TreesNightly

The belief of a soul or spirit that can exist independent of a brain is a romantic idea that I don�t often go out of my way to debate. After all, believing that the essence of one�s identity continues after death is an understandable comfort to those dealing with mortality. That said, I�ve been asked recently why exactly I don�t believe in disembodied consciousness and figure that here is the perfect place to record my thoughts. Strictly speaking, this isn�t an atheist issue. The existence of a God doesn�t imply an afterlife nor does the absence of a deity imply that there can�t be a hereafter. The fact that the two beliefs are so often tied speaks to how religions have positioned themselves to appeal to desires in order to gain a following. By this I mean that a master who must be worshiped and a church that must be paid doesn�t fulfill many emotional wants, however, a master who can eternally reward worship and a church that serves as the proxy for heaven--that�s desirable to many. S...