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
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.
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.
Just 7 words: You die, and the lights go out.
But can you prove it while the lights are still on?
Nope. Never was any good at proving something, especially a negative. The way I figure it, if my take on it isn’t true I can be pleasantly surprised.
I’d certainly be surprised; less certain as to whether it would be a pleasant one.