Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pastis]

^ When you die, you will cease to exist, nobody will care, and you will immediately be forgotten. Oh well.

Let me spell it out for you:

1) you have a 3rd grader's understanding of the world.

2) since you're an adult, that means you're stupid.

Get it?

[KirbyMagnus]

[mindmetoo]

[mindmetoo]

[Rteacher]

"Itaewonguy" is more spiritually receptive than most of the other posters on this thread probably because he's not as puffed-up or as fearful of the idea that consciousness continues after the demise of the body.

Real material science is hard science where you have to prove that a particular explanation is really a necessary explanation of what happened.

But with regard to things like evolution or origins of the universe the standard of "proof" is lowered to merely showing that an explanation is "compatible".

How one interprets the brain-consciousness connection is largely due to one's philosophical bias since the spiritual explanation is also compatible:

HDG...Ultimately, the soul can work without the body. A dead body that can no longer conduct spiritual energy, it is useless, like a burnt-out light bulb. Now, if you say that by manipulating the physical light bulb you can modify the light in different ways, that doesn�t prove that the light bulb produces the light. In the same way, if you touch the brain in different areas you can modify consciousness � if you fool around with the conductor you are going to modify the manifestation of what is being conducted. That�s an obvious point. So all these experiments in the brain don�t indicate or suggest that the brain produces consciousness. It is a childish idea that consciousness is produced by the brain, there is no evidence of that. The brain conducts consciousness.

Student 1: But there is no evidence of that.

HDG: There is spiritual evidence. If there is no evidence this way or that way materially, then why are they so eager to conclude that it happens the material way? You see, they betray their own desires, as in a Freudian slip you betray or you reveal what you want to be true. Let�s say you are presented with a picture a little ambiguous and they ask: �what�s happening here?� And you say: �well this is a ship sinking in the ocean, and everyone is dying.� And the psychologist says: �hmm.� �And this little speck over here is a little kid. His mother just threw him overboard because she hates him.� �Oh, really?� At that point the psychologist starts interpreting.

So in the same way, here we have a somewhat ambiguous situation. We have consciousness, we have the physical brain, and we are trying to figure out which way it goes. I think it is very revealing to see the way people interpret it because it reveals something about the desires, the hopes of certain people. Certain people desire to believe, and they do believe it because they want it, that consciousness is produced by the brain. That is an interesting desire, because epiphenomenalism � to say that consciousness is a by-product of the brain, that there is no consciousness existing above and beyond the physical brain � disqualifies us, as living beings, from perpetual existence. We get knocked out of the box.

They want to believe that. That is a very curious mental frame, if you think about it. Here is a group of people who want to believe that they are going to die, even though there is no real evidence of that. The body certainly dies, that we know. Now, if we say that consciousness has his own existence beyond the body, then what happens at the time of death is like a whole new ball game, and we need to figure out what happens to the consciousness. And not only at the time of death, even right now.

�If I do have a consciousness that exists beyond the body, how did that happen? Do I have some type of responsibility in relation to that consciousness? Maybe the body is not so important, what should I do then?� It opens up a whole new dimension of responsibilities, of inquiry.

Yet certain people want to avoid all that. They just want to brush it all aside and believe that consciousness is produced by the body, because by believing that you don�t have to worry about spiritual things. They also want to believe that their existence will be terminated, that there is a definite term in it. Since they could believe something else, it is a very interesting thing: why is it that some people want to believe they are going to die? It is a type of death wish. They are frightened by the idea that they are not going to die, or they are irritated by it, or disturbed by it. They are disturbed by life itself. The idea of perpetual life doesn�t appeal to them, because if it did appeal to them they would go that way. The evidence doesn�t at all discourage eternal life. There is nothing at all within the realm of science to discourage one from thinking that he is eternal. Material science may not confirm it, but it in no way discourages it. It is a whole separate field of inquiry...
http://www.acharyadeva.com/en/life/absolutetruth.php

[KirbyMagnus]

Rteacher.

I don't think anybody wants to meet oblivion after we die. I would dearly love for the consciousness to exist after death but I just don't think it is possible.

That does not make me spiritually weak. I find a profound beauty in life without an afterlife. We are born, we live, we die. New life is created to replace us.

Is this life not enough?

[ED209]

[bovinerebel]

[Underwaterbob]

Those who think quantum mechanics give us any reason to believe in our receiving consciousness from elsewhere need to start proving themselves by running through (into) brick walls at high speeds. The probability of either occurring is likely comparable (the math would be a nightmare though).

[bovinerebel]

[Underwaterbob]

[bovinerebel]

[Underwaterbob]

[bovinerebel]

[tomato]