What happens when you die? This question has created numerous myths and inferences since the dawn of time. In Ancient Greece, Socrates was obviously contemplating this unknown as well. He claimed that the soul is immortal and that depending on the kind of life one has lived on earth, rewards and punishments will be given to the soul. Are these rewards and punishments the only reason why people are good?
Dying is apart of every human’s life cycle. But what part exactly dies? We consider the body to be dead because it is immobile and never will be again. Most people believe, though, that the soul lives on. Since anyone who would have proof of this is dead, we have to look at other evidences. Although, before one can assess whether the soul is immortal or not, one has to know what exactly the soul is. According to Socrates, a human consists of two different entities: the soul and the body. The body is the part that is concerned with pleasures such as food and money. The soul, however, is concerned with wisdom, values, and virtues. One may say that the soul is in fact made up of wisdom, values, and virtues. Generation through generation the same values are held at high esteem. Cultures across the globe teach their children the virtues that they would like them to possess. Bravery, piety, honesty, and justice are principles that have been carried on through the years. In other words, these principles continue to live on, or never die. Since, the soul is made up of these undying features, then the soul itself must also be undying. Therefore, the soul is indeed immortal.
While someone is living, rewards and punishments will be received. Someone can give a person a reward even if the receiver does not think they are deserving of it. In that case, to the person receiving, it is not really a reward. A person’s own conscious is actually what does the rewarding and punishing. The body, however, distracts someone from what is in actuality rewarding and punishing. In other words, the body may “overrule” the soul’s judgment on certain things. So what may be rewarding to the body is punishing the soul. After an individual dies, the soul does not have the body to get in the way. Without the body’s judgment to interrupt, the soul is able to evaluate the life just lived. The soul itself, from either being happy or disappointed, will hand out it’s own rewards and punishments. This is because the soul is virtue and knows what is good and what is wrong.
No one wants to go through life hurting themselves. On the contrary, everyone is concerned with benefiting himself or herself. This does not have to mean that they are self-centered, because, for example, feeding the hungry makes the giver feel good. Receiving rewards is classified as a beneficial thing. So, completely unegotistically, rewards and punishments are the only reasons why a person is good.
Still, no one knows what exactly happens when you die. It can be conjectured that the soul, somewhere or another, continues to “live.” Also, the sort of life one has lived while on earth determines the punishments and rewards a soul will receive after death. For the reason of avoiding punishments, people try to be good. Even though what lies ahead of us in uncertain, being a good person certainly will not hurt your chances.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us.”
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