their life’s lessons and experiences, with all their
accumulated wisdom, between lives. Wiser spirits
retained their memory so that they did not have to
begin learning all over again in each new lifetime.
Theyaccumulatedwisdomwitheachsubsequent
life.
In the forecourt of the palace of Hades and
Persephone sat Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aea-
cus, the three judges of the underworld. Here, the
souls of the dead were judged. If they were neither
extremely good nor extremely evil, they were sent
back to the Fields of Asphodel. If they were evil,
they were sent to Tartarus, a place of torment
similar to the Hell of Christian belief. If they
were virtuous, they were sent to Elysium, the
Islands of the Blessed.
Memory in Ancient Greece
In ancient Greece, according to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art website, memory was considered
to be an important link between the living and the
dead. The Greeks observed practices and rituals
in order to keep alive the memory of the dead
among the living. Elaborate tombs and statues
were erected on graves as memorials to the dead.
The website states, ‘‘Immortality lay in the contin-
ued remembrance of the dead by the living.’’
Women ‘‘made regular visits to the grave with
offerings that included small cakes and libations.’’
Mitchell’s poem offers a twist on this tradition in
that it is the dead who keep alive the memory of the
living through showing photographs and telling
stories.Purgatory in Different Cultures
The idea of Purgatory as a place where souls are
made ready to be received in Heaven or a paradi-
siacal state was not invented by the Christian
Church but has roots dating much further back,
at least to the ancient Greek idea of Hades. Purga-
tory plays a prominent role in Catholic theology
but is rejected by Protestantism. The Eastern
Orthodox Christian Church does not explicitly
embrace the idea of Purgatory but does teach that
there is a final purification for souls destined for
Heaven and that the prayers of the living can help
speed the process. Some writings of the EasternCOMPARE
&
CONTRAST 1980s: The International Association for
Near-Death Studies isincorporated in Con-
necticut in 1981 to study the phenomenon
of near-death experiences, which are highly
controversial.
Today:Near-death experiences are more widely
accepted and discussed, though researchers dis-
agree about their origin.
1980s:In 1987, the Canadian biochemist and
psychiatrist Ian Stevenson publishesChildren
Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of
Reincarnation, a series of case studies which
he believes show evidence of reincarnation.
Today: In 2005, pediatric psychiatrist Jim
Tucker publishesLife Before Life: A Scientific
Investigation of Children’s Memories of Pre-
vious Lives(St. Martin’s Press). The bookreviews documentation of children’s reports
of previous lives.
1980s:In the United States, an eclectic mix of
spiritual beliefs and practices proliferates.
According to the Pew report, ‘‘The Religious
Composition of the United States’’) through-
out the 1980s, between 5 and 8 percent of the
American public is not affiliated with any
particular religion.
Today:Polls (cited by Cary McMullen in
‘‘Despite ‘New Atheists,’ 82% in U.S. Think
There’s An Afterlife’’) find that 82 percent of
Americans say they believe in an afterlife.
According to the Pew report, 16 percent of
American adults have no particular religious
belief.The Dead