Life and Death: Sadgun, Alex and Chris learn about religious festivals and milestones in our lives including one of humanity’s biggest questions: what happens after we die?
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Dr. Chris Deasy.
00:01And I'm Sadgun.
00:02I'm an expert in the study of religion.
00:04And I'm a high school student.
00:05We're here to ask questions like,
00:07where does faith and religion come from?
00:10Why do people believe in a higher power?
00:12And why do a lot of people have no religion?
00:14Spirituality, science, conflict.
00:16Society and life after death.
00:19We'll be exploring all of this in...
00:20Generation Y.
00:30In this episode, we are going to look at celebrations in life.
00:50How we mark death.
00:51And also, what happens next.
00:53For those who are religious like me,
00:55there are plenty of rituals in life
00:56which allow us to show our faith and love
00:59for who and what we believe in.
01:01And these rituals can take place anywhere,
01:03whether it's a special place of worship
01:06or in your living room at home,
01:07which is what I found out
01:09when I met a young Jewish person called Emily.
01:13I'm here in North London to meet Emily.
01:16Hi, Emily. Lovely to meet you.
01:17Emily practices Judaism.
01:20And I'm here to find out about Jewish faith and culture.
01:23We were talking about Chanukah.
01:25This is from a game that you play.
01:28You spin it and you see which of the four letters it lands on.
01:32And each letter, it's an acronym for
01:36a great miracle happened there.
01:38So this is a kippah.
01:40You wear it on your head.
01:41It's a reminder of God.
01:44In some Orthodox communities,
01:46like, women can't wear these.
01:48But in my community, it's more accepted.
01:50Do you want to say a little bit about
01:51what Judaism means to you?
01:53Judaism isn't just the practices.
01:55It's like the community.
01:57So in synagogue, all the people around me.
02:00And I'm also part of a Jewish youth movement.
02:02Do you ever find that people misunderstand
02:05or make assumptions or prejudices
02:07about what it is to be Jewish today?
02:10Yeah, I think that there are a lot of
02:12a lot of things like that,
02:14with, like, antisemitism,
02:16hate against Jews, taken from stereotypes.
02:21I feel like they only see, like, parts of it
02:23and only bits that they want to see
02:26that they don't like.
02:27Since, obviously, I've grown up,
02:28I've noticed it more around me,
02:30like on social media.
02:32So not specifically aimed at me,
02:34but I do see it.
02:39So this is objects from lots of festivals.
02:43So it's very rare to have these all together
02:45as they're from separate parts of the year.
02:47But over here, we have things from Passover.
02:52So this is a Seder plate.
02:54So this is used during the Seder,
02:58which is like a ceremonial dinner,
03:01which you have to bring Passover in.
03:04And then that's a Chanukiah there.
03:06So that's a lighted on Chanukah.
03:10And then these things here are all for
03:13Friday night Kiddush on Shabbat every week.
03:15For the end of Kiddush, you take the cloth off
03:19and you say the blessing for it
03:21and then everyone gets a bit.
03:23I think that's quite meaningful,
03:24like being with family.
03:27Outside her home, the other place
03:29Emily practices her faith
03:30is at her local synagogue.
03:33Front and center is the Ark,
03:35which houses the Torah, Judaism's sacred texts.
03:40Seeing how they're handled and read,
03:42or rather chanted, is really something to witness.
03:54It was wonderful to get a look at Emily's life and beliefs.
03:57100%.
03:58And there's something quite special
03:59about seeing a young person practising traditions
04:03which have been around for thousands of years.
04:05Another tradition which is commonly practised
04:07in the UK is Ramadan.
04:09And Alex was in Kent to find out more
04:11about this Islamic celebration.
04:18Eid is one of the most important celebrations
04:20in the Islamic calendar.
04:21And I've come to meet a family in Medway
04:23to see them celebrate.
04:25What's your guys' names?
04:26Isa.
04:27My name's Izaz.
04:28And my name is Rayan.
04:29So we're here today to celebrate Eid al-Fitr,
04:32which means the festival of the breaking of the fast,
04:34which we celebrate after Ramadan.
04:36So in the mosque, we will listen to an Eid sermon
04:39and then do our Eid prayers and have fun.
04:41That's amazing.
04:42Should we go in then?
04:43Yeah, sure.
04:44Great.
04:52Watching the service gave me an insight
04:55into how a Muslim would spend their day on Eid.
04:58And it also opened my eyes
04:59to how every religion's message is the same,
05:02spreading love and compassion.
05:06I headed back with the family to join in the celebrations.
05:13Could you guys explain the origin of Ramadan and Eid?
05:16Allah says in the Holy Quran,
05:17which is the Muslim holy book.
05:19So the reason we fast is to become righteous
05:22and resist the temptation of food.
05:24We can draw closer to our creator, Allah.
05:27After we've fasted, we can,
05:29it's basically like a reward when we have Eid al-Fitr.
05:31Kids don't really have to fast
05:34because it's usually for adults.
05:35Because of course, in school, for example,
05:37many children would find it difficult
05:38without food or drink to concentrate.
05:40So Isa, do you think you feel more happy at Eid?
05:44Yeah.
05:45Why do you think that is?
05:46It's because you get to celebrate with your whole family.
05:51You want to go celebrate and open your presents, don't you?
05:54Yeah.
05:55So I will talk to Ryan and Isa,
05:57and you can go and celebrate.
06:08What is the five pillars of Islam and what do they mean?
06:12The first pillar of Islam is called Shahada,
06:14the declaration of faith.
06:16So basically we say,
06:17la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah,
06:20which means, I bear witness
06:22that there is no God except Allah,
06:24and I bear witness that Prophet Muhammad,
06:26peace and blessings of Allah be upon him,
06:28is his servant and messenger.
06:29The second pillar of Islam is Salat.
06:32Salat is our five obligatory prayers.
06:34So we pray five times a day.
06:35The first prayer is Fajr, which is done at dawn.
06:37The second prayer is Zuhr, which is done after midday.
06:40Then there's Asr, which is in the afternoon.
06:43Maghrib, which is the evening prayer, at sunset.
06:46And then Isha is the night prayer.
06:47So that's the second pillar of Islam, Salat.
06:50The third pillar of Islam is Zakat.
06:52So in Zakat, a Muslim should give 2.5% of his savings
06:56to another person in need.
06:58So this can be through charity,
07:00to people who are less privileged than us.
07:03The fourth pillar of Islam is Saum.
07:06Saum is where we fast for 30 days,
07:08from dawn till dusk, for those who are able to.
07:10The final pillar of Islam is Hajj.
07:12So for Hajj, you should make a pilgrimage to Mecca,
07:15but there are a few exceptions for people who are unable to.
07:18Exceptions include, so if you are having a baby,
07:22you don't have to.
07:23If you are sick or elderly, you don't have to.
07:26And also if you are facing persecution
07:29or just any way you find it hard to come.
07:33We believe that our actions determine
07:36if we go to heaven or hell.
07:37So it's mainly based on your intentions on the earth.
07:40The afterlife, what it means to me is,
07:43it's kind of like a motivation to do well in this,
07:45to try and be the best version of yourself in this world.
07:48Anything that's mentioned in the Holy Quran,
07:51like death, about heaven,
07:53I'm actually not worried to talk about it
07:55because I know that everyone will end up passing away
07:59at some point of their life.
08:00And I think that it's something
08:02that we should all be comfortable to talk about.
08:09It's really fascinating to see how significant a role
08:12the afterlife plays in how we live our lives.
08:15It's a central part of my Hindu faith.
08:18While we believe someone's actions in their life
08:20determine if they go to heaven or hell,
08:22we also believe in something called reincarnation.
08:25I visited my temple in Bradford to learn more about it.
08:33I've come back to my temple in Bradford
08:34to talk to my priest, Jeevan Gautam, about reincarnation,
08:38which is what we as Hindus believe happens to us
08:41after we die.
08:48In our dreams, we see ourselves flying, right?
08:53We see ourselves going into rivers, into the sea,
08:57falling into a pit under water.
08:58We see this in our dreams, right?
09:00We've never done this to our bodies.
09:03Have we? No, we haven't.
09:05So, that's what reincarnation is.
09:07We've all died in reincarnation.
09:09Look at this.
09:10We're flying in a plane, we've fallen from a plane, right?
09:15We've fallen into the sea, into a well,
09:17we've been washed away by water.
09:19Reincarnation works on the basis of karma,
09:22which means a person's actions.
09:23If a person's karma has been good in a past life,
09:26their soul, called the atma,
09:27will be reborn into something better
09:29than they were previously.
09:31To understand reincarnation,
09:36we need to understand life and death.
09:39To understand reincarnation,
09:41we need to understand life and death.
09:42People who do bad things,
09:46go to hell.
09:50Right?
09:52There are different types of hell and heaven.
09:57Similarly, the body,
10:02like our hands and feet,
10:04when they are cut, we feel pain.
10:06Right?
10:08But when we die, we don't even feel the burning.
10:12Because the body dies, but the soul doesn't burn.
10:16And the second thing is,
10:18to experience divine pleasure, you get divine light.
10:21To experience divine pleasure, you get divine light.
10:24Our body is healthy,
10:27no matter how much we enjoy it.
10:29Climate change is impacting our nature every day.
10:32And if we believe that there's a chance
10:34we might become an animal in our next life,
10:36and nowadays many animals have become
10:38either endangered or extinct.
10:40So what does it mean for reincarnation?
10:42The environment changes.
10:46For example, trees.
10:48When leaves fall from trees,
10:50new soft leaves grow.
10:51The seasons change.
10:53For example, in a year, there are 12 months.
10:56In 12 months, there are 6 seasons.
10:58Soft leaves will grow, then soft leaves will fall,
10:59then soft leaves won't grow.
11:00This is the transformation.
11:02Our body is also like that.
11:03If we do good deeds,
11:05if we go to heaven,
11:07then we will definitely be reborn.
11:08And if we do incomplete deeds,
11:10to complete them,
11:12then in some form or the other,
11:13it's not fixed that if we are humans,
11:15we will become humans in the next life.
11:16No.
11:17Anything can happen according to our karma.
11:19The kind of karma we do and go to heaven,
11:22to complete it,
11:23then in what form do we get reborn?
11:26This is in the hands of God.
11:29It can happen in anyone.
11:31We can become an animal,
11:32human body, anything.
11:34If we can come to anyone,
11:35then we can complete that karma.
11:41There are so many different beliefs
11:43about what happens to us after we die.
11:46And to hear you and your priest talk
11:48is really eye-opening.
11:50It's so important to share these beliefs
11:52and to learn from other cultures.
11:53And that's what we're going to be doing next
11:55in the group chat.
11:57Welcome back to Generation Y.
12:00This episode's group chat took place
12:01in the world-famous Canterbury Cathedral.
12:03Where I was joined by a Sikh teacher, Pritpal,
12:06Christian student, Sophie,
12:08Muslim writer and artist, Arshad,
12:10along with Davina,
12:11a journalist brought up in a Hindu household.
12:14And then I got to talk all about life and death
12:17with Izzaz, who we saw earlier,
12:19Harrison, Mabel and Suzie Lu.
12:22And I got to meet a few of the most famous
12:24Mabel and Suzie Lu.
12:35What role does religion play in your lives?
12:38What are the main ideas, practices, rituals
12:42that mean the most to you?
12:44As a Muslim, there's no difference between
12:47my secular, everyday life and my spiritual life.
12:51The one informs the other.
12:52It informs everything I do,
12:54from the way I relate to my family,
12:56my neighbours,
12:58and how I see myself and what I value.
13:02We are all children of God,
13:04regardless of what we look like,
13:05what we sound like,
13:07which corner of the earth,
13:08or indeed outside of this solar system,
13:10outside the universe that we may come from.
13:13Whether we appear as an ant
13:15or whether we appear as a human being,
13:18any one of us, it doesn't really matter at all.
13:20I respect my faith a lot,
13:22because even though I'm not hugely religious now,
13:25it's something that I respect in regards to my parents,
13:28because it's something that's very important for them.
13:30And I find that in Hinduism as well,
13:33faith and culture are intermixed a lot.
13:35It's my foundation,
13:36what informs my everyday life, I'd say.
13:39It's also where a lot of my joy comes from.
13:42It's where I find a lot of my hope,
13:43a lot of companionship and fellowship
13:45with other people as well.
13:46We've seen that there may be differences
13:48in the way Hindus understand the afterlife
13:51or Jews understand the afterlife.
13:53So I want to ask each of you on the panel,
13:56what death and the afterlife means to you?
14:00Where are we going?
14:01The most honest answer I can give is that I don't know.
14:04I don't know what it's going to look like.
14:06I don't know what it's going to be like.
14:08I do believe in heaven.
14:09So I believe that as a Christian,
14:11you die and you go to heaven.
14:13I also believe in the reality of hell.
14:15And I think that's something that we tend to shy away from
14:17and don't like talking about as much
14:19because it's not as comfortable to talk about.
14:21This is a question that I've actually had on my mind
14:23for some time now.
14:24Not too long ago, I had someone quite close to me pass.
14:27And, you know, I was talking to my mum about it.
14:29She's a very religious and a Hindu.
14:31And she was saying how, you know,
14:33that person is going to reincarnate and about their karma.
14:36And I wasn't sure because, I mean,
14:39when it comes to life and death,
14:40there's also the question of like,
14:42well, why would God let that happen as well?
14:44And so we sort of swung different ways.
14:47But I do think I believe in some form of afterlife.
14:50I'm not sure whether I believe in reincarnation.
14:52I like the idea that everyone has a soul
14:54and that soul lives on.
14:56But I also like the idea of that person going to heaven.
14:58So I'm not sure,
14:59but I think there's comfort in knowing
15:01that there is an afterlife
15:02and that's where our loved ones will go one day.
15:04The soul, the ruh is breathed into every new life
15:08a few months before birth.
15:12So God's spirit,
15:14we have the Quran describes it as God's breath.
15:16God has breathed his spirit into us.
15:18And we have that imprint,
15:20that is our software,
15:21our spiritual software in every human being.
15:24We all love generosity.
15:25We all love wisdom and so forth.
15:28And when we die,
15:31the body decomposes.
15:33We push up the daisies as they say,
15:36but the spirit goes on,
15:38returns to God with a record of our deeds.
15:41And of course, if we've been good,
15:43heaven is waiting for us.
15:45If we haven't been good,
15:47the opposite.
15:48Death to me is when,
15:51when I stop connecting with Vaheguru,
15:54with Vaheguru.
15:55Vaheguru is the word for God in Sikhism.
15:57Anything which stops me from connecting
16:00with Vaheguru or God,
16:02is what I would term as hell.
16:05What is your name, age and question for the panel?
16:07My name is Blue Raleigh.
16:09I'm 11.
16:09And my question is,
16:10if you believe in reincarnation,
16:12does it make you less scared of dying?
16:14I think it depends on the individual,
16:16but I wouldn't say necessarily,
16:19because obviously with reincarnation,
16:20the soul is separate from the mind.
16:22So you're still losing those thoughts
16:23and sort of the body and everything of the person.
16:26It's only the soul that's going on.
16:28So even though in essence,
16:29part of you is living on,
16:31you are also leaving behind
16:32a huge part of yourself in this life.
16:34So I think that might be a bit daunting to some people.
16:37The physical death doesn't bother me at all.
16:40It is a spiritual death,
16:41which would be of concern to me.
16:44This is just a body.
16:45It's made of five elements,
16:46earth, fire, air, space, and water.
16:50And that is, it actually will merge
16:53with all the elements when I'm gone.
16:56What is your name, age and question for the panel?
16:58I'm Moses, 13.
16:59And why do people believe in the afterlife?
17:01Whenever a Muslim dies,
17:04we use an Arabic phrase.
17:06We say,
17:07inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioon,
17:10which means from God we have come
17:13and to God we will return.
17:15Not everyone believes in the afterlife.
17:17I think as Christians,
17:18we believe that there is a life after.
17:21And I think that's just,
17:23it's a promise that we get from the Bible.
17:25And that's ultimately, that's where we find truth.
17:27That's what our belief is based on.
17:29What is your name, age and question for the panel?
17:31My name's Felicity.
17:33I'm 13.
17:34And my question is,
17:36what do you think is the most important belief
17:38in your religion and why?
17:39Personally, it's that thought that it is finished.
17:43You know, the time you didn't do your homework
17:45and lied about it,
17:47the time you fought with your sibling,
17:49the time you, I don't know, lied to your parent
17:51or did something wrong.
17:52Like, that's forgiven.
17:54That's all done.
17:56Like, God doesn't see that.
17:57When he looks at you,
17:58he just sees his beloved child.
18:00And I think we sometimes look at ourselves
18:02and we think,
18:03oh, I'm not good enough.
18:03I've not done enough.
18:04I'm never gonna be as great as,
18:06I don't know, that person in my class
18:07that I really admire.
18:09But actually, God doesn't see that.
18:12And when he sent his son to die for us,
18:16that's just a demonstration of his love for us.
18:18And that's proved that he thinks,
18:20in his eyes, we're made holy
18:22or we're made perfect.
18:24And I think that's quite special.
18:25My question would be on that,
18:28that we are responsible.
18:30I am responsible for my actions.
18:32If I haven't done my homework,
18:34I haven't prepared a lesson,
18:35I haven't taught the children correctly,
18:38I am responsible for my action,
18:40not somebody else.
18:42I should take responsibility.
18:44I shouldn't expect somebody else
18:46to take responsibility for me.
18:49That is what is getting judged,
18:52if that makes any sense.
18:54No, I agree.
18:55And I think within Christianity,
18:56there is judgment.
18:58It's accepting that we are flawed
19:00and we're not perfect.
19:03And I think we're all living proof of that.
19:06And so there is accountability for that, absolutely.
19:09And I think, like in Christianity,
19:11we pray for forgiveness all the time.
19:13Like every day, I'll have to pray for forgiveness
19:16because every day I'll do something bad.
19:19And sometimes that's little things
19:20and sometimes that's bigger things.
19:21So there's accountability.
19:22I think it's just that we're not defined by our flaws.
19:25The most important belief to me
19:29is that God is central to your life.
19:32That God, I'm not talking of a person
19:35or a grand old man with a long white beard
19:39on a cloud there,
19:42flinging thunderbolts at everybody.
19:44But the embodiment of everything that is good,
19:49the source of goodness,
19:50the source of generosity,
19:52and that is the most important thing for me.
19:57What do you think is the main meaning of life?
20:00I think life is making friends,
20:03finding love,
20:05being close with people that you care for
20:08and they care for you.
20:10And then when you die, it starts all over again.
20:13It means that you should live life to the fullest
20:15and do as much as you can in that time you have.
20:17For me personally, I believe that life,
20:20it's a test from God
20:22and God needs to see how we behave in this life,
20:25if we're good or bad.
20:27And actually the hereafter is eternal.
20:31And that's like the main part, really.
20:33The main topic in this episode is life and death.
20:37What do you think happens after we die?
20:39I just think that basically what happens
20:41is that you kind of become like an aura spirit thing
20:44and just kind of roam around the earth.
20:46As Muslims, we believe that once we pass away,
20:49there is a hereafter.
20:51And once we pass away, there is a barzakh,
20:54which is Arabic for barrier,
20:55which means that we won't be able to come back to this life.
20:58Those people whose good deeds weigh out their bad deeds,
21:01they're the ones that will enter heaven, paradise.
21:04And those who lived a sinful life, for them is hell.
21:08Now with heaven, the concept of heaven,
21:10in the Quran, it's described with rivers of milk and honey
21:14and it's described with fruitful trees, for example.
21:17Now I believe that this is like a,
21:19the visual imagery is what helps us understand
21:21the true beauty of the spirituality of heaven.
21:24I think that you get to a certain gate
21:30and there's someone there, I'm still not sure who,
21:35and then they go through what you've done in life
21:38and what you've achieved and what you haven't achieved
21:40and chooses if you stay in the pathway
21:43or you go to heaven and your soul lives on
21:47or you go to hell and you're just brought in hell.
21:49Learning about death at such a young age,
21:52how does that make you feel?
21:53It's imperative to understand
21:54everyone is going to pass away.
21:56In the Holy Quran, it says that
21:58every soul shall taste death.
22:00So I don't think it's something that you should be scared of
22:03because if it's inevitable, then why be scared of it?
22:06I think it's something that you just need to understand
22:09that you're going to pass away.
22:11When I understood the concept of death,
22:14I was immediately scared
22:15because no one really wants to not live.
22:19But now as I've gotten older,
22:21there's not really a point in being scared
22:23because it's inevitable, like you said.
22:25I was also really, really scared of it
22:28and wondered what will happen after death.
22:30Will my family still remember me?
22:32Will they still love me?
22:34Will they still cherish all the moments I had with them?
22:37But as in school, we're learning about the afterlife,
22:41different religions and death.
22:45I am becoming a bit more calmer with it
22:48because as I'm a Christian,
22:51I believe that my soul will live on.
22:55And over the years, I've learned the morals
22:58and immoral parts of Christianity.
23:02I think people should be more excited to die.
23:05I know that sounds pretty wrong,
23:07but because you don't know what can happen after death,
23:12no matter who you are.
23:15That was a really profound conversation
23:17with plenty of superb questions.
23:19And we've had so many of them throughout the series,
23:22but that's all for now.
23:23Thank you for watching Generation Y.