He pointed to the top of my head.
"What?" I said.
"You have a grey hair!"
We went under some good lighting and another friend came over to see.
"Pull it out," I said.
My friend then grabbed the hair and plucked it from my head and gave it to me. I stood there with it in my hand and looked at it.
Grey already, I thought.
"You should write a blog post about the ephemeral nature of life," my friend said looking at my astonishment.
So here it is:
We are all going to die. Every human ever to walk the face of this earth has died or will die. All life dies. Bees die. Plants and trees die. Elephants, mushrooms, and dogs and cats all die. I am going to die, and one day you will too. That's a pretty intense thing to think about.
How do we cope with that thought?
Some of us keep ourselves busy with hobbies, work, and friends. Others, the majority, think that our bodies will die, but our soul will live on in heaven. Others think that when we die our spirit is transmitted to another physical body. Maybe when I die I will become a frog or a prince or a frog-prince.
I take the skeptic perspective: I simply just don't know what happens when we die.
Many people think differently. I'd be interested to hear what you think about what happens after death.
Your body may be gone, I'm gonnna carry you in.
In my head, in my heart, in my soul.
And maybe we'll get lucky and we'll both live again.
Well I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Don't think so.
-T
I am into this blog.
ReplyDeleteI wonder the same. The fact that as rational, self-aware beings, we can grasp the implications of death, and how it will affect things (ie. family, friends, a business, etc.). And we also know that death is inevitably waiting for us. What is the power that keeps us going against these kind of odds? I want to know too!
Me personally? I find that the chemistry that put me together is amazing. All these natural elements arranged in such a way that I am a huge, functioning multi-celled creature. It's exciting to understand that through youth, we grow closer to our average physical peak. it's humbling to know that after that, the body will degenerate slowly before becoming defunct (speaking in terms of old age of course). My body? Will probably become worms' meat. My mind? I think that would deserve a whole blog post of it's own! But in between I am happy that I'm here & that I can witness life. And want to as much of it as possible before I go.
Thank's for your thoughtful words, Brittney. I think you and I are of like mind.
DeleteThe body goes to worm's meat, but what happens to the mind? Are the two one in the same? Some would argue, yes! (i.e. that the brain and mind are the same entity, if you loose the brain say bye bye to the mind.) I think I somewhat agree with this notion.
I got wacked in the head after falling on my snowboard a while ago. I don't remember any of it, but I was talking to people and walking around and asking questions (the same ones over and over again). Some think that parts of the brain 'house' consciousness. Meaning that if you scoop out those 'special' parts, you might still be able to function as a normal human from the looks of it on the outside, but on the inside there is no mind. No feeling. No life.
Keep up the good work. And feel free to send me any of your thoughts in the future. I really like hearing from you.
ps. forgive the awful comment box text. It's like, wicked bad. I'm trying to find a way to fix it. Blogger doesn't offer a solution.
I think life is a test. I believe in heaven and hell. So if we make right choices (choose correct answers) we go to heaven (pass the test) and we if we don't (choose wrong answers) we go to hell (fail the test). Life is just a long, long, difficult test. If it was not, then what is the purpose of human life? Why are we created? In my Psychology class I took last semester, I found it interesting that we are the only creatures (don't know if that is the right word to describe us) that think about death and get scarred. I think that is very true. You don't really find or overhear people having conversations about death. There have been times where I would talk about death with a couple of my friends and they always end the conversation by saying "I'm just trying to enjoy my life and not worry about anything." What happens after death is one question no one can answer. Not even scientists :) we all have to experience it in order to know the answer
ReplyDeleteSaman, I really appreciated your thoughtful comment and the fact that you would reveal your beliefs to me in a public manner.
DeleteIt's interesting that you talk about life as a 'long, long, difficult test.' There is a Hindu word called Maya, which is often interpreted to mean 'illusion.' The illusion is that life is just a big game or 'test' that we must pass in order to reach a state of higher being. To win the game (pass the test), we must see through the illusion of the physical world and all the earthly pleasures that cloud our minds in order to awaken to the real truth (heaven?).
I wicked agree with you. There is no way science can tackle the problem of death, at least not the 'experiences' we have after death. (If there are even experiences to be had.) That's why belief and science can still co-exist. For all those questions science can't touch, we have beliefs biased on our own 'gut feeling' about what is right and what is wrong.
It is interesting to hear testimonials about near death experiences and to compare them with some of the experiences that stroke/brain damaged patients have.
Have you ever heard of out of body experiences?
Well, it is said to occur when one is having a near death experience. When this happens, people feel like they're floating above their bodies. Brain damaged patients, in extremely rare cases, will feel as if they have a 'twin' that walks around next to them all day, connected at the shoulder. They know that the 'twin' isn't real, that it is just an apparition, but they can't make this other body go away. Talk about a strange twist on out of body experiences!
Keep up the good thinking Saman. I really like what you have to say.
ps. sorry about this awful text. It clashes so bad. I have to fix it.
DeleteI am a devout, practicing Catholic, and so life after death is one of the perks of this particular faith. Not that I believe Christianity is the only way to heaven. But I do believe that there is a God and that when we die, it ain't all over. I agree with you that consciousness is pretty much housed in the brain. So without the brain, you're consciousness ceases to exist. But I also believe in the soul as being separate from both the brain and consciousness. Life after death may not be anything like what we understand as consciousness now, but there I believe something continues on.
ReplyDeleteIt's comforting, I think. And if I'm wrong? Doesn't bother me too much because I won't have consciousness to think about it. But the existence of God and the immortality of the soul both mesh with my views on life, and so I have faith (belief in something that can't be proven). So this project about how we can conceptualize something that we have never had "proof" of is really fascinating to me and I'm excited to watch it develop.
What I find interesting is this line that you said.
ReplyDelete"Not that I believe Christianity is the only way to heaven."
I go to a church every Sunday near Brown. It is called the Vedanta Society. They believe that all religions are like boats that take you to the same island, that island being God. I am curious as to whether you think this is true (that all those who believe in god whether they are Muslim or Christian will get into heaven)or something else, because I also have many Christian friends who say that those who are 'ignorant' of god (a baby that died before it met god or a person who was raised in a godless house who never heard of him) would still go to heaven, after the appropriate amount of time spent in purgatory.
There is a philosopher Pascal who thought the same thing you think.
"It's comforting, I think. And if I'm wrong? Doesn't bother me too much because I won't have consciousness to think about it."
It's called Pascal's Wager. The idea is that we have more to loose from not believing in god if he in fact does, than we have to gain from believing if he doesn't. Put simply, if you believe in God and he doesn't exist, what do you got to loose?
Does that make sense? The wiki link is here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_Wager
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment!
It's not that I think believing *anything* will get you to heaven, but I don't think it's restrictive to just one faith. I think that most religions are really about a lot of the same things and say a lot of the same things: They teach how to live a moral life. I think a practicing Catholic and a faithful Hindu have more in common with each other than members of their own respective religions who are merely "lukewarm" about it. I know a priest who likes to say "God is not a religion." And I think that's true. I'm not saying it doesn't matter which faith you choose, but I do think that having faith in the first place and living a moral life is the most important thing.
DeleteAs to Pascal's Wager, it sort of agrees with what I'm saying. But I didn't mean to say that faith is just a wager, and I'm hedging my bets, because that's not really faith in the first place. I really do have a faith in God which isn't contingent on my personal gain. But a lot of people say, "How can you believe that? What if you're wrong?" I don't think I'm wrong, but I always think, "Who cares if I am?" I'm a happier person for my faith anyway. I hope that made sense, but please ignore me if it didn't.
NO! Gabe it made so much sense. I do agree that you can have a Hindu and a Christian who are more similar to each other because of their dedication to the moral practices of their faith.
ReplyDeleteI think that I couldn't agree with you more about the fact that religion 'Teaches how to live a moral life." In a lot of my readings, it seems that all religions share that common element: determining what is good and what is bad. (interestingly, the rule that is common among them is 'do onto others as you would have done to you')
I've got beef with some of my atheist friends who are always tying to 'argue religion' with others. Trying to prove everyone else wrong, when some of the fundamental principles of sciences are just as tenuous and strange and seemingly supernatural as the belief in god. For example, photons behave as both particles and waves. What the heck does that even mean? Even skeptics and scientists and atheists have beliefs and knowledge that they don't fully understand. Attacking others about their seemingly shaky beliefs is not a good way to learn in my book (or live for that matter).