In other worlds...

In other worlds, the human aim is evolution from absolute materiality towards incorporeality and the supernatural plane. Our life in the natural world is the span of this evolution. When we humans adequately develop our capacities through worldly life, we are ready to elevate to a higher plane where our material bodies are not necessary. Thus, we end our journey in this world by leaving behind our corporeal form.

An example that can better formulate this perspective in the mind is that for the duration that humans exist as a fetus, they continually evolve from faultiness towards perfection and the course and distance of this evolution is the time spent in the womb. During this transition, the fetus needs and belongs to the uterus; such that if for any reason its evolution terminates before reaching its perfection, it remains premature and faulty.

However, when its course is fully traversed, it must be delivered outside the abdomen and birth is vital.

At this point, the existence of the former fetus is so altered that it no longer requires its embryonic receptacle.[^2] Consequently, it must be understood that death is not the annihilation and extinction of human individuals; rather, it is a transition from one existential plane to the next or in other words, it is the evolution of human beings from faultiness to a certain level of perfection. This interpretation of the nature of death reveals it as a part of humanity’s existence.

In fact, death is an upholder of our existence not its eliminator. More precisely, we humans die and come to life every moment, in the sense that we cross over from our previous states to reach new ones. The condition for reaching the next state is traversing our previous more flawed state. Hence, death shall expire in the world of perfection and perpetuity where our actions shall become manifest.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Mawlavī has versified this interpretation using a beautiful analogy: This world is like a tree, O Bountiful; And we, like green fruit. The unripe hold fast to the branch For in their immaturity, they not suitable for a palace. When they ripen and become lip-stingingly sweet; Their hold on the branch weakens. When a mouth is sweetened by its fate; To the person, the world becomes cold.