All you people who believe in life after death...

Pattern is really hard to break, after all, but it is not impossible. Then again, I'm very glad you're on earth because you keep people, such as myself, company.

 

Someone's got to keep the loonies company

 

I only mirror your self.

 

That's the first thing you've said that I agree with

 

That's a "good" start.

 

Chris:

I hope you don't mind if I disagree! I really do think we're something.

 

The short, honest answer is : Nobody knows for sure. But those of us who are trying to make sense of our short existence and deciding what, if anything, to do about it, may be willing to place our bets on hypotheses that are not implausible. I think of the "soul" as being a construct based on aspects of observable experience. It seems to be related to, and may be the same as, our consciousness--our awareness. It's associated with brain activity, but is analytically separate from it and is itself non-material. Does it persist after death--take its flight? I'm skeptical that it does. But it is the part of me that is most immediately accessible to me--the part that I call "Me". I think it's likely that our concept of "soul" may be the product of a variety of processes in different parts of the brain--but it is distinct from them.

 

i believe in death after life. think about it

weirrddd.

 

Death is a fantasy

 

deep bro.

 

That's what confuses me. If that is the soul, then what is the part of you calling you "you"?

 

OK, so it's not the process...

...and it's not the material.

That doesn't leave much for it to be. If it isn't the substance and it isn't the process, what the heck is it? I never thought I'd find someone who believes in a soul backing up my assertion that there's no such thing!

I know the concept well enough, but I think that the concept does not refer to anything real.

 

Me--i.e., my consciousness.

 

The soul isn't material. It may (or may not) be a product of material functions, but it is immaterial--much more like energy (and maybe that's what it is). Presumably you are conscious. Is your state of being conscious some sort of material? I don't think so, although a material brain might be (I suspect is) generating your thoughts. The idea of disembodied consciousness is hard for me to get my head around, but that might be a result of my exposure to secular western culture. According to Physicist Niels Bohr, in Physics and Beyond :"We can admittedly find nothing in physics or chemistry that has even a remote bearing on consciousness." Astrophysicist Bernard Haisch believes that "consciousness may be fundamental and matter secondary..." And from neuroscientist and atheist Sam Harris: "The idea that brains produce consciousness is little more than an article of faith among scientists at present, and there are many reasons to believe that the methods of science will be insufficient to either prove or disprove it." (The End of Faith, p.208)

At another level, Soul is a moral concept. Aristotle and some early Christian thinkers, for example, believed that a fetus did not become human at conception but only after "ensoulment" which happened several weeks later. Rather than some non-material entity entering the body at this stage, it seems more plausible that brain development occurred. This is close to the view of some modern philosophers that human life, as a subject of moral significance, presupposes a minimal level of sentience and cognition--i.e,, awareness or consciousness, which would seem to require at least a rudimentary brain. By that view, abortion would be okay before that level of fetal development is reached, and not okay afterward.

 

We are something now, while we, our essence (soul), occupy the body. But the original question is "When the body dies, what is it that persists after death?" While we occupy a body, and since "now" is the only reality, being in the body (with all its constraints) is our reality.

 

I agree. Death, in the end, is a fantasy; however, it's the only way to prove to a skeptic that he or she is also other than the body configuration. So, the soul(??), in the end, is separate from the brain. "Awakening" is the ultimate destroyer of doubt.

 

Chris:

Occupying my body is good for my health. : ) Afterworlds as raison d'etres have never worked out. : D

Hang on, who's doing the proving here?! lol The "soul" isn't separate from the brain "in the end" or otherwise, how else could our brains ever share such a thing?! : )

No-one has yet woken all the way up! We'd all know about it.

 

If you're the type who loves to abuse your body, I certainly wouldn't agree with your statement, but in most cases, I agree that a good, sane "awareness" occupying a body is good for that body's health, unless the vessel has initial damage.

Well, I love living in this world. I still haven't found the logic in merging with God, since God equals being all alone in Its own world. God is one, after all, not a committee. It's the only captain in a crew-less vessel. It doesn't share power, etc. But, it's basking in love because It can afford to love. It carries no baggage.

Religious people, mystics, charletans -- you name it. I'm certainly not accusing you -- gods forbid. Therefore, there's no need to get excited ... yet.

The "awareness," about which I'm talking, is separate from the brain. You just have to die to find out. Wasn't it Jesus who also said that (but in a different manner), or was it a superstar?

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but some have woken up. Although, I'm not convinced that "many" have woken up... In short, it's the reason why it's called "awakening." The 21st century is, indeed, exciting, especially because of "awakening."

True "awakening" has nothing to do with NDE.

 

Do you have evidence for this? Since you are presumably alive and the proof comes after death, how can you be so sure? In the absence of such, I'm living this life as though its the only one I'll get. Of course, if you're right and you cease to exist after your death you'll never know it. If I'm wrong, I'm in for a big surprise, for better or worse.

 

What would we know? We are totally incapable of knowing anything new at all unless it is already in our hardware (brain). It would be like a computer recognizing who is operating it. It might be possible in the future when you upgrade its hardware, which would require genetic engineering in our case.