by onacruse 55 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Matter exists.
Matter does not disappear from the universe; it transforms, at times, but in some form or other (energy) it continues to exist.
So what is "consciousness"? It also exists (and we are individually proof of that fact).
Can our personal "consciousness" cease to exist?
Perhaps our consciousness is part of a flow of energy and knowledge that ebbs and flows through the universe in various forms, feeding young things and helping them to grow.
Nina (feeling very existential tonight)
eeeemmmmmmmm, yes, just feeling it for a mo.
Urk! Be careful! Onacruse is going DEEEEEP again!
Devil's advocate, here. Consciousness could be an illusion supported by our neural network. We just FEEL eternal, because consciousness is as natural to us as breathing.
Watching my beloved cat pass away, I was struck by the dramatic difference between dead flesh and living flesh. Living, Jesse's body pulsed, breathed, pinked, held itself together. Very quickly after he passed away, everything inside collapsed, and he started leaking. It is astounding, really, that living creatures hold themselves together as little bits of communal cells, all supporting each other. And how quickly that can all fall apart.
Can our personal "consciousness" cease to exist?
IMHO.... "No, it can't" ....
Facing our mortality is daunting.
Or, perhaps, facing our immortality is even more daunting.
jgnat:
Consciousness could be an illusion supported by our neural network.
LOL; I swear, it seems like you can read my mind! I just got off the phone with a good friend...we talked for a fair bit about this, and he said the same thing.
So, is our "being" just a coincidental combination of atoms and molecules, haphazardly arranged into a DNA sequence and neural hard-wiring, and which must, as a necessity of termination of the physical organism, cease to exist?
Cruisy, sir, I am not ready to come to a conclusion yet. I figure after I die will be soon enough. Scarier, however, was this:
I swear, it seems like you can read my mind!
I'm fairly convinced our bodies are only vessles that harbor who "we" are. I watched my father take his last living breath. It's very surreal to think back on it. To stand infront of someone who is dying... to stand there when someone has told you to say your goodbyes because it won't be long until they pass away, is an odd and obviously somber type of anxiousness. It's almost unexplicable to convey the feelings of having to watch for their every breath, wondering if each was their last and to keep waiting after they have taken that last breath until you finally realize that they are no more. What is even more un-nerving is the apparent lifelessness that exists when they have died. Just a second ago, just a moment ago, just 10 moments ago-- they were alive and warm and a "being." I'm positive there is more to it than simply our bodies giving out and ceasing to work. There is that living spark that leaves-- that is more complex than our molecular make-up. I think it's something no one can justly explain. One just has to experience seeing a life begin and cease to understand.
hmmm... I re-read the original post. Do we continue to have some sort of concousness after we die? I cannot be sure on that. Being forever taught that we do not it's difficult for me to believe otherwise. Things happened after my father died that made me question that though.
The day after he died my little sister found 3 missed calls from the hospital room where we had all spent the previous 2 weeks... the calls were dated the day after he passed when no one was anywhere near that hospital, let alone that hospital room. Also the day after, my father's deer antlers that he had in a box that was stored on a high shelf in our garage were spread out all over our lawn. Our garage appeared untouched and the box was no were to be seen.
Do we live on after we die? We all do in one form or another. In my father's funeral notice I wrote that one of the greatest comforts I had was to know that my father had a key part in shaping the life that was ahead of me and his influence would forever be imprinted in my life. In that sense, he will always live after death.
