You misunderstood somewhat, George. (But in such a lovely way!) My bearings weren't tilted. But I really do wonder what those that think our individual personalities survive the destruction of the body think when they consider the detail of this proposition.
The details that I wonder about, when I consider the proposition of the survival of an individual intelligence and consciousness following the death of the bodily "vessel," (this assumes that consciousness and intelligence are, metaphorically, sort of "poured into" a physical body, and poured out at death-- that they aren't one), are theoretical, but in a way, are very practical. Sometimes practical questions can elucidate theories.
For example, without anti-convulsant medication, my daughter is subject to dozens of petit mal epileptic seizures every day, because of the condition of her brain. Insofar as she is able to experience life -- the assuaging of thirst, satisfaction of hunger, the special enjoyment of certain foods, the dislike of others, special excitement in the presence of certain of the individuals who care for her, the experiencing of physical pain, she may be said to have an individual consciousness. However it is a consciousness that, without her medication, would be less recognizably "human" to all who witness her life. What little she has been able to learn (to sit up, to hold a cup to her mouth, to move a little in her wheelchair by flailing at the floor with her feet, to brighten at the appearance of her favorites) has been quite dependent on her receiving her anti-convulsants every day.
So I wonder, for example, what people who believe her consciousness, (and theirs) will continue, really believe. Do they believe her consciousness will exist as it is now under medication? Surely not, as who would be administering the medications? Do they believe it will exist defined by the limitations of her physical brain, but somehow retaining the benefits of the anti-convulsant drugs she will have taken all her life? Or do they believe the consciousness and intelligence that will survive her death will be the one that exists in the imaginations, and only there, of her father and me?
I think about this puzzle a lot when people talk about how sure they are about survival of consciousness and intelligence or individual personality after death. My child's couldn't survive a wayward virus. Yet they believe theirs will survive the grave. |
