Do you believe in life after death?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do. Not in the Christian teaching of Heaven/Hell, but I believe our psychic energy persists in some manner. I think there is so much that we can't understand or explain, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I agree with this. As Einstein said, energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be changed from one form to another. I believe energy persists after death, and that our spirit just returns to being one with the universe. Same thing with matter - neither created nor destroyed, but returned to the living Earth or ocean, to persist forever in some form.

So, yes, I am a kook and that's okay.

I guess folks are free to believe whatever they want, but this article addresses the common pseudo-scientific notions of energy persisting after death.


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/05/23/physics-and-the-immortality-of-the-soul/

The gist:

Claims that some form of consciousness persists after our bodies die and decay into their constituent atoms face one huge, insuperable obstacle: the laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood, and there’s no way within those laws to allow for the information stored in our brains to persist after we die.


Lots of people who don't understand quantum mechanics try to bring that into the discussion, but it's just not relevant. Sorry.

It's a metaphor. I am guessing you don't understand that.

You're right, I don't. At all. A metaphor for what? The point is that the science here is well understood. It's not a mystery.

I think it's not a good use of my time or energy to try to explain this. I will just point out that science and poetics are not mutually exclusive; nor are science and belief. I won't convince you of this, but you might try reading Francis Collins sometime. You know, MD, PhD, NIH director, former director of the Human Genome Project, winner of the National Medal of Science -- that guy. He's a lot smarter than me.

For those who wonder why God doesn't stop evil, etc., that "supernatural theism" - belief in a person-like God who exists "out there somewhere" - is just one view of God. A panentheistic God, in contrast, is the encompassing spirit that is everywhere, the source without a source. It's the "More," the something instead of nothing. Western traditions call this God, but other traditions use the names Tao, Allah, Atman, Spirit, etc. This sense of the divine speaks of divine intention or interaction, but not of divine intervention.

[Anonymous]

I won't convince you of this, but you might try reading Francis Collins sometime. You know, MD, PhD, NIH director, former director of the Human Genome Project, winner of the National Medal of Science -- that guy. He's a lot smarter than me.

I have no evidence or indeed, argument, but there's a respected genomist who thinks like I do. Therefore I am correct!

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-authority.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I won't convince you of this, but you might try reading Francis Collins sometime. You know, MD, PhD, NIH director, former director of the Human Genome Project, winner of the National Medal of Science -- that guy. He's a lot smarter than me.

I have no evidence or indeed, argument, but there's a respected genomist who thinks like I do. Therefore I am correct!

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-authority.html

Good lord. I didn't say he thinks like I do. You have issues of some kind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
For those who wonder why God doesn't stop evil, etc., that "supernatural theism" - belief in a person-like God who exists "out there somewhere" - is just one view of God. A pantheistic God, in contrast, is the encompassing spirit that is everywhere, the source without a source. It's the "More," the something instead of nothing. Western traditions call this God, but other traditions use the names Tao, Allah, Atman, Spirit, etc. This sense of the divine speaks of divine intention or interaction, but not of divine intervention.

I'm not a Muslim, but I did live in a deeply Muslim community for years and study the Quran with an Imam. Based on what I learned, I'm pretty confident that Allah has nothing to do with "a Pantheistic God" that "does not speak of divine intervention." In orthodox Sunni Islam, it's pretty simple --- God is God. The stuff in the Quran is literally true (with some room for interpretation). Man's role is submission to the will of God, who is merciful and compassionate, but definitely God. Life after death is similarly a literal thing.

[Anonymous]

Panentheistic. Not pantheistic. Two different things.

I'm not saying Islam is a panentheistic religion. Nor am I saying anything about what "Muslims" believe or what Orthodox Sunnis specifically believe.

I am saying that I personally believe in a panentheistic God and I believe different traditions call God by different names.

[takoma]

Anonymous wrote:Panentheistic. Not pantheistic. Two different things.

I'm not saying Islam is a panentheistic religion. Nor am I saying anything about what "Muslims" believe or what Orthodox Sunnis specifically believe.

I am saying that I personally believe in a panentheistic God and I believe different traditions call God by different names.

I had not heard of panentheism before and thought it was a typo. I think I understand the difference: in pantheism God and the universe are one, in panentheism the universe is one aspect of God. I'm sure that's an oversimplified summary, but is it correct as far as it goes?

As far as different names of God, though, isn't Allah simply the Arabic for God, just as Dieu, Dio, Dios, and Gott are the French, Italian, Spanish, and German? I think Arab Christians and Jews call God Allah, as well as Muslims; am I wrong about that?

Interesting note: When I post here, the last thing I do is press Submit. Isn't that the prime commandment in Islam, and in fact, the very meaning of the word?

[Anonymous]

I believe its a fantastic album

[Anonymous]

I sat with my aunt in her last days when she alternated between times of being perfectly lucid and times when she would drift away for hours. She regularly talked to her father (who had passed 35 years prior when she was 25) who she kept seeing in one particular corner of the room. Sometimes she would ask him about the smiling lady in blue who was standing behind him. She wanted to know why she always has light shining around her because it was making the room very bright.
My grandmother also said she saw my grandfather during a medical emergency when she nearly died. She said she wanted to go to him but he kept telling her to go back to the kids, that it wasn't her time.

I firmly believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do. Not in the Christian teaching of Heaven/Hell, but I believe our psychic energy persists in some manner. I think there is so much that we can't understand or explain, but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I agree with this. As Einstein said, energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be changed from one form to another. I believe energy persists after death, and that our spirit just returns to being one with the universe. Same thing with matter - neither created nor destroyed, but returned to the living Earth or ocean, to persist forever in some form.

So, yes, I am a kook and that's okay.

I guess folks are free to believe whatever they want, but this article addresses the common pseudo-scientific notions of energy persisting after death.


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/05/23/physics-and-the-immortality-of-the-soul/

The gist:

Claims that some form of consciousness persists after our bodies die and decay into their constituent atoms face one huge, insuperable obstacle: the laws of physics underlying everyday life are completely understood, and there’s no way within those laws to allow for the information stored in our brains to persist after we die.


Lots of people who don't understand quantum mechanics try to bring that into the discussion, but it's just not relevant. Sorry.

It's a metaphor. I am guessing you don't understand that.

You're right, I don't. At all. A metaphor for what? The point is that the science here is well understood. It's not a mystery.

I think it's not a good use of my time or energy to try to explain this. I will just point out that science and poetics are not mutually exclusive; nor are science and belief. I won't convince you of this, but you might try reading Francis Collins sometime. You know, MD, PhD, NIH director, former director of the Human Genome Project, winner of the National Medal of Science -- that guy. He's a lot smarter than me.

For those who wonder why God doesn't stop evil, etc., that "supernatural theism" - belief in a person-like God who exists "out there somewhere" - is just one view of God. A panentheistic God, in contrast, is the encompassing spirit that is everywhere, the source without a source. It's the "More," the something instead of nothing. Western traditions call this God, but other traditions use the names Tao, Allah, Atman, Spirit, etc. This sense of the divine speaks of divine intention or interaction, but not of divine intervention.

I'd love to have you over for dinner. You sound like a great conversationalist. Reminds me of my Mom, a devout Catholic, with a wide open mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sat with my aunt in her last days when she alternated between times of being perfectly lucid and times when she would drift away for hours. She regularly talked to her father (who had passed 35 years prior when she was 25) who she kept seeing in one particular corner of the room. Sometimes she would ask him about the smiling lady in blue who was standing behind him. She wanted to know why she always has light shining around her because it was making the room very bright.
My grandmother also said she saw my grandfather during a medical emergency when she nearly died. She said she wanted to go to him but he kept telling her to go back to the kids, that it wasn't her time.

I firmly believe.

Really --an hallucination of a dying person makes you believe in God?

[Anonymous]

Yes ... and I plan to live in a nice well planned and regulated gated community designed to keep out the riff-raff.

[Anonymous]

If you believe in life after death, do you believe you will be with your loved ones? What about if you do not want to be with them? Seriously. Like my ex. I do not want to see him? Theories on what happens?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you believe in life after death, do you believe you will be with your loved ones? What about if you do not want to be with them? Seriously. Like my ex. I do not want to see him? Theories on what happens?

You mean stories or fantasies, right? By everything we know about death, your brain stops functioning and your body decomposes. Everything else is a story based on hope, fear or religious belief or hallucinations close to death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course.

We will never understand the mechanics of it, just like we will never, ever scientifically know exactly how life was formed. We have "theories," which are guesses only and just say "bang" and there was life. Can somebody show me how they take some light or air or rocks and make an amoeba or bug or living plant or other life? Truly, the bible's answers to life questions such as these make more sense than scientific guesses like "bang."

I believe in God and the Bible -- I believe God said 'let there be light' and there was a big bang.

Yeah but He didn't create the sun 'til the third day so how could there have been light before thet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you believe in life after death, do you believe you will be with your loved ones? What about if you do not want to be with them? Seriously. Like my ex. I do not want to see him? Theories on what happens?

You mean stories or fantasies, right? By everything we know about death, your brain stops functioning and your body decomposes. Everything else is a story based on hope, fear or religious belief or hallucinations close to death.

Party on.