Immortality is a term for the theory or belief that human life continues after death. The question of whether there is life after death has played an important role in the philosophy (system for guiding life) and religion of most cultures. Immortality also means an ability to avoid death entirely.
Because the body rots after death, immortality requires each person to have another part, separate from the body, that survives death. In Western philosophy and religion, this nonphysical part is called the soul or spirit. It is considered the source of a person’s thought and will.
People have developed a number of theories about what happens to a person’s soul or spirit after death. The ancient Greeks believed that the souls of most dead persons led a shadowy existence in the underworld, called Hades. Hindus and Buddhists believe that the nonphysical part of a person is reincarnated (reborn) in different forms (see Reincarnation ). Some African societies believe that a person’s soul is reincarnated in a descendant.
Most Christian churches teach that souls either suffer in hell or enjoy happiness in heaven, according to how they lived on Earth. Muslims also believe in heaven and hell, where people go after death based on their actions during life. From late antiquity (about 5000 B.C. to A.D. 476) onward, many Jews adopted the belief that the soul survives the death of the body.
