TOTM: Is there life after death? Part 1.
My initial (scientifically minded) reaction to this question is an emphatic NO. As far as I have ever been concerned, once we die: that's it - we cease to be as the Monty Python crew would say. How can any part of us possibly survive and continue living once our heart has stopped beating and our brain stopped functioning?
And yet, virtually every major religion in the world carries with it a promise of life after death. Be that in Heaven (or Hell) or in another, reincarnated, life. So why does the concept exist at all if there is no proof of it?
Perhaps the truth lies in the human psyche. Many of us may live lives that seem relatively unfulfilled. We think: there must be more to life than this. And so, we create another world, a world full of promise and hope, giving meaning to our lives. If we are good in this life, we will be rewarded in the next. In an NBC10.com poll on life after death, an astonishing 86% of people who voted said they believed in life after death. Surely they can't all be wrong?
So, some people clearly don't need proof to believe in it, but I do. However, the more I read the arguments, the more I question my opinion. If something can't be proven or disproven then you can't say it definitely exists but, equally, you can't say it definitely doesn't exist.
Where does that leave us? Is there life after death? Possibly, but possibly not. It certainly is an attractive proposition but I can't help but sway towards my scientific upbringing. I read an article online by Prof. Peter Kreeft in which one of the arguments he puts forward for there not being life after death is as follows:
And yet, virtually every major religion in the world carries with it a promise of life after death. Be that in Heaven (or Hell) or in another, reincarnated, life. So why does the concept exist at all if there is no proof of it?
Perhaps the truth lies in the human psyche. Many of us may live lives that seem relatively unfulfilled. We think: there must be more to life than this. And so, we create another world, a world full of promise and hope, giving meaning to our lives. If we are good in this life, we will be rewarded in the next. In an NBC10.com poll on life after death, an astonishing 86% of people who voted said they believed in life after death. Surely they can't all be wrong?
So, some people clearly don't need proof to believe in it, but I do. However, the more I read the arguments, the more I question my opinion. If something can't be proven or disproven then you can't say it definitely exists but, equally, you can't say it definitely doesn't exist.
Where does that leave us? Is there life after death? Possibly, but possibly not. It certainly is an attractive proposition but I can't help but sway towards my scientific upbringing. I read an article online by Prof. Peter Kreeft in which one of the arguments he puts forward for there not being life after death is as follows:
"The strongest positive argument against life after death is the observation of spirit at the mercy of matter. We see no more mental life when the brain dies. Even when it is alive, a blow to the head impairs thought. Consciousness seems related to matter as the light of a candle to the candle: once the fuel is used up, the light goes out. The body and its nervous system seem like the fuel, the cause; and immaterial activity, consciousness, seems like the effect. Remove the cause and you remove the effect. Consciousness, in other words, seems to be an epiphenomenon, an effect but not a cause, like the heat generated by the electricity running along a wire to an appliance, or the exhaust fumes from an engine's tailpipe."I'll leave it at that for now.
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