Mary Ann Clark: What Happens When We Die?

[Mary Ann Clark]

For most cultures around the world the answer to “what happens when you die” would involve some idea about reincarnation. Western cultures are somewhat unique in their idea that “you only go ‘round once’.” Although I was raised in a typical middle-class, Midwestern Catholic home that accepted the standard belief of eternal judgment, heaven, hell, and, at that time, purgatory, when I began to question all the ideas I’d been taught about life and the afterlife I quickly rejected the idea that you live, you die and you’re rewarded for eternity, and that’s that.

My first deep thoughts on this topic came after I heard a presentation by some American Hindus who put forward the idea that everyone was subject to a constant round of incarnations. I wasn’t completely convinced of reincarnation of the soul/spirit but I realized that I did believe in a form of reincarnation of the body. When we die, regardless of what happens to any non-material part of us our bodies break down and are used to form new physical beings—worms, plants, animals, etc. I found it comforting that my molecules and atoms would be used and re-used over and over again. My ideal burial would be a flimsy casket buried beneath some sort of fruit tree so that “I” could quickly be recycled into an apple or peach.

When I became involved in feminine spirituality and the new Pagan movement, I was introduced to another idea about reincarnation. Many Americans don’t generally resonate with Asian ideas of reincarnation so these groups have developed their own ideas. Many see life as a kind of school in which one is expected to learn certain personal “lessons.” If one learns the lessons of one life one can move to the next higher “grade” where there are new lessons to be learned. If one didn’t learn the lessons in one’s past life, one will have to repeat the “grade” until one learns the appropriate life lesson. Eventually one moved from this life-plane but continued learning deeper and deeper lessons. This was an appealing idea for those of us who find school as a metaphor for life and I could see how the idea worked for many people as they attempted to resolve the issues of their lives. It is also appealing to think that you have many opportunities to become the best person you were meant to be, that if you can’t achieve all that you want in this lifetime you’ll have another opportunity.

When I became involved in the Orisha traditions I discovered yet another set of ideas about death and the afterlife. According to these traditions, one is born, dies and is reborn in a constant movement between the visible and invisible worlds. Since the people saw the face and mannerisms of the elders in their children they believed that one tended to be reborn into one’s own extended family. To me this is a more appealing form of reincarnation than ether the Asian or American-Pagan forms. What I like about this view of death and rebirth is that it truly values life in the here-and-now rather than hoping for some eventual release through Nirvana or a graduation to “higher planes of existence.”

The Yoruba have two proverbs that encapsulate these ideas for me. One says, “heaven is home, life is the marketplace”; the other says, “"Life in heaven cannot be pleasant, otherwise people would not live so long and come back so quickly." The first proverb alludes to heaven or the afterlife as a quiet place where one can rest and recuperate between the rough and tumble of the marketplace of life. Home is pleasant but the marketplace is where the action is. It’s where one can test oneself against others and make a name for oneself. The second proverb alludes to the fact that although people tended to live 40 or 50 years in olden times and as along as 70 or 80 years today, the Yoruba saw their parents and grandparents reborn in their children months or years after their deaths. So they came to wonder how pleasant life in the invisible world must be if people came back so fast and stayed in the visible world so long! Thus life in the visible world is considered a good and welcome experience and through the process of reincarnation people can return again and again to enjoy the pleasure of the visible world.

My current view of what happens when we die is a mixture of all these ideas. I know that there is a form of resurrection of the body as the processes of nature recycle one’s atoms and molecules into new forms. I’d still like to be buried in such a way as to accelerate that process—no imperishable woods and concrete liners for me! I do believe that there is a non-material part of each of us that survives physical death and I’d like to think that the Yoruba people had it right, that we come back again and again, not as punishment for not getting it right the last time, but to enjoy life. Part of that enjoyment can be self-development physically, emotionally, and spiritually, so that if I don’t complete the task in this lifetime I’ll have more chances. I see my spiritual responsibility as using this opportunity in the marketplace. Rather than living for some future reward (or punishment), my goal is to do what I can in the here-and-now to enjoy life, make my mark, do what I can to make my life and the lives of those around me happy and fulfilling, and to become the best that I can be given my current circumstances.