[Reincarnation; Afterlife; Nothing]

N

Norsefire

Salam Shalom Salom
Registered Senior Member
The great mystery: what happens after we die?

As for me, I tend to think re-incarnation is a pretty interesting concept. It certainly makes sense. Think about it, even if we don't have souls, we are our brains, right? Our brains die, we die. But there are always new people born, and "you" could be one of them, you'd be a different brain and different person.

This is from wikipedia about reincarnation:

Scientific research
Main article: Reincarnation research
Thomas Huxley, the famous English biologist, thought that reincarnation was a plausible idea and discussed it in his book Evolution and Ethics and other Essays. The most detailed collections of personal reports in favor of reincarnation have been published by Professor Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia, in books such as Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation and "Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects Volume 1: Birthmarks" and "Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects Volume 2: Birth Defects and Other Anomalies".

Stevenson spent over 40 years devoted to the study of children who have apparently spoken about a past life. In each case, Professor Stevenson methodically documented the child's statements. Then he identified the deceased person the child allegedly identified with, and verified the facts of the deceased person's life that matched the child's memory. He also matched birthmarks and birth defects to wounds and scars on the deceased, verified by medical records such as autopsy photographs.[40][41]

In a fairly typical case, a boy in Beirut spoke of being a 25-year-old mechanic, thrown to his death from a speeding car on a beach road. According to multiple witnesses, the boy provided the name of the driver, the exact location of the crash, the names of the mechanic's sisters and parents and cousins, and the people he went hunting with – all of which turned out to match the life of a man who had died several years before the boy was born, and who had no apparent connection to the boy's family.[42]

Stevenson believed that his strict methods ruled out all possible "normal" explanations for the child’s memories. However, it should be noted that a significant majority of Professor Stevenson's reported cases of reincarnation originate in Eastern societies, where dominant religions often permit the concept of reincarnation. Following this type of criticism, Stevenson published a book on European cases suggestive of reincarnation.[43]

There are many people who have investigated reincarnation and come to the conclusion that it is a legitimate phenomenon, such as Peter Ramster, Dr. Brian Weiss, Dr. Walter Semkiw, and others, but their work is generally ignored by the scientific community. Professor Stevenson, in contrast, published dozens of papers in peer-reviewed journals.[44]

Some skeptics, such as Paul Edwards, have analyzed many of these accounts, and called them anecdotal.[45] Philosophers like Robert Almeder, having analyzed the criticisms of Edwards and others, suggest that the gist of these arguments can be summarized as "we all know it can't possibly be real, so therefore it isn't real" - an argument from personal incredulity.[46]

The most obvious objection to reincarnation is that there is no evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death and travel to another body, and researchers such as Professor Stevenson recognize this limitation.[47]

Another objection is that most people do not remember previous lives. Possible counter-arguments are that not all people reincarnate, or that most people do not have memorable deaths. The vast majority of cases investigated at the University of Virginia involved people who had met some sort of violent or untimely death.[48]

Some skeptics explain that claims of evidence for reincarnation originate from selective thinking and the psychological phenomena of false memories that often result from one's own belief system and basic fears, and thus cannot be counted as empirical evidence. But other skeptics, such as Dr Carl Sagan, see the need for more reincarnation research.[citation needed] Carl Sagan asked the Dalai Lama what would he do if a fundamental tenet of his religion (reincarnation) was definitively disproved by science.
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There is also the concept of an afterlife, which is basically that we go somewhere else after we die. I don't consider it an illogical idea, it's just frustrating because there' s no evidence for anything really. The problem with figuring something like this out is that it's impossible, because you are dead once you find out, so you can't come back to tell anyone.


And then the concept of nothing, which is pretty basic.
 
I don't know about an afterlife but I don't think there's anything wrong with reincarnation, seems like a good use of my consciousness.
 
I don't understand why there should be anything for us after we die. It certainly doesn't make any sense - try staring at a dead body for a few months, you'll soon realise it's not going anywhere. The idea of someone's essence being immortal is illogical, if there's one thing we learn while we're on earth, is that no good thing lasts forever.

The afterlife is for people who are dissatisfied with their lives and need the hope of something more. It's an essential human need, to feel like we're working towards something.
 
Cellar_Door said:
I don't understand why there should be anything for us after we die. It certainly doesn't make any sense - try staring at a dead body for a few months, you'll soon realise it's not going anywhere. The idea of someone's essence being immortal is illogical, if there's one thing we learn while we're on earth, is that no good thing lasts forever.

The afterlife is for people who are dissatisfied with their lives and need the hope of something more. It's an essential human need, to feel like we're working towards something.
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Should? Perhaps. Is there? That's the question.

Re incarnation makes sense
 
KennyJC said:
I'll solve that "mystery" for you right now:

What's left of you decomposes.

-Fin.
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No it's not, Jesus was resurrected on Easter over 2000 years ago, over 500 people witnessed it! Are you implying they're involved in a conspiracy? Thousands of books have been written about the Religious faith that lead to his resurrection, our country was founded on the same Judaic Christian principles. Every single President that America has elected believes he will enter the gates of heaven upon death, and have everlasting life. Are you some kind of nut? Name one President that agrees with you that Christianity is a fictitious concoction used to infect and control the population. ;) You can't because you're a conspiracy nut. It's a fact that the prophet Moses spoke to God, and he was given the 10 commandments to pass on to mankind, that ensured him if he followed those rules, he'll attain everlasting life after death. Hundreds of Millions believe this, how can you say that a body decomposes, the body is only but a shell, to house the divine soul that separates man from animals, which will ascend to heaven if those 10 rules are followed. It's a fact, that's why we swear on a Bible before we go under oath, that's why our leaders swear on the Bible before they assume office. The Bible is the cornerstone of America, over 90% of the people believe it, who cares about Conspiracy Nuts like you try to bring Science into the equation, and imply the Government is duping the American public by pushing faith based initiatives. Take your conspiracies elsewhere, to bad that 90% of America disagrees with you and think you're a nut. Try running for President with your position on Religion, and see how far you get, you can't because you'll labeled be a conspiracy nut!
 
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The word soul is not a bad description of what occurs in a brain, it's just too bad it has so many supernatural connotations. When a new brain adopts the same pattern as a previous brain, it's soul is reincarnated, just like when you install an image on a new computer, it becomes the same as the old one.
 
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