Death has always been a scary thing for humans to understand, not knowing what happens after we die. Therefore, most cultures or religions believe in some form of afterlife. According to junior Anne Ross Pender, “I think they are afraid of not existing and having faith in a higher power allows them to discredit that fear.”

  Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims all believe that your actions on Earth dictate what will happen next.

  For example, Hindus and Buddhists believe in a concept called reincarnation, which is the belief that the soul starts a new life in a different form after each biological death. In Hinduism, if you were an unpleasant person on Earth, you might get reincarnated as something irrelevant. The followers of Hinduism also believe that if you lived according to the path chosen for you, making choices based on the teachings of Hinduism, you would be reincarnated into a person of a higher class. After living a completely righteous life, you would ascend to a heaven-like place called Nirvana. The term Nirvana is used in Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, though the meaning is different.   

  Christians believe that after you die, if you were righteous, followed the teachings of Jesus, and asked for forgiveness when you sin, your soul will live on forever in heaven, which is a perfect place. If you were not a Christian, or you committed too many sins, you might go to a fiery place called hell, which is described as “the fiery lake of burning sulfur” in the Book of Revelation.  

  Muslims believe that your actions on Earth shape your soul. They say you are not able to feel it happening while you are still in your physical body on Earth, but after you die, the damage or healing you did to you soul will be the only thing that you can feel. They believe that the feeling itself serves as either your punishment for being a dreadful person or as a reward for being an exceptional person while you were on Earth.

  Judaism focuses more on the here and now, rather than preparing for an afterlife, and is left up to personal interpretation. Some Jews believe that one’s soul could ascend to a place similar to the Christian heaven, while others think they might go on to live many lives. Still, others accept that they might just wait until the Messiah comes, and upon his arrival, the dead souls of righteous people will be resurrected. Some Jews do not believe in an afterlife at all, but that they should rather focus on the present day, especially as the concept is rejected in the Book of Job. This is a book in the Bible about a man who questions his faith and wonders about what it means to be loved by God, after a string of curses are brought upon him.

  Taoists believe in a completely different concept of the afterlife. In Taoism, everyone is eternal and a part of the Tao, or the natural way of the universe. When you are alive, you are part of the Tao, and when you die, your story ends, but you are still part of the Tao. Some followers would describe it as a story within a story.

  It is difficult to find a religion or culture that does not have some sort of belief or open interpretation for an afterlife. This is because humans do not know what comes next and are willing to believe in another life after death to make it less frightening. Sometimes the uncertainty of the afterlife is what scares humans the most.