I base my understandings on evidence; therefore I cannot accept as true those things for which I have no evidence. I have never seen any evidence whatsoever for heaven, hell, afterlife, reincarnation, or anything else that implies that our existence continues on in some form after death. The question remains, what evidence do I have, either directly or indirectly, that leads me to the conclusion that there is more to my indentity that firing synapses? I have to honestly answer that there is no such evidence. Holding a particular belief because it is appealing, interesting or comforting is not something I do. With every belief I hold, I must ask myself "Why do I accept this as true? Is it because it makes me feel good? Or is it because of the strength of the evidence?" Only in this way can I be sure of holding the most accurate view of the world that I can. I am doing my best to collect the most reliable data that I can, and constantly check it against reality, so that I can have as much as I can of what I hold to be right turn out to actually be right.

How then, do I describe the process of death?

A light bulb emits light, for as long as the filament endures.  The filament has a limited duration.  When it is burned out, the light bulb no longer shines.  The bulb continues to exist, but the light is gone.  It has dissipated, it's source is nonfunctional.  The light that had been emitted was a product of the bulb.

I have every reason to think that life is the same way. Our lives and our consciousness are products of biological processes, and nothing more.  When our bodies die, our existence ceases.  Our bodies are still here, for a while, but the process that was our lives has vanished forever.  I have never heard of any compelling evidence that suggests otherwise.

If we have these things called souls, where do they reside in the body?  Of what are they comprised? If you say to me that a soul is made of "spirit", then I must ask you what is spirit made of? And since biological evolution is a certainty, how then did "souls" evolve in the first place? Where do they go to fulfill eternity-- where is this place? How could souls continue to exist, and presumably contain the sum of memory and personality? What makes them indestructible? Until these questions can be adequately answered (not with the vague religious stamp of "unknowable mystery"), then I cannot even begin to regard the issue as true.

Certainly, this way of thinking is not as "pleasant" as taking comfort in thoughts of eternal life and blissful heaven.  But do these things exist in fact?  I can't simply believe something to make me feel good.  Why should I?  How could I?  And why should you?

These beliefs do not bring about any sadness, fear or feelings of smallness.  With the unlikelihood of life on earth, and the chances against the particular egg/sperm combination that resulted in "me", I am quite happy that I had an opportunity to be alive for a while, brief though it is, and experience this wonderful existence, and had a chance to learn, grow and find joy. The odds against my existence were astronomical.

I do not believe in souls, for no one has ever been able to say of what they are made, nor in what part of the body they reside, nor in what way they continue after death, nor how they could have evolved.  Nor has anyone ever provided any believable evidence for souls. All accounts of so-called "near death experiences" are better explained through what we know about brain chemistry, and accounts "ghosts" are simply unsubstantiated and unverifiable. There is no real evidence in favor of these things.

I find that the vast majority of people simply cannot imagine their own non-existence, cannot bear the thought that their lives must someday reach an end, and therefore to cushion their emotions, they embrace this idea of the eternal afterlife. Because of this emotional need, rational inquiry into religous matters is quenched at an early age. All inquiries into the reality of the religious creeds is viewed by them as, ultimately, an attempt to rob them of the comfort of a joyous and unending afterlife.

So what will dying be like?

"An endless sleep may close our eyes,
A sleep with neither dreams nor sighs."
--Robert G. Ingersoll

Sometimes when we sleep we have dreams, and when we wake up, we remember the dreams, and so we can account for the passage of time since we laid ourselves down.  Other times, however, we sleep and, upon waking, can remember no dreams at all.  It seems to us that we just laid down to bed a brief moment ago, and yet it was really eight hours. Dreamless sleep is, in the words of Edgar Allan Poe, "little slices of death".  Death is no more painful, no more terrifying, than a sleep without dreams.

We know from an early age that our lives are limited in duration. This is no surprise to us. We have our whole lives to acclimate to the fact that at some point, we will cease to experience our existence. All of us, great and small, must face this fact.

"But, you must know, your father lost a father; that father lost, lost his."
Hamlet, Act One, Scene Two

What is important is that knowing we have a limited lifetime, we should spend our valuable time in the pursuit of happiness, and the betterment of our condition and that of our fellows-- not in vain preparation for some mythical other life, and sowing the religious seeds of dissention and of division.

"There may be a hereafter and there may not be. I am wholly indifferent about it. If annihilation is to follow death, I shall not be aware of the annihilation and therefore shall not care a straw about it."
--Mark Twain

3/30/00