theory on death

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My theory on death is a bit complex and far from what anyone else has come to. That is, we do have souls, that are made up of energy, but our souls are not conscious in death.
All your thoughts, emotionsm, experiences, the people you've touched, the people you've hurt, their memories of you, etc etc, this creates energy. When one dies, this energy disperses, and could potentially blow away anywhere.... Some day centuries away, some of that energy could be used to make, lets say (for example) a bird, some of the energy might be some far distant creature on another world in an even further away time period, or possibly even living at the same time. The energy can split any number of ways and directions and can grow into life in any form at any time. But, one day your energy (soul) will be reused, in new lives. it might take thousands of years though. In the mean time, it's just like an eternal sleep, you won't be conscious, but you won't know what your missing either (which, here on earth, isn't much). And when you do come back in a new life, you won't remember anything from the previous life (obviously).

[sarcasm]Huh, thank you very much for reassuring me on death. I am so content to die now, knowing that what I am will be dispersed and forgotten.[/sarcasm]

Intresting. What lead you to these conclusions?

That wasn't very nice

I don't like being reminded of the inevitable cessation of my personality and consciousness. It's kida a sore point for me, and any attempts to reassure me with crap like this only makes it worse.

One cannot be certain of the cessation of consciousness-- if the will be strong enough, anything is possible.

Easy for you to say. Free will can easily become free won't.

I say this because of how energy works, it's scientific. Of coarse I think it is possible that one could sub-cosciously live in a dream state for a while after death, though I can't say for certain.
My theory was based on very basic levels of energy science. Right now scientists are studying energy, they've noted an apparition coming from peoples' bodies when they die. Without a body to group the energy together though, energy will disperse.... It wasn't easy for me to accept, but it is a very real possibility.

As far as I know, death is simply annihilation; my flickering flame of a soul goes out and I my body rots in the earth. Not a really pleasant image but one I have come to accept. If there is something after death, I will be pleasantly surprised, but I see no reason to live with what can only be false hope.

That said, I don't fear death at all. There is only so much life I can take. I would like to play the game for another 60 years or so and by then, I'm sure I will have had enough. I'm just not that attached to life. I have learned to treat the outcomes of my endeavors with indifference. I do that best I can and if I fail, I just move on as best I can.

Apathetic. Anyone who simply accepts death is either stupid, insane or apathetic. I believe you to be in the latter category. But I like how you say there's no reason to live with false hope.

I wouldn't say that I'm apathetic per say. There are things that I would prefer (success in the pursuit of truth, love, long life, being comfortably well off), but if my life doesn't work out that way, I shouldn't be too upset. I work very hard for these things. A truly apathetic person wouldn't work towards anything because he would believe that there wouldn't be any point. I work towards things accepting that there probably isn't any point, but I act as if there is. What would you prefer, a life of total hedonism or at least attempting to do something with your life? I like the stoic image of life as a game. What matters is how you play the game (play with integrity, honor, and skill, or with apathy or cheating). The outcome of the game over which you have minimal control, should be treated as indifferent. That is another tenant of my philosophy; I work at separating things between what is in and out of my control. That which is truly out of my control I must treat with indifference or go mad. Death is one of those things. It will come some way or other, and there is nothing I can do about it, so there is no point in worrying about it.

This is not "science". Science is the framework of knowledge that allows us to make predictions about observable events. Please state your sources for research on people dieing.

You, and may other people, suffer from the illusion that we have thoughts that can not be seen, touched and measured. This is totally false.
When you experience the taste of ice-cream, think of a friend or fall in love; your brain changes its physical state in way that can be measured and predicted (although not actually with today's equipment). There is no "spirit" or "soul" that tastes the ice-cream, it is just a change is the physical properties of the neurons in your brain.

Phenomenal experience (thoughts, sense, feelings) are not caused by physical changes in the brain.
Physical changes in the brain are not caused by phenomenal experience.
Phenomenal experiences are physical changes in the brain.
Humans, like the rest of the universe are 100% physical objects.

In death the brain is no longer able to make any of its subtle physical changes and so there are no further phenomenal experiences.


This knowledge is science because we can use it to make correct predictions about observable events.
Claiming we have a "spirit" or "soul" is not science because it can not be tested by making predictions from it.

However, just because it is not science, does not mean that you can't believe in it if it makes you feel better about your inevitable demise.

*edit* For Further reading see: "Consciousness" By J.Allan Hobson (2000 Scientific American Library Paperbacks)

It is both realistic and fatalistic to accept death, but I don't think it should lead to apathy at all.

Some might say that to accept ones eventual death, but to continue to live and develop a full life is like tidying your house up on the day before you go on holiday.
Your neighbor, who is also going on Holiday, might comment, "Whats the point of tidying the house up? We will be living in Spain in a few days!"
Well, it may be pointless in the end, but I'm going to enjoy a tidy house for the few hours before I leave whilst my apathetic neighbor will have to put up with the mess in his house for a few hours.

I may be fatalistic about tidying the house before the holiday because I accept that it won't matter once I leave, but I'm not apathetic and it pays off.

Perhaps when one dies their conciousness is cast out of existance.

When you die, you die.

You no longer exist since you are the electrical reactions between your brain cells.

What's left is an empty shell.

After you die you don't exist. You don't think, you don't want, you don't dream. Just think of it as a long dreamless nap.

You say "After you die you don't exist.".
If, as you have, you define "you" as electrical reactions etc.; this is correct, however, I think the slogan "After you die you don't exist." can be misleading because it suggests that something other than the physical exists before death: the "you".

"What's left is an empty shell." is also very misleading because it suggests that something used to be in the shell before death. As the shell is still full of body parts what do you think used to fill it before death? A "soul"? Obviously not as the "soul" is a illusion.

Instead of "After you die you don't exist.", I think a better slogan is "After you die you do not function".
Instead of "What's left is an empty shell.", I think "What's left is an everything you had before death, it just does not function." is better.