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?