I’ve been working for some time on the question of the influence of afterlife beliefs because I have been struck by the lack of comment on that subject by Golden Rule scholars.
Strongly held beliefs about the fate of person after death can have major influence on their actions, desires and motivations. If you have strong beliefs and I don’t know about them I might badly misunderstand your desires. I might act toward you in a way that is totally inappropriate from your point of view and have no idea that I’m doing so.
One of the themes I’ve addressed in prior posts is the danger of a system of ethics that is based largely (or entirely) on self-reference.
That is: I grant myself (even if implicitly) the right to assume that if I think something is desirable, you will desire it too. And I then act towards you based on that assumption.
The “do unto others” statement, unless modified, is completely self-referential. Because of that it cannot be relied upon, unmodified, as an appropriate guide to behavior.
Many cultures and religions have strongly held beliefs regarding what happens after the death of the body. Some scholars think that the creation of belief systems regarding the fate of man after death has been the primary issue in the development of religions.
Whether that is true or not, it is clearly true that some behavior by those around us is motivated to some degree by their afterlife beliefs. And an inability to anticipate another’s belief-motivated behavior can cause us to act in ways that are inappropriate and painful from the other’s point of view.
There is currently an outbreak of plague in Madagascar.
Some believe that the plague is caused by a local custom called famadihana.
Famadihana is a funerary rite practiced in Madagascar that involves periodically exhuming the remains of the dead, wrapping them in cloth and holding them while performing a ritual dance.
It is called by some, Madagascar corpse dancing.
Those who practice this custom believe that until the body is completely decomposed, some part of the deceased remains active and a part of the community. The practice of famadihana is a family affair and provides an opportunity for festive gatherings that both honor the dead and strengthen the family bonds of those who remain.
The current concern is that this practice also allows the spreading of diseases that might otherwise remain, literally, in the grave. The current concern is that the plague has been introduced into the community and is being spread by those practicing this ritual.
[As an aside: It is fascinating that the Catholic Church does not object to the practice, having deemed it cultural rather than religious. It is not hard to believe that the decision allowed the Church to avoid a conflict with members or prospective converts unwilling to turn aside from a practice considered important to both current family members and recently deceased.]
Famadihana is obviously an extreme behavior but its extreme nature makes it a good example. The afterlife construct that would include such a ritual would be completely foreign to most who might read this. Most of us would have no way to predict or decode the behaviors necessary to support such a belief system. Most of us would therefore have no way to tailor our behavior to be properly respectful of those with such beliefs.
But many other differences in belief regarding afterlife can motivate behavior differences. Clearly one such high-profile difference is attributed to the Islamist terrorists’ purported belief in the character of rewards awaiting “martyrs” after death. It can hardly be denied that those who send some on missions of terror do use an afterlife reward promise to aid them in their efforts.
Those who believe in a permanent reward and punishment afterlife system will be motivated differently in some respects than those who believe in the system of multiple-life karmic processes, or a purgatory provision; just as another example.
Those who believe that all of their acts throughout their lives will affect their disposition after death will view things differently from those who believe that actions taken at the moment of death can neutralize all past actions. And so, forth.
Any issue that has the power to affect behavior has the power to affect desires. I do not have the right to assume that what I believe and desire will be equally desirable to you. Not without sufficient evidence. And that’s the real question.
Because who would have ever thought of Madagascar corpse dancing?
©Charles R. Lightner