This is the outline for the meeting of Brigid in the Desert UAIC that took place on Sunday, April 11. Please note that:
I am not an
expert in the doctrine of resurrection in belief systems.
The intent is to
elicit conversation around the idea of resurrection; what do various people understand,
believe, and know
Everything here
is a simplification of the various actual beliefs, as it is impossible to go
into great depth in the time we have together.
This covers just
a very small bit of the variation of belief around the world and over time
CHRISTIANITY
·
Jesus died when crucified, was dead and in his tomb (or,
sometimes, that he descended to hell and ‘saved’ the souls of those who died in
the great flood), bodily rose again on the third day, walked among his
followers and others, then visibly ascended to heaven. (Some Christians believe
he spiritually rose again rather than bodily or physically).
·
Some believe that at the end of days after a great judgement by
God, all who have been ‘saved’ will be bodily resurrected from the dead to live
in eternity with God.
·
Some believe that there is a spiritual resurrection soon after
death, immediately into a new life either in heaven or hell.
·
Some believe that there is a spiritual resurrection and all go to
heaven.
·
Some believe that there is a spiritual resurrection and all become
part of God.
·
Some believe in some form of reincarnation
JUDAISM
·
During the Messianic age the dead will be brought back to life in
their bodies as the Temple is rebuilt in Israel.
·
This belief is related to but distinct from the belief in the
immortality of the soul
·
Some teachings say that all the resurrected dead will be brought
back to Israel
·
There is a teaching that all who are not in Israel will be rolled
through underground tunnels, which is spiritually painful. This is apparently
why some people want to be buried in Israel.
·
At least two sources say that the righteous will be resurrected
wearing the clothing they died in
·
Jewish mysticism includes a belief in reincarnation if the soul
has not completed their mission on earth and that at resurrection, pieces of
the soul will inhabit the bodies of all the earthly lives. This further goes on
to say that the part of the soul that completed the mission in life will
inhabit that body
·
This is not to be on this earth, but on another plane of existence
·
For some the belief in the resurrection is metaphor, for some it
is literal
ISLAM
·
When life on earth comes to an end, all people who ever lived will
be raised from the dead and judged by God
·
All souls will be “paid in full” for their deeds
·
This is a
quote from one of the sources I read, a website called Al-Islam: “When the
deceased are buried their souls will accompany their physical body to the
grave. The soul will then be questioned therein by two angels concerning their
lifetime actions, deeds, and faith. The soul will then remain buried alongside
the body. Although the body will perish, the soul will remain living until the
time of one's resurrection on the Day of Judgment.”
HINDUISM
·
After death, souls are reincarnated into new bodies
·
Bodies are temporary, limiting, and a source of suffering, though
they are believed to be aspects of God.
·
The soul, or self, is eternal. The goal of the soul is to be
liberated from the cycle of rebirth by practicing spirituality, austerity, and
righteousness.
·
When the soul has achieved liberation, they are no longer born
into new bodies, but become part of Brahman, living in bliss.
·
God returns to earth many times, in a physical mortal form to
either destroy evil or uphold dharma. When finished, God simply returns to the
other realm.
·
There are some instances of bodily resurrection from the dead in
Hindu scripture as well.
o
Lord Shiva resurrected Ganesha after beheading him, giving him the
elephant head
o
Lord Shiva resurrected Daksha after killing him, giving him a
goat’s head
o
Brahma resurrected himself, after sacrificing his own body in a
ritual at the time of creation
o
Hindu scriptures suggest a lost science of reviving the dead with
mystic healing practices
o
A quote from a site called hinduwebsite: “Lastly, we believe that
gods have an inseparable connection with humans. Each time we wake up from deep
sleep or we take rebirth in the mortal world, not only our souls but also the
gods of heaven are resurrected in our microcosms or bodies.”
NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITIONS
·
There is no one traditional belief among Native Americans, because
the each tribe has – or had – depending upon their circumstances, their own
belief system
·
Today, many Native Americans are some variety of Christian and may
or may not have beliefs that combine their handed down tradition with what they
are taught in church, which may differ depending upon denomination
·
Some Native traditions believe the souls of the dead go to a
spirit world, and can still sometimes communicate with the living through
dreams or through medicine people
·
Other tribes believe in a land of the dead, sometimes ruled by a
god of death or other supernatural being.
·
In some tribes dead people are believed to become stars or part of
the earth unless they are disturbed and turned into ghosts by grave robbing or
other unnatural acts
·
In other tribes, there is a belief in reincarnation
·
Among Native nations in Massachusetts there was a belief that
after death, the soul would go on a journey to the southwest. Eventually, the
soul would arrive at a village where it would be welcomed by the ancestors.
·
In Rhode Island, the Narragansett believed that at the time of
death, the soul would leave the body and join the souls of relatives and
friends in the world of the dead, somewhere to the southwest.
BUDDHISM
·
Each Buddhist sect has its own belief about death, though there
are general overlapping concepts
·
When a person dies, they are reincarnated, with the goal of
achieving enlightenment and ending the cycle of rebirth
·
Some Buddhists believe, as do Hindus, that you can be reincarnated
into the body of an animal
·
What a person does in their lifetime determines what happens to
them in their next life
·
In general, resurrection in the terms of a person rising from the
dead into the same body or existence is not a concept in Buddhism, but I read
about two instances when something similar was said to happen
o
It is said that one Bodhidarma was seen three years after he had
died, walking on the road carrying one shoe. Bodhidarma told the person who saw him not to mention it, but when the man arrived at the monestary, he told those he saw that he had encountered Bodhidarma on the road. They told him this was impossible, because Bodhidarma was dead and buried. They went to the grave, dug up the coffin, and found it empty except for one shoe.
o
Another was Puhua (or, Fuke in Japanese), who predicted his death
for three days until nobody believed him anymore. He then walked by himself to
his coffin and got in, asking someone to nail the coffin shut. When the town
folk heard about it, they opened the coffin, only to find it empty. At that
point, they heard Puhua’s ritual bell ringing in the sky.
NEOPAGANISM
·
Neopaganism is influenced by Eastern traditions, 19th
Century Occultism (which was highly influenced by Eastern traditions, contemporary ideas about what ancient tribal traditions
might have been (i.e., Celtic, Norse, Hellenic, and other pre-Christian
beliefs), and, in spite of the denial of many, Christianity and Judaism.
·
Look at old “mythologies” to find the stories that resonate with
them
·
Some neopagans profess to believe in the actual existence of the
gods/goddesses as polytheists
·
Wiccans in general have been dualists who believe in a god and
goddess; some see this as two separate entities, others as two sides of one
deity and all gods and goddesses as aspects of that duality
·
Some Wiccans and pagans see the deities as Jungian archetypes
representing the subconscious of humanity
·
Stories of “dying and rising gods” that reflect a connection to
nature and the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth throughout the “wheel of the
year”
·
Some of the gods and goddesses who have either been said to have
died and come back to life in some way or whose stories have them going to the
underworld and returning to the land of the living, who are honored by various
Wiccan/Pagan groups and solitary practitioners are:
o
Persephone
o
Dionysus
o
Osiris
o
Dumuzi/Tammuz
o
Innana/Ishtar
·
Christopagans practice and believe in a syncretized religion that
takes into account both paganism and Christianity as legitimate perspectives;
these practitioners are likely to see the resurrection of Jesus as metaphor for
enlightenment, or finding new life in an awakened spirituality
ANCIENT GREEKS
·
There are many tales about how Dionysus (God of the vine) died and
was resurrected into a new body, often by complicated means
·
Adonis spent time in the underworld and returned to the living
·
Asclepius, son of Apollo, was said to be a skilled physician. In
one account, he raised some people from the dead. Because of this, Hades
accused him of stealing his subjects and complained to Zeus, who then became
afraid Asclepius would teach this ability to others, so he killed him. Later,
Apollo got Zeus to bring his son back to life, and he was given a place on
Mount Olympus.
·
Hercules, killed in a fire, was said to have been resurrected and
ascended to heaven.
·
Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken to the underworld. Her
mother Demeter grieved for her so much the world’s vegetation died. Zeus sent Hermes,
his messenger, to the underworld to make Hades let Persephone return to the
earth. However, since she had eaten one pomegranate seed in the underworld, she
was bound to stay there. A bargain was struck, and Persephone was allowed to
spend a third of the year in the underworld and the other two-thirds with her
mother in the world. Whether or not this is an actual death is debated.
·
These are just a few examples, of course.
ANCIENT NORSE
·
Because the ancient Norse traditions were oral traditions, most of
what we think we know was written by Christians. However, there is some
knowledge beyond these writings due to archaeological finds with runic writings
in burials, etc.
·
The best resurrection tale
in Norse tradition is that of Odin. He is a good example of a death and resurrection.
Following the direction of the three wise women known as the Norns, he plucked
out an eye, allowed himself to be be pierced by a spear, and spent nine days hanging
upside down on Yggdrasil, the World Tree. After nine days, he returned to life,
bringing with him the gift of the runes and poetry.
·
There is evidence that the tribal Norse peoples may have believed
in reincarnation
·
They believed that a person’s soul consisted of 4 parts, which
created the whole person
o
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.
o
Hugr – one's personality or character which continued on after
death.
o
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.
o
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.
·
All parts of the soul except the Fylgja were believed to continue
in some way after death, including possibly haunting the living. The Hamingja
stayed with the family.
·
There was no judgment involved in where a person’s soul would go
after death; a soul just went wherever it went, which could be:
o
Valhalla (the only possible variant from the “judgment” idea,
since this was the place where warriors and those who died a sacrificial death
(including women))
o
Folkvangr
o
Hel
o
The Realm of Rán
o
The Burial Mound
