Death, reincarnation and ghosts. (My full article from Light Body Travelers website, 2016)

Death and reincarnation are widely discussed topics with widely diverse viewpoints. Most people have views on both based on their culture, religion or both. Often people change their views on both subjects as they grow physically, mentally and spiritually in their life. Most religions have written explanations of what to believe about death and reincarnation and why that belief makes sense.

The Catholic Church is no exception and does have an explanation of life, death, souls and reincarnation. One main thing to note is that Catholics believe in our physical bodies and our spiritual bodies. Our spiritual bodies have no end but our physical bodies die and decay. The human spiritual body is called a “soul” to Catholics and it has no physical form. It resides in our physical body while we are on this earth but can’t be pinpointed as to where it actually is within our body. The soul is created by God and lives for infinity in either physical or spiritual form.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is a book that was originally put together in the 1960s as a way of explaining what Catholics believe about various subjects of the times. In 1995 an updated version was published. This updated version was not new beliefs or new doctrine. It simply added more topics of concern and changed the format of the information. This 1995 version is what I self-studied with for most of my adult life. Now, in the age of the internet, the entire CCC is available online and searchable by topic, number or keyword.

Numbers 1013 through 1019, from the CCC, explain what the Catholic belief should be in regards to death, souls and reincarnation. Number 1013 states “Death is the end of man’s earthly pilgrimage…we shall not return to other earthly lives. It is appointed for men to die once. There is no reincarnation after death.” Number 1016 continues “By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. Just as Christ is risen and lives forever, so all of us will rise at the last day.” Number 1017 adds “We sow a corruptible body in the tomb, but he raises up an incorruptible body; a spiritual body.” The resurrection on the last day is the Catholic belief that on the last day of this universe, God will raise our decayed bodies up, make them whole and perfect again and return our souls to them.

My belief about death and reincarnation was formed early on in religious education, confirmed when I read through the CCC and is the same today as it’s always been. Obviously, though, any belief about death and reincarnation are best guesses bases on whatever research or experiences you have had. The Catholic Church uses specific biblical passages to explain that death is the end of our physical bodies, our souls carry on and our souls will be reunited with our perfected bodies at the end of all time. The bible, however, was not put down into writing as the collection of books that it is today, until the 13th through 16th centuries. Most of the Catholic Church beliefs are based on what was the common verbal knowledge for the first 1400 years after Christ died. The truths of our biblical views actually come from before the bible was put into written form and have stayed the same for two thousand years.

If there is no reincarnation, though, how do you explain people’s detailed knowledge of past lives and other similar phenomenon? For a bit more on this we turn to Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274). He believed that, although the soul is in the physical form of a body, it possesses spiritual faculties of intellect and will and it belongs to an altogether higher plane of existence than other animal forms. He also held the belief that the soul has conscious life when separate from the body. Later thought, by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 – 1716), inferred from this that the soul is indestructible and immortal. That the soul has a pre-existence before entering a physical body is similarly deductible. From these two past philosophers you can infer a lot of modern explanations for past life knowledge and feelings.

One explanation is simply that if the soul has pre-existence, intellect and will it is possible that the soul has experienced things in its higher plane that it conveys to its physical host’s mind. Some hosts (people) aren’t connected with this higher plane and don’t get the message from the soul, others are connected and can relive the soul’s past experiences as their own. This could seem like a meek explanation to a complex idea, but sometimes a modest answer is the correct answer to a complex question and mankind overthinks the question.

Another explanation behind a person’s knowledge of past lives or other phenomenon could be found in the spirit world of this earth. Both the Catholic Church and I believe that “ghosts” exist and sometimes interact with humans. The Church specifically forbids us from conjuring up the dead (CCC 2116-2117). Nevertheless, without our action or invitation, the dead often do appear to the living. There is enormous evidence of “ghosts” in all cultures. Peter Kreeft, in his book Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Heaven explains that there are three types of ghosts.

The first and most familiar kind of ghosts (spirits) are the sad (wispy) ones. They seem to be working out some unfinished earthly business. These ghosts would seem to be the ones who feel little or no joy yet and who need to learn many painful lessons about their past lives on earth. Their unfinished earthly business could take several human lifetimes or longer since time is measured differently in the spiritual realm. During the spirit’s time back on this earth they could accidentally or purposely interact with humans. This interaction would be completely mental, but it could be enough for the human to experience the earthly life of the ghost as if they had lived it themselves. This first spirit type would be the type that causes people to experience past lives.

The second kind of spirits are malicious and deceptive spirits and are probably the ones who respond to conjurings at séances. They have no purpose but to cause confusion and deception on this earth. These spirits also interact with humans and could likewise cause a person to experience a past life but it would most likely be a horrible, nightmarish experience or feeling.

Thirdly, there are bright, happy spirits of dead friends and family - especially spouses - who appear unbidden, at God's will, not ours, with messages of hope and love. Unlike the sad ghosts who come back primarily for their own sakes, these bright spirits come back for the sake the living, to tell us all is well. These spirits only interact with their family members or friends. These spirits could possibly be responsible for past life experiences by their earthly interactions, but only if an ancient ancestor visits a living human, which is unlikely as the spirit would have no specific attachment to the human.

One of the biggest reasons that people choose to believe in some form of life after death, is probably because we fear losing those we love. So, we choose to believe that they live on somehow. The Catholic Church does not believe in reincarnation but does believe that the soul existed before it entered the physical human body and it will exist after the physical body decays. The soul existed and will exist in a spiritual realm that is outside of the physical realm humans know. Also, spirits of friends, family and others exist in the spiritual realm of the souls but interact with humans in the physical realm. A soul is not generally considered the same thing as a spirit although they exist in the same realm. The soul is more of a connection or feeling whereas a spirit is a direct interaction with the person. Once a soul departs a physical human body it does not come back to the earth in another physical body but it can continue to influence other physical bodies on earth. With souls and spirits existing before and after our physical bodies, it can be said that life continues on after we die, regardless of what that continuing journey is called.

Stephen Jay Boettcher is a Eucharistic Minister at St. James Catholic Church, a member of the Knights of Columbus Council 2883 and a Board of Education member for Plainfield Public Schools. For more information or further research, visit: http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm# Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven By Peter Kreeft