Showing posts with label agnostic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label agnostic. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

A Different Spin on The Afterlife

Is there life after death? The Archetyper muses on the AfterlifeAhh. We come to the ultimate question that a sentient being ever asks in this darn world. Is there life after death? Am "I" going to live on after my heart stops beating and my brain dries up like a prune? Questions of the afterlife conjures up answers that we have been taught, taught ourselves, or 'been exposed to. People that subscribe to a major religion such as Christianity or Islam will definitely say yes without hesitation and then describe heaven or hell. Staunch atheists will smile and be content (or proud) of a temporary life which ceases completely upon death. Agnostics will simply shrug that we don't know - none of these answers can be proven. And even if, in our modern times a person who has been clinically brain-dead beyond all doubt - rises from the dead after three days in the morgue, it's still not a good basis to prove the after-life. Why? Because for a person to prove it for himself, he must experience it first-hand - to die and then live again. The 'self' that asks the question must go through it personally in order to truly answer it beyond all doubt. In other words, it must first happen to you before you can truly know whether the afterlife is real or not. I guess we will never truly find out until it happens to us, right?
But now here's the rub: What do the patterns tell us? Are we provided any glimpses at all?
The answer might surprise you. And it has been staring us in the face - everytime we wake up.

{ See next post for conclusion }

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Pattern-Seeking Sets Me Free

Pattern-Seeking Sets Me FreeI just noticed and realized something that is overwhelming : seeking patterns actually sets me free from the biases of world-view camps. I could completely appreciate an awesome metaphor from a Creationist article, and yet also be completely mesmerized by wonderful insights from an Atheist’s publication. I can be enlightened by Scripture, but also nod in approval of an Agnostic essay.
An open mind, with a burning desire to discover the truth is the key to be free from being captive to a single narrow idea. Indeed, if the mere exercise of finding patterns of truth provides immunity from biases, then Truth itself will set you free.