Immortality is the ability to
liveLife is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering.
Natural selectionNatural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
has developed potential
biological immortalityBiological immortality refers to a stable rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. Some individual cells and entire organisms in some species achieve this state either throughout their existence or after living long enough. This requires that death occur from injury or disease rather...
in at least one species, the jellyfish
Turritopsis nutriculaTurritopsis nutricula, the immortal jellyfish, is a hydrozoan whose medusa, or jellyfish, form can revert to the polyp stage after becoming sexually mature. It is the only known case of a metazoan capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual...
.
Certain scientists, futurists, and philosophers, such as Ray Kurzweil, advocate that human immortality is achievable in the first few decades of the 21st century, while other advocates believe that
life extensionLife extension science, also known as anti-aging medicine, experimental gerontology, and biomedical gerontology, is the study of slowing down or reversing the processes of aging to extend both the maximum and average lifespan...
is a more achievable goal in the short term, with immortality awaiting further research breakthroughs into an indefinite future.
Aubrey de GreyAubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey is an English author and theoretician in the field of gerontology, and the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Foundation. He is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research, author of The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging and co-author...
, a researcher who has developed a series of biomedical
rejuvenationRejuvenation is the hypothetical reversal of the aging process.Rejuvenation is distinct from life extension. Life extension strategies often study the causes of aging and try to oppose those causes in order to slow aging...
strategies to reverse human aging (called SENS), believes that his proposed plan for ending aging may be implementable in two or three decades. The absence of aging would provide humans with biological immortality, but not invulnerability to death by
physical traumaTrauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
.
The
Epic of GilgameshEpic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literature. Scholars believe that it originated as a series of Sumerian legends and poems about the protagonist of the story, Gilgamesh king of Uruk, which were fashioned into a longer Akkadian epic much...
, one of the first literary works, dating back at least to the 22nd century BC, is primarily a quest of a hero seeking to become immortal. What form an unending human life would take, or whether an immaterial soul exists and possesses immortality, has been a major point of focus of
religionReligion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
, as well as the subject of speculation, fantasy, and debate.
Eternal life can also be defined as a timeless existence, which is also not known for certain to be achievable, or even definable, despite millennia of
arguments for eternityArguments for eternity composed a particularly important area of philosophical debate among Greek, Jewish, Islamic, and Christian philosophers during the ancient and medieval periods. The foremost philosopher arguing for eternity was Aristotle...
. Wittgenstein, in a notably non-theological interpretation of eternal life, writes in the
TractatusThe Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is the only book-length philosophical work published by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein in his lifetime. It was an ambitious project: to identify the relationship between language and reality and to define the limits of science...
that, "If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present."
Spiritual
- The belief in an afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
is a fundamental tenet of religions, including HinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, SikhismSikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
, ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, ZoroastrianismZoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
, IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, JudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, and the Bahá'í FaithThe Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
; however, the concept of an immortal soul is not. The "soul" itself has different meanings and is not used in the same way in different religions and different sects of a religion.
Physical
- The persistence of life itself across time is a form of immortality, insofar as leaving surviving offspring or genetic material is a means of defeating death.
- Life extension
Life extension science, also known as anti-aging medicine, experimental gerontology, and biomedical gerontology, is the study of slowing down or reversing the processes of aging to extend both the maximum and average lifespan...
technologies promise a path to complete rejuvenationRejuvenation is the hypothetical reversal of the aging process.Rejuvenation is distinct from life extension. Life extension strategies often study the causes of aging and try to oppose those causes in order to slow aging...
. CryonicsCryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
holds out the hope that the dead can be revived in the future, following sufficient medical advancements.
- Mind uploading is the concept of transference of consciousness from a human brain to an alternative medium providing the same functionality. Assuming the process to be possible and repeatable, this would provide immortality to the consciousness, as predicted by futurists such as Ray Kurzweil.
Physical immortality
Physical immortality is a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic life, such as a computer. In the early 21st century, physical immortality remains a goal rather than a current reality. Active pursuit of physical immortality can either be based on scientific trends, such as
cryonicsCryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
,
digital immortalityDigital immortality refers to the concept of storing a person's personality in a more durable media, i.e., a computer, and allowing it to communicate with people in the future. The result might look like an avatar behaving, reacting, and thinking like a person on the basis of that person's digital...
, breakthroughs in
rejuvenationRejuvenation is the hypothetical reversal of the aging process.Rejuvenation is distinct from life extension. Life extension strategies often study the causes of aging and try to oppose those causes in order to slow aging...
or predictions of an impending
technological singularityTechnological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
, or because of a spiritual belief, such as those held by
RastafariansThe Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
or
RebirthersRebirthing-breathwork is a breathing technique that claims to heal suppressed emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, etc. It shares a common belief with various other therapies called rebirthing, with both groups believing that human birth is a traumatic event and that reviewing or revisiting this...
.
Causes of death
By definition, all causes of death must be overcome or avoided for physical immortality to be achieved. There are three main causes of death: aging,
diseaseA disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...
and
traumaTrauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
.
Aging
Aubrey de GreyAubrey David Nicholas Jasper de Grey is an English author and theoretician in the field of gerontology, and the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Foundation. He is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Rejuvenation Research, author of The Mitochondrial Free Radical Theory of Aging and co-author...
, a leading researcher in the field, defines aging as follows: "a collection of cumulative changes to the molecular and
cellularThe cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
structure of an adult
organismIn biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...
, which result in essential metabolic processes, but which also, once they progress far enough, increasingly disrupt metabolism, resulting in
pathologyPathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....
and death." The current causes of aging in humans are cell loss (without replacement),
oncogenicOncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
nuclearIn cell biology, the nucleus is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in eukaryotic cells. It contains most of the cell's genetic material, organized as multiple long linear DNA molecules in complex with a large variety of proteins, such as histones, to form chromosomes. The genes within these...
mutationIn molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
s and epimutations, cell
senescenceSenescence or biological aging is the change in the biology of an organism as it ages after its maturity. Such changes range from those affecting its cells and their function to those affecting the whole organism...
, mitochondrial mutations, lysosomal aggregates, extracellular aggregates, random extracellular cross-linking,
immune systemAn immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
decline, and endocrine changes. Eliminating aging would require finding a solution to each of these causes, a program de Grey calls engineered negligible senescence.
A major activity of the de Grey Methuselah Foundation is the Methuselah Mouse Prize, a prize designed to hasten the research into effective life extension interventions by awarding monetary prizes to researchers who stretch the lifespan of mice to unprecedented lengths. de Grey is on the Mprize scientific advisory board and he stated in March 2005 "if we are to bring about real regenerative therapies that will benefit not just future generations, but those of us who are alive today, we must encourage scientists to work on the problem of aging." The prize reached 4.2
USDThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
million in February 2007.
Disease
Disease is theoretically surmountable via
technologyTechnology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
. Human understanding of
geneticsGenetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....
is leading to cures and treatments for a myriad of previously incurable diseases. The mechanisms by which other diseases do their damage are becoming better understood. Sophisticated methods of detecting diseases early are being developed. Preventative medicine is becoming better understood. Neurodegenerative diseases like
Parkinson'sParkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
and
Alzheimer'sAlzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
may soon be curable with the use of stem cells. Breakthroughs in
cell biologyCell biology is a scientific discipline that studies cells – their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. This is done both on a microscopic and molecular level...
and
telomereA telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Its name is derived from the Greek nouns telos "end" and merοs "part"...
research are leading to treatments for
cancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
VaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s are being researched for
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
and
tuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
. Genes associated with type 1 diabetes and certain types of cancer have been discovered allowing for new therapies to be developed. Artificial devices attached directly to the
nervous systemThe nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
may restore sight to the blind. Drugs are being developed to treat myriad other diseases and ailments.
Trauma
Physical traumaTrauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
would remain as a threat to perpetual physical life, even if the problems of aging and disease were overcome, as an otherwise immortal person would still be subject to unforeseen accidents or catastrophes. Longevity researchers would prefer to mitigate the risk of encountering trauma. Taking preventative measures by engineering inherent resistance to injury is thus relevant, in addition to entirely reactive measures more closely associated with the paradigm of medical treatment.
The speed and quality of
paramedicA paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...
response remains a determining factor in surviving severe trauma. A body that could automatically treat itself from severe trauma, such as speculated uses for
nanotechnologyNanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
, would mitigate this factor. Without improvements to such things, very few people would remain alive after several tens of thousands of years purely based on accident rate statistics, much less millions or billions or more.
Being the seat of
consciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, the
brainThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
cannot be risked to trauma if a continuous physical life is to be maintained. Therefore, it cannot be
replacedOrgan transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
or repaired in the same way other organs can. A method of transferring consciousness would be required for an individual to survive trauma to the brain, and this transfer would have to anticipate and precede the damage itself.
If there is no limitation on the degree of gradual mitigation of risk then it is possible that the cumulative probability of death over an infinite horizon is less than
certaintyCertainty can be defined as either:# perfect knowledge that has total security from error, or# the mental state of being without doubtObjectively defined, certainty is total continuity and validity of all foundational inquiry, to the highest degree of precision. Something is certain only if no...
, even when the risk of fatal trauma in any finite period is greater than zero. Mathematically, this is an aspect of achieving "Actuarial escape velocity".
Biological immortality
Biological immortality is an absence of aging, specifically the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal.
BiologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
s have chosen the word immortal to designate cells that are not limited by the
Hayflick limitThe Hayflick limit is the number of times a normal cell population will divide before it stops, presumably because the telomeres reach a critical length....
, where cells no longer divide because of
DNA damageDNA repair refers to a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. In human cells, both normal metabolic activities and environmental factors such as UV light and radiation can cause DNA damage, resulting in as many as 1...
or shortened
telomereA telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Its name is derived from the Greek nouns telos "end" and merοs "part"...
s. Prior to the work of
Leonard HayflickLeonard Hayflick , Ph.D., is Professor of Anatomy at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, and was Professor of Medical Microbiology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a past president of the Gerontological Society of America and was a founding member of the...
there was the erroneous belief fostered by
Alexis CarrelAlexis Carrel was a French surgeon and biologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for pioneering vascular suturing techniques. He invented the first perfusion pump with Charles A. Lindbergh opening the way to organ transplantation...
that all normal
somaticThe term somatic means 'of the body',, relating to the body. In medicine, somatic illness is bodily, not mental, illness. The term is often used in biology to refer to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells which usually give rise to the gametes...
cells are immortal. By preventing cells from reaching senescence one can achieve biological immortality; telomeres, a "cap" at the end of DNA, are thought to be the cause of cell aging. Every time a cell divides the telomere becomes a bit shorter; when it is finally worn down, the cell is unable to split and dies.
TelomeraseTelomerase is an enzyme that adds DNA sequence repeats to the 3' end of DNA strands in the telomere regions, which are found at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. This region of repeated nucleotide called telomeres contains non-coding DNA material and prevents constant loss of important DNA from...
is an enzyme which rebuilds the telomeres in stem cells and cancer cells, allowing them to replicate an infinite number of times. No definitive work has yet demonstrated that telomerase can be used in human somatic cells to prevent healthy tissues from aging. On the other hand, scientists hope to be able to grow organs with the help of stem cells, allowing organ transplants without the risk of rejection, another step in extending human life expectancy. These technologies are the subject of ongoing research, and are not yet realized.
Biologically immortal species
Life defined as biologically immortal is still susceptible to causes of death besides aging, including disease and trauma, as defined above. Notable immortal species include:
- Turritopsis nutricula
Turritopsis nutricula, the immortal jellyfish, is a hydrozoan whose medusa, or jellyfish, form can revert to the polyp stage after becoming sexually mature. It is the only known case of a metazoan capable of reverting completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after having reached sexual...
, a jellyfish, after becoming a sexually mature adult, can transform itself back into a polypA polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are approximately cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the body...
using the cell conversion process of transdifferentiationTransdifferentiation in biology takes place when a non-stem cell transforms into a different type of cell, or when an already differentiated stem cell creates cells outside its already established differentiation path...
. Turritopsis nutricula repeats this cycle, meaning that it may have an indefinite lifespan. Its immortal adaptation has allowed it to spread from its original habitat in the Caribbean to "all over the world".
- Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
(as a colony) – Bacteria reproduce through cell divisionCell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle. This type of cell division in eukaryotes is known as mitosis, and leaves the daughter cell capable of dividing again. The corresponding sort...
. A parent bacterium splits itself into two identical daughter cells. These daughter cells then split themselves in half. This process repeats, thus making the bacterium colony essentially immortal.
Recent research, however, suggests that even bacteria as a colony may eventually die since each succeeding generation is slightly smaller, weaker, and more likely to die than the previous.
- Bristlecone Pine
The bristlecone pines are a small group of pine trees that are thought to reach an age far greater than that of any other single living organism known, up to nearly 5,000 years....
s are speculated to be potentially immortal; the oldest known living specimen is over 4800 years old.
Evolution of aging
As the existence of biologically immortal species demonstrates, there is no
thermodynamicThe second law of thermodynamics is an expression of the tendency that over time, differences in temperature, pressure, and chemical potential equilibrate in an isolated physical system. From the state of thermodynamic equilibrium, the law deduced the principle of the increase of entropy and...
necessity for senescence: a defining feature of life is that it takes in
free energyIn thermodynamics, the Gibbs free energy is a thermodynamic potential that measures the "useful" or process-initiating work obtainable from a thermodynamic system at a constant temperature and pressure...
from the environment and unloads its
entropyEntropy is a thermodynamic property that can be used to determine the energy available for useful work in a thermodynamic process, such as in energy conversion devices, engines, or machines. Such devices can only be driven by convertible energy, and have a theoretical maximum efficiency when...
as waste. Living systems can even build themselves up from seed, and routinely repair themselves. Aging is therefore presumed to be a byproduct of
evolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, but why mortality should be selected for remains a subject of research and debate. Programmed cell death and the telomere "end replication problem" are found even in the earliest and simplest of organisms. This may be a tradeoff between selecting for cancer and selecting for aging.
Modern theories on the evolution of aging include the following:
- Mutation accumulation is a theory formulated by Peter Medawar
Sir Peter Brian Medawar OM CBE FRS was a British biologist, whose work on graft rejection and the discovery of acquired immune tolerance was fundamental to the practice of tissue and organ transplants...
in 1952 to explain how evolution would select for aging. Essentially, aging is never selected against, as organisms have offspring before the mortal mutations surface in an individual.
- Antagonistic pleiotropy
Pleiotropy occurs when one gene influences multiple phenotypic traits. Consequently, a mutation in a pleiotropic gene may have an effect on some or all traits simultaneously...
is a theory proposed as an alternative by George C. WilliamsProfessor George Christopher Williams was an American evolutionary biologist.Williams was a professor emeritus of biology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He was best known for his vigorous critique of group selection. The work of Williams in this area, along with W. D...
, a critic of Medawar, in 1957. In antagonistic pleiotropy, genes carry effects that are both beneficial and detrimental. In essence this refers to genes that offer benefits early in life, but exact a cost later on, i.e. decline and death.
- The disposable soma theory was proposed in 1977 by Thomas Kirkwood
Thomas Burton Loram Kirkwood CBE is an English biologist who made his contribution to the biology of ageing by proposing the concept of Disposable soma. He is currently a researcher in Newcastle University and heads The Institute for Ageing and Health in its School of Clinical Medical Sciences...
, which states that an individual body must allocate energy for metabolism, reproduction, and maintenance, and must compromise when there is food scarcity. Compromise in allocating energy to the repair function is what causes the body gradually to deteriorate with age, according to Kirkwood.
Life-extending substances
There are some known naturally occurring and artificially produced chemicals that can dramatically increase the lifetime or life-expectancy of a person or organism, such as
resveratrolResveratrol is a stilbenoid, a type of natural phenol, and a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi....
. Future research might enable scientists to increase the effect of these existing chemicals or to discover new chemicals (life-extenders) which might enable a person to stay alive as long as the person consumes them at specified periods of time.
ScientistA scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
s believe that boosting the amount or proportion of a naturally forming enzyme,
telomeraseTelomerase is an enzyme that adds DNA sequence repeats to the 3' end of DNA strands in the telomere regions, which are found at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. This region of repeated nucleotide called telomeres contains non-coding DNA material and prevents constant loss of important DNA from...
, in the body could prevent cells from dying and so may ultimately lead to extended, healthier lifespans. Telomerase is a protein that helps maintain the protective caps at the ends of
chromosomeA chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...
s. A team of researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Centre (
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
) tested the hypothesis on mice. It was found that those mice which were
genetically engineeredGenetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
to produce 10 times the normal levels of telomerase lived 50% longer than normal mice.
In normal circumstances, without the presence of telomerase, if a cell divides repeatedly, at some point all the progeny will reach their
Hayflick limitThe Hayflick limit is the number of times a normal cell population will divide before it stops, presumably because the telomeres reach a critical length....
. With the presence of telomerase, each dividing cell can replace the lost bit of
DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
, and any single cell can then divide unbounded. While this unbounded growth property has excited many researchers, caution is warranted in exploiting this property, as exactly this same unbounded growth is a crucial step in enabling cancerous growth. If an organism can replicate its body cells faster than it would theoretically stop aging.
Embryonic stem cells express telomerase, which allows them to divide repeatedly and form the individual. In adults, telomerase is highly expressed in cells that need to divide regularly (e.g., in the immune system), whereas most
somaticThe term somatic means 'of the body',, relating to the body. In medicine, somatic illness is bodily, not mental, illness. The term is often used in biology to refer to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells which usually give rise to the gametes...
cells express it only at very low levels in a cell-cycle dependent manner.
Technological immortality
Technological immortality is the prospect for much longer life spans made possible by scientific advances in a variety of fields: nanotechnology, emergency room procedures, genetics,
biological engineeringBiological engineering, biotechnological engineering or bioengineering is the application of concepts and methods of biology to solve problems in life sciences, using engineering's own analytical and synthetic methodologies and also its traditional...
,
regenerative medicineRegenerative medicine is the "process of replacing or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore orestablish normal function". This field holds the promise of regenerating damaged tissues and organs in the body by replacing damaged tissue and/or by stimulating the body's own repair...
,
microbiologyMicrobiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
, and others. Contemporary life spans in the advanced industrial societies are already markedly longer than those of the past because of better nutrition, availability of health care, standard of living and bio-medical scientific advances. Technological immortality predicts further progress for the same reasons over the near term. An important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that some combination of
human cloningHuman cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
, cryonics or nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension.
Robert FreitasRobert A. Freitas Jr. is a Senior Research Fellow, one of four researchers at the nonprofit foundation Institute for Molecular Manufacturing in Palo Alto, California. He holds a 1974 Bachelor's degree majoring in both physics and psychology from Harvey Mudd College, and a 1978 Juris Doctor degree...
, a nanorobotics theorist, suggests tiny medical nanorobots could be created to go through human bloodstreams, find dangerous things like cancer cells and bacteria, and destroy them. Freitas anticipates that gene-therapies and nanotechnology will eventually make the human body effectively self-sustainable and capable of living indefinitely, short of severe brain trauma. This supports the theory that we will be able to continually create biological or synthetic replacement parts to replace damaged or dying ones.
Cryonics
CryonicsCryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
, the practice of preserving organisms (either intact specimens or only their brains) for possible future revival by storing them at cryogenic temperatures where metabolism and decay are almost completely stopped, is the answer for those who believe that life extension technologies like nanotechnology or nanorobots will not develop sufficiently within their lifetime. Ideally, cryonics would allow clinically dead people to be brought back in the future after cures to the patients' diseases have been discovered and
aging is reversibleRejuvenation is the hypothetical reversal of the aging process.Rejuvenation is distinct from life extension. Life extension strategies often study the causes of aging and try to oppose those causes in order to slow aging...
. Modern cryonics procedures use a process called vitrification which creates a glass-like state rather than
freezingFreezing or solidification is a phase change in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. The reverse process is melting....
as the body is brought to low temperatures. This process reduces the risk of ice crystals damaging the cell-structure, which would be especially detrimental to cell structures in the brain, as their minute adjustment evokes the individual's mind.
Mind-to-computer uploading
One idea that has been advanced involves uploading an individual's personality and memories via direct mind-computer interface.The individual's memory may be loaded to a computer or to a newly born baby's mind. The baby will then grow with the previous person's individuality, and may not develop its own personality. Extropian futurists like Moravec and Kurzweil have proposed that, thanks to
exponentially growingExponential growth occurs when the growth rate of a mathematical function is proportional to the function's current value...
computing power, it will someday be possible to upload human consciousness onto a computer system, and live indefinitely in a virtual environment. This could be accomplished via advanced cybernetics, where computer hardware would initially be installed in the brain to help sort memory or accelerate thought processes. Components would be added gradually until the person's entire brain functions were handled by artificial devices, avoiding sharp transitions that would lead to issues of
identityIdentity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
. After this point, the human body could be treated as an optional accessory and the mind could be transferred to any sufficiently powerful computer. Another possible mechanism for mind upload is to perform a detailed scan of an individual's original, organic brain and simulate the entire structure in a computer. What level of detail such scans and simulations would need to achieve to emulate consciousness, and whether the scanning process would destroy the brain, is still to be determined. Whatever the route to mind upload, persons in this state would then be essentially immortal, short of loss or traumatic destruction of the machines that maintained them.
Cybernetics
Transforming a human into a
cyborgA cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
can include brain implants or extracting a human mind and placing it in a robotic life-support system. Even replacing biological organs with robotic ones could increase life span (i.e., pace makers) and depending on the definition, many technological upgrades to the body, like genetic modifications or the addition of nanobots would qualify an individual as a cyborg. Such modifications would make one impervious to aging and disease and theoretically immortal unless killed or destroyed.
Evolutionary immortality
Another approach, developed by biogerontologist
Marios KyriazisMarios Kyriazis is a medical doctor and gerontologist who helped launch and formalise the concept of ‘Anti-aging medicine’ worldwide...
, holds that human biological immortality is an inevitable consequence of
evolutionEvolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
. As the natural tendency is to create progressively more complex structures, there will be a time (Kyriazis claims this time is now), when evolution of a more complex human brain will be faster via a process of developmental singularity rather than through Darwinian evolution. In other words, the evolution of the human brain as we know it will cease and there will be no need for individuals to procreate and then die. Instead, a new type of development will take over, in the same individual who will have to live for many centuries in order for the development to take place. This intellectual development will be facilitated by technology such as
synthetic biologySynthetic biology is a new area of biological research that combines science and engineering. It encompasses a variety of different approaches, methodologies, and disciplines with a variety of definitions...
,
artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and a
technological singularityTechnological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
process.
Mystical and religious pursuits of physical immortality
Many Indian fables and tales include instances of
metempsychosisMetempsychosis is a philosophical term in the Greek language referring to transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. It is a doctrine popular among a number of Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Druzism wherein an individual incarnates from one...
—the ability to jump into another body—performed by advanced
YogiA Yogi is a practitioner of Yoga. The word is also used to refer to ascetic practitioners of meditation in a number of South Asian Religions including Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.-Etymology:...
s in order to live a longer life. There are also entire
HinduHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
sects devoted to the attainment of physical immortality by various methods, namely the Naths and the
AghoraAghora can refer to:*The Hindu god Bhairava, a form of Shiva.*Aghora , a particular school of Hindu Tantra*Aughar or Aghor sect, subsect of the Aghora lineage.*Aghora , a Floridian progressive metal band...
s.
Long before modern science made such speculation feasible, people wishing to escape death turned to the supernatural world for answers. Examples include Chinese Taoists and the medieval alchemists and their search for the
Philosopher's StoneThe philosopher's stone is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals into gold or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal...
, or more modern religious mystics, who believed in the possibility of achieving physical immortality through spiritual transformation.
Individuals claiming to be physically immortal include Comte de Saint-Germain; in 18th century France, he claimed to be centuries old, and people who adhere to the
Ascended Master TeachingsThe students of "Ascended Master Teachings" organizations believe that the Presence of Life/God - Individualizes as the "I AM", and incarnates throughout the created universes until it achieves The Ascension . The "Teachings" as all Religious Teachings.....
are convinced of his physical immortality. An Indian saint known as Vallalar claimed to have achieved immortality before disappearing forever from a locked room in 1874.
RastafarianThe Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
s believe in physical immortality as a part of their religious doctrines. They believe that after
GodGod is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
has called the Day of Judgment they will go to what they describe as Mount Zion in Africa to live in freedom forever. They avoid the term "everlasting life" and deliberately use "ever-living" instead.
Another group that believes in physical immortality are the
RebirthersRebirthing-breathwork is a breathing technique that claims to heal suppressed emotions such as anger, fear, sadness, etc. It shares a common belief with various other therapies called rebirthing, with both groups believing that human birth is a traumatic event and that reviewing or revisiting this...
, who believe that by following the connected breathing process of rebirthing they can physically live forever.
Religious traditions
Until the late 20th century, there were no creditable scientific
forecastForecasting is the process of making statements about events whose actual outcomes have not yet been observed. A commonplace example might be estimation for some variable of interest at some specified future date. Prediction is a similar, but more general term...
s that physical immortality was obtainable. As late as 1952, the editorial staff of the
Syntopicon found in their compilation of the
Great Books of the Western WorldGreat Books of the Western World is a series of books originally published in the United States in 1952 by Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. to present the western canon in a single package of 54 volumes. The series is now in its second edition and contains 60 volumes.-History:The project got its start...
, that "The philosophical issue concerning immortality cannot be separated from issues concerning the existence and nature of man's soul." Thus, the vast majority of speculation regarding immortality before the 21st century was regarding the nature of the
afterlifeThe afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
.
Spiritual immortality is the unending existence of a person from a nonphysical source, or in a nonphysical state, such as a soul. Specifically "soul immortality" is a belief that is expressed in nearly every religious tradition. However any doctrine in this area misleads without a prior definition of "soul". Another problem is that "soul" is often confused and used synonymously or interchangeably with "spirit".
In both Western and Eastern religions, the spirit is an energy or force that transcends the mortal body, and returns to: (1) the spirit realm whether to enjoy heavenly bliss or suffer eternal torment in hell, or; (2) the cycle of life, directly or indirectly depending on the tradition.
The world's major religions hold a number of perspectives on spiritual immortality.
Buddhism
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
teaches that there is a cycle of birth, death, and
rebirthRebirth in Buddhism is the doctrine that the evolving consciousness or stream of consciousness upon death , becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new aggregation...
and that the process is according to the qualities of a person's actions. This constant process of becoming ceases at the fruition of
BodhiBodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...
(
enlightenmentEnlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
) at which a being is no longer subject to causation (
karmaKarma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
) but enters into a state that the
BuddhaSiddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
called
amata (deathlessness).
According to the philosophical premise of the Buddha, the initiate to Buddhism who is to be "shown the way to Immortality (amata)", wherein liberation of the mind (
cittavimutta) is effectuated through the expansion of wisdom and the meditative practices of
sati and
samādhiSamadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
, must first be educated away from his former ignorance-based (
avijjaAvidyā or avijjā means "ignorance" or "delusion" and is the opposite of 'vidyā' and 'rig pa'...
) materialistic proclivities in that he "saw any of these forms, feelings, or this body, to be my Self, to be that which I am by nature".
Thus, desiring a soul or ego (
ātmanThe word Ātman or Atta refers to a self. Occasionally the terms "soul" or "ego" are also used. The words ātman and atta derive from the Indo-European root *ēt-men and are cognate with the Old English æthm and German Atem....
) to be permanent is a prime consequence of ignorance, itself the cause of all misery and the foundation of the cycle of reincarnation . Form and consciousness being two of the five
skandhas, or aggregates of ignorance, Buddhism teaches that physical immortality is neither a path to enlightenment, nor an attainable goal: even the gods which can live for eons eventually die. Upon enlightenment, the "karmic seeds" ( or
sanskaraIn Hinduism sanskaras are the imprints left on the subconscious mind by experience in this or previous lives, which then color all of life, one's nature, responses, states of mind, etc.-Overview:Sanskaras are impressions derived from past experiences that form desires that influence future...
s) for all future becoming and rebirth are exhausted. After biological death an
arhat, or buddha, enters into
parinirvanaIn Buddhism, parinirvana is the final nirvana, which occurs upon the death of the body of someone who has attained complete awakening...
, an everlasting state of transcendental happiness.
Hinduism
HindusHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
believe in an immortal soul which is reincarnated after death. According to Hinduism, people repeat a process of life, death, and rebirth in a cycle called
samsarathumb|right|200px|Traditional Tibetan painting or [[Thanka]] showing the [[wheel of life]] and realms of saṃsāraSaṅsāra or Saṃsāra , , literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other...
. If they live their life well, their
karmaKarma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
improves and their station in the next life will be higher, and conversely lower if they live their life poorly. Eventually after many life times of perfecting its karma, the soul is freed from the cycle and lives in perpetual bliss. There is no eternal torment in Hinduism, temporal existence being harsh enough, although if a soul consistently lives very evil lives, it could work its way down to the very bottom of the cycle.
Punarjanma means the birth of a person that pays for all the
karmaKarma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
of previous lives in this birth.
Sri AurobindoSri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
states that the Vedic and the post-Vedic
rishis (such as
MarkandeyaMarkandeya is an ancient rishi from the Hindu tradition, born in the clan of Bhrigu Rishi. He is celebrated as a devotee of both Shiva and Vishnu and is mentioned in a number of stories from the Puranas...
) attained physical immortality, which includes the ability to change one's shape at will, and create multiple bodies simultaneously in different locations.
There are explicit renderings in the Upanishads alluding to a physically immortal state brought about by purification, and sublimation of the 5 elements that make up the body. For example in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (Chapter 2, Verse 12), it is stated "When earth, water fire, air and akasa arise, that is to say, when the five attributes of the elements, mentioned in the books on yoga, become manifest then the yogi's body becomes purified by the fire of yoga and he is free from illness, old age and death."
The
AghoriThe Aghori or Aghora are a Hindu sect believed to have split off from the Kapalika order in the fourteenth century AD. Many mainstream Hindus condemn them as non-Hindu because of their taboo violation of orthodox practices...
s of India consume human flesh in pursuit of immortality and supernatural powers, they call themselves gods and according to them they punish the sinners by rewarding them death on their way to immortality. They distinguish themselves from other Hindu sects and priests by their alcoholic and cannibalistic rituals.
Another view of immortality is traced to the Vedic tradition by the interpretation of
Maharishi Mahesh YogiMaharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
:
That man indeed whom these (contacts)
do not disturb, who is even-minded in
pleasure and pain, steadfast, he is fit
for immortality, O best of men.
To Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the verse means, "Once a man has become established in the understanding of the permanent reality of life, his mind rises above the influence of pleasure and pain. Such an unshakable man passes beyond the influence of death and in the permanent phase of life: he attains eternal life ... A man established in the understanding of the unlimited abundance of absolute existence is naturally free from existence of the relative order. This is what gives him the status of immortal life."
Taoism
Taoist beliefs by Xiu Xing and Lian Dan, include that one can achieve immortality to become an enlightened person, or
XianXian is a Chinese word for an enlightened person, translatable in English as:*"spiritually immortal; transcendent; super-human; celestial being"...
.
Henri MasperoHenri Maspero was a French sinologist, today particularly remembered for his pioneering works on Taoism.-Biography:...
noted that many scholarly works frame Taoism as a school of thought focused on the quest for immortality. Isabelle Robinet asserts that Taoism is better understood as a
way of life than as a religion, and that its adherents do not approach or view Taoism the way non-Taoist historians have done.
Shintoism
Shintoor Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
ists claim that except for those who choose or are dispatched to the underground world of
Yomi, the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits; according to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to dwell and apparently rot indefinitely. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living...
, every living and non-living being may lose its body, but not its soul (
tamashii), and that they live together with mortal souls as an immortal being called
Kamiis the Japanese word for the spirits, natural forces, or essence in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity", some Shinto scholars argue that such a translation can cause a misunderstanding of the term...
. Shinto allows anything to attain Kami status regardless of its existence before becoming Kami. Therefore, even those that do not believe in Shinto may choose to become Kami, as well as things like a
rockIn geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
, or a
treeA tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
. Some may be reincarnated for various reasons.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrians believe that on the fourth day after death, the human soul leaves the body and the body remains as an empty shell. Souls would go to either heaven or hell; these concepts of the afterlife in Zoroastrianism may have influenced Abrahamic religions. The word
immortal is driven from the month "Amurdad", meaning "deathless" in Persian, in the
Iranian calendarThe Iranian calendars or sometimes called Persian calendars are a succession of calendars invented or used for over two millennia in Greater Iran...
(near the end of July). The month of Amurdad or Amertata is celebrated in Persian culture as ancient Persians believed the "Angel of Immortality" won over the "Angel of Death" in this month.
Ancient Greek religion
In
ancient Greek religionGreek religion encompasses the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. These different groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or "cults" in the plural, though most of them shared...
, immortality originally always included an eternal union of body and soul. The soul was considered to have an eternal existence in Hades, but without the body the soul was considered dead. Although almost everybody had nothing to look forward to but an eternal existence as a disembodied dead soul, a number of men and women were considered to have gained physical immortality and brought to live forever in either Elysium, the Islands of the Blessed, heaven, the ocean or literally right under the ground. Among these were
AmphiarausIn Greek mythology, Amphiaraus was the son of Oecles and Hypermnestra, and husband of Eriphyle. Amphiaraus was the King of Argos along with Adrastus— the brother of Amphiaraus' wife, Eriphyle— and Iphis. Amphiaraus was a seer, and greatly honored in his time...
GanymedeIn Greek mythology, Ganymede is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. In the best-known myth, he is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. Some interpretations of the myth treat it as an allegory of...
,
Ino-Arts and music:*"I'm Not Okay" , a 2004 song by American alternative rock band My Chemical Romance*I-No, a character in the Guilty Gear series of video games*Ino , a queen of Thebes in Greek mythology...
, Iphigenia,
MenelausMenelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...
,
PeleusIn Greek mythology, Pēleus was a hero whose myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BCE. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs, the oread of Mount Pelion in Thessaly; he was the father of Achilles...
, and a great part of those who fought in the Trojan and Theban wars. Some were considered to have died and been resurrected before they achieved physical immortality.
AsclepiusAsclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...
, was killed by Zeus only to be resurrected and transformed into a major deity.
AchillesIn Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
after being killed was snatched from his funeral pyre by his divine mother Thetis, resurrected, and brought to an immortal existence in either Leuce, the Elysian plains, or the Islands of the Blessed.
MemnonIn Greek mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. As a warrior he was considered to be almost Achilles' equal in skill. During the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy's defense. The death of Memnon echoes that of Hector, another defender of Troy whom Achilles also...
, who was killed by Achilles, seems to have a received a similar fate.
AlcmeneIn Greek mythology, Alcmene or Alcmena was the mother of Heracles.-Background:Alcmene was born to Electryon, the son of Perseus and Andromeda, and king of Tiryns and Mycenae or Medea in Argolis. Her mother was Anaxo, daughter of Alcaeus and Astydamia, daughter of Pelops and Hippodameia...
,
CastorIn Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...
,
HeraclesHeracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
, and
MelicertesIn Greek mythology, Melicertes is the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus....
, were also among the figures sometimes considered to have been resurrected to physical immortality. According to
Herodotus' HistoriesThe Histories of Herodotus is considered one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. Written from the 450s to the 420s BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that...
, the 7th century BC sage Aristeas of Proconnesus, was first found dead, after which his body disappeared from a locked room. Later he was found not only to have been resurrected but to have gained immortality.
The philosophical idea of an immortal soul was a later invention, which, although influential, never had a breakthrough in the Greek world. As may be witnessed even into the Christian era, not least by the complaints of various philosophers over popular beliefs, traditional Greek believers maintained the conviction that certain individuals were resurrected from the dead and made physically immortal and that for the rest of us, we could only look forward to an existence as disembodied and dead souls.
The parallel between these traditional beliefs and the later resurrection of Jesus was not lost on the early Christians, as Justin Martyr argued: "when we say ... Jesus Christ, our teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propose nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you consider sons of Zeus." (
1 Apol. 21).
Judaism
In both Judaism and Christianity, there is no biblical support of "soul immortality" as such. The focus is on attaining resurrection life after death on the part of the believers.
JudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
claims that the righteous dead will be resurrected in the
Messianic ageMessianic Age is a theological term referring to a future time of universal peace and brotherhood on the earth, without crime, war and poverty. Many religions believe that there will be such an age; some refer to it as the "Kingdom of God" or the "World to Come".- Terminology: "messianic" and...
with the coming of the messiah. They will then be granted immortality in a perfect world. The wicked dead, on the other hand, will not be resurrected at all. This is not the only Jewish belief about the afterlife. The
TanakhThe Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
is not specific about the afterlife, so there are wide differences in views and explanations among believers.
The
Hebrew BibleThe Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
speaks about
SheolSheol |Hebrew]] Šʾôl) is the "grave", "pit", or "abyss" in Hebrew. She'ol is the earliest conception of the afterlife in the Jewish scriptures. It is a place of darkness to which all dead go, regardless of the moral choices made in life, and where they are "removed from the light of God"...
(שאול), the underworld to which the souls of the dead depart. The doctrine of resurrection is mentioned explicitly only in although it may be implied in several other texts. The
intertestamental literatureThe intertestamental period is a term used to refer to a period of time between the writings of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament texts. Traditionally, it is considered to be a roughly four hundred year period, spanning the ministry of Malachi The intertestamental period is a term...
describes in more detail what the dead experience in Sheol. By the 2nd century BC, Jews who accepted the
Oral TorahThe Oral Torah comprises the legal and interpretative traditions that, according to tradition, were transmitted orally from Mount Sinai, and were not written in the Torah...
had come to believe that those in Sheol awaited the resurrection either in comfort (in the
bosom of Abraham"Bosom of Abraham" refers to the place of comfort in sheol where the Jews said the righteous dead awaited Judgment Day.-Origin of the phrase:The word found in the Greek text for "bosom" is , meaning "lap" "bay"...
) or in torment.
Christianity
Christian theologyChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
holds that
Adam and EveAdam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants in the Fall of Man, though this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was "a preternatural condition".
Christians who profess the
Nicene CreedThe Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
believe that every dead person (whether they believed in Christ or not) will be
resurrected from the deadResurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
, and this belief is known as
Universal resurrectionUniversal resurrection is a doctrine held by most Christian denominations which posits that all of the dead who have ever lived will be resurrected from the dead, generally to stand for a Last Judgment.-Judaism:...
.
Bible passages like 1 Corinthians 15 are interpreted as teaching that the resurrected body will, like the present body, be both physical (but a renewed and non-decaying physical body) and spiritual.
Contrary to common belief, there is no biblical support of "soul immortality" as such in the New Testament, see Soul in the Bible. The theme in the Bible is "resurrection life" which imparts immortality, not about "soul" remaining after death.
LutherMartin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
and others rejected
CalvinJohn Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
's idea of "soul immortality". Specific imagery of resurrection into immortal form is found in the Pauline letters:
In Romans 2:6–7 Paul declares that God "will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life", but then in Romans 3 warns that no one will ever meet this standard.
Born-again Christians believe that after the
Last JudgmentThe Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...
, those who have been "born again" will live forever in the presence of God, and those who were never "born again" will be abandoned to never-ending consciousness of guilt, separation from God, and punishment for
sinIn religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
.
Eternal deathEternal Death is the second album of Crown of Thorns. It was originally released in 1997 and later re-issued as a The Crown album.-Track listing:# "Angels Die" – 4:52 # "Beautiful Evil Soul" – 4:10...
is depicted in the
BibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
as a realm of constant physical and spiritual anguish in a
lake of fireA lake of fire appears, in both ancient Egyptian and Christian religion, as a place of after-death punishment of the wicked. The phrase is used in four verses of the Book of Revelation. The image was also used by the Early Christian Hippolytus of Rome in about the year 200 and has continued to be...
, and a realm of darkness away from God. Some see the fires of
HellIn many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
as a theological metaphor, representing the inescapable presence of God endured in absence of love for God; others suggest that Hell represents complete destruction of both the physical body and of spiritual existence.
N.T. Wright, a theologian and former Bishop of Durham, has said many people forget the physical aspect of what Jesus promised. He told Time: "Jesus' resurrection marks the beginning of a restoration that he will complete upon his return. Part of this will be the
resurrection of all the deadUniversal resurrection is a doctrine held by most Christian denominations which posits that all of the dead who have ever lived will be resurrected from the dead, generally to stand for a Last Judgment.-Judaism:...
, who will 'awake', be embodied and participate in the renewal. John Polkinghorne, a physicist and a priest, has put it this way: 'God will download our software onto his hardware until the time he gives us new hardware to run the software again for ourselves.' That gets to two things nicely: that the period after death (the
Intermediate stateIn Christian eschatology, the intermediate state or interim state refers to a person's "intermediate" existence between one's death and one's resurrection from the dead...
) is a period when we are in God's presence but not active in our own bodies, and also that the more important transformation will be when we are again embodied and administering
Christ's kingdomThe World to Come is an eschatological phrase reflecting the belief that the "current world" is flawed or cursed and will be replaced in the future by a better world or a paradise. The concept is similar to the concepts of Heaven and the afterlife, but Heaven is another place generally seen as...
." This kingdom will consist of
Heaven and Earth "joined together in a new creation"The World to Come is an eschatological phrase reflecting the belief that the "current world" is flawed or cursed and will be replaced in the future by a better world or a paradise. The concept is similar to the concepts of Heaven and the afterlife, but Heaven is another place generally seen as...
, he said.
Roman Catholicism
CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
Christians teach that there is a supernatural realm called
PurgatoryPurgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
where souls who have died in a
state of graceIn Christian theology, grace is God’s gift of God’s self to humankind. It is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favour, love and clemency. It is an attribute of God that is most...
but have yet to expiate venial sins or temporal punishments due to past sins are cleansed before they are admitted into
HeavenHeaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. The Catholic Church also
professes a beliefThe Apostles' Creed , sometimes titled Symbol of the Apostles, is an early statement of Christian belief, a creed or "symbol"...
in the
resurrection of the bodyResurrection of the Dead is a belief found in a number of eschatologies, most commonly in Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Zoroastrian. In general, the phrase refers to a specific event in the future; multiple prophesies in the histories of these religions assert that the dead will be brought back to...
. It is believed that, after the
Final JudgementThe Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...
, the souls of all who have ever lived will be reunited with their resurrected body. In the case of the righteous, this will result in a glorified body which can reside in Heaven. The damned, too, shall reunite body and soul, but shall remain eternally in Hell.
Seventh-day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventists believe that only God has immortality, and when a person dies, death is a state of unconscious sleep until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as Ecclesiastes 9:5 which states "the dead know nothing", and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming.
- "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (cf. )
The text of Genesis 2:7 clearly states that God breathed into the formed man the "breath of life" and man became a living soul. He did not receive a living soul; he became one. The New King James Bible states that "man became a living being". According to the Scriptures, only man received life in this way from God. Because of this man is the only living creature to have a soul.
- "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field ... wherein is the breath of life." (cf. )
- "Both man and beast ... have all one breath, so that a man hath no preeminence above the beast."(cf. )
Of the many references to soul and spirit in the Bible, never once is either the soul or the spirit declared to be immortal, imperishable or eternal. Indeed only God has immortality (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16). Adventists teach that the resurrection of the righteous will take place at the second coming of Jesus, at which time they will be restored to life and taken to reside in Heaven.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
believe the word soul (
nephesh or
psykhe) as used in the Bible is a person, an animal, or the life a person or animal enjoys. Hence, the soul is not part of man, but is the whole man—man as a living being. Hence, when a person or animal dies, the soul dies, and death is a state of non-existence, based on
PsalmsThe Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
146:4,
EzekielThe Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....
18:4, and other passages.
HellIn many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
(
HadesHades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
or
SheolSheol |Hebrew]] Šʾôl) is the "grave", "pit", or "abyss" in Hebrew. She'ol is the earliest conception of the afterlife in the Jewish scriptures. It is a place of darkness to which all dead go, regardless of the moral choices made in life, and where they are "removed from the light of God"...
) is not a place of fiery torment, but rather the common grave of humankind, a place of unconsciousness.
After the final judgment, it is expected that the righteous will receive eternal life and live forever in an Earth turned into a
paradiseParadise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and...
. Another group referenced as "the little flock" of 144,000 people will receive immortality and go to heaven to rule as Kings and Priests. Jehovah's Witnesses make the distinction that those with "eternal life"
can die though they do not succumb to disease or old age, whereas immortal ones
cannot die by any cause. They teach that Jesus was the first to be rewarded with heavenly immortality, but that
RevelationThe Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
7:4 and Revelation 14:1, 3 refer to a literal number (144,000) of additional people who will become "self-sustaining", that is, not needing anything outside themselves (food, sunlight, etc.) to maintain their own life.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism)
In Latter-day Saint (
MormonThe term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
) theology, the spirit and the body constitute the human soul. Whereas the human body is subject to death on earth, they believe that the spirit never ceases to exist and that one day the spirits and bodies of all mankind will be reunited again. This doctrine stems from their belief that the resurrection of Jesus Christ grants the universal gift of immortality to every human being.
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also believe that, prior to their mortal birth, individuals existed as men and women in a spiritual state. That period of life is referred to as the first estate or the
Pre-existencePre-existence , beforelife, or pre-mortal existence refers to the belief that each individual human soul existed before conception, and at conception one of these pre-existent souls enters, or is placed by God, in the body...
. Latter-day Saints cite Biblical scriptures, such as Jeremiah 1:5, as an allusion to the concept that mankind had a preparation period prior to mortal birth:
"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations". Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the
Latter Day Saint movementThe Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...
, provided a description of the
afterlifeThe afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
based upon a vision he received, which is recorded within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's canonical writings entitled
Doctrine and CovenantsThe Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...
. According to the 76th section of the
LDS scriptureThe Standard Works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the four books that currently constitute its open scriptural canon.* The Holy Bible * The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ...
, the afterlife consists of three degrees or kingdoms of glory, called the Celestial Kingdom, the Terrestrial Kingdom, and the Telestial Kingdom. Other Biblical scriptures speak of varying degrees of glory, such as 1 Corinthians 15:40-41:
"There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star cdiffereth from another star in glory."
The few who do not inherit any degree of glory (though they are resurrected) reside in a state called
outer darknessIn Christianity, the outer darkness is a place referred to three times in the Gospel of Matthew into which a person may be "cast out", and where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth"...
, which, though not a degree of glory, is often discussed in this context. Only those known as the "
Sons of PerditionSon of perdition is a phrase that appears in the New Testament in the Gospel of John and in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians . Many theologians and scholars also consider "the beast that goes into perdition" mentioned in Revelation and to be references to the "Son of Perdition."According...
" are condemned to this state.
Other Christian beliefs
The doctrine of
conditional immortalityIn Christian theology, conditionalism or conditional immortality is a concept of special salvation in which the gift of immortality is attached to belief in Jesus Christ. This doctrine is based in part upon another theological argument, that if the human soul is naturally mortal, immortality is...
states the human soul is naturally mortal, and that immortality is granted by God as a gift. The doctrine is a "significant minority evangelical view" that has "grown within evangelicalism in recent years".
Some sects who hold to the doctrine of
baptismal regenerationBaptismal regeneration, the literal meaning of which is "being born again" "through baptism" , is the doctrine within some Christian denominations that holds that salvation is dependent upon the act of baptism; in other words, baptismal regenerationists believe that it is essential for one to be...
also believe in a third realm called
LimboIn the theology of the Catholic Church, Limbo is a speculative idea about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the damned. Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church or any other...
, which is the final destination of souls who have not been baptised, but who have been innocent of mortal sin. Souls in Limbo include unbaptised
infantA newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...
s and those who lived virtuously but were never exposed to Christianity in their lifetimes.
Christian ScientistsChristian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...
believe that sin brought death, and that death will be overcome with the overcoming of sin.
Islam
And they say [non-believers in Allah], "There is not but our worldly life; we die and live
(i.e., some people die and others live, replacing them) and nothing destroys us except time."
And when Our verses are recited to them as clear evidences, their argument is only that they say,
"Bring [back] our forefathers, if you should be truthful."
Say, "Allah causes you to live, then causes you to die; then He will assemble you for the Day of Resurrection,
about which there is no doubt," but most of the people do not know.(Quran, 45:24–26)
MuslimsIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
believe that everyone will be resurrected after death. Those who believed in Islam and led an evil life will undergo correction in
JahannamJahannam is the Arabic language equivalent to Hell. The term comes from the Greek Gehenna, itself derived from the Hebrew geographical name for the Valley of Hinnom.-Jahannam in the Qur'an:...
(Hell) but once this correction is over, they are admitted to
Jannat (Paradise) and attain immortality. Infidels on the other hand and those who committed unforgivable evil will never leave Hell. Some individuals will therefore never taste Heaven.
(Quran,002.028) "How can ye reject the faith in Allah?- seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return."
Muslims believe that the present life is a trial in preparation for the next realm of existence. He says [man says], "Who will give life to bones while they are disintegrated?" Say, "He will give them life who produced them the first time; and He is, of all creation, Knowing." [It is Allah] He who made for you from the green tree, fire, and then from it you ignite. Is not He who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the likes of them? Yes, [it is so]; and He is the Knowing Creator. (Quran, 36:78–81)
But those who disbelieve say, "The Hour (i.e., the Day of Judgment) will not come to us." Say, "Yes, by my Lord, it will surely come to you. [Allah is] the Knower of the unseen." Not absent from Him is an atom's weight within the heavens or within the earth or [what is] smaller than that or greater, except that it is in a clear register – That He may reward those who believe and do righteous deeds. Those will have forgiveness and noble provision. But those who strive against Our verses [seeking] to cause failure (i.e., to undermine their credibility) – for them will be a painful punishment of foul nature. (Quran, 34:3–5)
Ethics of immortality
The possibility of clinical immortality raises a host of medical, philosophical, and religious issues and ethical questions. These include
persistent vegetative stateA persistent vegetative state is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. It is a diagnosis of some uncertainty in that it deals with a syndrome. After four weeks in a vegetative state , the patient is...
s, the nature of personality over time, technology to mimic or copy the mind or its processes, social and economic disparities created by longevity, and survival of the
heat death of the universeThe heat death of the universe is a suggested ultimate fate of the universe, in which the universe has diminished to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain motion or life. Heat death does not imply any particular absolute temperature; it only requires that...
.
Undesirability of immortality
The doctrine of immortality is essential to many of the world's religions. Narratives from Christianity and Islam assert that immortality is not desirable to the unfaithful:
The modern mind has addressed the undesirability of immortality. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov commented, "There is nothing frightening about an eternal dreamless sleep. Surely it is better than eternal torment in Hell and eternal boredom in Heaven."
Physical immortality has also been imagined as a form of eternal torment, as in
Mary ShelleyMary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
's short story "The Mortal Immortal", the protagonist of which witnesses everyone he cares about dying around him.
Jorge Luis BorgesJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
explored the idea that life gets its meaning from death in the short story "The Immortal"; an entire society having achieved immortality, they found time becoming infinite, and so found no motivation for any action.
University of Cambridge philosopher Simon Blackburn, in his essay "Religion and Respect," writes, ". . . things do not gain meaning by going on for a very long time, or even forever. Indeed, they lose it. A piece of music, a conversation, even a glance of adoration or a moment of unity have their alloted time. Too much and they become boring. An infinity and they would be intolerable."
Symbols
There are numerous symbols representing immortality. Pictured here is an
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian symbol of life that holds connotations of immortality when depicted in the hands of the gods and
pharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
s who were seen as having control over the journey of life, the
ankhThe ankh , also known as key of life, the key of the Nile or crux ansata, was the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read "eternal life", a triliteral sign for the consonants ʻ-n-ḫ...
(left). The
Möbius stripThe Möbius strip or Möbius band is a surface with only one side and only one boundary component. The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface...
in the shape of a
trefoil knotIn topology, a branch of mathematics, the trefoil knot is the simplest example of a nontrivial knot. The trefoil can be obtained by joining together the two loose ends of a common overhand knot, resulting in a knotted loop...
is another symbol of immortality. Most symbolic representations of infinity or the life cycle are often used to represent immortality depending on the context they are placed in. Other examples include the
OuroborosThe Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; οὐρά meaning "tail" and βόρος meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail"....
, the Chinese
fungus of longevity, the
ten kanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
, the
phoenixThe phoenix or phenix is a mythical sacred firebird that can be found in the mythologies of the Arabian, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, Indian and Phoenicians....
, the peacock in Christianity, and the colors
amaranthAmaranth is a reddish-rose color that is a representation of the color of the flower of the amaranth plant. The color shown is the color of the red amaranth flower , but there are other varieties of amaranth that have other colors of amaranth flowers; these colors are also shown below.The color...
(in
Western cultureWestern culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
) and
peachPeach is a color that is named for the pale color of the peach fruit. Like the color apricot, the color called peach is paler than most actual peach fruits and seems to have been formulated primarily to create a pastel palette of colors for interior design...
(in Chinese culture).
Fiction
Immortal
speciesIn biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
abound in
fictionFiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
, especially in
fantasy literatureFantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, literature has composed the majority of fantasy works. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other...
.
List of life extension-related topics
- Actuarial escape velocity
- Amaranth
Amaranth is a reddish-rose color that is a representation of the color of the flower of the amaranth plant. The color shown is the color of the red amaranth flower , but there are other varieties of amaranth that have other colors of amaranth flowers; these colors are also shown below.The color...
- Ambrosia
In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is sometimes the food or drink of the Greek gods , often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it...
- Amrita
Amrit is a Sanskrit word that literally means "immortality", and is often referred to in texts as nectar. The word's earliest occurrence is in the Rigveda where it is one of several synonyms of soma, the drink which confers immortality upon the gods. It is related etymologically to the Greek...
- Bioethics
Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy....
- Biogerontology
- Chiranjeevin
Chiranjivis are the "immortals" in Hinduism who are to remain alive throughout this Kali Yuga until the start of next Satya Yuga.-Etymolgy:...
- Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
- Crown of Immortality
The Crown of Immortality is a literary and religious metaphor traditionally represented in art first as a laurel wreath and later as a symbolic circle of stars...
- Cryonics
Cryonics is the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals who can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine, with the hope that healing and resuscitation may be possible in the future. Cryopreservation of people or large animals is not reversible with current technology...
- Dyson's eternal intelligence
Dyson's eternal intelligence is a concept that states an intelligent being would be able to think an infinite number of thoughts in an open universe....
- Elixir of life
The elixir of life, also known as the elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the philosopher's stone, is a legendary potion, or drink, that grants the drinker eternal life and or eternal youth. Many practitioners of alchemy pursued it. The elixir of life was also said to be able to create...
- Eternal youth
Eternal youth is the concept of human physical immortality free of aging. The youth referred to is usually meant to be in contrast to the depredations of aging, rather than a specific age of the human lifespan....
- Holy grail
The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...
- Immortal DNA strand hypothesis
The immortal DNA strand hypothesis was proposed in 1975 by John Cairns as a mechanism for adult stem cells to minimize mutations in their genomes. This hypothesis proposes that instead of segregating their DNA during mitosis in a random manner, adult stem cells divide their DNA asymmetrically, and...
- Immortalist Society
The Immortalist Society is a charitable 501 organization devoted to research and education in the areas of cryonics and life extension. It was incorporated as a Michigan corporation by Robert Ettinger and five other local residents on June 27, 1967 as the Cryonics Society of Michigan, Inc....
- Immortality Institute
- Immortality test
The Immortality test is a variation of the Turing test. It tests to see if the essential data elements of a person could be extracted and restored into a recreation of the original person...
- Indefinite lifespan
Indefinite lifespan or, indefinite life extension, is a term used in the life extension movement to refer to the longevity of humans, and other life-forms, under conditions in which aging can be effectively and completely prevented and treated. Such individuals would still be susceptible to...
- Infinity
Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity...
- Internal alchemy
- Henrietta Lacks
Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman who was the unwitting source of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were cultured by George Otto Gey to create an immortal cell line for medical research...
- Lich
In modern fantasy fiction, a lich is a type of undead creature. Often such a creature is the result of a transformation, as a powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a form of immortality...
- Life extension
Life extension science, also known as anti-aging medicine, experimental gerontology, and biomedical gerontology, is the study of slowing down or reversing the processes of aging to extend both the maximum and average lifespan...
- List of immortal people
- Longevity
The word "longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography or known as "long life", especially when it concerns someone or something lasting longer than expected ....
- Methuselah Mouse Prize
- Molecular nanotechnology
Molecular nanotechnology is a technology based on the ability to build structures to complex, atomic specifications by means of mechanosynthesis. This is distinct from nanoscale materials...
- Tipler's Omega Point
- Organlegging
Organlegging is the name of a fictional crime in the Known Space universe created by Larry Niven. It is the illicit trade of black market human organs for transplant...
- Posthuman
Posthuman may refer to:*Posthuman, a hypothetical future being whose basic capacities so radically exceed those of present humans as to be no longer human by our current standards...
- Queen Mother of the West
- Rejuvenation (aging)
Rejuvenation is the hypothetical reversal of the aging process.Rejuvenation is distinct from life extension. Life extension strategies often study the causes of aging and try to oppose those causes in order to slow aging...
- Simulated reality
Simulated reality is the proposition that reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation—to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not be fully aware that they are living inside a simulation....
- Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means. Extreme cold can be used to precipitate the slowing of an individual's functions; use...
- Technological singularity
Technological singularity refers to the hypothetical future emergence of greater-than-human intelligence through technological means. Since the capabilities of such an intelligence would be difficult for an unaided human mind to comprehend, the occurrence of a technological singularity is seen as...
- Telomere
A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome, which protects the end of the chromosome from deterioration or from fusion with neighboring chromosomes. Its name is derived from the Greek nouns telos "end" and merοs "part"...
("aging gene")
- Nikola Tesla
Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
- Xian (Taoism)
Xian is a Chinese word for an enlightened person, translatable in English as:*"spiritually immortal; transcendent; super-human; celestial being"...
External links
Religious and spiritual prospects for immortality
- "Death and Immortality" Dictionary of the History of Ideas, etext at the University of Virginia Library
- "Immortality" Immortality – What Will Eternal Life Be Like?
- The Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the Body Lecture by Heinrich J. Vogel
- An Essay on the Scriptural Doctrine of Immortality by James Challis
- Eternity: Christ’s Return, Chiliasm, Resurrection of the Dead, Judgment, Hell, Luther on Eternity, Heaven J.P. Meyer, The Northwestern Lutheran, August 22, 1954, Vol. 41, # 17 to April 14, 1957, Vol. 44, #8
- "How you Can Have Eternal Life" Jack Graham, PowerPoint Ministries, Christianity.com
- Got Eternal Life? Got Questions Ministries
- Immortality Taoist essay, personaltao.com
- The Trial to Conquer Death Ancient Scientific Yoga – The First Atom's Final Attempt
- http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/Fenwick%20Book%20Review%20Human%20Immortality;%20%20Death%20and%20Adjustment%20Hypotheses%20Elaborated.x.x.pdf A review by Dr. Peter Fenwick of the book Human Immortality by Mohammad Samir Hossain
In literature