Now, firstly, I am an athiest. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in the possibility that there is a god. It just means that I lack any belief in a god. The "agnostic" is a more neutral-sounding term for atheist. You either have some kind of belief in a god, and you are a theist, or you lack such a belief and you are an athiest. There really is no way around it. That doesn't have much to do with my post, but I just felt the need to say it.

This is for any person who believes that we have souls. Any type of "higher" self that is independent of the body, that will survive when the body perishes.

How do you account for complete loss of consciousness? When one blacks out during a drunken stupor, major surgery, or something like that. Now, if the soul survives our physical death, then it must be independent of this physical body. When the body is incapacitated, the soul should not be affected. I'd like to hear any explanation for this loss of time.

quote:Originally posted by BattleTested:

Now, firstly, I am an athiest. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in the possibility that there is a god. It just means that I lack any belief in a god. The "agnostic" is a more neutral-sounding term for atheist. You either have some kind of belief in a god, and you are a theist, or you lack such a belief and you are an athiest. There really is no way around it. That doesn't have much to do with my post, but I just felt the need to say it.

This is for any person who believes that we have souls. Any type of "higher" self that is independent of the body, that will survive when the body perishes.

How do you account for complete loss of consciousness? When one blacks out during a drunken stupor, major surgery, or something like that. Now, if the soul survives our physical death, then it must be independent of this physical body. When the body is incapacitated, the soul should not be affected. I'd like to hear any explanation for this loss of time.



This is just speculation, but i am going to answer your question with a question...

is the physical brain part of the body, or is it the soul?

Perhaps, during drunken stupors, or comas, or blackouts as you say, since the body is not completely finished, the soul does not emerge and gain this fuller awareness. Perhaps this higher conciousness is blocked out, or stays with the body, bound to a body that still needs it in some way.

But really i don't know any better, and anyone who says they do is lying.

Thanks for the responses, guys, and keep them rolling in. The brain is matierial, hence, physical. So it is, indeed, part of our physical body. The mind may be a different story. Whether the mind and brain are inseparable ties into my query.

drBOX, the situation that you posed is a possibility.

More theories?

What about your subconscious? Is your subconscious apart of you? When you fall asleep your subconscious still works right? Maybe when you die you lose all inputs and get closer to your subconscious again?

quote:Originally posted by Jesus:

What about your subconscious? Is your subconscious apart of you? When you fall asleep your subconscious still works right? Maybe when you die you lose all inputs and get closer to your subconscious again?

Both forms of consciousness are the result of the structure and activation state of neurons in your brain. They can only exist so far as your brain works.

The soul, on the other hand, if it is a thing that exists after death, could not be tied to the physical bodies. Hence BattleTested's conundrum.

A possible answer to the riddle: We are never conscious of our soul, but the soul is 'conscious' of us.

Last year, I had a seizure that almost killed me (caused by a drug overdose). I've done a lot of thinking on this subject, and I've come to the following conclusion:

When we black out or lose consciousness, our nervous systems are impaired, either by alcohol, an abnormal electrical discharge, or phyiscal injury, etc. Our brains are "off-line", we cannot react to the outside world, we are completely cut off. In a sense, we have ceased to exist. So why should death be any different than what we "experience" when we are unconscious?

Death is simply our brains turning off and never turning back on, due to structural damage or damage to the support systems (heart, lungs, liver, etc.). The only difference between death and unconsciousness is that when we're unconscious, we have the potential to "turn back on", if the conditions are right.

So, the big question is: is there a ghost in the machine of our brains? I see no evidence to suggest that there is.

quote:Originally posted by Social Junker:

Last year, I had a seizure that almost killed me (caused by a drug overdose). I've done a lot of thinking on this subject, and I've come to the following conclusion:

When we black out or lose consciousness, our nervous systems are impaired, either by alcohol, an abnormal electrical discharge, or phyiscal injury, etc. Our brains are "off-line", we cannot react to the outside world, we are completely cut off. In a sense, we have ceased to exist. So why should death be any different than what we "experience" when we are unconscious?

Death is simply our brains turning off and never turning back on, due to structural damage or damage to the support systems (heart, lungs, liver, etc.). The only difference between death and unconsciousness is that when we're unconscious, we have the potential to "turn back on", if the conditions are right.

So, the big question is: is there a ghost in the machine of our brains? I see no evidence to suggest that there is.

My thoughts exactly.