Salvation And Death

Salvation and Death

By Joseph Parish

The concept of salvation implies a form of life after death. It is deemed by the majority of religions that each person must be in need of salvation and are required to be saved. Of interest, we find that according to the text the of Buddhist with their enlightenment, the Hindus with their Moksha and the Christians with their eternal light are all the means of salvation. We find that these are all a means to an end where the Buddhist seeks insight; the Hindu searches for liberation from continual rebirths; and the Christians look forward to deliverance from death.

As morbid as it may at first appear, I have always been fascinated by the concept of death or more precisely how to prevent it. I recall as a very young child who was first introduced to the ideas of death, I had decided I would never die. And you may ask how I planned to accomplish this marvelous feat. In my young childish, immature mind, I had once decided I could beat death by merely refusing to stop breathing. Don't we all wish it were that simple to postpone the reaper when he arrives at our door? Unfortunately, as I grew older reality entered my concepts of life and death and I quickly realized that try as I might the inevitable is just inescapable.

I would like to take some time and discuss the joining of the spirit world with ours. This is an interesting concept and perhaps the simplest to understand. We often follow the train of thought that death is closely followed by a transitory period of time residing in a spirit world. Religious followers have translated this belief into their death rituals. As an example, we are briefed on how during the excavations of primate burial sites they have discovered the skeletal remains buried in fetal positions as if awaiting a rebirth at some point in time.

Many of our ancient civilization’s literature points towards a belief in a world beyond this one. The Hebrew reference to Sheol, refers to temporary spiritual locations. Are these souls awaiting transportation to, another realm? The ancient Egyptians had their Book of the Dead to guide them on their journey to the netherworld. Even in the modern sense we frequently encounter those individuals who claim to have returned from the brink of death and are once again amongst the living. These very people claim to have met deceased ancestors and were encouraged not to follow the lights that they witnessed.

Edgar Casey, known as America's sleeping prophet, described his encounters with a stream of light and he knew he was supposed to follow it. Over the years I had developed a little theory on these alleged lights that the people often see when at the edge of death. It borders closely upon the Buddhist and Hindu beliefs in regards to reincarnation. I propose that these lights represent a future life for those who follow them. If one were to chase the lights it is likely that they would be reborn again and find themselves in the maternity ward of a hospital. The light represents not so much death, but rather life. Enough said about my theory, let's move on to another thought.

Cunningham mentions several concepts of salvation. I would like at this time to take one of the patterns stated for individual salvation and expand upon it. I have selected the desire to be remembered as my second understanding.

We all want to be remembered even if we protest that it doesn't matter if they remember us when we are gone. Since the middle ages and likely before that man has attempted to excel merely because they wished to leave their mark in this world. I paint in my spare time and I am certain that I secretly desire to be considered a proficient artist at best. Some people excel in music and perhaps they would like to be remembered in that aspect. We all have skills and traits which we are aware of and frequently hope to provide some everlasting symbol for future generations.

If we venture by one of the older cemeteries, we would view huge mausoleums where families would be interned. We see the beautiful construction of various mosques, the tombs which have been created to remember those who have passed away. All these monumental creations conceive notions about leaving one’s name or mark upon the world when their time is up.

This brings to mind the concept of children as a means to ensuring one's heritage beyond the grave. It is said that in Japan family members are raised as a source of blessing and upon death purification rites are assured. It is a dishonor not to be remembered by your children and invites a curse to the person causing them to wander the earth as a ghost. This may at first appear to be farfetched, however with an open mind one never knows what death is capable of.

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