Jay Ray
Posts: 92
Joined: Feb. 2006
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| Quote | | May I suggest you become an alchemist? |
I remember Newton and some of those wacky taoists became sidetracked down the red herring called alchemy. This should come as no surprise in modern times. Anytime we've tried to combine mysticism with science, its failed. Gee, I wonder why that could be....
| Quote | | That's a bit tricky. The question is, who are you? |
I'm familiar and comfortable with the idea that this thing called "me" is an illusion. What I am really is just a wave in the ocean we know as the universe. Every wave eventually crashes against the shore, whereupon it takes another form. I'm cool with that.
| Quote | | But one does want one's consciousness. |
I do. How cool would it be to be a wave that rolls up onto the shore and manages to keep on going, maneuvering at will? It won't happen, but it would be preferable.
| Quote | | I think there is evidence for these things, but it is not accepted by some people. However, the evidence seems to be accumulating. |
I'd be one of those that wants evidence beyond what can be provided by anecdote. Channeling doesn't count. Regression hypnosis doesn't count. Near death experiences don't count. In the end, no matter how many of these stories accumulate, they are still all just stories.
| Quote | | We are living in interesting times. |
Every moment is interesting, don't you think?
| Quote | | But the reason I asked is that atheism doesn't usually mix with hopes for an afterlife. |
I think you misunderstand many atheists. Atheism isn't necessarily a rejection of god or other mystical tenets. Rather, it is disbelief in the reality of these things for lack of credible evidence. We withhold judgement until the facts are in. Many of us would welcome these things if they were demonstrated. But so far, the the so-called evidence is anecdotal, vague, contradictory and entirely unpersuasive. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
Deep down, I tend to think that god doesn't exist, in just the same way that I don't believe in the invisible Sock Gnome who lives in my laundry room and steals my socks from time to time. Or that I can make a red light turn green through an act of focused willpower. Or that spellcasting is possible. But I'd be fascinated if these or a million other magical things were true. Its just that they aren't.
| Quote | But back down here on reality-based earth, I realize that I will die, that my body will decompose into its constituent parts, and that those parts will be taken up into later generations of life. I suppose in a wiggly sort of way this is immortality.
Notvery satisfying, is it? |
Nope. Yet I'm glad I have the opportunity to experience it for at least a little while.
| Quote | May be only the body dies.
Anyway, the answers to these questions has been my quest. |
The way I see it, if there is an afterlife I'll find out soon enough. Meanwhile, I find there are plenty of amazing things going on in the sensible parts of the universe to occupy my attention. To spend my time in distracting myself with unanswerables takes away my ability to be in the now. It could be that there are gods and an afterlife. I doubt it, but hey, maybe the Sock Gnome is real. However, I see no benefit to myself or to any other life on this dazzling planet if I continually strive for that which is always out of reach of the living. What counts is right here and now. The afterlife will take care of itself.
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