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Pastimes : History's effect on Religion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Volsi Mimir who wrote (32)	5/6/2003 11:37:56 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 520

This is very fascinating. Thanks for sharing it. I guess at its core it comes down to the issue of is the whole bigger than the sum of its parts. There are a couple of Zen koans that come to mind (e.g. what was your face before your parents were born), though I think the normal interpretation of them is somewhat different. We have used our minds to invent complex belief systems to explain death. None of these paint a picture of ourselves as excess baggage; none cast us simply as tools for transmitting DNA. Yet when we trace the origin of our death beyond mind and belief, to its true beginnings --- the death of individual cells -- we come to a rather harsh and unflattering conclusion: the irrelevance, in the grander scheme of the universe, of our somatic selves. No wonder belief so often triumphs over reason. BUT there is also no reason to believe the author's perspective as being reasonable. For example, countries and cultures are more than just the sum of their people and their geological layout. Countries have lent themselves to creation of ideas and changing the world in a way that has been distinct from just a bunch of human beings. Not taking into account things such as ESP and paranormal phenomenon, we are still left with the issue of lack of proof is not a disproof. Given that, I choose to believe that, in absence of contrary evidence, my instincts are as good of a "proof" as any "reason". All living creatures seem to naturally behave in a manner that is "right". By this I mean instinctively they eat, mate, live, and if we can call it so "believe" in a manner that is most beneficial to their existence and helps them with their environment. The belief in after life is ingrained in our genes. So I don't see why I should disregard my genetic predisposition in absence of strong evidence to the contrary. ST