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Rule 21 – Gods, Science and Death
2009.10.01 Rule 21 – There are no gods. Only people born to believe in gods. Science will provide the correct answers given enough time and critique, including the answer to when someone is dead. The concept of God seems to be embedded in the being of most humans. Evolutionary wise it makes sense. Amongst prey animals it seems that the best way to survive is to follow the group and thus the leader of the group. You can see this in the way ducks fly, cows follow their matriarch, and just about any animal that is a group (heard) animal will have one general leader. With the advent of intelligence it seems mankind has evolved to accept something as there ultimate leader. And since man is both conscious, intelligent, and empathetic it appears he has accepted that his conscious cannot go away since he knows that others still exist when his conscious does not. In order to overcome this very painful truth mankind has invented an imaginary place where his conscious (soul) goes to once his physical body dies. And of course the leadership aspect is given to a nebulous God figure who, like consciousness, can never be seen, heard, or felt. This appears to be ingrained within the human mind beginning when the brain forms. But like everything else in life not all brains developed this characteristic any more than all brains develop highly mathematical abilities. For those that are agnostic and are not really sure, I believe the following anonymous1,2 quote would apply: “Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but…will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” Anonymous Finally – At present there is no good non-medical way to determine exactly when someone dies. About the best we can do right now is say at what point and under what conditions a person is no longer alive. As science advances this will change and the rule will be changed to reflect that. 1 http://threeshoutsonahilltop.blogspot.com/2011/06/marcus-aurelius-and-source-checking.html This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and the HypatianSociety.org as well as any noted 3rd party attributions. |
