I think about death. A lot. And it's not out of some desperately childish desire to appear dark and morbid because that isn't the case at all. Personally I don't find death or the act of dying to be something fearful or in some way grim since I see it as just another part of the process - and besides I was born dark and morbid, I don't need to pretend it. Not to mention that I've been faced with a lot of significant deaths throughout my life so after having to be continually faced with it, the fascination and intrigue has ingrained itself into the very fibers of my being.I must admit, it's been a tumultuous relationship thus far. I've loved death. I've hated it. I've feared it. I've called upon it. I've worshiped it. I've disrespected it. I perpetually wonder and ponder about it and, up until recently, I thought I had a reasonable enough opinion about it.
As much as I would prefer not to, I do infrequently refer to myself as an Agnostic Atheist. Try as I might to avoid pigeonholing myself or subscribing to any kind of definition or values, at times it's easiest just to summarise my stance in two words rather than have to delve into a long, often repetitive tangent about spiritualism and philosophy. I know it's the lazy way out, especially since I wouldn't even call myself that if I really had to, but sometimes it's more practical to simply not give a shit.
I had always taken the Atheistic stance that we are just meat and bones and when we die, our bodies rot and crumble back into the nothingness we came from. Consciousness ceases to exist and therefore the entity within us is no more, and that is that.
However up until recently, when I started to become really interested in Graham Hancock, my perception on Consciousness and death has shifted to perhaps a more Agnostic stance in which death is not the final stop, but rather a transit point. I still can't say I am completely converted though as I was reflecting upon this new found interest and perception I remembered how, once upon a time, I was considering joining the wonderful world of Cryonics.
A few years ago after a fun drinking session with a friend, the subject of death and dying made its inevitable way into our conversation. It was during this time that he revealed to me how he firmly believed in Cryonics, so much so that he was prepared to forfeit his pension in order to contribute the finances towards his Cryonics plan.
That's right folks, for just $30,000 you too can have your head removed from your body and suspended on cold ice until one day (hopefully) technology becomes sophisticated enough to reanimate you and bring you back into existence. And why not? Is the idea so far-fetched from the possibilities available to us today? Doesn't a form of cryonics currently exist whenever we put sperm, tissue, stem cells into storage for later use? Why shouldn't that theory extend to the human brain as well?
However this then begs the question of whether or not consciousness is merely a by-product of our imagination and brain. Does the signal really switch off when the motor stops running, or does it merely find another vessel from which to transmute? It's a perplexing conundrum I have found myself thinking a lot about recently; a bizarre inner battle between the reductionist-self and the new found hypothetical self.
I've kind of gone the same way too (atheist towards agnostic), but after some strange experiences and a lot of contemplation my ideas about life and death has become more and more blurred. E.g. the first life on earth emerged ca 3.6 billion y.a., and before that things were just unanimated molecules. Somehow molecules assembled in a defined way to become "alive" but still no consciousness were there until billions of years later when cells somhow assembled to become conscious, i.e. by what we call brains. I kind of wonder if brains may be some kind of antennae for some physical energy which science now cannot measure...or if consciousness is created in the brain only and dies with it. I mean, 100 years ago no one would believe you if you would give them a lecture of DNA and proteins, so there are most definitely things about life and death that we now think of as unbelievable that may actually be somewhat accurate.
ReplyDeleteSorry for this long ranting, but your post was interesting :)
Great comment, I never even contemplated the pre-brain stages of existence! I really like the 'Stoned ape' theory so I wonder if there was something that contributed to the actual creation of the brain, much like mushrooms may very well have manifested imagination and creativity into our ancestors.
ReplyDeleteBut even then, it still comes down to which came first - consciousness or the brain? Are we even so certain that the brain is responsible for consciousness or just guessing because, as you say, we don't really know that much just yet!
Ah yes the stoned ape theory is tempting...I think human society needs a minor percentage of people that are a bit unpredictive and are testing mental limits, otherwise I guess we would still be living as our ancestors. The Nobel laureate Kary Mullis who invented PCR (a nowdays essential technique in biology/medicin) took a lot of LSD during the time of his most progressive work, and I've been fascinated by that connection ever since I first heard about it...
DeleteExactly! Very interesting topic. Hope you won't give up blogging like I've done ;)
Not just Mullis (who did not invent PCR btw, but improved it), but there's plenty of senior researchers and world-changers who have taken copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs at some point in their existence.
DeleteIn some ways, people who have a certain level of critical, reasoned thinking are unresistingly drawn to testing the boundaries of their own minds - witness Dawkins admitting he would be more than happy to take LSD himself.
There's a point at which psychedelic drugs can be used quite therapeutically for re-programming of thinking, and restructuring of understanding of self. This has been abused quite widely by acid cults, governments, and criminals to create subservient followers, soldiers, and victims.
In taking such a drug, people open themselves to critical thinking, the kinds of which are actually quite mirrored in the forms of thinking you are supposed to learn during university and study. Albeit in a now completely uncontrolled, and unstructured manner.
So of course, such things are appealing to the minds of the "great". It's another experiment, another result, and just another plane of study.