a question- for those that believe in an afterlife and/or an immortal soul...

[dysfunctional press]

our memories/life experiences are stored in our brain, like the hard drive of a computer- when that brain dies and rots away- where does the "immortal soul" get/store it's memories and personality traits, and/or other mental/thought processes that make each of us "who we are"...?

[LuLu550]

1. you get downloaded

into a new copy in the resurrection ship.

[Bullwinkle925]

2. I like that answer...

Yippee! And the trashcan will be purged as well.

[Deja Q]

3. It is said that matter is neither created nor destroyed.

Only altered.

Even science has its own ways to make itself feel warm and comfy too.

Whatever happens happens.

[lildreamer316]

13. Exactly. n/t

[wildhorses]

4. ok--flame away but, i for one do not think our brain is the be all

end all of our existence...and we are more than the sum total of our parts.

[SPKrazy]

6. I Think That Our Brain Is Extremely Fallible

and while it is the master controller of our physical being

I agree, we are more than the sum total of our parts

:pals:

[wildhorses]

10. course we agree, both of us being southpaws and stuff

;) :pals:

[SPKrazy]

11. Well

I'm half southpaw

in my kicker!

but, of course we agree!

:hug:

[johnnie]

5. The brain is just a converter

Your thoughts are energy that gets converted into action. It's not really like a hard drive. A hard drive stores information in a man made language and then it is interpreted by electronic devices to react according to what the languge says.

Thoughts and experiences are energy that is stored in your "being" and you use your brain to decipher that energy. The brain translates that energy for you and lets you express it through your body.

[billyskank]

7. Hindus call them "samskaras"

which roughly translates as "impressions." Everything we ever do and experience causes these impressions to be imprinted on us, and they are the inspiration for our desires, likes and dislikes in future births. Although we do not keep our memories in our minds from life to life, the samskaras are there, under the surface as it were.

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. All is stored in our energy auras

and the aura leaves the corpreal at mortal death, and continues on as amassed/collective energy.

Honest..that's all I know so far

[SPKrazy]

9. Hmmmm

now I know that auras exist (I've seen them)

I am less convinced that all the energy is in them? But what do I know

I've been really interested in Reiki ever since I took a course and became a Reiki level one practitioner (I only practice on myself and anyone who dares let me)

O8)

[idgiehkt]

12. I can vouch for that

thanks to the magic mushrooms :)

[lildreamer316]

15. Really?

I've never tried. That sounds like an interesting reason to do so.
(Don't worry, I'm a big girl)

[SPKrazy]

18. Be Sure You Do It With

people you trust and that you feel safe

shrooms aren't usually too intense, but sometimes...

Of course I wouldn't recommend them to anyone really, but if you are thinking about it, make sure you feel and are safe, or it can bring on anxiety and panic. Trust me on that one.

Had umpteen times of laughter and hilarity using them, then one really anxious and fearful experience because it was just a bad scene all the way around (was with people who I didn't trust, and well, it was just the catalyst for a bad experience - not a "bad trip", just a bad experience that I wish I'd never done. But then, I might not be who I am today if I hadn't)

be careful:pals:

[lildreamer316]

22. Always.

I have another thing I like to do, and I am so careful I got a test kit.
Thanks,I will keep everything you said in mind.

[SPKrazy]

19. BTW, I Love Ricard Bach

Illusions is one of my favorite books that I haven't read in a few years.

I used to read it about once a year.

maybe it's time again.

[lildreamer316]

23. Isn't he great?

I love almost all his books. They ring true to me no matter what is going on in my life.

[SPKrazy]

24. Yes They Do

I've read Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Bridge Across Forever, and Illusions is all

I started reading another one (can't remember name) it didn't reach out and grab me and I quit.

[lildreamer316]

25. If I can recommend-

It takes a bit to get to the good parts,but I found Running From Saftey to be meaningful.
Oops! I forgot "One". It's the continued story from Bridge.

[SPKrazy]

26. One=The One I Couldn't Finish

I don't know why.

I think I still have it.

:pals:

[SPKrazy]

16. Wow, There Is That

you know, it sounds a little crazy

but in some ways, I think shrooms saved my life

I was doing them quite often at the end of my drinking career. I had a lot of insights into myself that really made me more sensitive to things in life.

I don't know, maybe it was just drug induced, but I really sensed an aura of death and destruction around my life (also the last time I did them as my friends were like, you gotta quit doing these things=you aren't any fun anymore!)

that sense of that changed me in ways that I still am aware of 25 years later.

:shrug:

:hi:

[idgiehkt]

14. I think the brain is like a computer

just like I'm typing stuff into this one to translate onto this thread, what comes out is rather flat and confined to a couple of dimensions, whereas I am not. The brain is kind of your mini-computer you get at birth to help translate your oversoul into the world...some models are better than others, some get damaged, it's all kind of depending on the DNA you get and other stuff that happens from there on out how your brain develops and works. But your oversoul is really what is behind the keyboard, typing through that specific brain and set of genetic traits.

That's what I think today, anyway.

[SPKrazy]

17. That's Interesting

you know the computer has to have been made in the image of those who invented it, humans. Humans would have no other construct of logic than that which they have experienced and learned.

I think of the brain as hardware, hard wired, and with faults that can sometimes be corrected, wired around, or fixed. Other times they can't.

Who I am has to be beyond this computer hardware.

:pals:

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. Our souls are transferred

into other bodies.

[SPKrazy]

21. Don't Know

could be

:shrug:

[pitohui]

27. i'll ask a question back at you

how old are you? you do realize that most of your memories/life experiences are in the category known as "can't remember shit" don't you?

if you don't yet, you will

most people have about 2 hours worth of memories total

this is why eyewitness testimony is worthless and dna is always proving that some dude was in prison 15 years based on somebody's faulty memory of the person who raped them! we literally can't even remember the details of the most significant and traumatic experiences of our life!

it's also why when we're drunk, we tell the same 5 stories over and over

we don't remember anything while we're alive, why the heck should we remember it when we're dead and between bodies?

[Puglover]

29. Two hours total?

LOL, stop by my house sometime and I'll tell you my life story, beginning with my 1st memory of my Mom bathing me in the kitchen sink. You might want to bring an overnight bag.

[dysfunctional press]

30. 45.

so are you saying that there is an afterlife, and the spirit carries with it about 2 hours of memories...?

[billyskank]

34. After that the tape in the black box recorder loops around, you see

;)

[billyskank]

33. I know people who tell the same five stories over when they're sober

:P

[FedUpWithIt All]

28. I tend to believe we are all part of a "collective"

Everything is part of it, we just haven't learned to fully tap into it in life...yet.

[dysfunctional press]

31. and how does that apply to individual memories...

and those personality traits that are forged by life experience, etc...?

[FedUpWithIt All]

32. The hard drive would be the collective.

Once we leave our bodies we function as a part of the whole. Where all experience, time and individual thought is.

If you think of it in terms on the internet, each individual computer has the ability to work as part of and independent of the whole. Each computer that is connected is essentially a necessary part of the whole. Where is all the info stored? We can each access all of it, if we learn how and are interested in doing so. Yet no one bit stores EVERYTHING. It exists BECAUSE the parts exist.

The collective only exists because of the individual parts that make it up. A finger is not a body, it is a finger, yet it is PART of a body. A part that helps the body to function.

At some point i think we reach a place where we learn to connect "without the box". It is growth. I believe that the capability to do so is already in place, we just haven't completely figured it out yet. We think in terms of limits, which we understand. Yet everyday, even in reality, we push limits to things never thought possible. A car today is no big deal. Three hundred years ago, that would not have been the case. Does this mean a car couldn't have been possible three hundred years ago? It was simply a matter that they just hadn't figured it out yet. The pieces had not yet lined up.

I hope this makes sense. These things are often clearer in abstract thought than concrete text.

[dysfunctional press]

35. and you came to these conclusions...how?

i don't remember ANY of this being on the instruction sheet that was in the box i came in.

the way i see it- we're born, our dna and our continually evolving life experiences combine to make us who we our- our personality, intelligence, etc...and when we die- that's IT. no ups, no extras, and NOTHING carries on, except the rotting corpse.

[FedUpWithIt All]

36. Hmmm, you came with an instruction manual?

That's lucky.

For me it is a personal journey, a lot of reading, and my experiences. You asked what those of us who believe in life after death think happened to our individuality once the brain no longer functions. I answered you. I do not expect you, or anyone for that matter, to agree with me. It's not necessary. I feel comfortable in the place my understanding is at. And i respect where you are at.

See to me it really doesn't matter what we all believe. We will get were we are going regardless. If it is simply nothingness, so be it. If it is something else...well you get the gist.

I am neither worried or concerned about the end. I am more concerned about the time leading up to it. After that, i have faith that it will all work out for the best, whatever that may be.



:hi:

If you are interested in a more in depth answer about how i drew my conclusions i would be happy to answer. I suspected though it was just rhetorical question.