Rage Against the Dying of the Light

The understanding of life is more important than investigating death and hereafter. Thinking about death provides the standpoint from where we can rethink our basic assumptions about our relationship with life in terms of give and take.

``Why DOES a person die?`` -- why DOES a fruit fly die?....

...for exactly the SAME reason -- senescence -- barring an accidental squashing!

and believe me for that Fruit Fly no 72 virgin fruit flies and 72 fruitcake guys -- are waiting in the heaven.....neither -- for that Transmigrant souled `person`...

...God`s mankind/womankind is going to exactly -- the SAME place -- where God`s insects are going -- and God must love HIS insects -- more than his man and woman -- because he made so many many of them...... the old christian cliche...remember

#15 Amit : ``We hindus won`t go that far`` so how do you explain the human sacrifices that still happen in India. OK not on a mass scale but at least 5 or 6 a year. And that western priest who was burnt alive with his sons by hindu fanatics (I am not even mentioning gujrat). So please stop pointing fingers and get rid of that smug satisfaction.

Re:PM#7

A few years back, a cult of 37 people in San Francisco committed mass suicide when their leader told them that aliens were coming on asteroids to meet them in the afterlife and take them to heaven. I still remember Jay Leno joking about it this way - ``How do you get 37 people to commit suicide for you? I find it hard to convince 3 friends to help me move!!`` :-).

So I think it all depends on the depth of religious convictions and your own intellectual independence. You have large numbers of young men in the Islamic world who are ready to blow themselves up hoping to get eternal paradise and 72 virgins. We hindus won`t go that far, but I am sure the concept of ``paap-punya`` does play out in the minds of a lot of people. Christians also talk of sinning but they say that if you believe in Jesus, he will take over all your sins (quite conveniently :-) ).

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#12 ``>can we replace or recharge human body parts and make it work again??? No.. most definitely not. and Why not??? cuz... ``

cuz there is ban on stem cell research.... for one. =)

What`s love got to do, got to do with it ?

carlin: ``whenever i hear that someone has crossed over to the other side, i always picture fifth avenue``

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All life is, by no means, a mechanical identity. There is more to us than our bodies... lots more.

Why DOES a person die? his neurons stop firing? his body parts stop functioning? is it really THAT simple? is it all THAT physical??

If so... why cant we put a life back together again? why cant we make the neurons fire again? why not replace the body parts with new ones or energize them. If living beings are like a car... when their petrol runs out... why cant we refill them? we replace the parts of a car to make it work better... can we replace or recharge human body parts and make it work again??? No.. most definitely not. and Why not??? cuz there is more to our existence than mere bodies... We are different than machines... and the thing that makes us different is... the SOUL....

`` Are we actually being judged at every second for our thoughts and words and actions? ``

Yes, we are!! and we have been told so. We have been granted our free will, however. So we believe what we want to believe .... rather than what should be.

Do I KNOW it for sure? I donot... i do BELIEVE!! For all things in life cannot be known... cannot be seen, heard or felt even. Those who do not HEAR the truth are unaware of it... but that does not defy the EXISTENCE of the truth.

`` But why does it really matter what happens after we die? ``

Are you sure DEATH is where everything culminates? If one believes that life is nothing more than a chemistry within one`s body... then it really doesnt matter. But if you believe in the concept of a SOUL.. in its entirety... death is the beginning of another world... a whole lot different.

What IS reality? All that we can touch, see, smell, hear and taste? Really? Is that all? Are we equipped with EVERYTHING we need to KNOW it all?? is there a sense that we do not have? are we perfect? What are our senses? Are they anything more than an electonic interpretation of signals sent to the brain? Does the brain interpret exactly what the eyes see? Really? Does RED have the same meaning to a fly as it has for us? What am i trying to say?? That Life is not just physical.... it is not just our senses... there is more to it... Lots more!!

re. amit #5
Amit, you`ve presented a (the?) THEORY. Does reality support it, though? I mean, does the fear of hell or the the promise of heaven ACTUALLY motivate people to `behave`? Are humans really that logically wired?

Personally, I think not.

And I also think we humans are capable of higher ideals and motives, with a little contemplation/education. :)

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Hi Revathy,

Very interesting article!! Death is a morbid topic to discuss but it is certainly an invariant in our lives (along with taxes!!). I think a concept of afterlife, heaven, hell etc. keeps people in check because they are concerned as to where they land up after death. If we say that death simply means that our neurons stop firing and we become inanimate, there is virtually no need for anyone to control their behavior. Might as well do whatever pleases us within legal limits, since there is nothing at the end of the journey.

Surely we don`t know for sure `transmigration of souls is a utopian concept` nor is there one reality. i doubt we can regard this concept too simplistic, we just don`t know.

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``Our capacity to love may be our best defence against death.`` -- sounds good but has NO meaning? -- love is no defense against death -- usually we love someone to death....

.....in the same vein -- ``our capacity to (hate) may be our best defence against death`` as well -- if one is talking about immortality.......both LOVE and HATE can bestow immortality -- though none of the two are of any use to the deceased........anyway

is there an entity calle soul ? -- Yes Abdul -- there is another version of our being -- it is called our soul.....

.....we are made of matter -- our soul is made of `particles` of empty space in between our `particles` of matter....we have a material form we call material self.....we have also an immaterial self made of `particles` of minute spaces less than a millionth of an Angstrom.......we call our spritual self....

.....SOUL is an immaterial hologram of our material self....when we die our formed material body collapses like a house of material cards into a heap of `formless` matter -- (matter acquires form only with the help of empty space -- no empty space particles no matter particles....

so at our death -- does our Soul: our matterless hologram of empty space -- dies as well?-- .... swallowed up by the big empty space......or the form `matter`` dies the soul form `lives`....forever?

now that is an area my soulmate Guru Ji is yet to elucidate.....may be in next session

so the gist of the story -- don`t delude yourself -- love cannot prevent death -- love matters -- love ur loved one to death..........soul does not `matter`.