Sometimes the seeming "profoundness" of an argument, makes the argument so much more arguable. Especially in this case... Of course, how profound or not makes a single bit of difference, that is not really any at all. Just because we like to proclaim atheism, it does not mean that atheism is so profound that it can wash away all of theism, and all of belief in a soul, without of course first discussing what a soul is. Destroy the concept of soul and all the beliefs talked about it, and you of course destroy the very foundation for that which is believed. You cannot do this, without first being naive or ridiculous. Of course the soul exists, we haven't even begin to discuss it. We can dismiss it for eternity, and that is probably in this case one of the better of the approaches, but we can't forget what we're dismissing. Otherwise, we're like Santa Clause not handing out presents to the people who need them. That isn't to say that there isn't a concept or idea or reason for belief in soul. Belief in soul/afterlife/etc, is simply a belief in what is most rational. Therefore, our debates will not reach beyond closed mindedness without first discussing the truth. Good post fraggle rocker, but you are way very atheist lmao~
I believe that there is an energy pattern that continues to exist after the "mortal coil "ends. I also believe that too much preoccupation with the afterlife may cause you to miss living.
I asked this partly because I just read something that says that people's beliefs in life after death don't necessarily correlate with their other religions beliefs. That is, many who says they believe in God do not really believe in life after death. They are not sure they'll end up in heaven with God. And, on the other hand, many of those who don't believe in God nevertheless think that in some way human beings go on after death - they believe in some kind of soul or spirit, even if they don't believe in God. To the religious people here: which of you believes in the literal truth of what your religion says happens after death (e.g. the biblical stories of heaven and hell, or the Qur'an's stories of paradise and eternal fire?).
Do you believe in life after death? No Please describe exactly what you think happens after we die, and explain why you believe that. I think we get caught up in the nirtogen cycle. Please also say whether you consider yourself religious or a believer in God or the supernatural. Not religious, don't believe in god unless its some animist abstraction. In short life would have no meaning without death. In other words if we had souls that could 'feel' and 'think' etc after life then what would be the difference between life and death? What weight would life have if death provided us with all the goodies of conscious physical awareness? Mind and body are one and neither fair very well without the other, they can exist without the other but it would be a crappy way of experiencing, for example spinal cord injury where the mind is aware but the body inert. 'Soul' and 'spirit' are terms that I find only meaningful when speaking of the living and once life stops so does the notion of both. Existence proceeds essence.
For what its worth....For believers: The more negative one is about this life, the more positive one is about an afterlife. Not many wish to cross over to something worse than what we have here.
************* M*W: Life is a transition to death, and death is a transition to life. Basically what happens at death is that we return to the bottom of the food chain and become worm food. It's cyclic like predator-prey-preditor-prey. The product of conceptus becomes the predator. The newborn baby and child becomes prey. As we grow up, we become predators. We die and return to being prey. Once the bioelectric energy leaves our bodies, I don't know where it goes or what happens to it, if anything. We just don't exist anywhere except inside the belly of the worm.
Break out a new calculator boys & girls, your percentages add up to more than 140% in the poll. Also wouldn't 'none of the above' and 'other' be the same thing?
************* M*W: Go bettles, yeah! Note to Asguard: I find that the usage of the word "worms" is a more metaphorically and poetically descriptive, but then that's just me. Since we end up at death back down to the inner dark recesses of the food chain, does it really make a significant rat's ass difference as to what digests our remains? I think not, but that's just me.
The two people who believe in reincarnation haven't explained themselves yet. Nor have the three limboers or the person who believes in physical resurrection of the body. Care to give us your thoughts on these things?
I believe that one's spirit (or soul) resides after the body dies. When my Grandma died, 5 years ago, me and my two brothers were given the option of seeing her body, i decided to. What i saw just wasn't my Grandma, it was just this seemingly empty shell, and from that moment on i just 'knew' that there was more to death than i had previously thought. As the funeral man said to me, Don't worry son, thats just the car she drove around in (when looking at her body), i thought that fitted perfectly! I think im open to there being 'supernatural' beings, and i dont consider myself religious. I'd say i was more of a 'spiritual' person.
Do I believe there is a place called heaven and a place called hell? No. Heaven and hell are both found on earth. I believe in reincarnation which means to be made flesh again while keeping an essential part which is called ''soul'' unchanged. I believe that karma is an intricate part of who we are , and who we shall be. Why do I believe that? I am still in the process of perfecting that belief. I am not religious. I know God exists as well as the Devil. Do I believe in the supernatural? I believe that there are things that do not have a logical , scientific explanation.
You are religious and you do believe in the supernatural, by definition. Everything has a logical, scientific explanation, even if it hasn't presented itself.
I believe that "I" am a component of an informational process (sort of like a computer program) that takes place in the parietal part of the brain, when my body is not in deep sleep (or dead). This informational process is the only thing "I" directly perceive. Effectively it is a Real Time Simulation, RTS, of the sensed world, made by projecting ahead the sensory inputs to compensate for the synaptic delays (diffusion of neuro-transmitters etc across the synaptic clefs). If we really perceived the results that "emerge" after dozens of these synaptic delays, then a fast game of ping-pong would not be possible. That is why the construction of the RTS evolved. Humans probably evolved it prior to Neanderthals and thus were able to kill off these bigger brained and stronger creatures. - Much easier to duck a thrown rock if your perception of where it is now comes from a RTS, rather than is one that emerges with more than a dozen synaptic delays. (Seen where it WAS up to 1/3 of a second earlier.) In a long post, made years ago, I give many pieces of evidence for the reality of the RTS. The RTS may also permit genuine free will. I.e. the RTS may be a possible escape from the control of natural laws over your every thought and action (I.e. natural laws deterimining the firing of every nerve in your body.) The price is high for genuine free will to be real is high. - You must be only non-material information in a simulation (or a "soul"). All material concepts of you are controlled by the natural laws. For my RTS see: http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=1294496&postcount=52 for details, and evidence supporting this non-standard POV. It is a long read, about 8 pages if printed. Thus, "I" do not exist when my body is in deep sleep or dead - both Death and deep sleep terminate "me." Note: I or me in quotes is how I distinguish my conscious (or dreaming) personality from my body. Much of what I do, how I react is due to my body, especially the brain activity "I" am not conscious of. Here the I without quotes indicates the body and its actions you can see as distinct from "me," the perceiving component in the RTS. That RTS includes a usually accurate model of the sensed real world, which of course always includes my body (and everything that you may think of as me, such as abilities I have). Thus, “None of the above” is my response.
