Why afterlife exists

We all have to confront it — that dark specter standing by the door beckoning us to enter. We all have to confront it - that dark specter standing by the door beckoning us to enter. Every religion worth its salt has to There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers. That is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark. Is he right? He thinks we have gradually been moving away from a superstitious mindset, a primitive dependence on metaphors, like God, and heaven, and final judgment, and into a mature realization that the reality the five senses give us is the only reality.

It is true that when you go to sleep and wake up the next morning or go under anesthesia for surgery and come back hours later, your memories return, as they do even after so-called profound hypothermia and circulatory arrest. Under this procedure, a patient's brain is cooled to as low as 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which causes electrical activity in neurons to stop—suggesting that long-term memories are stored statically.

But that cannot happen if your brain dies. That is why CPR has to be done so soon after a heart attack or drowning—because if the brain is starved of oxygen-rich blood, the neurons die, along with the memories stored therein. Second, there is the supposition that copying your brain's connectome—the diagram of its neural connections—uploading it into a computer as some scientists suggest or resurrecting your physical self in an afterlife as many religions envision will result in you waking up as if from a long sleep either in a lab or in heaven.

But a copy of your memories, your mind or even your soul is not you. Third, your unique identity is more than just your intact memories; it is also your personal point of view. He believes that if a complete MEMself is transferred into a computer or, presumably, resurrected in heaven , the POVself will awaken. I disagree. If this were done without the death of the person, there would be two memory selves, each with its own POVself looking out at the world through its unique eyes.

At that moment, each would take a different path in life, thereby recording different memories based on different experiences.

If you died, there is no known mechanism by which your POVself would be transported from your brain into a computer or a resurrected body. When Alexander published his book in , drawing on the work of Kelly and her husband, Edward, he drew derision, as he knew he would, from broad segments of the rationalist and scientific communities. Having fallen into a coma after contracting bacterial meningitis, he saw incredible things.

We were flying through blooming flowers, blossoms on trees, and they were all coming out as we flew through them…[There were] waterfalls, pools of water, indescribable colors, and above there were these arcs of silver and gold light and beautiful hymns coming down from them.

Indescribably gorgeous hymns. Additionally, the doctor showed no understanding of the kinds of neurotransmitters that can be released by the brain during trauma, including one called DMT, which produces hallucinations. My own concern is somewhat different, relating back to the tree-in-the-forest conundrum. Contact us at letters time. TIME Inc. By Lisa Miller. Related Stories. America Needs to Get Back to Facts. Already a print subscriber? Go here to link your subscription.

For more information please go to ourdailybread. I believe there is a life after death. I mean just the fact that life even exists is magical, how humans exist, cats, dogs, so on and so forth. I believe we were created by someone or something.

People in poverty etc. Do they not get a shot at any other life. Some scientists believe it all started with the Big Bang. And just how every connects the dots such as the sun being in a perfect alignment, breathing oxygen from trees and the fact that we were even put on this planet that were able to live on unlike the others, you know.

Email me follow-up comments. Would you like to add a personal image? Visit gravatar. Once setup, your personal image will be attached every time you comment. Ten reasons to believe in life after death 10 April Share FaceBook. The injustices of life It would be difficult to believe that life is good if we knew there was nothing beyond the grave to compensate for problems of inequality and unfairness. Near-death experiences The clinical evidence for life after death is subjective and arguable.

A place in the heart The human heart hungers for more than this life offers. An eternal God The Bible names God as the source of immortality. Old Testament predictions Some have argued that immortality is a New Testament idea.