Why it is NECESSARY for philosophers to believe in Souls and an Afterlife
Whether or not human beings have “souls†that can survive corporeal death ultimately matters far more than many realize. Ultimately, we need to believe in an afterlife in order to rationally discuss any philosophical topic. Here’s why…
When it comes to the question of whether or not there is an afterlife that our “souls†can experience, there is only one thing an individual can say with absolute certainty and that is: I don’t know. To claim either that there is an afterlife or that there is not one is to embrace a guess that cannot be proven. Neither guess can be rationally criticized for lacking certitude since both of them lack it in equal measure. So why choose either one? Well, we may want to try to simply accept an open-ended state of uncertainty about the topic without qualification, but that is something human beings find very difficult to do. Typically, in the absence of certainty, we can’t help but make a guess. (We may not have a great deal of confidence in our provisional guesses, but we still tend to lean toward some more than others) So which guess should we “lean toward?â€
Well, one thing to consider is the fact that each of the choices leads us to different consequences. For example, if we choose to embrace the assumption that there is no afterlife, we are then forced by logic to conclude that nothing we do in this life ultimately matters. Sure, we may find ourselves perceiving meaning or purpose in many of the things we do in our lives, but we cannot escape the logical conclusion that all such perceptions of meaning can be nothing but an illusion if we believe that corporeal death = non-existence. Some will say, “Well, yes, everything we do may be ultimately meaningless, but it is logical right now for us to believe that the meaning we see is real because we are able to experience the desirable consequences that give certain actions their meaning.â€
But aren’t all the meaningful acts that we perceive/experience in this life included in a subordinate, constituent way as part of a conceived Meaningful Life? When human beings endure long periods of suffering, they often find themselves wondering if the “sacrifice†they are making is worth the goal that the sacrifices are being made for. If they believe (guess) that corporeal death = non-existence, then logic keeps telling them that there is no end perceivable that can be worth the suffering. They see that if there lives are not being lived for anything, if nothing that they do or experience is going to affect the ultimate outcome in a desirable way, then it is utterly futile to continue to endure the pain of life. It is a conclusion that is logical, given the premises, but it is also a logic that defines all that we do as utterly meaningless. It forces us to conclude that people who make sacrifices in pursuit of some “worthy†goal are merely suffering from one of the bizarre illusional experiences that this meaningless existence foists upon us. Were you a good person in your life? A Hitler? What possibly difference could it make if you were good person or a bad person in your life, if when you die you cease to exist? If you believe that corporeal death is final death, then when you die, as far as you are concerned, it never happened.
Some would say, “Yes, but…the people who survive you will know about you and think well of you if you were good.†But how could it possibly matter if those who survive your death happen to remember you for a little while? When your witnesses die, the memory of you will also die. You never happened. What’s interesting is that most of those who reject the concept of an afterlife also believe that the sun will one day explode, consuming every bit of evidence that human beings ever existed. At that point, how could it possibly matter whether or not there had ever been a Story of the Human Race? If we human beings knew with absolute certainty that there is no existence after corporeal death, then we would have to give serious consideration to the option of committing mass suicide, since it really wouldn’t matter if we did or not. To intentionally end the Human Experiment would be no tragedy whatsoever since we’d know that the day would come when it never really happened, anyway. We might as well spite whoever or whatever it is that was responsible for forcing a meaningless existence upon us if it is true that corporeal death = final death. Ultimately, as far as we are concerned, when/if our personal existence is annihilated, the entire universe’s existence is annihilated.
It is interesting that many scientists and philosophers reject the possibility of an afterlife, even though they value The Truth, and enjoy using their minds to improve their understanding of many of life’s mysteries. Such individuals are living out their lives as profound hypocrites. If they really believe that corporeal death = non-existence, then how could it possibly matter to them if they are able to figure out the answer to any question? What difference does it make if we manage to find some answers in this life? If human beings are able to make any kind of improvements in the ways that life is experienced, so what? You want to know how the mind works? What consciousness is? What difference does it make? Why even bother to argue with someone that there is no such thing as an afterlife? If you believe it, then it can’t possibly matter to you if anyone else does because it would achieve nothing of significance if you could convince them otherwise. You might as well spend your time seeking out every sort of forbidden experience you can imagine that you currently avoid, instead. Whether you were a good person in this life or a bad person whom everyone feared, it doesn’t matter. You might as well be bad. If you sincerely believe that corporeal death = non-existence, you cannot justify being good as a matter of principle. In the long run, friendships will mean nothing, so why bother with them now? Why not just use people, instead? You’ve got nothing to lose. If somebody wants to put you in jail, just kill yourself. It really isn’t going to matter if you do. For all it matters, you might as well be a destroyer of all that others value, because after you die, you never were anyway. Sounds like Nihilism, doesn’t it? It is simply the logical conclusion that follows the assumption that corporeal death = non-existence.
These consequences are painful. That is to say, they are not thoughts that make us feel good. Among the few absolute certainties in this life is the fact that we experience pain and pleasure as a condition of existence. Painful and pleasurable feelings are not experiences that we give to ourselves. They are “externally†imposed on us, just as our existence was imposed on us (at least we do not recall making the request). We find that these painful and pleasurable experiences are the consequence of NEEDS that are imposed on us as a condition of existence. Among the many different types of needs we are forced to deal with are those that fit into the category of Mental Needs. Among our Mental Needs is the need for “perceived purposeâ€, i.e., a need to see ultimate meaning in the things that we do. When this Need for Purpose is not satisfied, we are punished with the pain that follows perceived Futility. When this pain is experienced, the fear response is triggered. When it comes to questions about whether or not we will experience an Afterlife, the ultimate consequence of “making the wrong guess†is pain and fear. If, on the other hand, we embrace the guess that we somehow continue to exist after our bodies die, we are rewarded with a sense of well-being, of relieved anxiety. We are able to “enjoy life†because we believe that the things we do matter. When we make the right guess, logic gives us permission to fully embrace the meaning that we naturally perceive in the things that we do in this life. It feels good to invest yourself in a cause, to dedicate your life to self-perfection, to become an agent of The Good, to enjoy loving and being loved. It makes sense to discuss philosophical questions because we are free to assume that it serves an important, ultimate purpose.
(Note to all Nihilists/Existentialists: Human beings do not create value/purpose/meaning by “assigning†it into existence. All purpose/meaning in this life is ultimately determined by the NEEDS that are externally imposed on us (external to our Will) as a condition of our existence. There is no “freedom” from the consequences and therefore no freedom from our needs. Indeed, we are slaves to our needs.)
Given that these are the consequences of the guesses we make about the idea of an Afterlife, one has to wonder why some adamantly insist there isn’t one. Well, some atheists probably fear that acknowledging the necessity of an Afterlife would mean that they must necessarily also embrace the idea of God, but that would not be true. Belief in one does not necessitate belief in the other. Belief in an Afterlife—with or without God—is crucially important because it is a condition that must be met in order for us to believe there is ultimate meaning in our lives, but one can believe there is “Ultimate Purpose†without embracing any particular conception of God. Another reason why some people are inclined to reject a “feel-good†answer in the face of uncertainty is because they fear it might be just another example of wishful thinking. It’s a legitimate concern since there are many examples of wishful thinking in human history that obscured some important, sober truths about our experience that we really needed to accept in order to find real answers. It is wrong, however, to reject all wishful thinking simply because it is wishful thinking. We must ask what truth the wishful thinking might be covering up before rejecting it out of hand. (A good deal of my website vision at http://www.wearesaved.org is based on my identification of one particularly damaging example of wishful thinking.) But this concern about wishful thinking does not rationally apply to the belief in an afterlife because no benefit whatsoever can be gleaned from the more “courageous†assumption that corporeal death = non-existence. Ultimately, it makes sense to question an assumption only if one can point out some way we might benefit from rejecting it.
In light of all these arguments, one has to wonder why someone would willfully choose to embrace the guess that corporeal death = final death. Let’s suppose that you are one of those who choose to “believe†(guess) that there is an afterlife and that this life matters. If you then die and find out that your guess was wrong, it could be accurately said that you were happily deluded while you existed on earth and paid no penalty for it. But suppose your guess was that death = non-existence. Then, if you found out upon death that your guess was wrong, it could be rightfully said that you suffered the pain of perceived futility (cognitive dissonance) throughout your life for nothing. You suffered needlessly. If your guess was correct, then you experienced no advantage over the deluded individuals who guessed wrongly for it didn’t really matter what anyone believed about anything. The question I have for those who dismiss the possibility of an Afterlife is simply this: Why embrace such a “stupid†guess when the opposite guess [that there is an Afterlife]: 1) feels good, 2) is necessary in order to pursue any discussion of morality, and 3) is necessary in order for you to rationally discuss any philosophical topic?
Gabriel
http://www.wearesaved.org
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