Death: it is common to all humans, regardless of culture, creed, religion, or race. We are all mortal, our lives are finite, and we all, in our own way, grasp for an understanding of what happens after we die. The following is an overview of the afterlife beliefs of several major world religions.
Ancient Greek: Perhaps the most commonly known of ancient beliefs, the ancient Greek mythology of the afterlife has parallels in modern-day religions such as Christianity. The Greeks believed that the dead were ushered to the Underworld, ruled by the god Hades, and had to pay a few coins to the ferryman Charon to cross the River Styx, and enter the afterlife. In fact, this believe was so deeply held that the Greeks buried their dead with a coin or coins in their mouths, to afford the fee to Hades. Once in the Underworld, the dead were judged to be good or evil. The good ascended to the Elysian Fields, or Elysium, a place of paradise. The evil descended to fiery Tartarus, where they were punished eternally, or in some cases sentenced to repent for long periods before being deemed worthy to enter Elysium. Some texts make reference to a believe in a sort of limbo where souls who weren’t good enough for Elysium, but not evil enough for Tartarus, would dwell. This limbo is known as Asphodel. The Greeks also believed in reincarnation, with the judges at the gates of Hades deciding the next incarnation of each soul.
Celtic: Not much is commonly known of the Celtic beliefs of the afterlife. The Celtic Otherworld was sometimes considered an underworld, and sometimes considered a great misty island such as Avalon or Tir Na Nog, or in some cases simply a universe parallel to our own. Wherever it is placed, the Celt Otherworld is a happier place than Earth; though physically it is described to closely resemble the world in which we live, everything is peaceful and healthy, people are joyful and there is no pain. There appears to be no breakdown of the Celtic Otherworld, with all souls residing in one paradise.
Buddhist: The Buddhist afterlife is a series of tiered paradises, each a higher and more magnificent plane of consciousness, and where each individual ends up is largely due to virtue and spirituality. "Nirvana," the highest plane, marked a total release of the soul from all things human—from the fetters of "personality," where souls can exist in a pure state. Though a soul may spend ages in the various paradises, it must eventually return in reincarnation. There is a "hell" in Buddhist tradition as well, but it is not necessarily a permanent residence for those of evil spirit. Some Buddhism espouses the belief in a "Bodhisattva", a sort of savior en route to becoming a Buddha, who enters hell and releases some of the dead therein.
