On the Internet, a standard acronym appears when a statesman dies: RIP. It means rest in peace. RIP reveals that even in modern times we want to believe that after death there is something that needs ‘rest’ and ‘peace’. That death is not a full stop. This is an indicator of absence of scientific thought, and a belief in the idea that something outlives the death of the body.

There is, as yet, no scientific proof that something survives death. All religious and occult views on soul, spirit and ghost remain personal opinions. RIP is essentially an expression of subjective truth, not objective truth, an imagined reality or myth that many subscribe to, whether they are religious or secular.