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Introduction Research Question

Profound and meaningful words resound in my ears and mind whenever I go to a funeral or see the funeral hearse carrying a casket. “We were like you; you will be like us.” This saying is a popular inscription on tombstones that some people prefer to write. The very thought that one day we will be one more on this earth can horrify or maybe excite us.
Every human person at one point and time stops for a moment and asks oneself a question, is there life after physical death? There are so many novels, poems, and also eyewitness accounts written and told on this subject. A classic example is the famous “Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri. I think it is the power of people’s and my curiosity, and the desire to live forever, that makes us often reflect on life after death.
I have been brought up as Orthodox Christian. During my catechisms instructions, I learned about eternal life. When a human being dies, the human soul is separated from the body and continues to live. The souls of good people go to heaven, and souls of bad ones go to hell. I know that not every religion teaches the same doctrine. In my research, I would like to learn what other faiths say about the afterlife. I want to compare these different doctrines and see how they vary as well as how they similar.
In addition to the teachings of the world’s religions on the above subject, there are also many personal accounts of near-death experiences. This is an excellent source of information for me, as well. I would also like to collect these stories and compare them and find out if they are similar.
I do not know what I will find in my studies and what I will do, but I am definitively curious to learn more about this topic. Will that challenge my Christian believes? Will I change the view in the afterlife? I hope I will not change what I believed until now. I think maybe the opposite. My intense research and studies will only confirm what I feel now about life after death.
As I already mentioned, the sources or references in my studies will be the teachings of major religious traditions and personal stories of the people about the question of life after death.
“Memmento Mori,” remember of death, the wise words to reflect upon and to live by them.

2 Comments

  1. Lisa Cole

    Ivanna, your draft introduction is excellent covering all the questions with thoughtful responses, and your research question, “Is there life after physical death?” is also excellent, so you may proceed with your research.

  2. Ivanna Hodziur

    Thank you, dear professor!

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