You Don't Have to Believe in Heaven to Find Life after Death

Gary S. Fink, D.Min., is a pastoral counselor who specializes in bereavement, loss, and life-limiting illness. He serves as chaplain at Montgomery Hospice in Rockville, Maryland, and as project coordinator for the Montgomery Hospice Dementia Initiative, providing education and training for professional caregivers and families of people with dementia. Rabbi Fink writes in the Religion section of the Huffington Post about the different concepts of life after death and the ways the dying can leave a legacy.

Legacy can refer to the totality of a person's life, or to the impact or influence of our lives in the world. For those near the end of life -- and for their loved ones -- legacy building offers powerful comfort at the end of life. It provides a way to ensure a continuing presence in this world and to leave something meaningful behind.

Psychologist Erik Erikson hypothesized that a late stage of personal development is generativity: the need to create a positive legacy that lives on after death -- to leave a part of the self to future generations to help guide their lives.

Legacy building provides a way to address fundamental spiritual questions: "How have I made a difference in the world?" "What is the value of my life?" "What is my place and purpose in the universe?

This post is adapted from Living with Grief^®: Spirituality and End-of-Life Care, available from the Hospice Foundation of America's bookstore. This book is a companion piece to the Spirituality and End-of-Life Care educational program.

HFA is offering a series of webinars for organizations that address aspects of spirituality at life's end in greater depth. Learn more.