9/8 Resurrected:
\_ These are very different ideas. Belief in an
impersonal force which refrains from direct
interaction with the universe admits for the
possible existence of other metaphysical
constructs, such as an afterlife. If you deny
the existence of anything metaphysical, you are
stuck with just the physical.
\_ So you're just kind of hoping for an afterlife. No real
reasoning behind it. I guess my point is: what's the meaning
of this possible afterlife? It seems like people just project
the existential questions of this mortal life into this
afterlife, and that settles that. But what do you do in that
afterlife? And if you believe that the universe is running
purely on physics then your life is tied to the physical
processes of your body anyway (a soul is not physical).
Of course, evidence tells this anyway (physical changes
to the brain and brain chemistry directly affect people's
minds). Personally I think the human race has the theoretical
capacity to create "heaven" right here on Earth, and elsewhere.
We just aren't quite advanced enough, don't focus all our
energies toward it, and most of us complacently accept the
standard religious placebos that avoid the question. I like
to think that we ourselves collectively hold, in some measure,
the power of our own salvation. |
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