"Whats it like after death? What it was like before you were born. What its like when you are asleep."

And when you are asleep what happened to your conscious self . Where does our life force reside during REM periods .

That's pretty much along the lines of what I say too. I'll say to someone, "Okay, where you were in 1915? Were you excited about finally being born in that century? Did it bother you that you didn't exist yet?"

Of course not. You didn't know you weren't here yet. I just say that I'll go back to being wherever I was in 1915.

'Course if you say that to a Mormon, they'll just tell you that they were in the Pre-Existence and can't remember it.

And if I lose all memory of having been Mormon and learning line by line, precept by precept, where will those memories be stored to return to me when I get my restored brain after the resurrection?

And by the way, my old brain matter became fertilizer for the tree I asked that my ashes be buried under, and then that tree became fertilizer for a crop of alfalfa that was eaten by cattle, which were eaten by humans and my atoms became part of their brain.

So who has use of the brain atoms in the resurrection?

I just thought you kids would enjoy what passes for theological debate in TBM circles when other people are talking about the ideas of Thomas Aquinas.


Anagrammy

That's exactly the way I think about it. I don't really understand why people are so terrified of death. I can understand not wanting to leave people you love without you, especially if they depend on you, like children or spouses.

But there is nothing at all terrifying for me about the idea of simply not existing, just as it was before I was born.

Ancient Greek poet/philosopher, Lucretius, said there were "atoms and the void and nothing else." It's all just various combinations of atoms. No deities, no spirits. Just atoms.

Another existential question for Mormon "theology":

If everyone in the CK is in their prime eternally, which I understand is thirty years old, doesn't that imply that a brain of limited maturity is considered "ideal" for both genders?

So...guess a person should stop studying the scriptures and forget upon adding lines to your "line upon line" because it will all be treated like a system reboot to an earlier date.

Anagrammy

Another interesting related thought.

What about this situation: You suffer a painful, agonizing automobile accident where you are pinned in the car and extricated with Jaws of death, barely saving your life. Due to the stress, your memory is damaged and you do not recall any of it.

Did it happen?

Same with the pre-existence. Say you were making booties for your anticipated spirit babies for the first couple of million years, or feeling terribly cold while your spirit body waited to be clothed with mortal flesh, while the earth was cooling and making oxygen. You just have no memory of it and so it's easy for you to say you would be happy with oblivion because you think you had it before--but actually your have no memory of suffering.

The whole idea that reality is based on what you REMEMBER is mind-boggling.


Anagrammy

Mark Twain: “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

Love this quote/thought!

Same goes for me: I was very content before this life.

And the evidence indicates I'm going to be very content after this life:)

The spirit-in-a-body folks say that God erased our hard drive when we were born. They also might say that when we're in dreamless sleep the spirit is out taking a break and doesn't download that time to the brain.

But I have no reason to believe spirits exist.

That reminds me of a tangental issue. Why are the ghosts some people claim to see often wearing clothes? Does clothing have spirits? Does your clothing die when you do?

Stray Mutt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The spirit-in-a-body folks say that God erased our
> hard drive when we were born....

Next time I wanna run linux. I can build my own kernel.

Something that caused me cog-dis back in the day: one of my parent's friends was taking some prescription medication that altered his personality. I remember wondering, "But isn't your personality tied to your soul? How can it change your soul?"

+1

And aren't memories supposed to be part of your spirit? But its clear that you can literally knock memories out of someone's head by damaging a specific part of their brain. In fact, I recently read an article where scientists were able to ADD "memories" to the brain by stimulating specific nerves! How does that work with the spirit?

Your immaterial spirit is affected by physical means? That doesn't make any sense! Its looking more and more like there is no spirit at all, and all we are is simply products of our brains.

Is it one's spirit that goes psychotic? Or does it just get frustrated it has to be in a malfunctioning meat machine?

Yep.

When I was a kid, I was always fascinated that the ancient Romans were marching around, kicking a$$ and doing imperial things, long before I was born. And I had no idea or awareness of them at the time they were doing their thing.

I had no awareness of anything before I was, which had to mean that when I died, all those people and empires strutting around the earth, stomping about, being dicks to one another, would keep on going, in spite of my not being around to witness it.

Nothing. I am a bubble, a window or eye opened for a brief time, that will pop and close, and then nothing will happen again, just like it did before I was.

Kinda f*cked up but there it is, and it has its own peace.

Makes basic Buddhist psychology and bushido true--minus any supernatural transmigration of karma collecting of course.

Simon LeVay and Nietzshe were both right too, basically--minus the bits of crazy and needless love of mayhem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2013 01:49PM by derrida.

It's like a wave on the ocean suffering knowing it will inevitably collapse, because that's what waves do. Instead of suffering, the wave should just realize it's actually the whole ocean "waving" and then it wouldn't suffer anymore.

That's us: waves on the ocean. We are an ocean of fermions & bosons, and their ever-changing relationships...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2013 02:55PM by kolobian.

Black. Black. Black.

I'd like to believe that I will live forever... simply because I'm selfish. Also, I would LOVE to be up in heaven gossiping about Earth drama, it would be the best reality tv around ;)