you betcha
my favourite hobby ,
Sunday, 10 December 2006
yevgevny onegin
By A. Pushkin
If I walk the noisy streets, Or enter a many
thronged church, Or sit among the wild young generation, I give way to my
thoughts. I say to myself: the years are fleeting, And however many there seem
to be, We must all go under the eternal vault, And some one's hour is already at
hand. When I look at a solitary oak I think: the patriarch of the woods. It will
outlive my forgotten age As it outlived that of my grandfathers'.
If I caress
a young child, Immediately I think: farewell! I will yield my place to you, For
I must fade while your flower blooms.
Each day, every hour I
habitually follow in my thoughts, Trying to guess from their number The year
which brings my death. And where will fate send death to me? In battle, in my
travels, or on the seas? Or will the neighbouring valley Receive my chilled
ashes?
And although to the senseless body It is indifferent wherever it
rots, Yet close to my beloved countryside I still would prefer to rest. And let
it be, beside the grave's vault That young life forever will be playing, And
impartial, indifferent nature Eternally be shining in
beauty.
The Scientific Case Against Immortality
Modern science demonstrates the dependence of consciousness on the brain,
verifying that the mind must die with the body. This conclusion is emotionally
difficult to accept. Dylan Thomas forcefully expresses the animosity that many
of us feel toward the prospect of our inevitable extinction: "Do not go gentle
into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (Lamont 211).
Miguel de Unamuno expresses similar feelings: "If it is nothingness that awaits
us, let us make an injustice of it; let us fight against destiny, even though
without hope of victory" (Lamont 211). Bertrand Russell comes to a different
conclusion: "I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of
annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an
end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting"
I must admit that, when confronted by the death of
someone close to me, or contemplating my own inevitable death, I am not
comforted by such words of wisdom. Nevertheless, we cannot base our beliefs on
what we want to be true; the truth can only be found by weighing the evidence
for a given idea. In the case of immortality, the extinction hypothesis is
supported by strong and incontrovertible evidence from the hard experimental
data of physiological psychology, whereas the survival hypothesis is supported
at best by weak and questionable anecdotal evidence from parapsychology.
The rallying cry of many parapsychologists is that they have discovered indisputable
evidence for paranormal or "psi" phenomena inexplicable by modern science which
has either been ignored or denied by the scientific community at large on the
purely dogmatic grounds that psi does not fit into the preconceived notions and
prejudices of modern scientists. These parapsychologists often speak of a
forthcoming scientific revolution comparable to Copernicus' discovery that the
sun is the center of the solar system. Antony Flew argues that the charges of a
priori dogmatism are unjustified:
It is simply grotesque to complain, in the
absence of any such decisive falsifying evidence, that these appeals to... the
named laws of established physics are exercises in a priori dogmatism. For what
"a priori" means is: prior to and independent of experience. But in... these
kinds of cases we have an enormous mass of experience supporting our present
beliefs and our present incredulities
There is no basis for the conclusion that parapsychology is going to lead some kind of
scientific revolution. The revolutionary theories of Copernicus and Darwin
required support from several different types of solid evidence before gaining
acceptance in the scientific community; Einstein's predictions from relativity
were based on a scientific theory and subsequently verified by experiment. Yet,
when we analyze parapsychology we find no such hints of a forthcoming
revolution. First, to quote Flew, "the long sought repeatable demonstration of
any psi phenomena seems to be as far away as ever"
A study by the National Research Council in 1988, published as Enhancing Human
Performance, surveyed many areas of research to determine how to improve
individual and group performance .The NRC report's section on
"Paranormal Phenomena" concluded: "The committee finds no scientific
justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years for the
existence of parapsychological phenomena" .Second, "no one has
been able to think up any halfway plausible theory accounting for the occurrence
of any psi phenomena".Finally, parapsychologists
offer no positive criteria for what kind of event should be categorized as an
instance of paranormal phenomena. As Flew puts it, "all psi terms refer rather
to the absence of any means or mechanism, or at any rate to the absence of any
normal and understood means" .
Clearly parapsychological evidence in general is wanting. However, we must evaluate parapsychological evidence directly cited to be most consistent with survival. Reports of apparitions can be explained in terms of hoaxes or hallucinations. Photographic evidence for
apparitions is dubiousbecause ghosts tend to look remarkably like double exposures .
Furthermore, apparitions can be explained in terms of hallucinations because:
There is a tendency to 'see' faces and human forms even in quite random
shapes... It is possible that perceptual creations of this kind are occasionally
elicited in states of fear, and there do seem to be social factors determining
to some degree the forms that ghosts take... The lack of consistent evidence
prevents general acceptance of ghosts .
The theory that apparitions are hallucinations rather than external manifestations of the deceased gains further support from many sightings where other people who are in a position to see the reported apparition do not see it . Finally, the fact that apparitions "rarely
communicate any important information" suggests that apparition experiences are
hallucinatory.
Other phenomena often cited as evidence for survival are near-death experiences or NDEs. Survival proponents argue that because the core features of NDEs are almost invariably reported by experients, NDEs constitute evidence for an objective afterlife reality. However, these core features can be explained by physiological models because the same brain processes occur at the onset of dying (e.g. oxygen deprivation, endorphin release, and random neural firing) in those who undergo NDEs, thus their subjective experiences should be similar .Another argument is that NDEs are real because they feel real, but this does not constitute evidence that NDEs reflect an external reality anymore than the fact that hallucinations feel real constitutes evidence that they are real. Some researchers claim that information has been obtained in NDEs by means other than sensory perception, but there is no experimental evidence to support these claims. Madelaine Lawrence designed an information retrieval experiment where an electronic screen placed in the cardiac rehabilitation ward in Hartford Hospital, Connecticut, displayed a sentence that was changed randomly and could not be seen from the vantage of a patient or the staff .When someone had an NDE, all they had to do is repeat what the sentence said; then the staff could report what the NDEr said and determine if there was a match. The results produced no evidence that anyone could retrieve information from a remote location during an NDE. The accuracy of descriptions of the environment in NDEs may be based on semiconscious perceptions of the environment prior to the breakdown of perception which are incorporated into hallucinatory imagery during NDEs. There is no corroboration for claims of perception outside of the immediate environment of the patient or accurate perception in NDEs in the blind, thus the paranormal argument does not constitute evidence for survival . Finally, the fact that people undergo positive personality transformations after NDEs does not indicate a mystical experience of an afterlife. A study conducted by Kenneth Ring found that personality transformations occurred in people who come medically close to death regardless of whether or not they experienced an NDE, suggesting that the transformation resulted from facing death rather than an NDE .
Some findings of NDE research are more consistent with physiological and psychological models. None of the patients who report NDEs are brain dead because brain death is irreversible .First, NDEs only occur in one-third of all cases where there is a near-death crisis .Second, the details of NDEs depend on the individual's personal and cultural background . Third, physiological and psychological factors affect the content of the NDE. Noises, tunnels, bright lights, and other beings are more common in physiological conditions directly affecting the brain state, such as cardiac arrest and anesthesia, whereas euphoria, mystical feelings, life review, and positive transformation can occur when people simply believe they are going to die .Fourth, the core features of NDEs are found in drug-induced and naturally occurring hallucinations .The OBE can be induced by the anesthetic ketamine . A tunnel experience is a common form of psychedelic hallucination .All NDE stages have occurred in sequence under the influence of hashish .Fifth, a build-up of carbon dioxide in the brain will induce NDEs .Sixth, the panoramic life review closely resembles a form of temporal lobe epilepsy .There are even cases where epileptics have had OBEs or seen apparitions of dead friends and relatives during their seizures . Seventh, computer simulations of random neural firing based on eye-brain mapping of the visual cortex have produced the tunnel and light characteristic of NDEs . Eighth, the fact that naloxone--an opiate antagonist that inhibits the effects of endorphins on the brain--terminates near-death experiences provides some confirmation for the endorphin theory of NDEs:
verifying that the mind must die with the body. This conclusion is emotionally
difficult to accept. Dylan Thomas forcefully expresses the animosity that many
of us feel toward the prospect of our inevitable extinction: "Do not go gentle
into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light" (Lamont 211).
Miguel de Unamuno expresses similar feelings: "If it is nothingness that awaits
us, let us make an injustice of it; let us fight against destiny, even though
without hope of victory" (Lamont 211). Bertrand Russell comes to a different
conclusion: "I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of
annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an
end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting"
I must admit that, when confronted by the death of
someone close to me, or contemplating my own inevitable death, I am not
comforted by such words of wisdom. Nevertheless, we cannot base our beliefs on
what we want to be true; the truth can only be found by weighing the evidence
for a given idea. In the case of immortality, the extinction hypothesis is
supported by strong and incontrovertible evidence from the hard experimental
data of physiological psychology, whereas the survival hypothesis is supported
at best by weak and questionable anecdotal evidence from parapsychology.
The rallying cry of many parapsychologists is that they have discovered indisputable
evidence for paranormal or "psi" phenomena inexplicable by modern science which
has either been ignored or denied by the scientific community at large on the
purely dogmatic grounds that psi does not fit into the preconceived notions and
prejudices of modern scientists. These parapsychologists often speak of a
forthcoming scientific revolution comparable to Copernicus' discovery that the
sun is the center of the solar system. Antony Flew argues that the charges of a
priori dogmatism are unjustified:
It is simply grotesque to complain, in the
absence of any such decisive falsifying evidence, that these appeals to... the
named laws of established physics are exercises in a priori dogmatism. For what
"a priori" means is: prior to and independent of experience. But in... these
kinds of cases we have an enormous mass of experience supporting our present
beliefs and our present incredulities
There is no basis for the conclusion that parapsychology is going to lead some kind of
scientific revolution. The revolutionary theories of Copernicus and Darwin
required support from several different types of solid evidence before gaining
acceptance in the scientific community; Einstein's predictions from relativity
were based on a scientific theory and subsequently verified by experiment. Yet,
when we analyze parapsychology we find no such hints of a forthcoming
revolution. First, to quote Flew, "the long sought repeatable demonstration of
any psi phenomena seems to be as far away as ever"
A study by the National Research Council in 1988, published as Enhancing Human
Performance, surveyed many areas of research to determine how to improve
individual and group performance .The NRC report's section on
"Paranormal Phenomena" concluded: "The committee finds no scientific
justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years for the
existence of parapsychological phenomena" .Second, "no one has
been able to think up any halfway plausible theory accounting for the occurrence
of any psi phenomena".Finally, parapsychologists
offer no positive criteria for what kind of event should be categorized as an
instance of paranormal phenomena. As Flew puts it, "all psi terms refer rather
to the absence of any means or mechanism, or at any rate to the absence of any
normal and understood means" .
Clearly parapsychological evidence in general is wanting. However, we must evaluate parapsychological evidence directly cited to be most consistent with survival. Reports of apparitions can be explained in terms of hoaxes or hallucinations. Photographic evidence for
apparitions is dubiousbecause ghosts tend to look remarkably like double exposures .
Furthermore, apparitions can be explained in terms of hallucinations because:
There is a tendency to 'see' faces and human forms even in quite random
shapes... It is possible that perceptual creations of this kind are occasionally
elicited in states of fear, and there do seem to be social factors determining
to some degree the forms that ghosts take... The lack of consistent evidence
prevents general acceptance of ghosts .
The theory that apparitions are hallucinations rather than external manifestations of the deceased gains further support from many sightings where other people who are in a position to see the reported apparition do not see it . Finally, the fact that apparitions "rarely
communicate any important information" suggests that apparition experiences are
hallucinatory.
Other phenomena often cited as evidence for survival are near-death experiences or NDEs. Survival proponents argue that because the core features of NDEs are almost invariably reported by experients, NDEs constitute evidence for an objective afterlife reality. However, these core features can be explained by physiological models because the same brain processes occur at the onset of dying (e.g. oxygen deprivation, endorphin release, and random neural firing) in those who undergo NDEs, thus their subjective experiences should be similar .Another argument is that NDEs are real because they feel real, but this does not constitute evidence that NDEs reflect an external reality anymore than the fact that hallucinations feel real constitutes evidence that they are real. Some researchers claim that information has been obtained in NDEs by means other than sensory perception, but there is no experimental evidence to support these claims. Madelaine Lawrence designed an information retrieval experiment where an electronic screen placed in the cardiac rehabilitation ward in Hartford Hospital, Connecticut, displayed a sentence that was changed randomly and could not be seen from the vantage of a patient or the staff .When someone had an NDE, all they had to do is repeat what the sentence said; then the staff could report what the NDEr said and determine if there was a match. The results produced no evidence that anyone could retrieve information from a remote location during an NDE. The accuracy of descriptions of the environment in NDEs may be based on semiconscious perceptions of the environment prior to the breakdown of perception which are incorporated into hallucinatory imagery during NDEs. There is no corroboration for claims of perception outside of the immediate environment of the patient or accurate perception in NDEs in the blind, thus the paranormal argument does not constitute evidence for survival . Finally, the fact that people undergo positive personality transformations after NDEs does not indicate a mystical experience of an afterlife. A study conducted by Kenneth Ring found that personality transformations occurred in people who come medically close to death regardless of whether or not they experienced an NDE, suggesting that the transformation resulted from facing death rather than an NDE .
Some findings of NDE research are more consistent with physiological and psychological models. None of the patients who report NDEs are brain dead because brain death is irreversible .First, NDEs only occur in one-third of all cases where there is a near-death crisis .Second, the details of NDEs depend on the individual's personal and cultural background . Third, physiological and psychological factors affect the content of the NDE. Noises, tunnels, bright lights, and other beings are more common in physiological conditions directly affecting the brain state, such as cardiac arrest and anesthesia, whereas euphoria, mystical feelings, life review, and positive transformation can occur when people simply believe they are going to die .Fourth, the core features of NDEs are found in drug-induced and naturally occurring hallucinations .The OBE can be induced by the anesthetic ketamine . A tunnel experience is a common form of psychedelic hallucination .All NDE stages have occurred in sequence under the influence of hashish .Fifth, a build-up of carbon dioxide in the brain will induce NDEs .Sixth, the panoramic life review closely resembles a form of temporal lobe epilepsy .There are even cases where epileptics have had OBEs or seen apparitions of dead friends and relatives during their seizures . Seventh, computer simulations of random neural firing based on eye-brain mapping of the visual cortex have produced the tunnel and light characteristic of NDEs . Eighth, the fact that naloxone--an opiate antagonist that inhibits the effects of endorphins on the brain--terminates near-death experiences provides some confirmation for the endorphin theory of NDEs:
The Philosophical Case Against Immortality
Immortality has primarily been an issue discussed among philosophers. Thus, in analyzing the case for the permanent extinction of the personality at death, it is convenient to address the philosophical arguments before looking at the scientific evidence for annihilation. Logical arguments, if successful, are decisive; thus, not even an appeal to faith could vindicate a belief that is incoherent because no one would understand what it is that one claims to believe. The extinction hypothesis is supported by the conceptual problems that plague the notions of disembodied minds, astral bodies, and resurrection.
Belief in survival in the form of disembodied minds presupposes that people possess an immaterial, nonspatial substance which constitutes the personality. One objection to this view, that human beings are essentially corporeal, is stated by Corliss Lamont:
Belief in survival in the form of disembodied minds presupposes that people possess an immaterial, nonspatial substance which constitutes the personality. One objection to this view, that human beings are essentially corporeal, is stated by Corliss Lamont:
Many philosophers have argued the bodily continuity is more essential to personal identity than memory because memory claims can be true or false; thus memory in itself is not enough to make you the same person over time--bodily continuity, they argue, is required .
As John Hick has argued, whether or not the replica can be identified with the original person is a matter for decision. The "replica objection" assumes that someone's being me is a fact that is independent of the existence of any other people. In other words, since the replica would not be me if I existed and had not died, there is no room for calling the replica me after the dissolution of my original body. This assumption, however, is invalid. Van Inwagen seems to be playing linguistic games when he argues that reconstituting the person from the same matter would be a replica. The manuscript God creates has the same causal history as St. Augustine's manuscript since they are materially continuous with each other, thus they are the same manuscript. That a replica is materially continuous with the original person indicates identity, but bodily continuity is not necessary for personal identity. If I have my car repaired and every single part is gradually replaced, is the resulting car the same car? Indeed it is. If every single part was disassembled and at some later date the car was reassembled completely from different parts, but with the same exact material and quality and in the same exact configuration as the original, the resulting car would be the same car. It is the same car because it is the closest-continuer of the original[2]. If the original exists and an exact replica is created, then the original would be the closest-continuer and the replica would not be the same car. That the original is destroyed does matter. If my body dies and a replica is created, there is room for calling it me; if my body lives and a replica is created, there is no room for calling it me. Thus the replica objection fails to rule out the possibility of resurrection.
Conceding that bodily resurrection is logically possible, however, is not saying much. On scientific grounds the belief that a person whose remains have turned to ash or been absorbed into other organisms will actually be regenerated as a fully-functional replica is incredible. To use one of Kai Nielsen's examples, such an event is as unlikely as a man growing an aluminum exoskeleton while his bones turn into iron rods (Nielsen 240). While we can imagine what it would be like for these kinds of events to happen by forming a general picture of them, we have no idea how such events could actually occur when it comes down to their details (Nielsen 240-41). Providing a detailed explanation of how a resurrection replica could come into existence is about as promising as explaining how astronauts could build a space station in the center of the Sun. Such events are logical possibilities only because they are not self-contradictory in the way that the notion of a round square is. But they are not real scientific possibilities.
Those who believe in bodily resurrection would probably concede that this is all very unlikely in the absence of a miracle from God. But they would argue that resurrection is not unlikely if the possibility of divine intervention is allowed. Resurrection would require an act of God, of course, but we have no more grounds for believing that an intelligent Creator would resurrect dead human beings than we have for believing that he would resurrect the dinosaurs. This is the case because we have no reliable way of determining how likely or unlikely any event is once supernatural intervention is allowed. As a consequence of this, resurrection of the dead is just as likely given supernatural intervention as is growing an aluminum exoskeleton while one's bones turn into iron rods.
Another problem for survival in any form is the age regression problem.
Conceding that bodily resurrection is logically possible, however, is not saying much. On scientific grounds the belief that a person whose remains have turned to ash or been absorbed into other organisms will actually be regenerated as a fully-functional replica is incredible. To use one of Kai Nielsen's examples, such an event is as unlikely as a man growing an aluminum exoskeleton while his bones turn into iron rods (Nielsen 240). While we can imagine what it would be like for these kinds of events to happen by forming a general picture of them, we have no idea how such events could actually occur when it comes down to their details (Nielsen 240-41). Providing a detailed explanation of how a resurrection replica could come into existence is about as promising as explaining how astronauts could build a space station in the center of the Sun. Such events are logical possibilities only because they are not self-contradictory in the way that the notion of a round square is. But they are not real scientific possibilities.
Those who believe in bodily resurrection would probably concede that this is all very unlikely in the absence of a miracle from God. But they would argue that resurrection is not unlikely if the possibility of divine intervention is allowed. Resurrection would require an act of God, of course, but we have no more grounds for believing that an intelligent Creator would resurrect dead human beings than we have for believing that he would resurrect the dinosaurs. This is the case because we have no reliable way of determining how likely or unlikely any event is once supernatural intervention is allowed. As a consequence of this, resurrection of the dead is just as likely given supernatural intervention as is growing an aluminum exoskeleton while one's bones turn into iron rods.
Another problem for survival in any form is the age regression problem.
When an old man dies, what kind of consciousness is supposed to survive? Is it his consciousness as it was just before death, which may perhaps have become imbecile? Or is it the consciousness of his mature middle age? Or is it the infant mind that he had when he was a baby? The point of these questions is not that we do not know the answers... The point is that all possible answers are equally senseless... [W]ill the old man who dies suddenly revert to his middle years after death? And will the infant who dies suddenly become mature? (Edwards, "Introduction" 60).
The conceptual problems for the three common vehicles for survival make survival a highly implausible possibility. Disembodied existence is inconceivable, astral bodies are too ill-defined or undefined to warrant their acceptance, and literal resurrection cannot account for the fact that many people who have shared the same matter cannot all be resurrected of that matter. There are no logical problems for the prospect of a resurrection replica, but given our past experience, resurrection is an extremely unlikely prospect for the future.
The conceptual problems for the three common vehicles for survival make survival a highly implausible possibility. Disembodied existence is inconceivable, astral bodies are too ill-defined or undefined to warrant their acceptance, and literal resurrection cannot account for the fact that many people who have shared the same matter cannot all be resurrected of that matter. There are no logical problems for the prospect of a resurrection replica, but given our past experience, resurrection is an extremely unlikely prospect for the future.
The case against Imortality
But in the present state of psychology and physiology, belief in immortality can, at any rate, claim no support from science, and such arguments as are possible on the subject point to the probable extinction of personality at death.-- Bertrand Russell, "Religion and Science"
The literal survival of the individual human personality or consciousness for an indefinite period after [physical] death, with its memory and awareness of self-identity essentially intact .
An essential fundamental distinction is the difference between survival of bodily death and immortality. Survival implies only the continued existence of the personality after the physical death of the body without specifying whether that existence is eternal or eventually leads to annihilation.
An essential fundamental distinction is the difference between survival of bodily death and immortality. Survival implies only the continued existence of the personality after the physical death of the body without specifying whether that existence is eternal or eventually leads to annihilation.
Although arguments have been advanced which attempt to prove the indestructibility and hence immortality of the soul (e.g. Plato), these are not the concern of this essay. Nor are potential problems with the notion of eternal existence addressed. The concern of this essay is, however, the logical possibility of and evidence for or against survival of bodily death. Arguments for survival establish nothing in favor of immortality; however, arguments against survival are arguments against immortality. In other words, immortality presupposes the possibility of survival. This also means that any evidence deemed from parapsychology serves only as evidence for survival,attempt to establish immortality as a necessary consequent of the benevolence of an omnipotent God. This line of argument would divert us from the present topic of this paper and bring out arguments about the existence and nature of God which are beyond the scope.
There are two fundamental positions on the question of immortality. The survival hypothesis asserts that the human personality will continue to exist in some form after the death of the physical body. The extinction hypothesis contends that the human personality will permanently extinguish after the death of the body. This distinction may seem redundant and obvious, but the necessity of this precise definition will become clear when we analyze survival theories which invoke temporary extinction. I will assume that the burden of proof falls on the survival hypothesis because in our daily lives we know of the existence of the personality only in association with the living physical organism; that is, conclusive evidence for the continued existence of the personality after the death of the physical body does not exist for any of the views I will analyze.
Another important distinction is the difference between personal and impersonal forms of survival. Personal survival means that people will survive bodily death as distinct individuals. An example of impersonal survival would be the Buddhist belief in nirvana as a kind of Absolute Mind that individual minds merge or are absorbed into when enlightenment is fully realized .
Another important distinction is the difference between personal and impersonal forms of survival. Personal survival means that people will survive bodily death as distinct individuals. An example of impersonal survival would be the Buddhist belief in nirvana as a kind of Absolute Mind that individual minds merge or are absorbed into when enlightenment is fully realized .
There are three "vehicles" for the survival of the personality after the death of the body that will be considered: the disembodied mind, the astral body, and resurrection. These vehicles can be used alone or in combination. A disembodied mind is an immaterial, nonspatial substance which constitutes a person's mental states--a "soul". The astral body is a form of exotic matter, for in its most fundamental sense it refers to a spatial entity which has physical characteristics such as shape, size, and spatial position. These criteria must be met to distinguish the astral body from the disembodied mind. The astral body is consequently detectable in principle but extremely difficult to detect in practice--otherwise it would be noticed leaving the body at death or perhaps during out-of-body experiences. The astral body can also be specifically envisioned as mirroring the physical body's features.
Resurrection of the body is an overt miracle from God in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic tradition and thus presupposes the truth of traditional monotheism. Thus, as Kai Nielsen points out, "if the grounds for believing in God are scant the grounds for believing in bodily resurrection are doubly scant" (Nielsen 238). This point is relevant because arguments against the existence of God are decisive arguments against resurrection; but arguments of this sort are not my present concern. To isolate resurrection as a vehicle for survival I will assume a version of resurrection which posits the extinction of the personality at death and its re-creation with a resurrection of the body. Resurrection can be conceived of in two forms: the literal resurrection of the decayed corpse or the creation of a new body or "replica". It should be noted that there can be no empirical evidence in support of resurrection if it is taken to be a future event on Earth or an event that takes place in another world.
Immortality is related to the mind-body problem and the problem of personal identity in philosophy. The mind-body problem is concerned with how the mind and body are related to each other. Many theories have been proposed to solve the mind-body problem. Modern materialism contends that mental states are reducible to physical brain states. Thus, if materialism is true, survival in the form of disembodied minds or astral bodies is ruled out automatically. Epiphenomenalism, which contends that the mind is a separate yet dependent by-product of the brain, has the same implications for survival. Resurrection is compatible with both of these theories of mind. A dualism that contends that the mind is a separate, independent entity from the brain is a necessary presupposition for the possibility of disembodied minds or astral bodies (Edwards, "Dependence" 292). Resurrection is consistent with dualism if it is coupled with the notion of a soul which constitutes the personality and thus does not extinguish with the body at death but continues to exist and is later rejoined to a resurrected body (Flew, "God" 108). Personal identity is concerned with what makes a person the same person over time. Personal identity problems will arise in the context of specific arguments about the logical possibility of immortality.
Resurrection of the body is an overt miracle from God in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic tradition and thus presupposes the truth of traditional monotheism. Thus, as Kai Nielsen points out, "if the grounds for believing in God are scant the grounds for believing in bodily resurrection are doubly scant" (Nielsen 238). This point is relevant because arguments against the existence of God are decisive arguments against resurrection; but arguments of this sort are not my present concern. To isolate resurrection as a vehicle for survival I will assume a version of resurrection which posits the extinction of the personality at death and its re-creation with a resurrection of the body. Resurrection can be conceived of in two forms: the literal resurrection of the decayed corpse or the creation of a new body or "replica". It should be noted that there can be no empirical evidence in support of resurrection if it is taken to be a future event on Earth or an event that takes place in another world.
Immortality is related to the mind-body problem and the problem of personal identity in philosophy. The mind-body problem is concerned with how the mind and body are related to each other. Many theories have been proposed to solve the mind-body problem. Modern materialism contends that mental states are reducible to physical brain states. Thus, if materialism is true, survival in the form of disembodied minds or astral bodies is ruled out automatically. Epiphenomenalism, which contends that the mind is a separate yet dependent by-product of the brain, has the same implications for survival. Resurrection is compatible with both of these theories of mind. A dualism that contends that the mind is a separate, independent entity from the brain is a necessary presupposition for the possibility of disembodied minds or astral bodies (Edwards, "Dependence" 292). Resurrection is consistent with dualism if it is coupled with the notion of a soul which constitutes the personality and thus does not extinguish with the body at death but continues to exist and is later rejoined to a resurrected body (Flew, "God" 108). Personal identity is concerned with what makes a person the same person over time. Personal identity problems will arise in the context of specific arguments about the logical possibility of immortality.
Saturday, 9 December 2006
Spirituality (Spir`it*u*al"i*ty)
1. The quality or state of being spiritual; incorporeality;
heavenly-mindedness. "A pleasure made for the soul, suitable to its
spirituality." South. "If this light be not spiritual, yet it approacheth
nearest to spirituality." Sir W. Raleigh. "Much of our spirituality and comfort
in public worship depends on the state of mind in which we come." Bickersteth.
2. (Eccl.) That which belongs to the church, or to a person as an
ecclesiastic, or to religion, as distinct from temporalities. "During the
vacancy of a see, the archbishop is guardian of the spiritualities thereof."
Blackstone.
3. An ecclesiastical body; the whole body of the clergy, as
distinct from, or opposed to, the temporality. [Obs.] "Five entire subsidies
were granted to the king by the spirituality." Fuller.Spiritual problems are defined as distressing experiences that involve a person's relationship with a transcendent being or force but are not necessarily related to an organized church or religious institution. Sometimes such experiences emerge from intensive involvement with spiritual practices such as meditation or yoga, as in the Meditation and Spiritual Practice type of spiritual problem.
The connection between spiritual emergences and psychological problems was first noted by Roberto Assagioli,MD who described how persons may become inflated and grandiose as a result of intense experiences associated with spiritual practices:
Instances of such confusion are not uncommon among people who become dazzled by contact with truths too great or energies too powerful for their mental capacities to grasp and their personality to assimilate
LIFE , a spiritual journey
The ultimates of life are spiritual and only in the full light of the liberated self and spirit can it achieve them. That full light is not intellect or reason, but a knowledge by inner unity and identity which is the native self-light of the fully developed spiritual consciousness —and, preparing that, on the way to it, a knowledge by intimate inner contact with the truth of things and beings which is intuitive and born of a secret oneness. Life seeks for self-knowledge; it is only by the light of the spirit that it can find it. It seeks for a luminous guidance and mastery of its own movements; it is only when it finds within itself this inner self and spirit and, by it or in obedience to it governs its own steps that it can have the illumined will it needs and the unerring leadership. For it is so only that the blind certitudes of the instincts and the speculative hypotheses and theories and the experimental and inferential certitudes of reason can be replaced by the seeing spiritual certitudes. Life seeks the fulfillment of its instincts of love and sympathy, its yearnings after accord and union; but these are crossed by opposing instincts and it is only the spiritual consciousness with its realised abiding oneness that can abolish these oppositions. Life seeks for full growth of being, but it can attain to it only when the limited being has found in itself its own inmost soul of existence and around it its own wider self of cosmic consciousness which can feel the world and all being in itself and as itself. Life seeks for power; it is only the power of the spirit and the power of this conscious oneness that can give it mastery of itself and its world. It seeks for pleasure, happiness, bliss; but the infrarational forms of these things are stricken with imperfection, fragmentariness, impermanence and the impact of their opposites. Moreover infrarational life still bears some stamp of the Inconscient in an underlying insensitiveness, a dullness of fiber, a weakness of vibratory response, —it cannot attain to true happiness or bliss and what it can obtain of pleasure it cannot support for long or bear or keep any extreme intensity of these things. Only the spirit has the secret of an unmixed and abiding happiness or ecstasy, is capable of a firm tenseness of vibrant response to it, can attain and justify a spiritual pleasure or joy of life as one form of the infinite and universal delight of being. Life seeks a harmonious fulfillment of all its powers, now divided and in conflict, all its possibilities, parts, members; it is only in the consciousness of the one Self and Spirit that that is found, for there they arrive at their full truth and their perfect agreement in the light of the integral self-existence.
life,
Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still. -- Lou Erickso
Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us. -- Thomas L. Holdcroft
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. -- Winston Churchill
Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhi
Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies. -- Ann Landers
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.-- Buddha
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off unless you plan to stop peddling.-- Claude Pepper
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.-- Alfred D. Souza
Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us. -- Thomas L. Holdcroft
We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. -- Winston Churchill
Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. -- Gandhi
Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies. -- Ann Landers
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.-- Buddha
Life is like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off unless you plan to stop peddling.-- Claude Pepper
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.-- Alfred D. Souza
Friday, 8 December 2006
A few momments of life ...
As time passes me by , all i have seen all i have felt will be reflected in my thoughts and my convictions on all those unforeseen and unfordable moments that i have been through -- i will never understand , why at that specific moment i did what i had done , is there a thing in time that i can go back and change those moments or leave them as they are and continue to live through as i have been living .....
here are a few quotes---
Leonardo Da Vinci: Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen, even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus: It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Charles Darwin: It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Horace: It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
Margaret Bonnano: It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis.
here are a few quotes---
Leonardo Da Vinci: Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen, even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus: It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Charles Darwin: It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.
Horace: It is of no consequence of what parents a man is born, as long as he be a man of merit.
Margaret Bonnano: It is only possible to live happily ever after on a day to day basis.
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