Transcription - Death - Episode 2

ENGLISH

 

 

00:00:07:04

It is one of history's most important questions.

 

 

00:00:14:03

Perhaps the biggest mystery of all.

 

 

00:00:18:02

Tonje?

Done!

What’s going on here now?

 

 

00:00:22:10

I’ll be right there, daddy!

Tonje!

 

 

00:00:24:19

When life is over…

 

 

00:00:28:00

Tonje!

 

 

00:00:29:04

…is there something else?

 

 

00:00:44:03

September the 25th, 2011, professional soccer player Carl-Erik Torp collapses in the middle of a game.

 

 

00:00:59:06

I remember that I was about to do a long run in offence across the field.

 

 

00:01:04:13

Then I notice that I lose strength in my legs at first, that they start to sting, and I don’t really understand what is happening. Then I stumble, and fall flat on my face.

 

 

00:01:25:08

Carl-Erik loses consciousness several times, and is rushed off the field.

 

 

00:01:35:03

A few meters into the tunnel, his heart stops.

 

 

00:01:42:21

It lasted, from what I’ve heard, for about 3 to 4 minutes, so in a way, I was completely gone, without any oxygen or blood being pumped through my body.

 

 

00:02:08:10

Carl-Erik is one of many who have experienced cardiac arrest and been very close to death.

 

 

00:02:17:13

Some describe extraordinary near-death experiences that can make you wonder…

 

 

00:02:26:04

Is there life after death?

 

 

00:02:32:08

Tonje lost her mother 3 years ago.

 

 

00:02:35:20

Where is she now? Did she just stop existing?

 

 

00:02:41:14

Or is there a chance for them to meet again?

 

 

00:02:45:05

Tonje and her father have decided to look for answers to these questions.

 

 

00:02:49:09

That’s me.

I was really little then.

 

 

00:02:54:04

What does science, philosophy, and religion say about this subject?

 

 

00:03:02:15

And how has a belief in life after death affected us human beings throughout history?

 

 

00:03:20:19

Who are you?

Death

 

 

00:03:23:18

What happens after we die? Is there a hell? Is there a God? Do we live again?

 

 

00:03:31:16

Alright, let me ask one key question: Are there girls?

 

 

00:03:38:10

You are an interesting young man. We'll meet again.

Don’t bother.

It’s no bother.

 

 

00:03:46:24

The questions surrounding the human soul and what happens to it when we die, has been debated throughout history.

 

 

00:03:53:09

Here is the moisturiser.

 

 

00:03:57:16

The Egyptians believed the soul resided inside the heart. That’s why the heart was placed inside the mummy.

 

 

00:04:05:13

In Mesopotamia, they believed that the soul was located in the stomach, more specifically inside the blood/rich liver. Blood means life, so the soul obviously had to reside inside the liver.

 

 

00:04:18:08

The French philosopher Descartes concluded centuries later that what separates humans from animals is that we have a soul.

 

 

00:04:25:24

In the beginning of the last century, scientists tried to locate the soul, and measure its weight. The natural way of doing this, was to weigh people before and right after they died.

 

 

00:04:36:05

Some claimed that the body weighed slightly less after death, and that this weight difference meant that the soul had left the body. But after further research, most scientists came to the realization that the weight unfortunately was the same before and after.

 

 

00:04:53:01

When electricity was discovered, some speculated that a good shock or two could bring the dead back.

 

 

00:05:00:20

If it was only that easy.

 

 

00:05:07:12

Death represents a transition to something we do not know.

 

 

00:05:15:20

And the rituals around the world provide support and comfort to many.

 

 

00:05:23:06

Here in Keelung, Taiwan, they celebrate the Hungry Spirit Festival. They believe that the spirits wander among the living for a whole month.

 

 

00:05:36:15

Everywhere, people offer sacrifices to the dead, who have the same requirements as the living.

 

 

00:05:43:16

Someone has to be responsible for providing the spirits with what they want.

 

 

00:05:48:23 TAIWANESE

In terms of the construction itself, you could say that the bamboo needs to be mounted first.

 

 

00:05:59:03 TAIWANESE

This "house" has three stories so it must be solid from the ground up.

 

 

00:06:05:06

It takes several months to build a house like this. This is one of the sacrifices that is offered up to the brothers, in other words, the spirits.

 

 

00:06:14:13

But to lure the brothers out, these nice houses need to be burnt down.

 

 

00:06:19:10 TAIWANESE

It is a tradition that is an important part of our culture.

 

 

00:06:29:15

Houses and boats are being built all over Keelung.

 

 

00:06:35:05

The houses, boats, and various lanterns are carried in a parade through the city.

 

 

00:06:42:19

Death is welcomed, and it doesn’t need to be dark, sad, or dangerous.

 

 

00:07:00:00 TAIWANESE

When you are finished with a lantern you have a relationship to it.

 

 

00:07:05:03 TAIWANESE

Last year was also a success and I believe that the whole process of making this has made me happy and positive.

 

 

00:07:18:14

The houses made for the good brothers are set on fire, and then set out to sea, where the spirits dwell.

 

 

00:07:27:10

All along the beach there are sacrifices and prayers for those who are no longer among us.

 

 

00:07:35:24

Religious beliefs give us a sense of power over death, and all religions have one thing in common. They promise us a life after death.

 

 

00:07:48:16

But, if there is life after death, we have to ask the question: What is death?

 

 

00:07:55:10

Suppose we ask ourselves: what is death?

 

 

00:07:58:06

Well, here's a perfectly natural definition: death might be the end of life. In which case, asking if there is a life after death is like asking; is there life after life has come to an end?

 

 

00:08:13:14

It's like asking, after all the food on my table has been eaten, is there any food left? The answer to that is well, duh - of course not!

 

 

00:08:21:20

But I think there is a genuine question that we can ask ourselves if we are a little bit more careful. Suppose I ask instead: Might I survive the death of my body? Might it still be the case that I exist after my body comes to an end and is destroyed?

 

 

00:08:38:22

There are in fact two major positions that have been taken about this question. One position says this: A person isn't just a body. In addition to the body people also have, or are, something separate from the body.

 

 

00:08:55:17

People have something non-physical, something immaterial; the word we use for this is the soul. This position is known as dualism.

 

 

00:09:11:08

Many people find belief in dualism not only plausible, but an attractive possibility, we hope that there is a soul, so as to open the door to the possibility of immortality.

 

 

00:09:29:17

Dualism, the belief that we are two-fold, we have a body and a soul, is an idea that has been with us since the beginning of mankind. But, new research suggests that the idea may be even older.

 

 

00:09:47:00 SPANISH

The El Castillo Cave is among the world's most important caves.

 

 

00:09:55:24 SPANISH

We have some of the world's most significant cave paintings here, due to of the amount that can be found here.

 

 

00:10:05:06

For several decades, Roberto has researched the paintings that characterize these walls.

 

 

00:10:13:01

Most researchers agree when it comes to who drew the paintings.

 

 

00:10:19:21 SPANISH

The most recognized theory is that the cave paintings were made by our own species: Homo Sapiens.

 

 

00:10:25:18 SPANISH

The most commonly accepted theory within cave painting research is that the cave paintings of El Casillo are no older than approximately between 28.000 and 30.000 years old.

 

 

00:10:41:20

If these paintings aren't older than 30,000 years, it suggests that art is exclusive to us, Homo Sapiens.

 

 

00:10:50:15

However, new methods of dating these paintings, has questioned this theory.

 

 

00:10:57:01 SPANISH

Right here on this little spot, a dating was made of a small piece of calcite,

 

 

00:11:03:14 SPANISH

which covers a red dot here, and the dating that the calcite shows us that is approximately 40.000 years old.

 

 

00:11:11:22 SPANISH

This means that the art that lies below this calcite should be older than 40.000 years.

 

 

00:11:19:12 SPANISH

This opens up an exciting possibility, as it could not only mean that the paintings are much older than we presumed, but that it might not have been our own species who made them,

 

 

00:11:31:16

…but the Neanderthals.

 

 

00:11:35:12

We believed that a Neanderthal was a primitive cave man with low intelligence.

 

 

00:11:41:16

But if it turns out that they created art, it could mean that they had the ability for symbolic thinking, and to create religious beliefs, as we do!

 

 

00:11:52:23

Archaeological excavations indicate that Neanderthals buried their dead.

 

 

00:12:00:04

In 16 out of 20 cases we know of, they were buried in the fetal position.

 

 

00:12:07:17 SPANISH

Some people are of the opinion that the fetal position has a symbolic meaning: Death as rebirth.

 

 

00:12:22:01

Do you want to swim?

 

 

00:12:28:19

Maybe it wasn’t us Homo Sapiens who invented the idea of life after death.

 

 

00:12:37:14 SPANISH

Maybe this was something we learned from a different species - the Neanderthals.

 

 

00:12:46:23 SPANISH

This new information allows for amazing possibilities.

 

 

00:12:56:06

OK, the Neanderthals started to believe there was something ”on the other side”. We had a soul.

 

 

00:13:01:20

The Neanderthals disappeared, the Homo Sapiens arrived.

 

 

00:13:05:14

And then 800 years before Christ; The Etruscans.

 

 

00:13:09:04

They believed it wasn’t just life after death, life after death was divided into two; a good side and a bad side.

 

 

00:13:18:03

On the other side of the earth, someone thought that we do not die at all. We will be reborn in a new body again and again, all together 8.4 million times, until we have gotten rid of the bad karma.

 

 

00:13:29:08

Recycling is not a new fad.

 

 

00:13:31:19

And then there were some people in the middle of the desert who found out that it was a good idea to create large geometric buildings, to help the Kings reach the Gods.

 

 

00:13:40:16

Enter Socrates, the man who fell out with the most important people of Athens, it all ended with a death sentence and the imbibing of poison.

 

 

00:13:48:13

But Socrates accepted his fate in good faith, he believed the soul is eternal.

 

 

00:13:52:21

The son of the carpenter was then killed on a Friday…

 

 

00:13:55:11

...only to everyone's despair by bailing next Sunday.

 

 

00:13:58:05

Our wrongdoings are forgiven, and from then on we can look forward to judgment day.

 

 

00:14:02:11

A thousand years later, in Scandinavia, people found out the best thing that could happen was to die as a hero in battle.

 

 

00:14:08:20

Then you ended up in Valhalla, where it was anything but boring, there was fighting, drinking, and women.

 

 

00:14:13:06

Yes, while speaking of women, beautiful women, no one has managed to agree on what the martyrs receive as a reward,

 

 

00:14:18:09

Is it 72 virgins, or 72 angels in heaven?

 

 

00:14:21:11

Difficult keeping up? It gets even more complicated.

 

 

00:14:24:22

We have just heaven and hell you say? No! In addition, we have purgatory and limbo.

 

 

00:14:31:09

No, not that kind of limbo.

 

 

00:14:33:10

It’s not easy to know what to believe. Many of us say that living is complicated,

 

 

00:14:38:06

When we look at it, maybe life after death is even more complicated.

 

 

00:14:47:17

The belief that the soul and an afterlife exists has created many religions.

 

 

00:14:55:16

It might be hard to believe that our way of relating to death is not the only one. But let's give it a try.

 

 

00:15:03:11

Think of something as simple as colour.

 

 

00:15:07:21

In the Western world, black is the colour of death. This however is not a universal truth.

 

 

00:15:19:07

In many Buddhist countries, the colour of death is white.

 

 

00:15:26:12

The white colour is connected to purity, to austerity, two things that are central to the funeral here in Sri Lanka.

 

 

00:15:35:15

So why are there two such different choices of colour when it comes to death?

 

 

00:15:44:06

It’s got to do with codes. A bunch of unwritten rules that you usually do not think about.

 

 

00:16:00:05

The codes are everywhere.

 

 

00:16:04:20

It’s almost impossible to avoid them.

 

 

00:16:12:11

The codes even follow us to into death.

 

 

00:16:19:01

Every culture or religion has its own codes when it comes to funerals.

 

 

00:16:24:24

To understand how we look at life after death, it is important to understand what lies behind various funeral customs.

 

 

00:16:39:11

How do different religious groups think about, use or understand handling of the dead, either through burial or cremation.

 

 

00:16:49:17

Burial is predominantly used amongst Muslim, Jewish and Christian groups. Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus use cremation. Predominantly, but not all the time.

 

 

00:17:04:15

Funeral rituals change in pace with new technology, and through interaction with other cultures.

 

 

00:17:12:24

Modern societies that have populations from all religious groups have to figure out how they adopt and adapt to these practices, and they have, because no matter where groups go, their members die.

 

 

00:17:27:17

It's these old devices from the late 19th to early 20th century that establish an industrial design that then begins to cut through and cut across very ancient religious practices,

 

 

00:17:40:07

but these ancient religious practices then adapt, and they figure out how we can still maintain our practice, but actually use the new machinery.

 

 

00:17:50:02

In many Western countries, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists utilize modern cremation equipment.

 

 

00:17:57:07

At the same time, technology has also adapted.

 

 

00:18:01:04

As an example, some crematoriums make it possible for the family to see the coffin being engulfed in flames, as if it is burning on an open fire.

 

 

00:18:12:02

In Christianity, cremation is a relatively new concept.

 

 

00:18:17:16

This has not happened without resistance.

 

 

00:18:21:09

But religions have always borrowed and taken customs and rituals from each other.

 

 

00:18:33:05

Greece was the cradle of Western civilization

 

 

00:18:38:09

It exerted a powerful cultural influence on its neighbours.

 

 

00:18:43:23

Corinth was a great, powerful city, a centre of a province. It was taken by storm by Rome in 146 BC.

 

 

00:18:56:10

The conquest of Greece was pretty unusual. Even though Greece lost political control, the Romans let the cultural and spiritual life carry on as usual.

 

 

00:19:08:05

The Romans were quite tolerant toward other religions. They even borrowed Gods from abroad.

 

 

00:19:15:05

For example, this temple was dedicated to Apollo, one of the great Greek Gods. And Apollo later became a major Roman deity.

 

 

00:19:24:22

The Romans also followed Greek practice when it came to the disposal of the dead, both favoured cremation, but things were to change when a new religion entered the Roman world.

 

 

00:19:58:10

Christianity came to Rome, and with it the conviction that there is only one God. Christianity is a monotheistic religion; to worship other Gods is pagan, sacrilegious, and utterly wrong.

 

 

00:20:13:21

The Christian's intolerance toward other Gods was disturbing to the Romans, and this lead to anger and eventually, the persecution of Christians.

 

 

00:20:25:03

So those who followed Jesus had to look for a way of practicing their faith, in both life and death.

 

 

00:20:34:10

One answer was the creation of places like this: Catacombs.

 

 

00:20:41:00

Early Christians excavated subterranean galleries and halls in which they could worship in privacy, even in some secrecy,

 

 

00:20:50:03

but mostly they were cemeteries, places in which they could inter their dead according to their beliefs and rituals.

 

 

00:20:59:20

This catacomb in Milos is older than the catacombs in Rome, and it is an astonishing place.

 

 

00:21:06:18

Very powerful, very architectural, with these semi-circular recesses stretching almost to infinity

 

 

00:21:18:13

So in these recesses, whole families of Christians would be buried, awaiting the end of days.

 

 

00:21:28:06

It makes it clear, to me at least, that it was very important to these early Christians that their bodies were preserved intact, until the resurrection, and the bodies would rise up, assembled, for the last judgment.

 

 

00:21:46:03

The belief in the resurrection of the body made cremation a contentious subject.

 

 

00:21:54:07

Because, if one were to rise from the dead, one needed a body, and if this body was burned, there was a problem.

 

 

00:22:03:07

Until the Middle Ages in Europe, it was important that the body was preserved in some way, at least you have to preserve the major bones of the body.

 

 

00:22:14:11

Here in Sedlec, in the Czech Republic, these bones were used to create one of the world's most beautiful bone chapels.

 

 

00:22:24:09

For Catholics, cremation was prohibited for a long time, the Pope eventually lifted the ban in 1963.

 

 

00:22:33:04

Cremation and was also used to show opposition to organised religion.

 

 

00:22:41:16

In Russia, cremation was highly recommended, the Communists used it deliberately as a tool against the Christian Orthodox church.

 

 

00:22:54:24

Cremation in now more common place in the West, where it mostly takes place in an enclosed room, out of public view.

 

 

00:23:04:20

But this is not the only way it is done.

 

 

00:23:26:19

Every year, between five and six thousand people are cremated on cremation platforms along the Bagmati River in Nepal.

 

 

00:23:36:14

But this ritual is not carried out privately.

 

 

00:23:40:03

This is a much more public cremation than we are used to here in the West.

 

 

00:23:45:09

Death is brought outside, to the streets.

 

 

00:23:51:12

These rituals tell us a lot about how Hindus look at the afterlife.

 

 

00:24:05:19

The oldest son circles his mother three times.

 

 

00:24:11:00

This symbolizes the Holy Trinity in Hinduism.

 

 

00:24:15:20

Brahma created the universe, Vishnu who preserves the universe, and Shiva destroys the universe.

 

 

00:24:25:03

Then he lights the fire in his mother’s mouth.

 

 

00:24:33:18

This was where the last breath of her life left her, and this is where the breath of life will start in the next reincarnation.

 

 

00:24:45:13

Basically, one is not considered dead until one is cremated.

 

 

00:25:06:13

Hindus believe that the soul is trapped in the physical body, and that rebirth, Samsara, is a form of punishment. The ultimate goal is to avoid having to come back to this earth.

 

 

00:25:22:10

Cremation is a way to help the soul be freed from the body.

 

 

00:25:28:17

It is a cleansing, and therefore it is so important to Hindus.

 

 

00:25:41:08

The Bagmati River flows next to the temple, and this is part of Shiva.

 

 

00:25:48:11

The belief is that the Bagmati River will carry the ashes on its way down to India.

 

 

00:25:56:00

That’s where the river becomes part of the Ganges, which has run through the holy place of Varanasi.

 

 

00:26:03:11

The Immortal City, the place where the cosmos originated, according to the Hindus.

 

 

00:26:11:12

If one dies here, there is a good chance to reach the ultimate goal, and not be born again.

 

 

00:26:20:22

In other cultures it is important to bring the dead back from the grave.

 

 

00:26:27:21

For the Merina people in Madagascar, the living and the dead are not something that are opposed to each other.

 

 

00:26:36:07

The Merina people live in two worlds: The society they live in, and the society of their

ancestors.

 

 

00:26:43:15

What we are used to, is that when someone dies, we say our goodbyes. One is buried, and we find peace for eternity.

 

 

00:26:52:07

But here in Madagascar, one is buried several times. Every seventh year, they take the remains out of the graves, so that they can party with the living.

 

 

00:27:19:00

The ritual of Famadihana, may seem very distant for us here in the West. But is it? Just look at the United States.

 

 

00:27:30:18

This is a jazz funeral in New Orleans.

 

 

00:27:36:03

It is a Christian ceremony and it may seem as though it has nothing in common with the ritual in Madagascar.

 

 

00:27:43:01

But if we look at it more closely, we can find similarities to the ceremonies in Madagascar and other African countries.

 

 

00:27:54:10

The slaves who were brought to America, took with them their culture and their traditions, leaving a permanently mark on American society.

 

 

00:28:08:06

So, there might be an obvious link between the jazz movement and Famadihana.

 

 

00:28:15:18

To the Merina people, their ancestors are still alive.

 

 

00:28:20:08

Every time their ancestors are brought out of the graves, they are wrapped in a new, white silk garment. The bond between the living and the ancestors is renewed, before the dead are taken back to their crypts.

 

 

00:28:34:08

To retrieve our beloved from the cemetery, and then to dance with them, is a very unpleasant thought for most of us.

 

 

00:28:45:09

Rituals can be a challenge. In the Himalayas, they have ways of dealing with the dead that have raised skepticism in the West.

 

 

00:28:56:16

It's mostly just rocks there. Burial in stone would cause the body to be left behind.

 

 

00:29:05:19

And that wouldn’t be good for the soul.

 

 

00:29:22:07

This is one of the world's highest areas, and here in the Himalayas, 4000 meters above sea level, there are no trees to carry out a cremation.

 

 

00:29:42:06

The Buddhists who live here in the Tibetan area of Nepal have found a solution.

 

 

00:29:48:08

A private burial method. A sky burial.

 

 

00:30:00:02

In a sky burial, the dead are placed in a sacred place in the mountains, for the vultures to devour the body.

 

 

00:30:08:24 TIBETAN

With a sky funeral the body will finally become a part of the pure atmosphere.

 

 

00:30:20:10 TIBETAN

We place the dead body on this rock, the head goes in this direction and the feet i this direction.

 

 

00:30:27:14 TIBETAN

And the body is cut with a knife life like this, then we give it to the birds.

 

 

00:30:40:18

Like the Hindus, the Buddhists believe in reincarnation, that we are born again.

 

 

00:30:49:00

The goal is to get closer to Buddha, and preferably, be reborn as a human.

 

 

00:30:57:00

However, it is possible to be degraded, and come back as an animal.

 

 

00:31:04:18

Perhaps you were once a vulture. That’s why it’s important for Buddhists to care for all living things.

 

 

00:31:12:17

And by feeding the birds with your body, you do one last good deed. Another creature will live on.

 

 

00:31:22:06

This belief is essential to the Tibetan culture, and the tradition of the sky burial goes far back in history.

 

 

00:31:30:14 TIBETAN

I am not the one who is responsible for preparing the bodies.

 

 

00:31:36:12 TIBETAN

I pray and perform rituals to invite the birds.

 

 

00:31:56:07 TIBETAN

There are others who must do the job of preparing the bodies.

 

 

00:32:01:14 TIBETAN

Cutting them to pieces and giving it to the birds.

 

 

00:32:25:14 TIBETAN

When the meat is eaten, the bones must be collected and broken to pieces for the birds.

 

 

00:32:37:18 TIBETAN

Broken apart with an axe.

 

 

00:33:09:10

The vultures are becoming extinct, and the ritual has almost disappeared here.

 

 

00:33:16:04

It’s been several years since the last sky burial.

 

 

00:33:21:05

For those who lose the tradition, the loss is difficult to handle. Because they lose something that is important, something that was sacred.

 

 

00:33:31:12 TIBETAN

Many vultures have died.

 

 

00:33:36:06 TIBETAN

We prepared everything with the bodies, but the birds didn’t come

 

 

00:33:45:09 TIBETAN

That makes me sad.

 

 

00:33:49:24

The sky burial in the Himalayas is among the last funeral rites in the world where the body is left to animals.

 

 

00:33:56:21

But the practice was common across the globe, and is still carried out in a few places.

 

 

00:34:05:15

For the Maasai in Africa, it was customary to leave the dead to lions and hyenas.

 

 

00:34:12:12

In ancient Persia, the body was placed in the tower of silence for the vultures to eat them.

 

 

00:34:21:07

And the Comanche in the southern United States used to place the dead on a platform, where predators could take care of the body.

 

 

00:34:40:03

The funeral is not the only ceremony of death we have.

 

 

00:34:44:04

Several places in the world have an annual festival to honour and commemorate the dead.

 

 

00:34:50:17

In Mexico, they celebrate Dia de Muertos, the Day of the Dead.

 

 

00:34:58:23 SPANISH

To us death is something natural.

 

 

00:35:02:20 SPANISH

It isn’t so that we fear death.

 

 

00:35:07:12 SPANISH

Because when there is a birth, it happens with joy.

 

 

00:35:10:10 SPANISH

When you get married, there is celebration and joy.

 

 

00:35:14:21 SPANISH

And the same happens when you die.

 

 

00:35:17:04 SPANISH

To us, death is not the end.

 

 

00:35:21:04 SPANISH

You don’t lose your family ties.

 

 

00:35:24:10 SPANISH

Quite the opposite, we feel like it brings us closer.

 

 

00:35:30:09

This family is preparing for the celebrations of the Day of the Dead. They have recently lost someone, who will be the focus of the celebrations this year.

 

 

00:35:47:12 SPANISH

This ceremony is a family community to us.

 

 

00:35:52:17 SPANISH

Where everyone participates.

 

 

00:35:54:00 SPANISH

Children, cousins, grandchildren, uncles, aunts,

 

 

00:35:57:15 SPANISH

the women in the kitchen prepare breakfast and lunch,

 

 

00:36:01:12 SPANISH

the men prepare the alter.

 

 

00:36:07:17 SPANISH

when that is done we prepare the flower arch.

 

 

00:36:14:06

This is an ancient tradition.

 

 

00:36:20:13

The dead will be honoured in this way for 3 years after their demise

 

 

00:36:27:16 SPANISH

Three years in a row we take the arches out.

 

 

00:36:33:01 SPANISH

It is three years because we believe, as I mentioned,

 

 

00:36:37:05 SPANISH

In the worldview of the indigenous tribes people there are three levels.

 

 

00:36:40:20 SPANISH

Heaven, Earth and the Underworld

 

 

00:36:47:21 SPANISH

In our culture, purepecha, people never die.

 

 

00:36:52:08 SPANISH

They die when they are forgotten about, but we as relatives will never forget them.

 

 

00:37:03:21

People gather at the cemeteries with offerings to their loved ones on the other side.

 

 

00:37:13:21

The flower stands have plenty of fruit and candy shaped like skulls.

 

 

00:37:19:20

The idea is that the offerings will make the dead happy. If your grandfather had a favourite tipple, enjoying a special kind of Corona, then that’s what he got poured tonight.

 

 

00:37:31:11

If your aunt used to sing a particular song at the top of her lungs, that’s the song she will hear again now.

 

 

00:37:38:11

And the party lasts until dawn.

 

 

00:37:48:20

Just like in Mexico, the dead are invited to the celebration of the Hungry Spirits Festival in Taiwan.

 

 

00:37:59:04

The offerings are a way to communicate with those on the other side.

 

 

00:38:06:07

A way to show that one has not forgotten those who have passed away.

 

 

00:38:30:20

The ritual is important on many levels. It provides identity and a sense of affiliation. And it helps us live with death.

 

 

00:38:46:00 SPANISH

There were three who died…

 

 

00:38:48:06 SPANISH

Two grandparents died,

 

 

00:38:49:23 SPANISH

It was three, like this.

 

 

00:38:52:10 SPANISH

Three grandparents.

 

 

00:38:55:04

Festivities and rituals may make it possible for us to take death less seriously.

 

 

00:39:01:16

Death, which may seem incomprehensible and infinite, turns into something more concrete. We can even joke about it. It is less dangerous.

 

 

00:39:11:12

And maybe this is something we all need, regardless of what culture or country we belong to.

 

 

00:39:21:22

I wish to complain about this parrot that I purchased half an hour ago from this very boutique.

Oh yes, the Norwegian blue, what’s wrong with it?

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it. It’s dead. That’s what’s wrong with it.

 

 

00:39:32:16

It’s not, it’s pining.

It’s not pining, it’s passed on. This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It’s expired and gone to meet its maker. This is a late parrot.

 

 

00:39:51:07

It’s a stiff. Beriffed of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn’t nailed it to the perch it would be pushing out the daisies. It’s run down the curtain and joined the quire invisible. This is an x-parrot.

 

 

00:40:06:24

We have been focusing on dualism for quite a while now, the belief that we are divided in two, the body and the soul. Not everyone agrees with this, some believe the existence of the soul exists creates more problems than solutions.

 

 

00:40:21:19

In contrast to the dualist view, there is a view that says all that a person is, is a body. There is no soul, there is just the body. A lump of flesh and blood.

 

 

00:40:41:02

This second position is known as physicalism, because it says all there are physical objects, there is nothing immaterial.

 

 

00:40:50:07

Obviously then what we need to do is to ask ourselves which of these two views is the correct one?

 

 

00:40:57:07

So, should we agree with the dualists that the soul exists, or should we join the gang who say no, the soul does not exist, all we have is our body.

 

 

00:41:09:18

If one believes that the soul exists, then some difficult questions arise.

 

 

00:41:15:19

So for example we might wonder, if there are souls, where are they?

 

 

00:41:21:19

I mean we all know where the body is, my body is located right here, you know where your body is.

 

 

00:41:27:04

The good old question, is the soul inside the body, and if so, where?

 

 

00:41:31:20

Imagine that you cut your arm off. Do you lose some of your soul, or is it still in one piece?

 

 

00:41:37:24

And if it is, then the soul is not in the arm. Is the soul in the head, and if so, where?

 

 

00:41:43:06

It’s not at all obvious what the answer to that question is.

 

 

00:41:47:12

If the soul does exist, the possibility to survive death opens up, but there is no guarantee.

 

 

00:41:54:19

The Dualists believe that your soul can give orders to your body.

 

 

00:41:59:16

But the body can also give orders back to the soul.

 

 

00:42:03:20

Take a needle and stick it deep into your arm. Injury is something that happens to your body, but you feel the pain in your soul.

 

 

00:42:13:13

Souls can affect bodies, and bodies can affect souls, but if that’s right, then we have to worry about the following possibility,

 

 

00:42:20:04

Could be that when the body dies, the soul dies too.

 

 

00:42:26:16

OK, alright, so what about the near-death experiences?

 

 

00:42:32:21

Aren’t those proof that we have a soul that leaves our body when we die?

 

 

00:42:39:09

I don’t remember that I fell asleep or that I disappeared, and it was just kind of ... suddenly it was dark, and then there was simply nothing.

 

 

00:42:47:22

It's sort of easy to deal with because when it happened it was so undramatic, that it ... suddenly it was dark.

 

 

00:42:59:14

Not everyone has wonderful visions of near-death experiences. But for those who see something, what could the explanation be?

 

 

00:43:08:02 SWEDISH

What we know after many years of research, is that different areas or regions in the brain are responsible for different functions such as hearing, vision, and memory.

 

 

00:43:22:21 SWEDISH

And back here is the visual part of the brain. There are more nerve cells in the central visual field than there are in the outer edges, so if there is a drop in oxygen, it will be nerve cells in the peripheral area that will lose the ability first.

 

 

00:43:42:20 SWEDISH

The central field of vision is what is left for last, and it becomes like a tunnel.

 

 

00:43:50:18

It's not just people close to death who see a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

00:43:57:07

It turns out that fighter pilots sometimes see the same.

 

 

00:44:03:10 SWEDISH

There is also a reduction of blood flow to visual areas with the type of acceleration a fighter pilot is exposed to.

 

 

00:44:14:04

The vision of a tunnel is not the only description.

 

 

00:44:18:12

Out-of-body experiences.

 

 

00:44:24:10

To see life your life flash before your eyes.

 

 

00:44:29:17

But does there need to be a supernatural explanation for these experiences? Not necessarily.

 

 

00:44:36:16

It could also happen because the brain is under tremendous stress.

 

 

00:44:42:08 SWEDISH

In a near-death state, the normal levels of function in neurons are slightly disturbed. In a grey area such as this, these kind of special sensations may occur.

 

 

00:44:59:12

For me, it was just completely sudden and unexpected, and I didn’t understand what was happening, and then it was just black.

 

 

00:45:06:16 SWEDISH

Media reports more often about people who have had the opposite experience, rather than the experience you had, which means that we may believe that it is the most common experience.

 

 

00:45:21:02

The statistics show the opposite. For cardiac patients who see something in near-death experiences is in the minority. Most people see nothing.

 

 

00:45:37:23

I have no problem imagining that during the millions or billions of years before I started thinking, or was born, that it was completely dark. It’s not like there was an empty period of time for me before I was born.

 

 

00:45:50:17

For me it’s pretty simple. What happens after death, is kind of the same that happened before I was born, and that is… I don’t have a recollection of that time.

 

 

00:46:04:03

Medicine and neuroscience are trying to provide a biological explanation for near-death experiences, but they still have a long way to go.

 

 

00:46:13:23

But if near-death experiences occur in our brain, can faith also occur there?

 

 

00:46:25:14

One researcher claims he has invented a unique device.

 

 

00:46:33:15

He believes that this device can help us locate parts of our brain that give us religious experiences.

 

 

00:46:45:10

The device is actually a helmet.

 

 

00:46:51:13

The God Helmet

 

 

00:47:03:13

Dr. Michael Persinger has more than 30 years of research on how our brains can create religious experiences. Have we created God in our brains?

 

 

00:47:18:09

This is the famous helmet, also known as the god helmet. You can see that what it does is it generates magnetic fields through these solenoids, which are driven by a computer.

 

 

00:47:28:05

So we apply these pulse magnetic fields across the ring, you see on both sides, a persons brain is in here, and we can measure their second-to-second brain activity.

 

 

00:47:41:02

And if you stimulate the right side in particular, the person experiences the sensed presence. Depending upon their culture they may attribute it to a god, a haunt, a member of their family or even an ancestor in the case of some of the aboriginals.

 

 

00:48:00:18

And the actual equipment that runs the helmet is of course right here.

 

 

00:48:04:14

Hey, maestro, can you set up your computer to show them what it looks like?

Sure

Alright.

 

 

00:48:14:03

By stimulating a specific area on the right side of the brain, the temporal lobe, Persinger believes that he is able to provoke a spiritual experience.

 

 

00:48:30:05

Well, the primary implications of our research is that the sensed presence, the feeling of another entity, of a sentient being, that it’s a brain phenomenon, that it’s generated by brain activity, and that certain conditions make it so powerful, so real, that it may actually change your life forever.

 

 

00:48:50:10

How did it go?

Ugh, nothing. Nada.

I had all these questions.

 

 

00:49:01:22

The feeling that there must be something more, something that is not physical, the belief in the spiritual, and life after death, are the basis of all religions.

 

 

00:49:13:14

It's all about belief, so what's the point of biological explanations.

 

 

00:49:21:04

Really, this research suggests that there’s another explanation, and here’s why it’s important;

 

 

00:49:27:02

If people will kill other people because they believe their god experience is so real that other people are a threat, and that other people who believe other things must be exterminated,

 

 

00:49:37:19

If indeed it is not because there are gods, but because it’s our own brain creating them, we better find out why and how it’s done.

 

 

00:49:47:05

It does not mean that god does not exist, that doesn’t mean religion is not valid. No, what it says is that the brain is the source of all experience.

 

 

00:49:57:16

No one has a definitive answer on questions of faith, the soul, and a life after death. Science has increasingly challenged religions on these subjects.

 

 

00:50:12:08

But the belief that there must be something more on the other side is so deeply instilled in us that it probably will continue to live on around the world.

 

 

00:50:26:01

There are two things we can be absolutely sure of. One is that we will all die.

 

 

00:50:36:00

And the second is that before we die, we shall live first.

 

 

00:50:53:20

I was more afraid of death before this happened than after. I think little of it, and try to take one day at a time, and appreciate each one.

 

 

00:51:06:15

Carl-Erik had to give up his career as a professional soccer player, but the near-death experience has given him a new perspective on life.

 

 

00:51:17:07

And he still enjoys soccer by being a coach, and sometimes he even plays for Brann’s junior team.

 

 

00:51:26:18

My goal has always been to constantly develop and become better as a player. And of course that focus has completely changed.

 

 

00:51:34:01

Now the focus is to find other things that can keep me moving forward.

 

 

00:51:40:12

I relish life, I like to enjoy myself and experience new things, I love to travel, I love to use my body, and be out in nature.

 

 

00:51:52:24

I’ll be right back, daddy,

Oh, I’m sorry

Are you OK?

Yes

 

 

00:52:00:15

Here you go.

Goodbye!

Goodbye.

 

 

00:52:08:22

My focus is clearly on the opportunities ahead of me, and not behind me.

 

 

00:52:16:13

Life goes on, and when one day it ends, then we are allowed to hope that it resembles a computer game, that we get another chance after Game Over.

 

 

END CREDITS