And Then There's Death

Let’s talk for a moment about the death of the brain-body.  What happens at death?  The biochemical reactions of the body stop; perhaps not all at once and there may be a shutdown sequence and when that is complete it’s over

At some point the body, if put in a separate container, say a vault in the ground or a crypt in a mausoleum, would reach a point of no longer reacting with the environment around it.  If put in the ground, all of it that could be would be dissolved, absorbed, or otherwise carried away for further use.

Including the six or so billion people alive today there have probably been more than a trillion people alive at some point during the history of humanity.  None of us added a single atom to the total number that make up Earth. 

Except for a few pieces of equipment that have been sent to outer space, including the moon, and a few pieces of meteors that have made it through the atmosphere, the Earth is of the same composition as it has been since the grand collision of planets x and y that formed Earth and its moon.  All of our existence is within this same stockpile of material. 

The body is continually renewing the parts, organs and tissue, that wear out so even the body that is sitting here is not the same that it was last year or even six months ago.  It takes what it needs from nutrients and discards what it doesn't.  And so it goes for a body for up to 120 years or so when it is incapable of continuing the processes.

Among all of the features of this body, there are some that add flavor to this life we are living.  The senses, coupled with memory, including genetic memory, imagination, and decision making capability allow us to experience a lifetime; to know what is going on in and around us in this physical world, react to it emotionally, and adapt to it and cope with it. 

Of these, the senses are probably the most basic and convey to the mind impressions of what is going on around us.  Sensations combined with communication, starting with language and then over distance and even time, using criers, or drums, or runners, or paper, or telegraph, or digital technology allow the exchange of knowledge of what has happened, is happening, or probably will happen and allows us to imagine, apply reason, and take action.

One can only speculate what it would be like to live without the senses.  A young man in Louisville was born without eyes, yet he is an accomplished musician and capable of complex and abstract thinking.  Even one sense would allow one to experience life because it is the mind that does this, not the brain-body. 

The senses feed the brain impressions and the brain processes them and comes to conclusions about them; but it goes further, the mind infers from what is being experienced and makes decisions based on that inference.  This capability is highly developed in humans and has allowed us to evolve in every way to the point where we are and to continue that evolution as we continue to remember and reflect on “what if?”

Aside: Could it be that all of organized life has decision making capability and because of it, organized life is itself responsible for Darwinian evolution?  Those elements of life that in their reproduction phase make a decision with whom to reproduce.  Voila, the incremental change takes place in the next generation.  Repeat this millions of time and here we are, the result of all the incremental decisions made before us.

We tend to surmise that there is a continued existence after death.  If the senses stop functioning at death, then in what way does the being continue?  This is where, for this humble philosopher, the idea of permanence enters the picture.

The senses are our link with the physical world and we go beyond that realm when we remember, imagine, and reach conclusions upon which we base decisions.  It could be that the sensual link becomes less and less important as the being, comprised of brain-body and Master, increases his abilities in these higher order features.  Then when they are perfected, there is no need for sensual perception/ impression and the being continues on that higher plane.

That higher plane may be one that is not constricted by time and place but one that is experienced without sensations?  That’s just it; the spiritual world exists without matter and energy.  It may be a realm of ideas. 

If sitting here we are a current brain-body inhabited by a Master who exists over many lifetimes while permanence is developed, then the glimpses of the past that creep through from time to time are explained with the concept that some personae become permanent as well.

It could even be that Master is comprised only of those personae who have achieved permanence and who collectively gain more and more insight into what it takes to exist on that next higher plane. 

Those that are permanent at the death of a brain-body are faced with a decision to go on, or not.  If not, that’s the end of it.  At some point though, when enough of the proper, correct, right personae have become permanent, the process may accelerate and permanence becomes a foregone conclusion.

It is more plausible to think that a Master, along with permanent personae from previous lifetimes, form the basis of the spiritual side of the being.  Although one has to ask, when did this Master first begin?  It may be one persona who at the beginning found permanence and began the process which continues and is reinforced by other permanent personae through each lifetime until critical mass is achieved and the physical world gives way to spiritual existence.  Then what?

Starting with Appetites

What are the symptoms?  Some are easier to spot than others; probably the easiest is obesity, next most is smoking, and then the nouveau riche.  There are many other appetites that take over the rational functioning of the being, some even to the point of what is termed addiction, i.e., the irrational quest to induce a desired effect on the brain-body.  What starts out as a pleasurable experience eventually turns into a dependency that can be emotional, physical, or both.

Rather than get all involved with addiction, this essay is going to deal with the satisfaction of appetites and what it means to the long range development of permanence.

There is the struggle that goes on between the satisfaction of the appetites for what is here and now and the longer term progression of personae to permanence.  Fame, fortune, power, gluttony even on a reduced scale, and dependency on psycho-physical effects of relationships, substances, and even objects are all pitfalls of the here and now.

What draws us to repeat an effect is that on some level the experience of it was pleasurable to us when we were able to do it without a negative experience.  For some substances and feelings that may be the first time; for others it takes longer to become inured to the less desirable effects of the experience.

Think back to the first beer or the first cigarette; both of these required some will, some resolution to get past the undesirable taste and feelings associated with the act.  But when the taste was acquired and the ill effects no longer reviled us against the act, there was pleasure in the physiological and psychological aspects of the act.

Aristotle was perhaps the first to espouse moderation in all things.  Yet even this common sense approach to the pleasures of life connotes that there are some experiences that are desirable to the point of forsaking prudence.  The first step in fulfillment of our major aim is to take control of appetites.

We are here as servants of Master, our major aim is to serve him.  Ideally all that we do would be for the sake of his development into permanence.  There is however more to the picture than that; survival of the brain-body is fundamental to making strides toward permanence.  The survival is physical and emotional.  It isn’t enough to live for a long time and experience nothing.  Experiences of personae using the brain-body in dealing with them are in some cases those experiences that Master needs to complete his development.

The death of a brain-body is of little consequence to Master because he has the option to return to another as often as he wants.  But conversely the continuing maturation of the personae of a brain-body to deal with the experiences that Master needs for his advancement is productive to him.  He would, if the conditions were right, want to keep a brain-body alive and functioning as long as there was cooperation in his development.

When a being forsakes his purpose of being the servant of Master in favor of the here and now, he invites the reaction wherein Master, who is mute and eternally patient, simply backs out of the picture and allows the chips to fall where they may.  Often resulting in what is considered to be a premature end to the individual in question.

This is not to say that pleasure and enjoyment are not good, quite the contrary.  It is to say that there is no good to be had when pleasure of the brain-body  becomes the end instead of the means. 

We live this life to develop permanence.  Master exists for the purpose of taking his place in the firmament of those who have achieved permanence.  This would include those personae along the way that have achieved permanence; these personae become one with Master and, as part of him, go to his next habitation and so on until full permanence has been achieved and Master and these personae no longer iterate through the physical world but move on to another plane of existence of which we know nothing.

Are there memories

That come along with our birth

That transcend lifetimes

The answer to this is, yes.  These memories take the form of familiarity with situations, locations, circumstances, and people with whom we come in contact in this lifetime.  The memory is more of experiencing an impression such as that we may have had in a previous lifetime. My sister and I experienced this together in Serbia when we saw the train station there.

Another situation for this sensation is when I’m setting a table.  The impression I get is that of being a rough and tumble sailor on a sailing ship brought in to do mess duty in the captain’s quarters; handling his fine china and silverware with my gnarly, workaday hands. This and the train station are only two of many “familiar” situations in which I have found myself.

All of us have experienced this sort of thing.  It could be during the execution of a simple task, all of a sudden we get the impression that we've done this very thing; and of course we have, maybe even yesterday, but the impression that we get is far deeper than that of doing this same thing yesterday or even last year.  This is not to be confused with déjà-vu.

There is no way of knowing if any of this is true.  There seem to be two possibilities at death; one that Master and his cortege continues and the other that this is the end of it all.  Pragmatically it seems to be the latter but glimpses of the above, coupled with what I've come to believe, lead me to think that the other is possible.

The only way to find out is to experience death but I’m not ready to do that; there is too much work to do to serve Master in achieving his permanence.