The Random Comic Strip

The Random Comic Strip

Words to live by...

"How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterward."

[Spanish Proverb]

Ius luxuriae publice datum est

(The right to looseness has been officially given)

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

Apparently, the crossword puzzle that disappeared from the blog, came back.


Monday, August 24, 2015

Proof Of What?


I have been watching the show "Proof" since its beginning. Why would this guy bother with this series? I'll try to explain...

I don't believe in an afterlife. According to my late mother, neither did my father. Still, I am interested in the concept and, therefore,more than willing to explore it.

Perhaps some background: I think humans created religions to explain not only the mysteries of life but to answer the great question of death. Few, in my opinion, are willing to accept death as an end. We fear it... one minute a person is alive and the next lifeless. Can it be that simple? Our egos simply find that hard to accept. So we invent religions to not only explain crop failures, hard times and good, but to alleviate the cessation of life. A reward of some sort for living a good life is promised after death and you go on "living" for eternity. There is also punishment for those who do not live good lives.

But, in both cases, life is continued and that is the point, I think. Death is but a transition between physical life and this "afterlife." We toy with (in poems and stories) the cessation of life as "eternal sleep." but even that implies that life goes on after we die.

We don't know, of course, what really happens after we die. I think it is the cessation of consciousness. Call it what you will but I do not think there is anything after death.

In the series, a terminally ill (cancer) billionaire funds inquiries into the possibility of life after death based on Near Death Experiences (NDE's) there is also a recurring character who is a psychic who claims that he talks to the spirits. The show delves into NDE's and finds intriguing clues about life after death but, of course, it cannot definitively answer the question.

A religion might say one must have faith, that we mere humans are not privy to such knowledge, that maybe we couldn't handle it.

I think whatever you wish to believe is fine with me... short of performing human sacrifices, that is.

2 comments:

Tal Hartsfeld said...

Keep that Occam's Razor sharp, even though it sometimes really hurts when it "slices" you.
Death is the antithesis of living. Everything has a polar opposite.

The Bible mentions resurrection---but, on dying, clearly states that "the dead have no memories, can feel no joy or sorrow, have no awareness of what's around them". Or something along that line.

Point is, outside of the theoretical possibility of probable resurrection, death is total loss of all consciousness and awareness as far as the actual scriptures themselves are concerned.

Douglas said...

My son, when he was 9 and learned of his grandfather's passing (from cancer), said he thought he would come back as someone else. As far as I knew at the time, no one had schooled him on reincarnation.