What is life and what constitutes living?
What differentiates my mass of organs and tissue, and from having a qualitative state of living, from a mass of wood that was once a living organism (tree) and is now a chair that I am sitting on? When does life truly end and start anew? At one point the tree stopped living and became a stationary piece of office furniture that is now stationed a rough 3,000 miles away from the forest it once dwelled in. Does the tree carry it's living qualities unto the chair, or does the premonition of life just leave a tree similarly to a soul? Where does science begin to become inept in explaining the institution of life, and blind faith (whether it's religion or lack of religion) become the explaining factor? Also, what's the difference between blind faith and science anyhow? Those that put their faith in science are basically becoming believers in a blind faith anyhow. Unless you are the actual person to be conducting experiments and conducting research, you are a follower in blind faith, albeit a more explainable blind faith, but nonetheless, a man made faith system.
The way I see it, those that believe in science are the pessimists and those that put their faith in religion are the optimists; and these two factions are at war forever.
I have always been fascinated by the aspect of natural life known as death. I know this sounds like a dark and gothic statement, or something that you might hear in a Tim Burton movie, but it is utterly and completely true. Nobody on this earth knows what happens after we die, and as much as people want to call it a supernatural phenomenon, there is nothing more natural on this earth. Everyday living organisms live and every day living organisms die, from the smallest amoeba to a beluga whale, life ends; and this is fascinating. Where do all of these entities go? The physical form stays here on earth to pollute the environment with smells and decaying carcasses, but is there a spiritual form that carries on somewhere else, or is this just our human nature to personify every aspect of life? Humans tend to attribute their personalities to a different aspect of their physical bodies, in other words, differentiate their brains from the rest of their body. With this in mind, is this where the notion of a "soul" has come from, our dire need to personify everything? If this is true, how can one explain the notion of deja vu without invoking a sense of other worldliness? When one is struck with an intense feeling of deja vu, one is instantly transported to an other world dimension in which that person has the overwhelming feeling of already being in that exact location before, even when they have never been there before. Can this be attributed to dreams? Are dreams a portal into another dimension, a window to other worldliness? When we dream, do we leave our bodies in a spiritual form and transgress to another life we may or may not be living somewhere else? Can our spirits inhabit other physical forms while we lay dormant in our beds? (Reading over this passage, I now realize that I sound like homeless man who has done acid everyday of his pitiful life since returning from Vietnam in the 70s.)
I know this is getting long and nobody has probably even read this far, but another aspect of life that intrigues me is a period I like to refer to as "pre-life." Where do we lay dormant in the years that we are not born into a physical form? For example, before August 7th, 1986 (or the nine months prior rather) where did I exist? Is that the point right there? Do we not exist before the very point of conception? That is hard for me to grasp, thinking scientifically or religiously, because of the fact that thousands of years have passed in one instant my entire life has been created from a sperm entering an egg? I know people can argue that our personalities and self being is molded from a social standpoint and basically, we are all crafted by the society we live in, but still, this is such a strange concept to me. I guess it is just human nature to want to feel infinite too (or I am just an egocentric bastard that is only thinking about where I have been and where I am going.)
The truth is out there, man...I want to believe!
Ryan
I didn't mean for this to be so long, so if you read it all, I appreciate it.
What differentiates my mass of organs and tissue, and from having a qualitative state of living, from a mass of wood that was once a living organism (tree) and is now a chair that I am sitting on? When does life truly end and start anew? At one point the tree stopped living and became a stationary piece of office furniture that is now stationed a rough 3,000 miles away from the forest it once dwelled in. Does the tree carry it's living qualities unto the chair, or does the premonition of life just leave a tree similarly to a soul? Where does science begin to become inept in explaining the institution of life, and blind faith (whether it's religion or lack of religion) become the explaining factor? Also, what's the difference between blind faith and science anyhow? Those that put their faith in science are basically becoming believers in a blind faith anyhow. Unless you are the actual person to be conducting experiments and conducting research, you are a follower in blind faith, albeit a more explainable blind faith, but nonetheless, a man made faith system.
The way I see it, those that believe in science are the pessimists and those that put their faith in religion are the optimists; and these two factions are at war forever.
I have always been fascinated by the aspect of natural life known as death. I know this sounds like a dark and gothic statement, or something that you might hear in a Tim Burton movie, but it is utterly and completely true. Nobody on this earth knows what happens after we die, and as much as people want to call it a supernatural phenomenon, there is nothing more natural on this earth. Everyday living organisms live and every day living organisms die, from the smallest amoeba to a beluga whale, life ends; and this is fascinating. Where do all of these entities go? The physical form stays here on earth to pollute the environment with smells and decaying carcasses, but is there a spiritual form that carries on somewhere else, or is this just our human nature to personify every aspect of life? Humans tend to attribute their personalities to a different aspect of their physical bodies, in other words, differentiate their brains from the rest of their body. With this in mind, is this where the notion of a "soul" has come from, our dire need to personify everything? If this is true, how can one explain the notion of deja vu without invoking a sense of other worldliness? When one is struck with an intense feeling of deja vu, one is instantly transported to an other world dimension in which that person has the overwhelming feeling of already being in that exact location before, even when they have never been there before. Can this be attributed to dreams? Are dreams a portal into another dimension, a window to other worldliness? When we dream, do we leave our bodies in a spiritual form and transgress to another life we may or may not be living somewhere else? Can our spirits inhabit other physical forms while we lay dormant in our beds? (Reading over this passage, I now realize that I sound like homeless man who has done acid everyday of his pitiful life since returning from Vietnam in the 70s.)
I know this is getting long and nobody has probably even read this far, but another aspect of life that intrigues me is a period I like to refer to as "pre-life." Where do we lay dormant in the years that we are not born into a physical form? For example, before August 7th, 1986 (or the nine months prior rather) where did I exist? Is that the point right there? Do we not exist before the very point of conception? That is hard for me to grasp, thinking scientifically or religiously, because of the fact that thousands of years have passed in one instant my entire life has been created from a sperm entering an egg? I know people can argue that our personalities and self being is molded from a social standpoint and basically, we are all crafted by the society we live in, but still, this is such a strange concept to me. I guess it is just human nature to want to feel infinite too (or I am just an egocentric bastard that is only thinking about where I have been and where I am going.)
The truth is out there, man...I want to believe!
Ryan
I didn't mean for this to be so long, so if you read it all, I appreciate it.
 | Currently listening: New Moon By Elliott Smith Release date: 2007-05-08 |
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