What happens when I die?
Mommy, what happens to me when I die?
A human soul consists of two parts, the hun, or higher soul, and the po or lower soul. The po provides your vitality and driving passions. The hun is the seat of reason, memory, and virtue. When you die, the po sinks into your corpse (making life short and miserable for grave robbers) and the hun travels to heaven where it is cleaned up and sent to its next incarnation.
Well, that is what is supposed to happen. Occasionally there's a bit of a problem and you get ghosts. If a person dies under traumatic conditions or isn't given the proper burial rites, their po may become a hungry ghost. These nigh mindless beast-things are the reason we take so much care to give everyone a proper burial, even the people we don't like. On the other hand, if a person dies with significant unfinished business or a strong tie to something in Creation, his soul may pass into the underworld and linger on as a ghost. Ghosts can see, communicate with, and affect Creation. This is why we venerate our ancestors, many of them linger in the underworld and rely on us to supply them with wealth and sustenance in the form of prayers and sacrifices. Of course, they help take care of their families, so we get the wisdom of our ancestors to guide us as well as blessings on us and curses upon our enemies.
The Immaculate Order teaches that ancestor worship is wrong and insists that continuing your existence after your death is a blasphemies. That's why they don't have any wise and loving ancestors taking care of them, they all believe that not moving right on to their next life is a very bad thing and so, even if they end up in the afterworld, the simply let go and pass on.
Although the po is tied to its corpse, the fate of the hun and the po are totally unconnected to one another. It is quite possible for a necromancer or Deathlord to kill someone and end up with a zombie, a hungry ghost, and a regular ghost all working for him.
Mommy, if I'm just going to be reincarnated or become a ghost, why do I have to be a good boy?
You mean other than mommy will beat you for being naughty? The actions you take in this life are judged when it comes time to assign your soul to a new life [Exalted: the Abyssals pg 27]. So, if you want to be rich and powerful attain a higher karmic position in the next life, you have to be righteous in this one.
But can't I just stay a ghost forever and not worry about what happens in my next life?
No, I'm afraid you can't. First of all, the Honored Ancestors are always watching you --even when you're hiding in the barn and playing with yourself-- so they'll know what type of person you are if you should happen to become a ghost, and will be prepared to punish you accordingly. Secondly, the things that hold you to the underworld fade with time, if your burning passion is to ensure the prosperity of your mother in her later years since you were unable to as an ungrateful child, then when I passed away you would loose that bit. Thirdly, the Honored Ancestors tell us that the Death Lords use them as raw materials for their war machines and ashtrays. Not a good career choice I'd say.
But mommy, the god of the river said she could move me out of my body and into someone else's by transferring memories [Memory Transference charm], but leaving the soul in place. Also, I don't remember anything about any other lives [mortals can only buy up to two levels of Past Lives merit "under extraordinary circumstances" and it only goes back one life]. Doesn't this mean that my hun isn't me and when my soul goes to heaven they'll clean me right off it and I'll stop existing?
Well, it's certainly implied, but do you really want to take that risk?
YES!
Boy, fetch me the switch. I can see we're going to have to end this lesson the old fashioned way.
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