• begins at the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 during Spanish colonization of the Philippines

• introduced Christianity, which then developed into Catholicism

• Philippines as first asian country to be majority Christian/Catholic

• spanish missionaries establishes churches, schools, and converted many Filipinos

• now, Catholicism is engrained into society and politics

• festivals, traditions, and the way Filipinos approach life are often shaped by Catholic values

• exists a unique blend of indigenous beliefs and practices that coexist with Catholicism, creating a syncretic form of spirituality that is distinctly Filipino

• Catholicism believes that every person has an eternal soul where a persons decisions in their lifetime is judged in which the final destinations are heaven, hell, or purgatory

II) Exploration of Afterlife

https://www.nyas.org/news-articles/academy-news/is-there-life-after-death/

• blends scientific inquiry with philosophical and metaphysical considerations to explain or find clues of what the afterlife might be including:

• near-death experience reports where individuals describe what they see during their death and consider to be the afterlife; vivid and life changing (this could just be purgatory though); experts have tried to debunk this phenomenon through neurological and psychological explanations; nothing is definitive

• consciousness as its own entity and whether or not it can exist beyond a physical body; speculative and theoretical that it transcends physical death and no longer has a host

• quantum physics delves into the nature of reality and essentially a "multiverse" with dimensions beyond the human understanding

• hardly any empirical definitive explanations

III) Beliefs Coexisting

• two overall main categories of people who consider both ideas: integrate beliefs from both ends to explain the afterlife to themselves or finding it hard to navigate a balance between religion and reason

• exploring the concept of the soul (easier explanation) vs. scientifically reasoning to certain phenomenons (harder to find evidence for)

• able to pull concepts from both beliefs to create one explanation or clue of the afterlife (ex. visions from near death experiences confirming that heaven exists)

• exploring the connection between teachings on heaven, hell, and purgatory with theories about consciousness, energy, and the nature of the universe

https://blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2018/07/catholicism-in-the-philippines-during-the-spanish-colonial-period-1521-1898/

• ghosts, hauntings, entities, spirits, souls

• heaven, hell, purgatory

• consciousness, energy, and the nature of the universe

• near-death experience (NDE)

• quantum physics

• behavior/influence on daily life

subclaims:

• ghosts are real, but religion is also valid

• depending on what individual people believe the afterlife might be, they might choose to make certain decisions about their daily lifestyle

• theories about what is the afterlife

• How do personal beliefs in the afterlife influence the way Catholics approach life, death, and moral decisions in their daily lives?

• Is there an afterlife and what are other people's theories of what happens after we die?

Spirituality: The personal quest for understanding one's place in the universe, often involving a connection to something greater than oneself; by exploring this term, I can find correlation of the behavior of people & their outlook of life caused by what they think will happen when they die -- if their actions during their life affects their destination after they die

Belief: A conviction or acceptance that something is true or exists, often without empirical evidence; by exploring this topic, I can delve into the minds of people who strictly believe in Catholicism vs. the people who strictly believe in science and reason -- connect the ideas from both beliefs to find other unique explanations

Consciousness: The state of being aware of and able to think about one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, and surroundings; this term is a concept very important to both Catholicism and science -- consciousness is usually referred to as "soul" or "spirit" in Catholicism

Energy: The capacity to do work or produce an effect, often used in a broader sense to describe an intangible force or vitality; this term relates to ghosts and the exploration of the paranormal, which can provide some support to the theories of afterlife in both science and religion

Search Terms:

• religious explanations of the afterlife

• scientific explanations of spirituality

• history of hauntings

• ghost energy studies

• debunking ghost theories

• seances/summoning

• egregores

• entities

• mediums

• communicating with ghosts

• provides a perspective of the science and reasoning aspects of the afterlife

   

informative article - https://bit.ly/3QkgjqE - "a critical analysis of cognitive explanations of belief in afterlife"

• provides a perspective of the science and reasoning aspects of the afterlife

non fiction book - https://bit.ly/3QNcTOw - "the science of near death experiences"

• provides scientifically backed explanations to those personal experiences of people who "know" what the afterlife looks like or is

my own infographics illustrating how beliefs about the afterlife may influence daily choices, behaviors, or cultural practices