happening there and then. In exactly the same way, a total picture of an individual’s good or bad deeds in this world can come before him on the day of Resurrection in such minute detail as will make him exclaim in bewilderment: “What can this book mean? It omits nothing small or great; all are noted down!”
From the above discussion, it becomes clear how a complete account of each and every deed is being unfailingly recorded. Every thought that comes to our mind and every single word that we utter are preserved for eternity. We are pursued by such ‘cameras’ as are unaffected by darkness or light and which go on documenting our lives without interruption.
What happens is very similar to the fate of erring drivers, who blatantly commit traffic offences, unaware that their every movement is being picked up by closed-circuit television cameras. One such offender was the driver of a three-wheeler scooter rickshaw who left his vehicle in a no-parking area in Delhi in the year 1980.
The system was new at that time, so he had no idea he was being watched. When he was admonished by a policeman, he tried to pretend that he had just allowed a passenger to alight and that he was about to move on. The policeman promptly took him to the traffic inspector in the control room, where he was shown a film of all his movements— his parking (no passenger to be seen!), his strolling around, chatting to friends and finally his conversation with the policeman to whom he had put on such an air of outraged innocence! Naturally, when he saw the film, he had no defence left.
Cosmic recording is similar in effect, but it is no sporadic affair. It is a round-the-clock process. And it is as if not only our external personalities, but reflections of our inner selves were being regularly pictorialized. This astonishing phenomenon is explainable only as a means of providing evidence for or against individuals, to be used in the divine court on the Day of Judgement. Now if even such a stark reality fails to convince a man of his ineluctably being called to account on that fateful day, it is impossible to imagine what would, in the last analysis, cause the scales to fall from his eyes.