Reply #118: My views on life/death [View All]

[The Straight Story]

I actually thought about this a lot the last few days. My brother is really into family tree stuff and we were discussing the family history going back to the 1600's for which he has a lot of records.

There is an amazing history to my family, nothing great, but really neat.

Had ONE little thing changed in all that time...well, would I exist? I know that seems like a real simple thing to answer. But it just isn't for me.

I am here now, thinking, typing, in 2006 - and I would not be doing this if anything at all had not been exactly as it was. Pretty humbling. Which leads me to ponder, what is it to be conscious? What defines me other then something physical in the here and now (ie, active chemicals which came into being because my parents had sex)?

Is there something more to this all we are missing (and it does not have to be god either). My chemicals are here and within me now, so I define my life as based on that time line. But suppose I die and those chemicals cease? New lives are created each day, and how do I know I won't be conscious in one of those? What is it to be 'me'?

You turn off the power to your computer, but the data remains - and the power going through the cord is still there. But a new PC, plug it in, power it up, and transfer some data and you back to using it. Is it the same system? No. But it holds some of the same things the last one did - even though it is 'dead'.

One could ask as well where morals and values come from in life. If there is nothing beyond this time, why 'care' when you can conquer and have a wonderful party life? No karma, no hell, no nothing - so why suffer while others are having fun? Killing them ain't bad cause they are gonna die anyway, they are just a blob of chemicals like those when you get first get pregnant. Sure, they are more complex, but still we are just blobs of cells and nothing more.

Compassion, love, etc come from somewhere. And it ties us together. We often believe to give is better than to receive, to help the needy is a good thing - especially when we give something we have earned to them (money, time).

When I die, I take with me nothing - but I leave behind something. Why should I care what I leave behind? I will be dead, and never to feel or think again. Or so some say.

Perhaps we know that somehow we will feel and see again, that we will reap what we sow in another generation as we again become conscious creatures.

I don't know the answers, but if this limited time is all we will ever have in this entire universe then let's damn the torpedos, fuck em all, and party and get what we want no matter what. Why suffer so others can enjoy their life, what does it profit me and my only turn here?

I am not that pessimistic of course :) But I wonder back at you - how can anyone believe that this is all there is?