Re: souls
[email protected]
In a message dated 1/17/2002 5:49:37 PM Pacific Standard Time,
[email protected] writes:
a soul. But, on the other hand, there's no particular reason to believe that.
And I'm comfortable with holding those seemingly opposing thoughts in my head
at one time <G>.
The model of this lifetime that works for me is that we're here to develop
something - probably sensitivities of various kinds - to improve our
character in some way. And it makes sense to me that there's a reason for
that and it is either to help civilization progress even though we won't be
part of it after we're dead - or because we will still be part of it in some
way that we can't at all foresee. It seems obvious to me that we're built to
"learn" and to try to improve ourselves and so the purpose of life, if there
is one, has something to do with that. Now - there may be no purpose to life
and that's okay - like Sandra said it doesn't really matter. I still have
family and friends and I still have things to do and I still try constantly
to figure out how to live a life that seems "good" to me. My behavior won't
be any different one way or the other. And I'm WAY too much of a scientist to
just "accept" on faith that there is an afterlife where some sort of soul
lives on. So I think of it as a "model" and it works as a way to live because
ANY choice of what to believe is just that - a chosen model. This one makes
sense to me. It isn't "science" since it can't be proved wrong - at least not
in this lifetime. But I guess it IS science <G> but only within the
constructs of the model that includes the existence of an afterlife since
that'll be the time when the assumption of a soul will be tested empirically.
Wait - I'm going in circles again -- doesn't that just ALWAYS seem to happen
when we think about these kinds of things? <BEG> Still, it is fun.
--pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected] writes:
> IF my soul is going to last for many more lifetimes, what's the hurry? AndI find it conventient to operate according to a model that says, yes, I have
> if I'm a big fancy bacteria with a computer and a car, what's the hurry?
>
> Tonight we're having someone for dinner. That's for real.
>
> Tomorrow morning a family I like a lot is coming for lunch and
> game-playing.
>
> Kirby wants to learn to cook.
>
> Holly is spending the night with her friend.
>
> Those things are between me and any need to know what will happen when
> we're
> all dead.
a soul. But, on the other hand, there's no particular reason to believe that.
And I'm comfortable with holding those seemingly opposing thoughts in my head
at one time <G>.
The model of this lifetime that works for me is that we're here to develop
something - probably sensitivities of various kinds - to improve our
character in some way. And it makes sense to me that there's a reason for
that and it is either to help civilization progress even though we won't be
part of it after we're dead - or because we will still be part of it in some
way that we can't at all foresee. It seems obvious to me that we're built to
"learn" and to try to improve ourselves and so the purpose of life, if there
is one, has something to do with that. Now - there may be no purpose to life
and that's okay - like Sandra said it doesn't really matter. I still have
family and friends and I still have things to do and I still try constantly
to figure out how to live a life that seems "good" to me. My behavior won't
be any different one way or the other. And I'm WAY too much of a scientist to
just "accept" on faith that there is an afterlife where some sort of soul
lives on. So I think of it as a "model" and it works as a way to live because
ANY choice of what to believe is just that - a chosen model. This one makes
sense to me. It isn't "science" since it can't be proved wrong - at least not
in this lifetime. But I guess it IS science <G> but only within the
constructs of the model that includes the existence of an afterlife since
that'll be the time when the assumption of a soul will be tested empirically.
Wait - I'm going in circles again -- doesn't that just ALWAYS seem to happen
when we think about these kinds of things? <BEG> Still, it is fun.
--pam
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]