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On Death and Funerals During the course of an average lifetime a person will attend a number of funerals of grandparents, parents and friends. As a person gets older they go to more funerals as their friends and sibling also get older. In days gone by where people didn't move around very much the funerals may all have been at the same local church. In Islam the funeral has a set format. In Judaism this is less so, at least in the reform synagogue, and in the Christian faith, funerals can sometimes be a free-for-all. Where the funeral has a set format there is a familiarity with the procedure. As people get older they go to funerals more frequently until eventually they find themselves accompanying their own funeral procession. Because the person is familiar with the funeral format sooner or later it becomes apparent that this is their own funeral. To Western ears this sounds absurd. The idea that the soul continues after the body dies is not commonly accepted, but the fact is that when a person dies they are often unaware that they have died, especially where the death was sudden. And this is particularly true where the person was a sceptic. If someone expects to pass into another world when they die the transition is much easier than where the person was secular. The shock of finding yourself outside of the body can be too much to face up to and the soul continues to believe that they are still alive, sometimes appearing as ghosts. In an Islamic funeral a particular verse from the Koran is read (Ya Sin). It is said that when the soul hears this it knows it has passed away. In the Jewish tradition a Yarzheit candle is lit and Kaddish prayers are recited. To a large extent Christianity has lost its way and doesn't have the same rituals that some other religions provide. This means that the soul is not provided with the continuity between this world and the next.