Dualism (Identity)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Tuesday, March 17, 2015, 07:13 (3538 days ago) @ dhw

DHW: Yes, but we are talking about an individual's information. So are you saying that the spirit is me but because it is unconscious (consciousness, remember, has died with my body) it doesn't know it's me? What is this backup? Forgive me, but I have an image of a blank balloon floating up to heaven with a memory stick attached to it and wobbling along in the breeze.
> -The spirit is no more "you" than your hard drive is your computer. It is a critical component, but still just a component of a larger whole.-->DHW: None of this would make any sense if you believed even one NDE, in which patients claim to have communicated with dead people. In your post last Friday you argued that because the patient was still alive, consciousness was not yet dead. But the dead person's spirit would have to contain the information relevant to its identity, including memories, and would have to be conscious of these in order to communicate with the NDE patient. So in that case, consciousness could not have “simply ceased to exist” when that particular person died. No doubt I am being obtuse, but perhaps you could dispense with images and, just as plainly as you have said that consciousness dies with the body, tell us either how you think the spirit (energy) can retain its identity without consciousness or, alternatively, confirm that in your view the spirit (energy) that survives death has no identity.-I don't believe that I have ever claimed that I DID believe that anyone communicated with the dead. I believe they saw something. I believe that, when the 5 senses we use predominantly are switched off, we have access to more information than we are typically aware of. I also never claimed that the spirit retained it's identity separate from the other parts that make up the whole. I said that the spirit, the energy, makes a backup of your data.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.