The Afterlife
What Makes Up A Person:
○ The Body: What we generally think of as the person; the “meat” that carries us around in life
○ The Life Force: What animates the body and allows it to carry us around; intrinsically tied to the life force of the world itself
○ The Soul: What makes a person a person; could also be described as “consciousness;” can exist without either body or life force
- Souls can either be made from scratch or recycled (see Going Sideways)
○ After death, the body rots in the ground while the soul and life force journey below to the first of the three worlds, forming a sort of substitute body as they do
Three Worlds:
○ Land of the Dead (Downstairs, Land Below)
- All souls come here first
- Only one that can be considered real, physical place in any sense
○ Heaven (Up)
- All souls intended to end up here
- Metaphysical dream world based on what soul considers “perfection”
○ Hell (Down)
- Intended for the worst of the worst
- Metaphysical dream world based on what the soul has done to hurt others and what he/she fears most
Land of the Dead:
○ Transitional area between Heaven and Hell – not quite purgatory, but close
○ Souls exist here in the form of living corpses
- Blue skin
- Natural hair and eye color (except in rare cases; some particularly fair-haired blondes end up with blue hair, for example (just ask Emily))
- Deadened senses of touch, smell, and taste (that’s why they tend to eat rotten food and food with body parts – they need the extra kick)
■ Touch remains fully functional for about a half-hour to a hour after death, then fades down to a general sense of pressure (e.g., they can tell if someone is holding their hand, but not who or what said hand feels like)
■ Smell and taste gradually decay over time, but never completely leave
■ Sight and hearing generally unaffected unless they were impaired in life
- Decay similar to that which occurs to real corpses – once the body reaches a skeletal state, though, it stops
■ The rot of physical organs does not always mean the function of those organs ceases – eyeless skeletons can still see
- Able to eat, drink, and sleep if desired, but none of these functions are no longer necessary to preserve unlife
○ Souls wait in the Land of the Dead for three main reasons:
- To work out whatever issues may be remaining in their unlives to speed their transition Up
- To repent and make what amends they can for an evil life to prevent their transition Down
- To have a “last hurrah” and do whatever they really wanted to do in life but never got the chance (most common reason)
○ Certain souls transition faster than others
- Souls of children younger than three generally stay only a day or two before going Up
- Souls of the elderly also generally stay less time (not always, though)
Heaven:
○ Once a good soul is ready (all experiences fulfilled, all issues worked through, all evil deeds repented and amended), he/she goes Up
- The body dissolves into a symbolic representation of life (generally something the soul valued in his/her mortal life)
- The life force dissipates, returning to the earth and being recycled into new births
- The soul is given the choice of reincarnation (discussed below) or of final ascension
- If final ascension is chosen, soul joins the metaphysical dream plane, entering a realm that he/she would find perfection for eternity
○ Souls are capable of ascending in groups
○ Souls are capable of sharing their heavens (and many do!)
Hell:
○ Once an evil soul has shown that he/she will not do anything to repent of their misdeeds (or worse, has shown a willingness to continue committing these misdeeds in death), he/she goes Down
- The body is dragged into the earth by a symbolic representation of the soul’s misdeeds
- The life force dissipates, returning to the earth and being recycled into new births
- The soul is punished for their transgressions in an appropriate way until they repent
- The soul is then sent off to be reincarnated for another, hopefully better go at life
○ Souls are capable of descending in groups, but it doesn’t happen often
○ Souls are capable of sharing their hells, but again, it doesn’t happen often
○ Souls generally suffer punishment for as long as their mortal life lasted
Reincarnation (Going Sideways):
○ Souls can choose to be reincarnated if going Up, or are reincarnated at the end of their punishment after going Down
○ The soul’s memories are locked away, and the soul is reborn into a waiting vessel, ready to try life again
○ Many souls choose to be reincarnated to see if they can have a better life than they previously got, or if they’re aware a loved one has reincarnated and want to see if they can join them
○ Eventually, though, all souls end up satisfied with their earthly lot(s) and go to Heaven
○ The Body: What we generally think of as the person; the “meat” that carries us around in life
○ The Life Force: What animates the body and allows it to carry us around; intrinsically tied to the life force of the world itself
○ The Soul: What makes a person a person; could also be described as “consciousness;” can exist without either body or life force
- Souls can either be made from scratch or recycled (see Going Sideways)
○ After death, the body rots in the ground while the soul and life force journey below to the first of the three worlds, forming a sort of substitute body as they do
Three Worlds:
○ Land of the Dead (Downstairs, Land Below)
- All souls come here first
- Only one that can be considered real, physical place in any sense
○ Heaven (Up)
- All souls intended to end up here
- Metaphysical dream world based on what soul considers “perfection”
○ Hell (Down)
- Intended for the worst of the worst
- Metaphysical dream world based on what the soul has done to hurt others and what he/she fears most
Land of the Dead:
○ Transitional area between Heaven and Hell – not quite purgatory, but close
○ Souls exist here in the form of living corpses
- Blue skin
- Natural hair and eye color (except in rare cases; some particularly fair-haired blondes end up with blue hair, for example (just ask Emily))
- Deadened senses of touch, smell, and taste (that’s why they tend to eat rotten food and food with body parts – they need the extra kick)
■ Touch remains fully functional for about a half-hour to a hour after death, then fades down to a general sense of pressure (e.g., they can tell if someone is holding their hand, but not who or what said hand feels like)
■ Smell and taste gradually decay over time, but never completely leave
■ Sight and hearing generally unaffected unless they were impaired in life
- Decay similar to that which occurs to real corpses – once the body reaches a skeletal state, though, it stops
■ The rot of physical organs does not always mean the function of those organs ceases – eyeless skeletons can still see
- Able to eat, drink, and sleep if desired, but none of these functions are no longer necessary to preserve unlife
○ Souls wait in the Land of the Dead for three main reasons:
- To work out whatever issues may be remaining in their unlives to speed their transition Up
- To repent and make what amends they can for an evil life to prevent their transition Down
- To have a “last hurrah” and do whatever they really wanted to do in life but never got the chance (most common reason)
○ Certain souls transition faster than others
- Souls of children younger than three generally stay only a day or two before going Up
- Souls of the elderly also generally stay less time (not always, though)
Heaven:
○ Once a good soul is ready (all experiences fulfilled, all issues worked through, all evil deeds repented and amended), he/she goes Up
- The body dissolves into a symbolic representation of life (generally something the soul valued in his/her mortal life)
- The life force dissipates, returning to the earth and being recycled into new births
- The soul is given the choice of reincarnation (discussed below) or of final ascension
- If final ascension is chosen, soul joins the metaphysical dream plane, entering a realm that he/she would find perfection for eternity
○ Souls are capable of ascending in groups
○ Souls are capable of sharing their heavens (and many do!)
Hell:
○ Once an evil soul has shown that he/she will not do anything to repent of their misdeeds (or worse, has shown a willingness to continue committing these misdeeds in death), he/she goes Down
- The body is dragged into the earth by a symbolic representation of the soul’s misdeeds
- The life force dissipates, returning to the earth and being recycled into new births
- The soul is punished for their transgressions in an appropriate way until they repent
- The soul is then sent off to be reincarnated for another, hopefully better go at life
○ Souls are capable of descending in groups, but it doesn’t happen often
○ Souls are capable of sharing their hells, but again, it doesn’t happen often
○ Souls generally suffer punishment for as long as their mortal life lasted
Reincarnation (Going Sideways):
○ Souls can choose to be reincarnated if going Up, or are reincarnated at the end of their punishment after going Down
○ The soul’s memories are locked away, and the soul is reborn into a waiting vessel, ready to try life again
○ Many souls choose to be reincarnated to see if they can have a better life than they previously got, or if they’re aware a loved one has reincarnated and want to see if they can join them
○ Eventually, though, all souls end up satisfied with their earthly lot(s) and go to Heaven