I do not think it is appropriate to believe the supernatural to be the source of the natural. Every system we know of behaves naturalistically. Weather, Oceanic currents, Glacial formation, Planetary orbital pathways, Radioactive decay, Nuclear Fission, Procreation, Immunity to disease and infection, Nourishment; all conform to the laws of nature. Plants do not call anyone "lord". Mountains do not move according to the verbalized mantras of wishful thinkers. There is only one natural system, influential to humanity, that has ever been considered to be a part of the supernatural realm (to its own detriment) and that is the system of thought.
Human beings are aware we exist. We are aware that others like us exist. We know that we are capable of gaining and retaining knowledge. We understand our own ability to think. Our awareness is what sets us apart from most other living creatures today (aside from the great apes, some primates, dolphins, parrots and other assorted animals). It is from this awareness that, long ago, we conjured up the idea of an immortal soul for ourselves. It's easy to look back and see how we could've viewed ourselves in such a self-important way, when the surrounding animals and plants were decidedly less intelligent than we were (and still are). How could such an advanced species not be endowed with something so esoteric as a "soul". We could think, we were aware, for cripe's sake. Our intelligence simply had to be the result of some divine intervention. We must've been born with this invisible attribute of immortality. The problem is we kept dying, and no one liked(s) that scenario. Death is not conducive to immortality, the two are most definitely at odds. And so, the discomfort with the idea of our concurrent intelligence (awareness) and our inescapable physical mortality led us as a species to invent many stories; ones designed to subvert the inevitability of our physical (and soul's) death (albeit a subversion which is delayed until after we physically die). We have not always been as intelligent as we are now. We were once ignorant of what most today would deem as common-sense. The sun does not revolve around the earth, the earth is not flat nor is it held up on the back of a great turtle, cutting someone deeply in order to "bleed" out an infection is a bad surgical treatment, the use of anesthesia during surgery results in more successful surgeries than the disuse of it does. The awareness of ourselves that gave rise to the idea of our possessing a "soul", has been coupled with a more complete knowledge of the world around us, more so now than at any other time in our brief history of life. Neuroscience is uncovering more and more each day of the buried behemoth of the human brain, and by doing so they are displaying the inessentiality of the concept of a soul. This may sound a bit gloomy for those who have grown up believing we have a soul, but it doesn't need to. To me, the fact that we are all that make us up and nothing else, composed of the same basic elements as everything in the universe, and we can still create works of grandeur such as the Goldberg Variations of J.S Bach, Stonehenge, or the internet is the mother of all testaments as to how wonderful we all are. On the flip side, I see it as unnecessarily condescending, to ascribe our worth to a being who is somehow simultaneously the same as and better than us. I see my son as the most wonderful human being in the world, but that feeling is in no way due to the benevolence of "god; it is due to my son. I will take no credit away from him for being the wonderful person he is. There is not now nor has there ever been a need for god. We are human beings and we are worth our own attention and accolades.
Showing posts with label Immortality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immortality. Show all posts
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Whence comes the soul?
It seems to me, a crucial point of dissention between atheists and religious folk is the existence or nonexistence of an immortal soul. Let's examine this for a moment.
If we have an immortal soul with the abilities to survive our own physical death living on into eternity in either perpetuated bliss or torture and to house our affects such as empathy, compassion, the sense of justice, etcc, then this very soul must have come from somewhere.
As I see it, there are only two possible sources for this mysterious component of us, inside of god, or outside.
If our souls came from inside, or the mind, of god, then he would certainly have known of us (meaning every single human that has lived or ever will live on thisearth) since his own beginning (of which there are many unsubstantiated claims by christians). If god indeed has known each of us, all along since his own inception or birth, then why would he need or even want to create a corporeal body to put us into? We were already with him in his mind, so why did he bother with creation at all? It couldn't be so he would have companionship. He already had it, albeit through multiple personality disorder :-)
If this is not the case and our immortal soul came from outside of god instead, then as I see it,our soul could only come from two possible places outside of god, namely heaven or earth (hell can't be included because, according to religious doctrine, it has not always existed, only coming into it's existence after satan's fall from grace)
If our soul comes from heaven, which is where god himself lives, then as stated before, we have been with god (in his mind) since time immemmorial, leaving no need for him to create an elaborate universe, complete with galaxies, black holes, planets (such as our home), an ordered periodic table of elements identifying the very elements which we, his mind's picture are made of, or all varieties of animals with whom he apparently has no other use for except their ritual death. I again ask why god continually feels the need to create for us, physical bodies that house the soul that, if left alone, would still be living side-by-side with god in heaven. It seems pointless.
If however, our soul did not come from heaven, then it must have come from earth. This of course leads to the conclusion that our soul is actually our concious mind, as it has evolved, along with every other part of our physical makeup, through the eons of the age of the earth. There was never any need for god to create a body to house our immortal soul, because
1. Our "immortal soul" is most assuredly not immortal. It is a function of our biologically organic brain; located in the left pre-frontal cortex, susceptible to illness, disorder and death just like every other part of our organic bodies. When we die, our brains will die and along with them, our "souls". Any belief to the contrary is simply blinded wishful thinking.
AND
2. God doesn't exist except in the neurological pathways of our imagination. He is imaginary and unnecessary. He didn't create anything, especially not the complexity and wonderfulness of life and humanity. You can't create something if you don't exist.
If we have an immortal soul with the abilities to survive our own physical death living on into eternity in either perpetuated bliss or torture and to house our affects such as empathy, compassion, the sense of justice, etcc, then this very soul must have come from somewhere.
As I see it, there are only two possible sources for this mysterious component of us, inside of god, or outside.
If our souls came from inside, or the mind, of god, then he would certainly have known of us (meaning every single human that has lived or ever will live on thisearth) since his own beginning (of which there are many unsubstantiated claims by christians). If god indeed has known each of us, all along since his own inception or birth, then why would he need or even want to create a corporeal body to put us into? We were already with him in his mind, so why did he bother with creation at all? It couldn't be so he would have companionship. He already had it, albeit through multiple personality disorder :-)
If this is not the case and our immortal soul came from outside of god instead, then as I see it,our soul could only come from two possible places outside of god, namely heaven or earth (hell can't be included because, according to religious doctrine, it has not always existed, only coming into it's existence after satan's fall from grace)
If our soul comes from heaven, which is where god himself lives, then as stated before, we have been with god (in his mind) since time immemmorial, leaving no need for him to create an elaborate universe, complete with galaxies, black holes, planets (such as our home), an ordered periodic table of elements identifying the very elements which we, his mind's picture are made of, or all varieties of animals with whom he apparently has no other use for except their ritual death. I again ask why god continually feels the need to create for us, physical bodies that house the soul that, if left alone, would still be living side-by-side with god in heaven. It seems pointless.
If however, our soul did not come from heaven, then it must have come from earth. This of course leads to the conclusion that our soul is actually our concious mind, as it has evolved, along with every other part of our physical makeup, through the eons of the age of the earth. There was never any need for god to create a body to house our immortal soul, because
1. Our "immortal soul" is most assuredly not immortal. It is a function of our biologically organic brain; located in the left pre-frontal cortex, susceptible to illness, disorder and death just like every other part of our organic bodies. When we die, our brains will die and along with them, our "souls". Any belief to the contrary is simply blinded wishful thinking.
AND
2. God doesn't exist except in the neurological pathways of our imagination. He is imaginary and unnecessary. He didn't create anything, especially not the complexity and wonderfulness of life and humanity. You can't create something if you don't exist.
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