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[Kabuki Waq]

Common Sense?

oh really common sense eh?


ugh i feel dirty typing this but......wouldnt common sense be "hey she is hot ill hump her cause i know i wont get caught its a win win situatio"


but yea who knows what comes after death. I just feel souls do exist.

 

[mattx5]

Our goal should be to make heaven on earth.

 

[MoxManiac]

Death will likely be similar to my life - pointless and nonexisting - so it's not something I think about anymore.

 

[Dead]

oh really common sense eh?


ugh i feel dirty typing this but......wouldnt common sense be "hey she is hot ill hump her cause i know i wont get caught its a win win situatio"

Yeah, if you're a vile social and sexual deviant.

Whatever that just brings it back to your original point

 

[Amir0x]

as for the dream thing from Amir0x, take a look at the movie Waking Life if you haven't already.

Waking Life, besides being a great example of artistic vision, is all philosophical wanking. I own the movie just to look at the art.

That said, there's a lot of things that we can get into - Lucid Dreams, Astral Projection, etc... - but DEATH itself? Like I said, if you truly die... then it's like sleeping, except you never dream again.

 

[Boogie]

Time only exists if you are materialized (light included). With no time, there's no proper logic we could know. (FYI : There are even particles, neutrons or whatever they are called that are supposed to exist independent from time...).

Well, you're not dead yet, and your logic still sucks

I don't quite know how it would apply, but I'm just waiting for NLB2 to come into this thread and berate everyone in here for not having read "Immanuel Fucking Kant"

 

[Kabuki Waq]

Yeah, if you're a vile social and sexual deviant.

Whatever that just brings it back to your original point

exactly. man what a great way to kill a sunday afternoon. (not raping women i mean participating in this thread)

 

[Boogie]

oh really common sense eh?


ugh i feel dirty typing this but......wouldnt common sense be "hey she is hot ill hump her cause i know i wont get caught its a win win situatio"


but yea who knows what comes after death. I just feel souls do exist.

You should read C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity. The opening chapters make the argument for a Law of Human Nature along the same lines that you're trying to here.

 

[Rorschach]

Can you remember being without any memories ? You'd be a different person without your memories...doesn't have to do much with you question but it's a difficult topic.

 

[J2 Cool]

Death is just a detail. Everyone's going to die, just in different ways. What you do in your life is unique to you though. I think we should concentrate on that a lot more and let life take its cycle when that comes.

 

[Rocket Punch]

The ultimate power, what you seek is experience. KNOWLEDGE.

You made a choice to visit (inhabit) the time space realm for a while to find out what it's like to be confined to a carbon based organisms. The sheer paradigm of placing your self, you essence, your ever existing energy, your soul to such a crude, limited state was intriging enough and you're a curious being, you seek knowlegde.

You set the parameters of your life before you're born. You may experience life on earth as many times as you please, for as long as the conditions are available. You choose what things you want to learn when you are born on earth. You're purpose is to learn to cope, deal wih the challenges you've set yourself before you were born or simply experience a particular thing or situation or circumstance.

When you're born your cosmic consciousness is severed and you are left at your own devises. What will you do? Can you figure it out? Do you find the reason you are here? Can you make sense? If you fail, you can restart again. From scratch. If you success you can choose to learn something else or move on taking with you the knowledge of what you've experienced.

 

[themadcowtipper]

I see Dead People!!

 

[Chittagong]

The ultimate power, what you seek is experience. KNOWLEDGE.

You made a choice to visit (inhabit) the time space realm for a while to find out what it's like to be confined to a carbon based organisms. The sheer paradigm of placing your self, you essence, your ever existing energy, your soul to such a crude, limited state was intriging enough and you're a curious being, you seek knowlegde.

You set the parameters of your life before you're born. You may experience life on earth as many times as you please, for as long as the conditions are available. You choose what things you want to learn when you are born on earth. You're purpose is to learn to cope, deal wih the challenges you've set yourself before you were born or simply experience a particular thing or situation or circumstance.

When you're born your cosmic consciousness is severed and you are left at your own devises. What will you do? Can you figure it out? Do you find the reason you are here? Can you make sense? If you fail, you can restart again. From scratch. If you success you can choose to learn something else or move on taking with you the knowledge of what you've experienced.

Wait, we all are IN the new Will Wrights game?

 

[Rocket Punch]

Wait, we all are IN the new Will Wrights game?

The ultimate irony. The game within the game within the game. We're all gamers.

 

[Dujour]

hah, oh hell yeah!

You gotta believe in something, something that a bunch of people can't show you.

 

[Firest0rm]

I've thought about the idea of us being reborn but if you take into consideration that human population has been increasing and no remaining at the same level then that whole idea falls apart. Unless we start multiplying into two people everytime we die lol.

 

[radioheadrule83]

I've thought about the idea of us being reborn but if you take into consideration that human population has been increasing and no remaining at the same level then that whole idea falls apart. Unless we start multiplying into two people everytime we die lol.

Birth begins with cells splitting. That wouldn't be so out there.

 

[Firest0rm]

Birth begins with cells splitting. That wouldn't be so out there.

We might be on to something here! the MULTIVERSE, perhaps?

 

[AssMan]

"DEATH IS BUT A DOOR, TIME IS BUT A WINDOW, I'LL BE BACK!"

 

[demon]

"DEATH IS BUT A DOOR, TIME IS BUT A WINDOW, I'LL BE BACK!"

"O SHIT not again!"

 

[Pimpwerx]

When you get knocked unconscious, that's pretty much exactly how you're gonna be when you die. Maybe a bit deader, but generally, the lights will go out and that'll be it. Those people who claim to have "near-death experiences" are just experiencing hallucinations from anesthetic or from the final stages before brain death. If you think there's an afterlife, keep dreaming. Us heathens are gonna make out like bandits in life. :lol PEACE.

 

[mattx5]

I've thought about the idea of us being reborn but if you take into consideration that human population has been increasing and no remaining at the same level then that whole idea falls apart. Unless we start multiplying into two people everytime we die lol.

Why would you have to be reborn on Earth? Why would you have to be reborn as a human?

 

[Pimpwerx]

Why would you have to be reborn on Earth? Why would you have to be reborn as a human?

On earth? Beats me. As a human? Would you want to be any lower on the food chain with the way we are? If I'm coming back, it's either as a human, or a superhuman. PEACE.

 

[Firest0rm]

Why would you have to be reborn on Earth? Why would you have to be reborn as a human?

So then aliens do exist! Except their not aliens their us!! Brilliant!

 

[Iceman]

Basically what Boogie said. C.S. Lewis and Mere Christianity.

Our goal should be to make heaven on earth.

Humans = stupid and flawed. We screw everything up. Coming together for one goal does not result in our compensating for our collective flaws but only ends up amplifying them.

I keep going back to Rwanda and thinking this is humanity.. this is civilization at its peak..

Whenever we get to the point where we think we've established paradise here on earth I'll know that's when the most people are suffering.

I mean, our brilliant minds thought that eugenics was a good idea. (and some people still do)

 

[Zaptruder]

Basically what Boogie said. C.S. Lewis and Mere Christianity.



Humans = stupid and flawed. We screw everything up. Coming together for one goal does not result in our compensating for our collective flaws but only ends up amplifying them.

I keep going back to Rwanda and thinking this is humanity.. this is civilization at its peak..

Whenever we get to the point where we think we've established paradise here on earth I'll know that's when the most people are suffering.

I mean, our brilliant minds thought that eugenics was a good idea. (and some people still do)

Well, to be fair eugenics would make things better in a long term sense, if you ignore all the current pain and suffering that would put people through. It's really just an inefficient form of genetic engineering... the positives would be that human ability would be increased, homogeniety would be increased (so you'd have less disparacy between people), etc.

But it just doesn't jive with our current day mindset.

Also... when humanity achieves paradise, it will be with a radical change in mindset, in cultural/social values, not via material satisfaction... which only increases, leaving us in the end unsatisfied with most things in life.

 

[Chipopo]

You know, there is a certain way of looking at things, a certain way of thinking, that says that we are all interconnected at fundamental, core level. Birds, planes, trees, dildos, used car salesmen, bacteria and even soap. Everything except Olimario. So when you "die" you just start being something else which is the same thing that you were before and always will be. Interconnected! Now you see.

Now, this way of thinking CAN be reached without the use of serious psychotropic drugs, but I for one don't recommend it. Far more fun the other way.

I always knew I loved you Triumph. I just never knew why until right now.

Dance with me.

 

[Deleted member 4784]

Well, maybe you are not only still connected, but maybe even part of it.

:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Anyways, back to the topic: How exactly do we define a person's "soul"? Usually by their personality; IE, how we perceive them to be. So, how do we then define a person's "soul" when a key part of that person's personality is lost (through debilitating illness -- such as Alzheimer’s)? Has their soul "died"? Are they still the same "soul" you knew? Has their soul "changed"?

IMO, the answer is that we are simply physical beings who are subject to physical surroundings, ailments, etc. If souls were impurile, then physical factors would not affect them or who we "are". Emotion, reasoning and even morality can be altered through changes of physical condition. This, to me, simply reinforces the notion that the "soul", as people call it, is just as mortal as we are.

 

[Crow]

I respect your religous beliefs but here is my take
--------------------------

People aren't all that differant from computers...we either need a yes or no answer. Not understanding something is just not acceptible...soo, if you can't explain it, better attribute it an answer whether it be true or not. Because the unkown is scary for humans. Knowing something creates a sense of security...a less of a feeling of stumbling through life.

The world was at one point was flat, there was no proof that the world was flat when it was declared so, it wasn't any form of prism...just flat. Because nobody knew the truth, it was simply made up, so everyone could feel happy and joyous that another mystery was solved. Once you have obtained the true facts and fought those who would not want to let go of the previous assumption we gain fact.

Take gravity...why did objects fall down? Easily answered before Issac Newtion - God made it so, as he made the trees, the rocks etc etc. Once you know the facts however, we learn that it's due to the mass of the earth. You then get the merger of ideas 'The mass of the earth and its gravity byproduct is credited to God', this way both scientific fact and religous ideas can live in harmony.

Just because something has yet to be explain scientifically doesn't mean that one should automatically attempt to explain it. That's like proclaiming someone guilty before the trial where the evidence is yet to be presented.

To say there must be an afterlife just because you can't comprehend the utter nothingness that comes with death is rather arrogant IMO. You don't need to know the explination...you don't need to assign an account to what it is like. You fear of death is due to the fear of the unknown and that fear is what drives your self preservation. That's why your brain has been programmed in such a way.

Esentially fear of the unkown is a primitive ingrediant for self presevation which is wired into all creatures second only to the need to copulate.

 

[isamu]

There's no such thing as Heaven, or a soul. When you die, your brain stops working, and it just ends.

And you have proof of this therefore it must be true, right? :rolleyes x37254748:

 

[fse]

Without your brain you are nothing. And, theres no God too

 

[FightyF]

Well what happens when you die in a game? That's right...you see a High Scores screen...aka the Day of Judgement. Unless you are playing Sonic...the game simply restarts, hinting at reincarnation.

 

[whytemyke]

We are all connected. Now isn't that neat? Isn't that cool?

 

[heavenly]

From a biblical perspective, soul is the combinatioin of man's physicality (clay, earth) and God's Breath of Life (spirit) that animates man's physicality into a living being. Sorta like what electricity does to a computer when it's turned on...it gives the system life. Without the electricity, the computer is just a box of metal. Likewise, when man dies, he decomposes back to dust and the Spirit (breath) returns to God who gave it. Just like the electricity from the computer returns back to where it came from.

There are a few times where the word soul can be interpreted to mean the mind. But the basic and general definition is life. Even animals are described as souls and having a spirit in the Bible. It comes from the Hebrew word (nephesh) and the Greek word (psyche).

The Bible doesn't teach an afterlife immediately after death. However, it does teach a resurrection from death, which is described as a state of sleeping since (like many of you have said) man isn't consicous of time while dead.

Since I do believe in a God, I believe what He says about life and death. I have a sense of peace and direction since I do believe in a future life with Him for an eternity.

 

[Raven.]

I think this article is relevant to this topic:
http://www.sci-con.org/articles/20040601.html

Materially, the basis of yourself, of your mind is being destroyed and recreated constantly. In essence after a while you're not even made of the same stuff you were made of some time ago. The illusion of continuity is provided by your memories which of course are based on your individual perception which is in turn based on what your particular body perceives internally or externally. In essence, the mind need not continuance of its material substrate to persist.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Erm, dude, you can believe in an afterlife (or reincarnation) and still believe in enjoying life..

I'm talking about not having to restrict ourselves to the crazy rules established by religions. After all, that's the purpose of an afterlife, right? To judge you for what you did in life? So heathens can do whatever the hell they want, and since there's no god or judgement waiting on the other side, we'll end up getting the better of the deal. I'm really not expecing any post-mortem come-uppance. Take that monogamy. PEACE.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Actually, the general dismissal of the original poster's "stupid" logic of "I cannot conceptualize non-existence, therefore existence must persist" is itself a bit arrogant. While the idea may not be adequately explained or phrased crudely, there is I think plenty of room for some philosophical exploration.

For instance, I've observed some ponderings on the nature of consciousness (of which, in our society, there is a trend toward putting forth super-mechanistic explainations for, simply because it sounds better to the materialist - the problem is that the whole thing is filled with unpercievable factors). Some of those ponderings do in fact go in the direction of questioning the consequences of a self-aware matrix of thought. Once something becomes self-aware, can it -truly- become unaware? Comparing death to things like dreamless sleep might be extraordinarily misleading. We actually may ALWAYS be aware - we may always dream for example, to some degree. It has been observed that we simply do not remember most of what we dream, or even entire sleep periods full of dreaming.

I recall listening to a friend who's a philosophy major talking about how all the books used for classes in his course were terribly biased toward mechanical explainations of consciousness and what the mind (as opposed to merely the brain) "is". And how these biases were actually not supportable in a true, deeply logical sense, but appeared to be merely aethesthic.

My own thoughts on the subject are highly subjective and theoretical; but if "mind" is something that persists beyond the momentary skips of the quantum beat, I've pondered that to whatever degree an instance of mind is aware, that instance will result in some sort of tendency to persist. The more aware and complex that instance is, the more persistent it is.

Of course, this is looking at all of it in a "logical" sense - logic in quotes because despite how some seem to talk, logic is not the end-all of reality and merely a human system of attempting to organize information. In ways aside from the logical or scientific view, I have my own ideas and what could be called spiritual beliefs. I'm not a religous person, and can't really see how I could function within a formal religious structure. But I do believe that there are, and always will be, more things in heaven and earth than -can- be dreamt of in my, your, or anybody else's philosophy.

 

[Kuramu]

If we had souls that could experience things without our bodies, then there would be no need for a physical brain in the first place.