Based on the pioneering work of psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a compelling perspective emerges on what happens to a person’s spirit or consciousness during cremation.
Kübler-Ross, renowned for her studies on death and dying, gathered thousands of accounts from near-death experiences and terminally ill patients. She concluded that death is not an end, but a transition. According to her research, consciousness—often called the spirit—separates from the body at the time of death, experiencing a sense of peace, light, and connection.
From this viewpoint, cremation does not affect the spirit because the essence of the person has already departed. The physical body, whether cremated or buried, is like a discarded vessel. The spirit, unbound by the physical form, continues its journey into another state of existence.
Kübler-Ross’s insights suggest that funeral practices, including cremation, are largely symbolic rituals for the living. They do not determine or alter the continued journey of consciousness.
While this perspective cannot be scientifically proven, it offers a framework for facing death with less fear, seeing it as a natural transition rather than a final destruction.
Ultimately, her work invites us to reconsider death not as an abrupt ending, but as part of a broader continuum in which consciousness transcends the physical body.
