For believers - If Consciousness is the soul, how much do you think you would retain after you die? How much would you personally WANT to retain? Any personal tragedies you want to leave behind?

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Didge Doo Profile
Didge Doo answered

This is a question I've thought about from time to time. As I get older (ancienter?) I often find myself remembering moments from as far back as my childhood when I've said or done things I'm not proud of. If I was to survive death and carry those thoughts into another life I wonder if they would consume my awareness, making mere existence a "hell"? (Mind you, there's nothing particularly heinous there, but some incidents were not very noble, either.)

It's only a exercise in "what-if" because I doubt if anybody has ever lived who could look back over their life and say, "Boy, I was great. The world was so lucky to have me."

Even Siddhartha Gautama may have found cause for regret as he sat contemplating his umbilicus.

mary adam Profile
mary adam answered

Is consciousness the soul? Soul in latin is anima, in Greek Psyche, in Hebrew nephesh and Egyptians had numerous aspects.

I think if you ever  managed to connect with God, or see through desire then you would immediately understand everything so your past would no longer matter.  Most religions have circles in them or wheels, if you break that repetitiveness then you'd experience truth.

thanked the writer.
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mary adam
mary adam commented
It wasn't about ego and vanity before civilisation. Reciprocity was important then because they worked as a group a pack. Today people are selfish and self centred.
When the Puritans went to America they described the Native Indians as "uncivilised because they didn't have a sense of self" Yet these uncivilised people welcomed them in and fed them throughout the winter for which they would of starved. The mirror test is given to two year olds to show when they gain a sense of self. But mirrors were not as important in past cultures as they are in the present day, what mattered was what you brought to the group. Now people are so self obsessed, they tweet about every aspect of their life, they want to be famous without talent, they take selfies, society has never been more separated and so more issolated crom one another. "Uncivilised" people use to be suspicious of mirtors as if they stole your soul, and in this unhealthy, self obsessed society with all its eating disorders etc you can see why.

Carl Jung was one of the fathers of psychotherapy. He spoke about the ID an animalistic side (soul comes from anima) the ego which is the bridge, and the superego a God. He believed that we were influenced by a demon and a god that's what his lesser known little book is about. Youare talking about spilt brain therapy. You belive in the unconscious and conscious.

I will take a look at Sam Harris :)
mary adam
mary adam commented
So you believe that free will does not exist that we are a product of nature or nurture. Then doesn't that support what I've already said. You said how can I possibly believe in immortality if I don't believe that we take our memories with us. What I meant is that if we are meant to live in here and now like every free creature which isn't haunted by fears of past and present and clinging to them, identifying themselves by them, then aren't we truly free to be who we are once we are not subject to the limitations of living in time?
Where as you appear to support the fact that you have no free will and are just a puppet to the limitations of your environment pretty much what I've said unless you change how you think. In the here and now you are reborn outside of time.
Cont..
As I understand Sam Harris said this :-
mary adam
mary adam commented
I refer to his comments about r@pe but they won't post them here.
He believes r@pe is natural to human beings as he believes it is natural to other species. He believes if religion didn't put great emphasis on how r@pe devalues a woman, then r@pe wouldn't be used as a tool of revenge. He sounds like a very confused man, and instead of being able to see the pitfalls in science and rational thinking which disregards personal feelings, he is out to destroy religion regardless of what he says to do so.
Our feelings make us human and often drive us to know what feels right and wrong. If a woman feels violated by r@pe then that is how she feels. Also r@pe in the animal kingdom is mostly seen between higher intelligent social groups, but within these same groups they will protect females from r@pe.
If Sam Harris thinks r@pe is natural does that mean it is only societies structure that stops men r@ping women? And not an awareness of not doing to another which you wouldn't want done to you? If that is the case how civilised are we? It also undermines us simply being a species that relies on reciprocity, it appears we are naturally violent aswell as that is what r@pe is, and that any given action is judged by what we can get away with.
Michael Poland Profile
Michael Poland answered


All the love you take with you.

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