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After life

A term referring to the belief that the human spirit or soul survives physical death and passes through to a new mode of existence, which is often determined by a person's conduct during life, or by the rituals surrounding death.

Conceptions of the afterlife are a common feature of many religions, functioning as a way of putting the actions and experience of this world in a larger perspective.

The veneration of ancestral spirits, which implies belief in an afterlife, is common to many religions. In Judaic, Christian, and Islamic thought, the human soul is consigned to heaven or to hell, depending on God's judgement.

Roman Catholicism teaches furthermore that most souls require purification in purgatory before entry into heaven. Many Roman Catholics also believe in a state called limbo, the abode of unbaptised but otherwise innocent souls (such as infants).

According to Hinduism, the soul or atman is constantly reborn through a variety of lives until ultimate enlightenment or moksha occurs, and the cycle of rebirth ceases. Buddhists reject the notion of the individual soul, but they too believe in an endless cycle of reincarnation until the attainment of nirvana, the cessation of all desire. (See also ancestor worship, funeral customs.)