When do we die?
[Currently listening to: Otherwise from the album "Charango" by Morcheeba]
Okay, obviously once the heart stops beating we are physically dead, but I am talking more about the “spiritual death” for the lack of a better word.
Now i am not really talking about an after life (I do not believe in one) but rather about the spiritual death.
I once read:
As long as someone remembers us we are still alive.
I like this sentiment, I would say we could go a bit further: As long as something we affected in our (physical) lifes is still around we are still alive.
Now that is the human component, but what about the “Ghost in the Machine”? Information about us is stored in a myriade of computer systems. What I am writing here right now, these ideas will most likely exist in a digital form longer after I am physically dead. Does that mean I am still alive? Or is this a bit like “Does a tree make a sound if nobody hears it fall?” question?
We leave bread crumbs of our existence in so many computer systems these days, that really all it needs is the ability for someone (something) to remember us we have already achieved immortality.
So what’s the verdict? Are we all eternal now? Or will we all just disappear once our heart stops beating and we expel air from our lungs for the last time?
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I read a similiar philosophy in one of Terry Pratchett’s books. The German title is “Alles Sense!”. I was astonished to find philosophical considerations in a humourous book like this.
I personally think that our concept of personal identity, consciousness or “the thing that is ‘me’” is so messed up and far from reality that our concept of death can never be accurate. If we start from our “everyday” concept of personal identity and begin asking questions about death, it’s just pointless. When You have the wrong basic conceptions as an axiomatic basis, it makes no sense asking questions that are based on those wrong basic ideas.
I would say: There is “something” that is eternal. (Or at least somewhat close to eternal, when compared with a human biological life span.) But this “something” is not anything that we would identify with – not even remotely. If an average person were to see what this eternal “something” is, he would be irritated and would not recognize it as anything that he knows or can relate to.
That what we call “me” will vanish and disappear when our neurocomputer stops working. But as You wrote, there is something that will go on. It is something that was there before we were born, was there throughout our lifetime, and it will still be there after our biological death. We are part of it, integrated. It is neccessary to develop a very highly “cosmic” perception and understanding to get a glimpse of what that is. To our everyday consciousness, it is absurd, if not even repugnant. And it is nothing that is captured by philosophy, nor science, nor religion. If You try to see it only on scientific terms, You end up with a twisted view on it that will never turn out right. But if You allow “esoteric” thinking, You might develop an idea that is more satisfying to You, but still, that idea would be utter nonsense – just a product of Your imagination. I think there is another way of thinking, but I find it hard to describe it.
After all, this is a very new area for me. It is not long ago that I started to develop ideas like the one mentioned here. It’s damn hard to express them without the risk of severe misunderstandings. Also, everything I mention here is still “under development”.