Afterlife (Endings)

by dhw, Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 16:56 (4328 days ago) @ BBella

BBELLA: Because of my own experiences I do believe that there is something more than meets the eye. I don't know what.-To my mind, there is a vast amount more than meets the eye, since there is simply no accounting for much of what is most precious to us. I don't understand the nature of consciousness, love, music, imagination, memory, beauty etc., but they are absolutely real to me. Whether they are the mysterious products of chemicals inside me, or of some even more mysterious form of energy that is independent of my body, I simply do not know. You write that "faith and belief, for the most part, are more about experience than knowing." I think you're right. Very few people can acquire them solely through the intellect.-BBELLA: Once, when I smoked marijuana, I was guided (thru a wormhole I would call them) to understand that the sun was [a] living being. [...] So, I wouldn't say I believe it but I wouldn't discount it either. Nothing is impossible.-Spoken like a true agnostic! According to one variation of panpsychism (panexperientialism, to be precise!), there is a degree of "phenomenal consciousness" in all matter, though it doesn't extend to cognition or self-awareness. The sun regulates its activities (just as various living cells regulate theirs) in such a way that we are able to live and stay alive. David would cite this as an example of God's design, but perhaps it's an example of cell cooperation on a cosmic scale, since our existence depends on so many other factors within the universe. Maybe David's universal intelligence is not ONE intelligence but billions of separate material "cells" sharing their separate intelligence and getting together to form our life-sustaining world. This would be quite a nice stepping stone between theism and atheism. I don't believe it, but "nothing is impossible" (um...within the boundaries of common sense, as defined by each individual!) -BBELLA: Whatever it is that happens to the mind when pushed to the edge [...] determines how you will think thereafter. And, of course, no one cares then about a scientific explanation.-I don't think people need to be pushed to the edge to have faith, or even to be converted. The path will vary from person to person, but my precious list above (consciousness, love etc.) is real to me without a scientific explanation, and I very much doubt if there ever will be one. I think most of us on this forum recognize that science has its limitations, and that it is not the only access we have to the reality of things (assuming things have any reality).-In a meaningful afterlife, you think we would keep our main identity, meet up with our loved ones, and there would be lots of new places to see and things to do. But for eternity? Life without end? I would even go so far as to say that without endings, nothing would be of any value. Is there any sight, any place, any activity (apart from cricket of course), any food (apart from chocolate, of course), any drink, any music, any TV programme, anything at all including your own company that you can imagine living with without end, for ever and ever and ever. You say eternal death makes no sense to you now, but much as I hate the idea of dying at the moment ... because I'm enjoying my life ... it is eternal life that makes no sense to me. So only God knows how God must feel!