Reply #172: A detailed response [View All]

[Az]

You can prove abstract constructs such as math. You can prove there are no square circles. You can prove there are no married bachelors. Because we create the abstract definition of the conditions we can thus define whether such things can be excluded within the logical definitions we create. But prove there are no unicorns in the universe and you have a problem.

Proving you are alive merely is applying our definition of alive (which is actually a bit problematic). It is again applying an abstract consrtuct as a definition of what you are proving.

As to your point about existing after we die... it would certainly be nice to think so. But to date there is no evidence that a mind can exist without a functioning brain. They seem to be irrevocably tied together.

It is more than just the existance of the mind that is tied to the brain. It is the very nature of the identity that is tied to the brain. We can change who you are, we can change your memories, we can change your attitudes and beliefs by altering the brain.

The notion that the mind is somehow something other that the brain would demand that any changes to the brain would have no effect on your memories, identity, or beliefs. And yet there are miriad of cases of people recieving head wounds and being altered drastically from their previous nature.

The notion that we survive death creates a very dangerous situation. Any belief system that creates this particular concept usurps our own natural tendency to seek preservation. By creating the belief that our identity and existance continue beyond death based on belief in its particular credes takes our own drive to survive and applies it to defending the beliefs instead.

People will willingly die to defend such a belief. For death has had its meaning to our species taken away by the belief system. In this way martyrs can be made to withstand brutal opposition. Others can be made to turn themself into human bombs and missiles.

The belief in an afterlife also enables a belief system to turn love and compassion on its head as well. When death has no meaning and only adherance to the rules of belief have any real depth of consequence our natural feelings of connection with our fellow humans can drive us to attempt to save a person's immortal soul at the cost of some temporal pain and suffering. The inquisition was the result of such a twisting of life. The Jews were being saved from themselves. It was compassion that drove the torture. It was the promise of salvation that drove the crusades.

You seem to be seeking a prescribed meaning to life. Many have sought this. Not all have agreed. Perhaps there is no meaning to life other than what you make of it. What happens if you die and find out that the meaning of life was that you were the divine equivalent of a fish in the bowl? Will this give you satisfaction?

Your religion itself claims you cannot know the mind of God. Then who are you to presume that you have any incling about what the meaning of your life is? You have already abdocated the right to decide what life means to you. You have given it up to something else that you believe has the authority to proclaim meaning. And what if it does not fit your hopes and dreams?

Consider this. What will eternity mean to you? How many times will you perform the same actions over and over again. Eternity is not just a long time. It is eternity. Eventually you will do everything an infinite number of times. Bored is not the word that comes to mind.

Add to the problem that there is no drive. No need. There are no threats or issues to resolve. There is no reason to move. There is no reason to be.

You want meaning to life. You need only reach out and define it as you choose to. For me life is about exploring the nature of the universe. Understanding the nature of the mind. Teaching the things I find to those around me and hoping that I make a difference in the path this world is set upon. When I am dead I will be no more. But the ideas and words I speak echo amongst those I care about. I have already lived long enough to see some of my words come back to me from afar. If not as the source of these ideas then shared with others that came to the same conclusions. This has meaning to me. I am afraid you must find your own and not be dependent on others to define your life for you be they gods or not. Its your life. You make it what you wish it to be.