Question by Narathzul Arantheal: Why would you think consciousness can survive death?
All the evidence we have points to your consciousness being tied to the functioning of your brain. A damaged brain doesn’t lead to a damaged consciousness for no reason.
After death you don’t have a brain, so all the evidence we have suggests there will be no consciousness either. Could that be wrong? It could. But is it likely to be wrong? Heck no.
Under these circumstances wouldn’t we need something pretty solid to believe the consciousness can survive death?
zIp-E – Not familiar with those but I don’t see what’s so incredible about animals’ memories surviving the loss of some brain parts. Memories aren’t equally housed everywhere, brain regions are at least partly specialized. Removing a part that controls, say, smell will lose you your sense of smell it won’t make you lose your memories.
zIp-E – Sure, I’ll sign the idea that we don’t understand everything about memories yet. Still all the evidence we have points to your consciousness being inseparably tied to the functioning of your brain. Meaning believing it will survive death is pretty far-fetched and we’d need strong evidence to claim that.
Best answer:
Answer by Mackey
I do not think that. I think it is rather silly notion.
What do you think? Answer below!
I never have, that myth lies in the religious nut bar domain.
There is no evidence, whatsoever, to indicate that we somehow survive the death of our bodies. None. It’s a fantasy people entertain to assuage their fear of death. Period.
because I believe Jesus Christ.
Why would you think you know more than Jesus Christ?
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Luke 16:19-31
And why do we see multiplied thousands of reported NDE’s some that have been confirmed clinically dead, confirming this very thing?
http://near-death.com/evidence.html
I don’t really have an opinion on consciousness surviving death (as I have never died, nor has anyone else ever returned to tell the tale) but I would just like to point something out…
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Have you ever read any of Karl Lashley’s works regarding ‘engrams’, and how removing parts of animals brains didn’t affect their memory?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Lashley
Edit: My point is that it isn’t fully understood how memory is stored yet. There is ‘Multiple Trace Theory’ of course but there are problems with it too. So, basically, I think it is fruitless to speculate on the consciousness of the dead when we don’t fully understand the consciousness of the living.
One dies by death.
Absolutely!
Dead is dead but its far from settled regarding the brain being the residence of consciousness. There is no design and no rules and no neat compartments where each particular job is done. The nervous system pervades the entire body and so, to some degree, consciousness resides in the entire body.
there is NO evidence for consciousness being tied to the brain. thats an atheist article of faith.
Beleive or don’t believe. Who’s “we”? “We” don’t all have to hold the same beliefs.
I believe there’s more to it than we are able to currently explain with science. Perhaps humans will never have the answers to these questions despite their continued efforts to find them. Maybe we’re not meant to. Who knows.
I’m just not going to discount all the evidence of spiritual activity, my own personal experiences that have shown me some sort of residual energy is there despite lacking a physical vessel to contain it.
Energy doesn’t cease to exist just because a particular conduit of that energy does. If you break a lamp in your home, electricity doesn’t cease to exist – it’s just not carried through that lamp anymore.