Does it matter if our soul* is eternal?

Leaving religion with its heavens and hells and golden-paved avenues and abiding virgins and doting angels and disinterested saints and other high-ranking, hifalutin gods and demigods aside, is there an actual evolutionary and/or functioning purpose for an eternal soul?

In other words, does the fact that our souls are eternal matter to our day-to-day struggle to survive?

Or is this concept just a necessary illusion, one that provides us with a false sense of immortality to help us deal with our debilitating fear of death?

Anyway…

I guess we won’t know until we know, you know?

And in case you’re wondering, I just read a click-bate article about the ‘Orch-OR’ theory, so it got me to wondering…


*If the word soul is a bit too new-agey and metaphysical for you, replace it with consciousness

6 thoughts on “Does it matter if our soul* is eternal?”

  1. You’ve asked the Ultimate Question! The one I grapple with daily, especially as I’ve grown older. My childhood religious faith, taught to me by family and community, says yes, our souls are eternal. Now, I only have vestiges of that faith. But I continue to believe it is. The neuronal basis posited by Orch OR is interesting but not conclusive. I have no idea what form we might take after we die. But we live on in memories and other ephemeral ways. As you said, we’ll know when we know.

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    • It’s scary cool how science is always getting us closer to affirming and/or enabling our spiritual beliefs and desires. While it’s unclear now if our soul/consciousness is eternal, it’s quite obvious it will be soon when the tech is ready for us to download it to a hard drive… well, I guess it will be as eternal as the power source.

      Reply

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