Theme: Afterlife and its impacts on the living
Theme Explorations
Eternal Nature of the Soul
- The greeks in the age of heros have said “Nothing is so hateful to [a person] as death and the gates of Hades: for when death comes it is certain that life— this sweet life of ours in the sunlight— is done with, whatever else there may be to follow.” -- Homer, The Iliad. Ehrman, Bart D.. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (p. 35). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Final judgement
- It appears that the doctrines of resurrection and judgement closely align to periods of intense inequality (and thus perceived injustice) as well as periods of social upheaval/rapid change (Jeff)
- A common thread throughout resurrection / final judgement is that the number of faithful would be far smaller than those not saved. "Many Jews, in fact, would not be allowed to enter. As Jesus says in Matthew's Gospel, "many will come from east and west" to enjoy the heavenly banquet with the Jewish patriarchs in "the kingdom of heaven." but many of those from Israel "will be cast into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:10-12) (Ehrman 2020, p154).
- There are two dominant types of negative judgement that recur in human history. The first is eternal damnation and torment, the second is ultimate and complete destruction (annihilation) and a range of combinations of these beliefs. (Ehrman 2020, various).
Resurrection of the Body
- The belief in the resurrection of the body and judgement provided an answer to "the disturbing question plaguing many thinkers devoted to a monotheistic religion. If there is only one God, and he is in control of the world, why do the people who try to follow him suffer for it? The problem of suffering is not very difficult to solve for polytheists. Anyone who believes in many gods can easily say that some of them are wicked and these are the ones who create such misery. But if there is only one God, and he is both thoroughly good and ultimately sovereign, why do his chosen ones suffer?" (Ehrman 2020, p105)
Apocalyptic thought
- Apocalyticism describes the Jewish view that God has cosmic opponents creating havoc on earth, destined to be destroyed in the end through a cataclysmic act of divine judgement. "For now, the devil has forces who do his will, demonic powers that can wreak havoc on earth. All that is evil comes from these adversaries of God." (Ehrman 2020, p107). Note: This aligns with the "othering" as described in Theme: Religious violence
- To Do - add detail here, but be careful not to rely too much on one religious tradition.
Norse afterlife
- "A Viking – or any Scandinavian warrior – may have expected to wake up in Valhalla after death but the farmer or weaver who had never picked up a sword or axe would not. Even so, what precisely they would have expected is unclear." (Mark, 2018)
- Further, the Norse concept of the ‘soul’ was quite different from how it is understood in the present day or how it was by Christians in the 8th-12th centuries CE. The soul had four components and one’s destination in the afterlife could range between continued existence in one’s grave, haunting one’s former home, one of the realms of the deities, or other possibilities. The Norse conception of the soul included four aspects which made up a whole person: (Mark, 2018)
- Hamr – one’s physical appearance which, however, would and could change. The hamr could be manipulated for shape-shifting, for example, or could change color after death.
- Hugr – one’s personality or character which continued on after death.
- Fylgja – one’s totem or familiar spirit which was unique to an individual and mirrored their hugr; a shy person might have a deer as their fylgja while a warrior would have a wolf.
- Hamingja – one’s inherent success in life, seen as a quality (or protective spirit) which was both caused by a person’s hugr and formed it; one’s hamingja would be passed down through a family, for good or ill.
- There is evidence that the Norse believed in reincarnation where one’s hugr would pass into the body of a newborn relative while one’s hamingja continued on in the family at large and one’s fylgja seems to have just ceased to exist at the person’s death. (Mark, 2018)
- There was no judgment by the gods involved in a soul’s final destination; for the most part, it seems, a soul went wherever it went. (Mark 2018)
- Realms of the Afterlife. Briefly, there were five possible destinations for a Norse soul after death: (Mark 2018)
- Valhalla – the hall of the heroes. When a Viking warrior died, the soul was believed to go to Odin’s hall where he – or she – would meet old friends, talk and drink, and fight in preparation for the final battle of the gods at Ragnarok.
- Folkvangr – ‘The Field of the People’ which was presided over by the fertility goddess Freyja. Little mention is made of Folkvangr in Norse tales but Freyja is usually depicted as benevolent, giving, and kind and so it is thought this realm would reflect her personality.
- Hel – A grey land under the earth in the fog-world of Niflheim ruled by the goddess Hel and where the majority of souls would go. The realm of Hel has no correlation to the Christian conception of hell, but the goddess with the same name who personifies this realm is probably a Christian addition as for pre-Christian times belief in her is not attested.
- The Realm of Rán – Sometimes alluded to as the Coral Caves of Rán. Rán was a giantess, married to Aegir the giant and Lord of the Sea, who lived at the bottom of the ocean. Rán’s realm was illuminated by the massive treasure she had taken from sailors she had caught in her net and drowned and the souls of these sailors remained with her.
- The Burial Mound – The soul of the deceased could also remain where the corpse was buried and was then known as a haugbui (‘howe’, a burial mound), a ‘mound-dweller’, who would not leave the grave. The soul could also remain in the area after death but left the mound to cause problems for the living. This entity was known as the draugr or as the aptrgangr (meaning ‘after-goer’ or ‘again-goer’ i.e. ‘one who walks after death’.
- Death for most Scandinavians in pre-Christian times was a tragedy. Death was the loss of all one had ever known and, if there even was such a thing as an afterlife, it was the dismal grey realm of Hel with its high walls and thick gates. (Mark 2018)
Undeath
- Undead creatures did exist in Norse mythology, primarily the Draugr, a type of Revenant.
- The bible does not specifically support the existance of "undeath" as described above. One frequently cited passage is: "And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. And on that day a great panic from the Lord shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other." (Zechariah 14:12-13) [Second Zechariah]
The afterlife in Zihæt
Holy Empire of Humanité
- The official belief system includes an apocalyptic concept, where the world will end and with that end will come a final judgement of all those who have lived.
- The official belief system supports the final judgement will determine whether one's soul would go to a form of eternal life, or be destroyed forever (annihilation).
- Recently, some teachings imply that Dieu's vindication would not be delayed until the end of human history (stressing the proximity of judgement)
- Also Recently, the more oppressed the believer, the more the form of judgement shifts from annihilation to eternal torment (stressing justice for the oppressed)
- Does not rely on the existance of a messiah figure
- These beliefs can be used to ensure the unequal masses "tolerate" their condition in return for the belief in some later reward.
- Tends to make believers more judgemental, and more strict in their beliefs.
Norjord
- To be determined, assume similar to Norse.
Drákon League
- Do not believe in the eternal, individualized nature of the soul. Rather the "breath of life", psychē may linger past death before returning to its natural state.
- Do not believe in an indvidualized judgement, either at the time of death, or in a single later resurrection event.
- Believe after death, the "breath of life", psychē, or spirit is released into the world.
- Unmourned souls (such as those that die in anonymity) or those not given proper burial are bound to its place of death.
- Mourned souls (those who have received funeral rites) are freed to move within a limited area.
- Most spirits lose their sense of self after death, eventually dispursing and forming the mystical field that supports the world, its creatures and its magic.
For future consideration
- Does the development of judgement of right belief require a "sacred text", particularly for wide-spread empire?
Sources
- Ehrman, Bart D. (2020). Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife [Kindle Edition] Retrieved from Amazon.com
- Mark, J. J. (2018, December 10). Norse Ghosts & the Afterlife. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from Ancient.eu
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