Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or otherworld. In some views, this continued existence takes place in a spiritual realm, while in others, the individual may be reborn into this world and begin the life cycle over again, likely with no memory of what they have done in the past. Belief in an afterlife is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death.
The surviving essential aspect varies between belief systems it may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, which carries with it one's personal identity. The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's stream of consciousness or identity continues to exist after the death of their physical body.
