The soul on death is said to recognize the value of its deeds and begin a new phase of a conscious relationship with God, though negative experiences are possible.
Labels we call ourselves by and theologies we claim to adhere to are not as important as the reality of spiritual virtues like courage, justice, love, understanding, etc., actually expressed by choice in our lives.
[4] If one succeeds in achieving these to a superlative degree then that person will be of benefit to all mankind from the afterlife[4] while those who are far from God have no power to affect the living any more.
Rewards for correctly applying virtues and punishments for incorrectly doing so are settled but ongoing learning still takes place starting in the last moments of earthly life.
The sanctity of human nature is affirmed when it reflects the light of God and the truths of existence become known and a basic fear of death is overcome and a universal acceptance of the religions as coming from one source.
Mourning, the distress and pain of the loss of contact with friends and kin for Baháʼís is, aside from cultural issues and norms in society, characterized as another stage of life - a temporary condition that will be changed someday just as someday the infant in the womb comes into the material world through birth and into the company of family and friends.
For example, among the indigenous of Papua New Guinea Christian missionaries had openly opposed traditional funerary art and performances while the Baháʼís encouraged their production as a form of worship.
[17] It states that Baháʼís believe in life after death, holding that the soul is created at the moment of conception and will retain its individuality in an eternal realm.
From its scriptures it is said that "the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel.
[19] Sociologist researchers have observed that Baháʼís have an inclusivistic belief that although it may take work, most people will eventually be saved or get to heaven.
[20] Television coverage of the prayer vigil on CNN[21] and C-Span for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting included Baháʼí scripture to console the living so that their affect of the recently dead was less disruptive.
[22] The text used at the service was adapted to apply to parents and children and taken from Selections From the Writings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá: The related topics of death, dying, the soul and the afterlife are of interest in the religion - covered at length in the lifetimes of the central figures of the religion through questions asked by enquirers, and then these scriptures repeatedly compiled in books.
[24] The Divine Art of Living is one such early work that has a chapter, The Realm of Immortality, which has section headings of: The Nature of the Soul, Punishments and Rewards, The Release of the Spirit, Life in the Next World, Consolation for the Bereaved, Prayers for the Departed.
[25] The early content originally appeared in successive issues of World Order magazine from April 1940 to September 1941 and was then reprinted and revised in a single volume in 1944, 1946, 1949, 1953, 1956, 1960, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1979,[24] 1986, 2006.
Additionally the kinds of positive transformation the NDErs report also find parallels in the values Baháʼís are encouraged to seek[5][37][38] - a new appreciation of knowledge and learning, the importance of love, an absence of fear of death, the importance of physical life on earth, a belief in the sanctity of human nature, and an emphasis on manifesting such positive attributes as love, justice, selfless service, unity, and peace - something viewed by NDErs and Baháʼís as being important to all religions and rising above specifics of doctrines and sectarianism.
[39] The first do not need interpretation but depend on having, according to ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in the words of Necati Alkan, "a heart rid of all attachment and there must not exist idle thoughts in the mind."
[48] P. M. H. Atwater claims Ricky Bradshaw co-founded International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) with Dr. Kenneth Ring.
It was the kind of frustration that comes with the knowledge of having crossed over, of having been 'there', of having returned from the threshold of death carrying his message for mankind with a remote memory of 'the other side'.
"Nina Lembcke Holte Harvey has been interviewed by Warren Odess-Gillett on "A Baháʼí Perspective" for WXOJ-LP about her NDEs in her childhood.
[54] Marie Watson, author of Two Paths in 1897,[55] says she had a car accident in 1890 in Washington DC and reported having a vision and met a guide.