Looking beyond the limits of our own culture reveals to us the rich tapestry of human heritage. This awareness allows us to put our culturally determined worldviews into perspective, including our views of the relation between life and death. The death conceptions of four different cultures are sketched: The African appreciation of ancestors, the Mexican celebration of death, the gradual transition between life and death in Maori culture in New Zealand, and the exceptional tradition of the Aghoris in India, who transcend the boundaries between life and death in a most radical way.