There are three main concepts in the culture of Western civilizations about what happens to people after death. This is the concept of posthumous existence in Paradise or Hell in religions, the concept of materialists and reincarnation (the concept of the cycle of rebirth).
The most common version of what happens to people after death is the concept of Hell and Paradise. But this is characteristic only of Western religions. According to this concept, the Supreme Being judges human souls after their death. Curiously, in some cultures, people are punished for certain actions, but in others, completely for others. As a result, it turns out that most souls go to Hell, where they are doomed to eternal torment and incredible suffering. Only a small percentage of those observing the strict rules of the righteous have a chance of entering Paradise.
In the science of Western civilization, the concept of materialism is most widespread. What happens to people after death according to materialists? Consciousness - as a product of brain activity - completely ceases its activity after the death of the brain itself. On the other hand, a lot of different studies, which were carried out mainly in American and English clinics, show that in most people during clinical death consciousness does not interrupt even with an absolute absence of brain activity. Also, the flow of sensations is not interrupted.
During these studies, the purpose of which was to explain what happens to people after death, scientists were not interested in the nature of individual experiences (most people claimed to have seen their bodies from the side, heard some voices), but the facts of these experiences were precisely in moment of death. The lack of electrical impulses in the brain baffled science. When decent statistics were accumulated, scientists came to the conclusion that the very existence of experiences does not depend on whether brain activity and electrical nerve impulses cease during clinical death or continue. If we accept the theory that consciousness is a product of the brain, then a person will not be able to experience anything in the absence of brain activity. That is, he will not be able to realize the fact that he has died. However, research is contrary to theory.
Finally, there is another concept that tries to answer the question: “What happens to people after death?” This is a theory of rebirth (reincarnation). According to this view, our consciousness does not disappear after the death of the physical body. It, like everything that surrounds us, simply passes into other forms and states. After the death of a mother, father, son, daughter, or other close person, many people prefer to believe this particular theory. Among the Celts, for example, there was a custom according to which a person who had borrowed an amount wrote a will. After death, he promised to return the money, but in a different body. And this practice was considered normal. Reincarnation is found not only among the peoples of the East. Pythagoras also became one of the first philosophers who began to openly express ideas about the rebirth of souls. The scientist himself often said that he remembers his past incarnations.