12
Thanatology
is the study
of death and all the ways
in which people today and
throughout history think
about and deal with it.
The word comes from
the ancient Greek word
for death,
thanatos
.
The afterlife
It’s natural for us to fear death. Like most other living things
on earth, even plants, we are “hardwired” to protect ourselves
and fight for our lives. But human beings can also
think
about
life and death, and create stories to explain them and
rituals
to mark them, as every human culture has done since human
culture began. And in every culture, both in history and
today, we can see evidence of our desire for an
afterlife
—
some kind of continuation of ourselves after death.
Ideas about the afterlife are almost as varied as human
beings are. But there are some patterns. For example, people
in most cultures believe there is something other than our
physical body, a spirit or
soul
that joins our body before we
are born and leaves it when we die.
Some people believe that, like the atoms that make up the
human body, the human spirit or soul is part of a giant cycle,
coming back to life after death over and over again. This is
called
reincarnation
. Others believe the soul doesn’t come
back but carries on forever in some other realm that can’t be
seen by the living.
In most versions of the afterlife, though, how people live
their lives here on earth will determine what happens after
they die.
Recycling souls
The idea of the human soul or spirit being recycled has been
around for thousands of years. The belief that the soul of a person
who dies will be reborn in another body is found in religions
and cultures all over the world, again with many variations.
RISING FROM THE ASHES
In the myths of ancient Egypt and
Greece, the phoenix is a symbol of
immortality and resurrection. Only
one of these birds could exist in the
world at a time, and it could live for
somewhere between 500 and almost
1,500 years. When it sensed that its life
was nearing its end, the phoenix would
build a nest and set it on fire. It would
then be consumed by the flames, and a
new phoenix would rise from the ashes.
ELLERSLIE/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
