Bajoran Afterlife

[c0rnedfr0g]

I watched "Life Support" last night, and was struck by the lack of mention of the Bajoran afterlife. I mean, Vedek Bareil was dead for 40 minutes, yet he reported nothing, nor was asked anything, about that experience.

I know the resurrection/afterlife issue was dealt with later by Neelix in Voyager, but for such a spiritual people as the Bajorans, I would think that this would be an important topic.

 

[MMCL]

Like an orb experience I suspect it is a personal thing and not something you ask about ....

 

[Marie1]

They wander around a white cloud with mysterious gravity... :P Maybe he was dead but not "dead" like what can happen to humans?

 

[Timo]

I don't think the Bajorans would necessarily believe in afterlife. Their religion seems hedonistic enough, that is, it apparently forbids nothing during the earthly journey of the person, features no element of asceticism. That sort of negates the reward-after-death or reward-at-rebirth angle commonly found in human religions.

If the Prophets' ideas of nonlinear time are echoed in the Bajoran religion, then the "after" part in the equation becomes meaningless, too. Death isn't necessarily the end of anything, or the beginning of something else, as the concepts of end and beginning are poorly defined for nonlinear time.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[dave_R_treker]

McCoy: Perhaps we could cover a little philosophical ground. Life... Death... Life. Things of that nature.
Spock: I did not have time on Vulcan to review the philosophical disciplines.
McCoy: C'mon Spock, it's me, McCoy. You really have gone where no man's gone before. Can't you tell me what it felt like?
Spock: It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame of reference."

 

[casey]

I don't think the Bajorans would necessarily believe in afterlife. Their religion seems hedonistic enough, that is, it apparently forbids nothing during the earthly journey of the person, features no element of asceticism. That sort of negates the reward-after-death or reward-at-rebirth angle commonly found in human religions.

If the Prophets' ideas of nonlinear time are echoed in the Bajoran religion, then the "after" part in the equation becomes meaningless, too. Death isn't necessarily the end of anything, or the beginning of something else, as the concepts of end and beginning are poorly defined for nonlinear time.

Timo Saloniemi

It has been a really like time since I saw the episode, but doesn't Ro Laren say something about the Bajoran after life in "The Next Phase?"

 

[Sci]

I watched "Life Support" last night, and was struck by the lack of mention of the Bajoran afterlife. I mean, Vedek Bareil was dead for 40 minutes, yet he reported nothing, nor was asked anything, about that experience.

I know the resurrection/afterlife issue was dealt with later by Neelix in Voyager, but for such a spiritual people as the Bajorans, I would think that this would be an important topic.

Not necessarily. It certainly is in our mythologies, but one important thing to consider is that Bajoran theology is based upon empirical experience -- they know the Prophets are real and they base their beliefs on actual communications from them. As such, it's entirely possible that the Bajoran religious system simply contains no afterlife, since they would presumably have no more empirical data on it than we do in real life.

 

[DS9Continuing]

They say that after death, they "walk with the Prophets." That presumably means they think they go to exist in the wormhole in some fashion. Presumably only in a non-corporeal way, since their bodies are dead.

With Sisko, both his body and his spirit went to the wormhole, which is how come he was able to return. Presumably therefore, Bajorans believe their spirits would be capable of returning, if not for the fact that they have no body to go back to. I assume that borhyas (the Bajoran concept of ghosts) occur when a Bajoran's spirit (pagh) tries to return to the planet without a body to go to.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

They say that after death, they "walk with the Prophets." That presumably means they think they go to exist in the wormhole in some fashion. Presumably only in a non-corporeal way, since their bodies are dead.

With Sisko, both his body and his spirit went to the wormhole, which is how come he was able to return. Presumably therefore, Bajorans believe their spirits would be capable of returning, if not for the fact that they have no body to go back to. I assume that borhyas (the Bajoran concept of ghosts) occur when a Bajoran's spirit (pagh) tries to return to the planet without a body to go to.

Well, then if their kat'rah or spirits or whatever have to float their way up to the wormhole, it must take awhile! Maybe Vedek Bareil's was on its way when it realized it need to turn around and start going back....

I'd hate to be any Bajoran that died on Voyager, as Voyager undoubtedly beat those spirits back to the AQ by a longshot!