NIHILISM, LIFE AFTER DEATH, AND MODERN PHILOSOPHY
What Nihilism and Nihilist philosophies – including Rationalism, Humanism, Agnosticism, Existentialism, and other ideas from Modern Philosophy Really Say About Your Future
Do you believe that life does end, or may end, at death? Everyone who believes that death may be the end should read the following essay from cover to cover. It represents a serious attempt to identify what may be a critical flaw in the foundation of many modern philosophies. It will help those who study Nihilism, Rationalism, Humanism, Agnosticism, and Existentialism, recognize questions that are probably already on their minds. It will address essential questions that you need to seek answers for. We will suggest that, whether they realize and admit it or not, anyone who does not believe in a life after death, an afterlife, be they Rationalists, Humanists, Agnostics, or otherwise, is necessarily a Nihilist.
What is nihilism? The Webster's Dictionary definitions of nihilism that we will be using are that nihilism is a doctrine that - "beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless”, and a doctrine “that denies any objective ground of truth and especially of moral truths” ((c) 1997 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated). We will be discussing the idea that true nihilists "believe in nothing". In doing so we will be questioning the very foundation of the works of modern philosophers who argue that one may find or create "value" in a world without a life after death, a nihilistic world.
First, let me state emphatically that I believe life has positive meaning. I am not a nihilist, and I do not believe that the conclusions of nihilism are correct. I am a theist who believes in a non-physical soul, and who does not in fact believe that the logical consequences of the death of a purely physical being are the actual consequences we face on our death. This essay is primarily philosophic and scientific in nature, and does not address the nature of life after death. However, near the end of the text you will be invited to read other essays that explore my theist beliefs and my belief in a life after death. In this essay provide you with a brief, objective, look at the unknown future we all face.
So why would I want to discuss something that I do not believe in? There are several critical reasons. Nihilism is far from the isolated, oddball, radical philosophy many consider it to be. I would suggest that nihilism is the logical "conclusion" of most modern humanistic philosophies. More importantly, I believe that nihilistic death is accepted, though not recognized, as the universal destination of humankind by all who do not believe in a life after death. I would suggest that if we embrace a modern secular philosophy, or no philosophy/religion at all, we must embrace nihilism. We will assert that if you believe that your existence may end at physical death, you are accepting the idea that "nothing" may follow death, and you are by definition accepting the possibility that "nihilism" is correct. Once we realize that the acceptance of nihilism is a necessary consequence of our humanistic beliefs, or non-beliefs, we will be able to decide for ourselves if what we currently believe to be true, is what we really want to believe is true. Until we understand the nature of "nothing", we may well have difficulty appreciating "anything".
Most readers will want to read this summary first, and then if they want to explore our views in more depth, read the sometimes difficult to understand, somewhat rambling, occasionally boring, full version. For those who want to start with a detailed explanation of our thoughts on nihilism, please read the full version of this essay by clicking here.
Warning! There is a risk that when someone who is "depressed" considers the consequences of their own death, he or she may misunderstand the possibilities, and may become dangerously depressed. In fact the opposite should be true! Those who understand death should conclude both that there is nothing at all to fear from a death in which they would cease to exist, and that there is abundant hope in the alternatives which may exist. We are not suggesting in this essay that there is no "reason to live", in fact we are saying the opposite. If you are distressed by what you read, you should carefully reconsider what is being said, and understand that there is no reason whatsoever to be disturbed by the conclusions about nihilism. Toward the end of the essay we will suggest other readings that discuss reasons for living. We have abundant hope that if you search for meaning and value in your life you will find it. If you are still "depressed" by the possibility of a nihilistic death, you are misunderstanding what is being said. Anyone who is, or becomes, seriously depressed, should seek professional help immediately! [If you find yourself distressed or depressed by our conclusions please read the note at the end of this essay.]
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If in fact you do exercise meaningful freedom of choice, what good is it to be a unique human being if at your death you cease to exist? If you do not continue to exist in some form after death, what good are all the experiences, decisions, triumphs, defeats, all the moments of your life? If you do not survive the grave, if you return to the state of being that preceded your birth, then I suggest to you that nothing in fact does matter. While over the ages men and women have sought to perpetuate themselves through their children, their place in history, their role in society, and through intricate philosophical webs of existentialism and other essays on physical man's importance, the fact of physical death remains. If each generation's death means the end of those individuals, then we are all faced with an endless cycle of creation and destruction, the meaning of which, if any, is beyond comprehension.
If there is anything in life we can count on occurring without fail, it is physical death. The successful bank president, the champion athlete, the housewife, the famous, the unknown, every human being, you, I, die. While all acknowledge the certainty of their eventual demise, few think about death until they are faced with it. The simple fact of death is not news to anyone, yet the reality of its impending occurrence is ignored by virtually every living person. The very nature of human life denies death and shrouds it in the cloak of future events, events that are not yet real and need not be dealt with in the present. Living is too important and time consuming to be concerned with mortality. The fact that you are moving steadily toward your death is most likely, and literally, to be the last thing on your mind.
Observing the inevitable death of every creature that inhabits the earth, we may have a recurrent feeling that death is the end. On the other hand, it is virtually inconceivable to us that all we are, all we have been, all we will be, will be rendered void in that moment of death. It goes against human nature to visualize the effective destruction of our past, present, and future, which accompanies death without existence beyond death. Yet if each human being does cease to exist, then all human beings are, or in the case of generations yet unborn will be, waiting their turn to cease existing. If each and every human being ceases to be, then the feeling of continuity that pervades the human race is false (please note, we will explain later why we do not believe that life is in fact destroyed by physical death).
In their arguments for humanism, existentialism, etc., philosophers have spent lifetimes trying to construct a difference between the apparent continuity of humankind, and the periodic death of individual humans. Most of us think of our ancestors as a link to the past, and our children as a link to the future, yet if we do not survive the grave each generation dies an isolated death that mocks any assertion that humankind has a continuing existence apart from its individual members. If each person's death results in their no longer existing, then no manner of historical recording, social progression, or other remembrance in the minds of those whose time to die is yet to come, can in any way affect, preserve, or make any difference whatsoever to those who no longer are. No one will survive to remember. If each of us ceases to be, then your life has no meaning and your choices make no difference.
We admit that this logic seems counter intuitive, and even wrong, but if we are willing to dissociate ourselves from the incredible biologic urge for self-preservation, both of the individual and the species, and are willing to apply purely objective reasoning, the logical conclusion, while discomforting, is perhaps inevitable (there is at least one possible logical loophole we will discuss below that might give permanent meaning and value to a finite physical life). This is a very difficult conclusion to accept, it goes against our intuitive feelings about the continuity of human life, and against our assumptions that individual physical lives have some kind of meaning and value. Yet if we are little more than doomed animals, our intuitive feeling of meaning and value would not be surprising. From the very beginning, to assure survival of any species, evolution would certainly have instilled in living creatures the feeling that there is a reason for them to exist, a reason for them to crawl out of the ocean and build cities. If there is no life after death, and our lives are in fact consumed by "nothing", it is no wonder that our genetic heritage argues so strongly against that possibility.
Because it is so difficult to accept, we will consider our conclusion in more detail. It is logical to assume that if each person's consciousness is the product of their physical bodies, then individual physical consciousness exists only during that person’s physical life on earth. If each of our physical lives proceeds from birth to death, then the consequence of each person's death necessarily follows their death. Who can be affected by that death? Certainly those who survive may be affected, but here is the "problem", the death cannot be of any consequence to the purely physical human being who no longer exists! The moment before the death of a human being perhaps it can be said that their impending death affects that being, but the very moment after the person dies, he or she is no longer around to be affected!
Let us assume, for example, that a comet collides with the Earth at some time in the future before humans have colonized space. Assume further that all life on Earth is annihilated by the collision. It is very hard to accept, but if consciousness is nothing more than a physical phenomena, if there is no non-physical continuation of life after death, the most logical, I believe the only logical, conclusion is that the complete annihilation of humankind is of absolutely no consequence to humankind! While the words may sound bizarre and counter intuitive, in fact they are not. The moment after the total destruction of humankind it can be said with some certainty that the destruction of humankind had no affect whatsoever on humankind, simply because humankind no longer exists to be affected.
If you accept that time has direction (we believe that even absent a “fundamental time”, all events follow a causal, sequential, chain), then cause and effect, action and consequence, occur in a fixed order, the former always "preceding" the latter. Keeping that in mind, the idea that after the total destruction of humankind there would be no one left to be affected should not seem as bizarre. Assuming that one event will always precede another event in order of occurrence, if the event that is called the death of a human being is equivalent to the physical annihilation of that human being, the consequence of that event necessarily follows the event. If there is a causal sequence to events, then the annihilation cannot be of any consequence to a human being who no longer exists. Again, the moment before the destruction of humankind perhaps it could be said that the impending destruction affects humankind, but the very moment after humankind is destroyed there is absolutely no humankind left to be affected. Assume that the comet annihilates humankind at 12:00 noon, the consequence of that destruction occurs at 12:00 noon PLUS a moment in time, and at 12:00 noon plus the moment in time there is no humankind left to be affected. Indeed, there is no humankind around that is conscious of the fact that the comet struck the earth!
The same logic applies to the history of individuals not visited by a catastrophic event. If you believe that each human being is nothing more than an individual physical entity, and therefore that there is no life after death, then at the time of their death each human being experiences the identical individual annihilation that all humankind would experience together if the earth and its inhabitants were simultaneously "destroyed". If a human being dies at 12:00 noon, and there is no life after death, at 12:01 they are not "around" to be affected by their death. If an individual named Bill dies at 12:00 noon, at 12:01 Bill no longer exists to be affected by his death. If Bill is a physical entity that does not survive death, after 12:00 noon (i.e. - after completion of the sequence of causal events that precede Bill's death) you could search the entire universe for Bill and you would not find him (some readers are probably thinking that Bill continues to exist as his world-line even after his physical death, we will discuss that later). Bill's death occurs at precisely 12:00 noon. Not minutes, or even moments, later. If there is no life after death, the very moment after the event known as Bill's death, Bill no longer exists. After 12:00 noon Bill cannot be affected by anything, including his death.
The logic goes even further. If you do not believe that human consciousness continues to exist after physical death, then death not only annihilates each individual's present and future, but also annihilates their past. Most people would agree that for an object to have a present and a future the object must exist. Yet many would make the distinction that while an object cannot have a present and a future if it does not exist, it somehow can have a past. It is clear that the present and future of an object are bound to the existence of the object, but so to is the object's past. Much of the problem lies in the popular usage of the words past, present, and future both to describe that which is part of an object (a "past" that belongs to the object, like a person’s memories that “belong” to the living individual from birth to death), and to describe the existence of the object from a third party's view (a “past” which is a chronological description of the object, like a photo album containing pictures of an individual who has died).
It is a misconception to equate the fact that there is a "history" of all beings or objects that is set in the "past", with the statement that a being or object that no longer exists has a "past". The first idea simply states that the being or object existed over a finite period that is apparent to those who currently exist. The extension of the concept of such a history to the idea that somehow the object or being that no longer exists still possesses a "past" confuses the distinction these two words can convey. Once an object or being no longer exists it obviously has no present or future, similarly the object has no past. While it may be difficult to accept, a mountain that no longer exists has no past, present, or future for the simple reason that there is no such mountain. There is a current history of a mountain that once existed, but there is no mountain we can point to and describe the "past" of. This is far more than semantics. A person who lived a thousand years ago had a historic life that those who are alive can be conscious of, but the person no longer has a past that is their past, which they can be conscious of.
The English language lacks the words that would make it easy to convey the difference between a “history” set in the past that is the sum of all lifetimes, and a “past” that is unique to and dependent on the existence of an individual life. Perhaps humankind has avoided the initially discomforting possibility of "finite pasts" by not distinguishing them from the infinite. Perhaps the majority simply do not accept the possibility of the perpetual annihilation of human beings.
There are many arguments that purport to counter this logic, including assertions that a person's life before physical death has “existential” meaning in and of itself, yet all the alternative arguments are set in the time before death, within the causal sequence of events that precede death. Every humanistic theory is based on the biophysics of existence before physical death. We believe that none of the arguments adequately address the period after death (perhaps with the possible exception suggested by modern physics that is discussed below), and therefore none answer the question of how a person who no longer exists can have a past, present, or future?
If death is the end of your existence, should you be frightened by the certainty of your destruction? If indeed you cease to exist, you need not fear death, for after your death you will feel neither pain, nor pleasure, nor peace, nor torment. "You" will no longer exist, therefore "you" will feel nothing. The resulting void is just that, a complete and total void. There is nothing to fear, for there will be no one to experience anything negative. There is nothing to look forward to, for there will be no one to experience anything positive. The only way you can visualize what is usually called a "nihilistic" death is to picture yourself after death as being in the same state you were in before birth (of course you were not really in any state at all). Trying to project yourself into the void that precedes life helps you understand the void that may follow death. This ultimate void would in a single moment consume your past, present, and future. No matter what philosophers may tell us, such a fate, while it would offer no hope, would leave nothing to be feared.
Admittedly, our conclusions about physical death are totally opposite to our "common sense" understanding of life. Virtually everyone is certain, for example, that if they are eleven years old now, they have already experienced their tenth year of life, and nothing can take from them the past experience of being ten years old. It is this assumption, that our past somehow exists forever, that is at the heart of all humanistic belief systems. Indeed, belief in some kind of physical persistence of a human being's past is the only rational argument for the universal humanistic conclusion that even if physical death is the end, living a "good life" gives meaning and value to human existence. However there is a deep, deep, problem with the humanist's view.
"Humanistic" philosophers seem to accept that human consciousness is purely physical in nature, and acknowledge the end of consciousness at physical death. Yet almost all modern humanist philosophers tell us that a finite life can have meaning and value. The problem lies in failure to accept the rational and logical consequences for each human being if individual consciousness ceases to exist on the physical death of the mind and body. All of the humanist philosophers either ignore or misunderstand what the future holds for us after physical death if we are nothing more than physical beings.
Philosophers often speak of the void that would follow such a death as the abyss, the unknown, the approaching void, etc. All of these suggest that we are on a journey to a "place" which lies at the end of our physical lifetimes. If on our death we cease to exist, this idea that we are traveling to our ultimate destiny is false. What the philosophers are doing is giving substance to nothing. We are not traveling to an abyss, the void, or the unknown, for these words suggest that we are moving toward something. I recognize the seeming absurdity of the language, yet if on our death we cease to exist, then "nothing" totally consumes us.
This is the heart of the problem, we cannot in any way whatsoever understand or visualize "nothing". The moment we attempt to comprehend or visualize "nothing", the comprehension or visualization interjects something into "nothing", preventing us from reaching our goal. When we define "nothing" we give it the quality of being definable, a quality that can only be given to that which is more than "nothing". Nothing might be thought of as the total absence of physical reality, yet even this assigns a definition to the indefinable. The moment we think about "nothing" we make it an object that can be thought about, we make it an object that can only be more than "nothing". The only way we can answer the question "what is nothing?" is to answer it by not asking it, for if we ask the question we destroy the answer. Most people fail to recognize the fact that "something" simply cannot comprehend "nothing". If we are no more than physical beings, and if “nothing” follows our physical death, then at the moment of our physical death, "nothing" totally consumes us.
What does science have to say about all this? We need to recognize that the very difficult conclusions we reach in this section are not necessarily supported by conventional interpretations of general relativity and quantum mechanics. The current understanding that human being’s have of the physical universe is fundamentally incomplete. Early concepts of space and time as absolute metaphysical entities would seem to be fully consistent with our analysis. However, modern physics tells us that the universe is much more complex than it was once thought to be. At the start of the third millennium, it is generally accepted that we exist in some kind of four dimensional “space-time”. The mathematician Hermann Minkowski, who helped formalize the math of space-time, said "…henceforth, space by itself, and time by itself, have vanished into the merest shadows and only a kind of blend of the two exists in its own right."
Space-time is essentially the history of the entire universe, containing every "event" that ever happens. A "world-line" is the history of an object / observer in "space-time". Each point on the world-line of a human being is generally thought to be a real physical event that represents a unique sequential moment in the life of that individual, from birth to death. Conventional wisdom is that the world-line of a human being is the "human being", so that human life is in some sense a permanent part of space-time. If this is so, perhaps we have a permanent physical past that is etched in the fabric of space-time.
To see why we do not believe that science provides us with a physical past, we need to look at three interpretations of cosmologic theories. The first possible interpretation, the one that we strongly favor, brings into question the very nature of space-time. At first glance, the concept of a permanent physical space-time seems to imply that human beings have a physical past, present, and future. Most people assume that the math of space-time describes a permanent physical reality that surrounds us, a very real, very physical, space-time in which we exist. This may not be the case.
The limited number of physicists who understand the incredibly difficult math, realize that the theory of general relativity tells us that the universe may be completely described without using a "fundamental temporal variable", without even defining what we call "time". The time we measure on a stopwatch that we use to clock a foot race is derived from comparing the motion of the runner from the starting line to the finish line with the motion of the hand rotating around the face of the watch. The time on the stopwatch is not, as Newton thought, a fundamental quantity in nature, rather it is a comparison of the motion of the person running down the track relative to the motion of the hands of the stopwatch. Therefore, we may be justified in concluding that "time" is derived from relative motion, but that relative motion does not necessarily require the passage of time. It may be true that “fundamental time” simply does not exist.
This is a shocking idea for human beings who are confronted with the ticking away of years, days, hours, and seconds. Even so, if you think about it, a year is nothing more than the relative motion of the earth going around the sun, a day is the relative motion of the earth rotating around its axis, an hour is a fraction of the motion we call a day measured by a quartz "moving" in a watch, a second is very close to the relative motion of a beating heart, etc. We don't expect to convince you in a few paragraphs that time is an illusion, it took years of reading and thought for us to reach that conclusion, but we do want you to recognize that there is a strong possibility that fundamental time does not exist. If this is a correct interpretation of general relativity, it can lead to the conclusion that there is no temporality of any kind associated with our universe.
There are extremely serious objections to this line of thought. In its most popular forms, the other 20th century revolution in physics, quantum mechanics, incorporates a fundamental temporal variable. Some scientists believe that general relativity will be found to be incomplete, and that quantum mechanics tells us that time does in fact exist. Other physicists agree that the universe lacks a fundamental temporal variable by which the universe evolves, yet they also believe that in some very real sense the universe exhibits fundamental "temporality". None-the-less, there are a few respected physicists who believe that we should accept what general relativity is telling us, that there is no fundamental temporal variable in the universe, and find a way to modify quantum mechanics to eliminate both "time" and "temporality" from quantum theory. Given the success of general relativity in predicting experimental results, we strongly believe that this is the correct approach. We are convinced that if and when physicists discover a broad model that incorporates both relativity and quantum theories, what is usually called a theory of quantum gravity, it will not have any kind of fundamental temporal variable associated with it, and we will find that the universe is fundamentally "atemporal" in nature.
If the theory of general relativity is in fact part of the illusive theory of quantum gravity, and if we do in fact live in an "atemporal" universe, one extremely speculative result might be that physical events in our lives either exist, or do not exist. The statement that a point on a world-line exists in the universe may be false, true, false, with no sense that “false” is “before” or “after” true! If so, then it may be quite literally true that your tenth birthday does not exist, does exist, does not exist in the universe. Perhaps you believe that your tenth birthday is a permanent part of your past only because it is part of your current memories, not because it exists in some kind of permanent physical space-time. We need to emphasize that this is a very speculative idea, that at the beginning of the third millennium is considered nothing more than science fiction by most, perhaps all, cosmologists.
If we live in an essentially "atemporal" universe, and there is no non-physical existence after death, we are convinced that physical death consumes each human being's physical past, present, and future. This is very difficult to understand and accept, yet the idea that there is no fundamental temporality, and that this fact leads to the annihilation of our physical past, intuitively appears to us to be the correct interpretation of our physical universe. When you finish reading this summary you may have questions about some of our conclusions, especially about the very complex relativistic and quantum science behind this part of our essay. You may want to read the full version of our essay, and/or obtain a copy of our book, read what we call our LifeNotes, and consider the other notes and comments that we release from time to time (internet, postal, and email addresses are provided at the end of this summary), where we try to present a broader picture of the foundation and logic that supports the conclusions.
The reason that we end up relying on intuition, and cannot be more certain that our conclusions are correct, is simply because no one knows what physics will look like if and when relativity and quantum theories are united. Furthermore, there is no way to tell how long it will take to find answers to the basic questions raised by modern physics. Indeed, it is quite possible that we will never know the answers to many of our most fundamental questions. We believe that the universe is essentially atemporal, and that physical death annihilates our physical (but not any non-physical) past, present, and future, but we may be wrong!
OK, let's say that you are unwilling to even think about "time" not existing, would the existence of "time" restore a meaningful physical past to your life? The second possibility we will look at is based on the fact that most popular interpretations of modern physics suggest that the physical existence of each human being somehow persists in space-time in the form of the individual's "world-line”. Classical interpretations often say that an object is the entire world-line of that object, or that a human being is his or her entire world-line, but they do not really explain what is meant by this. They do, however, almost universally conclude that each event in a human being's life exists as an event in space-time, so that if we could observe the point on a world-line that is the tenth birthday of someone who is now eleven years old, we would see that person experiencing their tenth birthday. We would not see a "copy", or a "repeat", of the particular day, we would see the person's tenth birthday as it is occurring, period!
It would seem that this characteristic of all popular space-time theories leaves us without tools for building a rational model of a universe that contains a "conscious" world-line that is the "me" reading this book. Rather it tells us that there is, and always will be, a set of unique "me's" that somehow exist in space-time at every single event on my world-line. We might want to say that I am the "sum" of all the points, yet the assertion that a human being is his or her entire world-line, from birth to death, does not appear to be consistent with the general consensus that every event along a world-line has a singular existence that cannot be preferred over any other event on that world-line.
The theory of relativity tells us that all of the laws of physics are the same for every inertial observer. If we live in a fully relational, relativistic universe, we simply cannot prefer observations made in the inertial frame of reference of one observer over observations made in the inertial frame of reference of any other observer, no matter where they may be “located” in space-time. An apparent consequence of this fact is that for one observer your tenth birthday occurs before your eleventh birthday, while for another (spatially separated) observer your eleventh birthday occurs before your tenth! Relativity tells us that both observers are 100% correct in their observations. The cosmos appears to be a very strange place!
Classic interpretations imply that each individual exists as discrete human consciousness in the billions of discrete events located at every point along that individual's world-line. Some physicists describe this by saying that there are many "now's"; others say there are billions of approximate "isomorphs" of "me"; many claim there are billions of other worlds in which various versions of "me" co-exist; etc. It seems reasonable to conclude that modern physics tells us that if time exists, literally billions of discrete, very real, versions of each of us occupy space-time! This may seem like science fiction, yet surveys of theoretical physicists and cosmologists confirm that most believe we must adopt some form of many-worlds, multiple existence, theory. Remember, this is currently accepted as the most promising approach to the problems of space-time, and not merely a speculative idea.
If there is a "me" that exists on my world-line for every event in my physical life, or if there really are an infinite number of parallel universes in which I exist, then there is no singular "me". Rather there are billions of isolated "me's" either lying along my world-line, or stuck somewhere in totally isolated universes. If the scientists are correct, it would seem to be impossible to find meaning and value for a singular "me" in the collective existence of each of the billions of instances of individual consciousness, no single one of which is the real true "me" who can live a meaningful life. All of the popular interpretations of relativistic and quantum theories seem to lead us to the same conclusion, if you do not have a single permanent existence, your life has no meaning and your choices make no difference to “you”, simply because there is no single physical "you" that exists before or after physical death (please remember, we believe that life has meaning and value).
There is a third possibility, that the intuitive feeling human beings have that their physical past exists as a singular entity is based on some real, yet unknown, physical model of our universe. The intuitive feeling is very strong that our physical life makes a positive or negative contribution to human existence, and that our physical life is a permanent part of the physical universe. Perhaps there is some single physical consciousness that incorporates all of the events along our world-line, and that preserves our physical past, present, and future. We cannot rule out this possibility, if for no other reason than the fact that it is theoretically impossible to prove a negative. In other words, we might be able to prove that physical consciousness after death exists in the universe by observing it, but we can never prove that physical consciousness after death does not exist because we have not observed it (we discuss this limitation in some detail in our book).
The third possibility seems to require the existence of a physical consciousness that is not bound to events on a world-line. Some physicists suggest that consciousness has unique physical properties so that human beings become sequentially “aware” of events on world-lines that are essentially frozen in a “block universe”. Yet, as we have already said, in every currently popular physical theory the universe “evolves” as a sequential progression of space-time “events”. It seems intuitively true that if human consciousness is a physical phenomena, that can be explained either by current theory or by physical laws that are not yet known to science, it is in some real sense inextricably bound to each of these space-time events. It seems intuitively difficult, or impossible, to accept that such a dynamic physical consciousness could incorporate individual predetermined “block” events into a singular human being without violating the basic tenets of relativity. While it is true that a physical consciousness that is not bound to physical events might represent a unique singular existence, it is also fair to say that there is no known reason to believe that physical consciousness is not inexorably linked to individual physical events, making the third possibility seem to be almost an impossibility.
There may be many “me’s” that are experiencing past events in the “past”, and I may have a memory of past events in the present, yet the intuitive conclusion is that my physical consciousness does not experience past physical events “now”. It seems intuitively true that if consciousness of past events can be lost when memories fade or are damaged, then physical consciousness has not incorporated those past events into a permanent singular “me”. Einstein only briefly addressed this matter when he said “An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise…. Enough for me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvelous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.” [click here for more information on spacetime]
It seems that if we are to believe that there may be some kind of singular physical (rather than non-physical) consciousness that survives physical death, then we must accept that there is some unique physical consciousness that is "me", that somehow incorporates all of the conscious events of my life, and that is not dependent on the continuing physical existence of my biologic body. While current interpretations of popular theories do not totally rule out the possibility of a perpetual individual physical consciousness, there is no known method that is both rational and realistic (i.e.- a theory that appears capable of modeling physical reality), to construct a physical (as opposed to a non-physical) model that preserves the singular human physical consciousness of an individual after the physical death of that person. Modern theories suggest the possibility that multiple instances of a physical “me” exist in space-time, but they do not offer even a clue as to how to unite all of those instances into a single physical “me” whose consciousness spans space-time. Indeed, current interpretations of quantum superposition seem to deny the possibility of a “single” physical reality in which a unique “me” might exist.
I can visualize and accept a “non-physical consciousness” that survives physical death, yet I am unable to have any confidence at all in the existence of a singular “physical consciousness” that survives the physical death of a human being. To do so, it would seem that I would have to discover a new physical process that incorporates all the “events” in a human life, and that creates a unique, singular physical consciousness that continues to exist in space-time as that human being, or at least as something that we can call a singular past that belongs to the human being. This seems to me to be an impossible task. I may be wrong, yet I simply cannot find an accepted physical theory that supports a unified "physical" consciousness that survives physical death. Furthermore, I do not know of any credible objective physical evidence that such a “physical” consciousness might exist. I can say that after many years of thought I am thoroughly convinced that any attempt to construct a model of permanent physical consciousness does far more damage to the centuries of accumulated scientific knowledge, than does the acceptance of the possibility that a permanent non-physical consciousness may exist.
We have concluded that no current, or reasonably foreseeable, rational theory provides us with a singular physical consciousness that continues to exist after physical death, so that a single physical "me" continues to exist after my death in my physical “past”. We have said that if we do not have a singular physical or non-physical consciousness that continues to exist after physical death, then those who believe in nihilism are probably correct, and some type of "nihilistic" void awaits all of us. It may be a true void, like the void that preceded our birth, or it may be a very strange void where billions of "me" merely co-exist. Whatever physical form it might take, it would seem to satisfy the definition of a "meaningless" void.
A moment's comment on those who believe they may be able to physically perpetuate themselves through cryogenics, cloning, etc. If, we live in a constantly expanding universe, our universe will eventually return to a state of uniformly high entropy, so that the cosmos will become a hostile environment in which physical life cannot be sustained. If, on the other hand, theories that predict endless cycles of expansion and contraction of our universe are correct, nothing physical can survive beyond the next collapse of the universe a few billion years from today. While a physical end to all biologic creatures may seem absurdly far away, your great, great, great (to the 100th. power), grand-clone would find it frightfully real when the time came for their physical demise, a distant time from now which like all imaginable time is but a second in eternity. There is simply no cosmologic model that we know of that offers any hope for a perpetual, physical, human existence.
Even if in some unknown manner multiple clones could survive in an ever-expanding universe, the idea that they are perpetual extensions of their donor seems less than credible, perhaps so, perhaps not. Such a perpetual presence seems to be more like an endless path of meaningless individual moments than a continuous meaningful existence. Furthermore, if there is no life after death, it would make no difference if an individual (cloned or otherwise) continued to exist, or "died" in one hundred years or in one billion years, because "death" would annihilate the individual's past, present, and future.
If physical death annihilates all individual consciousness then there is no reason whatsoever to embrace cryogenics, cloning, strong artificial intelligence, or any other means of extending physical life. Since an individual's death would carry with it no possible consequence to that individual, there is no logical reason whatsoever for the living individual to avoid the "consequences" of death. If an individual no longer exists after death, that individual has no reason at all to feel anything positive, negative, or otherwise about death (or for that matter anything at all about life). Again please note, we do not believe that physical death annihilates individual consciousness, and we strongly believe that life does have meaning and value.
What should our response be to all of this? We strongly believe that there is absolutely no reason not to live for the possibility that life has meaning and value. We think we are right about the transitory nature of physical consciousness, but we may be wrong. If our conclusions are wrong, perhaps we do in fact have a physical consciousness that survives physical death. If we are wrong, we may have a perpetual physical existence that gives meaning and value to our physical lives, even if there is no non-physical life after death. We will not pursue this possibility, yet you should recognize that it exists.
If we are right, if our physical consciousness does not survive physical death, our death may mark the end of our existence. Yet if our physical consciousness dies, it is still quite possible that we will not face a "nihilistic" death. Perhaps we have a non-physical consciousness that survives physical death, and that gives meaning and value to our lives. We consider this possibility in more detail in our book and in our LifeNotes as we search for a reason for living.
Beyond the human desire for meaning in life, we would suggest that the logical consequence of what philosophers call a nihilistic death, "requires" the search for alternatives to nihilism. Those who believe that the nihilistic void is approaching are, by the very nature of their humanity, required to search for something to believe in other than the void. While it appears to be impossible to scientifically prove that life has meaning and value, it is equally impossible to prove that life has no meaning and value. No matter what the person who believes that life is meaningless may believe to be true at any particular time in their life, the possibility always exists that he or she may eventually find true meaning and value in their life.
There is no reason to be a "nihilist", no reason to believe that life ends at death. If nihilism is correct, if life does end at death, it makes no difference whatsoever if we believe it is correct, or not. If we believe nihilism is correct, and it is correct, that does not alter the void that would follow death. If we believe nihilism is not correct, and it is correct, that does not alter the void that would follow death. If we do not believe anything at all about nihilism, and it is correct, that does not alter the void that would follow death. Yet if nihilism is not correct, belief and/or faith in that which offers a reason for living may well be essential to our existence. If because we believe nihilism is correct we accept the void, and we are wrong, then we have doomed ourselves. If we recognize that the humanistic belief that there is no life after death leads to the nihilistic conclusion that the "void" will consume past, present, and future, then to escape the quicksand of nihilistic time we must search for alternatives that provide a reason for living.
It is very important to recognize that nihilism can never lead to suicide, for nihilism tells us that if we do in fact live in a nihilistic world, nothing that happens in our lives, no matter how "badly" we may feel about it at the time, has any "real" consequence at all. It tells us that what we perceive to be the very worst events in our lives are no better, or worse, than any other events. I am absolutely convinced that the philosophical neutrality that nihilism demands, means that nihilism never suggests or supports suicide as an option for any human being.
Furthermore, since it is absolutely clear that we may not live in a nihilistic world, and that nihilism may be wrong, there can never be any reason to terminate our life, risk the negative consequences, and abandon the possible positive consequences of living a meaningful life. We are a small part of the whole. Unless the answer is revealed to us by the whole, we can never know during our physical lives what really happens when our physical life ends. Life may have physical or non-physical meaning and value that we do not, and perhaps cannot until our physical death, recognize and understand. [If you find yourself distressed or depressed by our conclusions please read the note at the end of this essay.]
There is no reason at all to reject the possibility that each of us has some kind of permanent physical or non-physical consciousness. There is absolutely no logical reason whatsoever to reject the possibility that nihilism may be false! There is no reason whatsoever not to search for an alternative to nihilism, to explore the possibility of a permanent physical or non-physical consciousness, to search for a reason for living. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever not to live for the possibility, however remote you may believe it to be, that life has meaning and value.
We have written a book we call “LOVE - In Search of a Reason for Living”. As we say in the preface, it is “a book about life, and a book about you. Its purpose is to send you on a journey through your heart, mind, and soul. If you take the journey you will find in yourself the reason for living. If you care at all about life and people and yourself, you will take the journey.” We invite you to download a copy.
On our website http://www.lifenotes.org we have published LifeNotes, selected in large part from our book, that are directed toward the vast majority of people who we believe are unwilling to live the fanatic life that we conclude in our book all people can and should live. We suggest that you read LifeNotes first by clicking on the link below, and then read our book if you decide that you want too.
DISTRESS & DEPRESSION
We have received comments from readers who tell us that our ideas caused them to be distressed and deeply depressed. If you are one of those readers you need to consider the following. As human beings become anxious they often lose their focus and misinterpret what they are reading. If you understand what we are saying, there is absolutely no reason to be depressed by our ideas.
Why not? First, we may be wrong. What we conclude to be true and correct may not be. Yet beyond the fact that we cannot be sure we are right, the fact is that if we are right, for the vast majority there is nothing to fear or dread. This fact is extremely difficult to accept if you are searching for meaning in your life, you do not believe that there is a life after death, and you are discouraged or depressed before you start reading. When you read our ideas they may touch raw nerves, and you may stop understanding what we are saying.
Either there is a life after death or there is no life after death. If there is no life after death and we are correct when we conclude that physical death annihilates our past, present, and future, then there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to be even the slightest bit distressed or depressed. If physical death annihilates your past, present, and future, then after your physical death you are consumed by a totally peaceful void, with absolutely no pain or sorrow or other negative result. There is no logical or rational way whatsoever to conclude that there is any negative consequence if your ultimate end is a nihilistic death.
If your mind is not receptive and clear, then you may have a violent reaction to our conclusions about death if there is no life after death, a reaction that ignores the fact that there cannot be anything to fear about such a death. It is human nature to attack anything that suggests that our life today may be destroyed by death, yet that reaction can have no rational basis in logic. If your past, present, and future is annihilated by your physical death, after your death you will know no pain or sorrow or regrets or anything negative at all, period.
Furthermore, if your past, present, and future is annihilated by your physical death, that fact can have no effect whatsoever on today, on now. If a nihilistic death lies in your future, it cannot effect your present at all. You can live every day, from now to the moment of your death, to the fullest. It is very important to understand that every person who is unwilling to believe that there is a life after physical death can live a positive life for the rest of their life, loving their neighbor, doing that which is good, with the hope that physical life does have meaning and purpose. There is no reason whatsoever for those who are unwilling to believe that there is a life after physical death to be depressed, there is every reason for them to do that which is good and live the most positive life they are willing to live. If you are unwilling to believe that there is life after physical death, there is every reason for you to do that which is good and live a positive life, with the hope, no matter how tiny you may believe it is, that your life has meaning and purpose.
Many who are deeply depressed believe that their lives are meaningless, and to escape the pain of living they seek the peace of suicide. It you are suicidal it may be very difficult for you to accept the fact that if there is no life after death and we are correct when we conclude that physical death annihilates our past, present, and future, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to commit suicide. If your physical death is a nihilistic death, there is no reason to end your life now because you will experience the same “peaceful” end if you die next year, or twenty years from now. Your mind may be too clouded to understand what we are saying, yet if you are suicidal you must take whatever time it takes to fully understand.
If on your physical death your past, present, and future are annihilated, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to commit suicide, because all the physical and emotional pain you suffer in your life, now or next week or next year, will be annihilated whenever you die, even if your death does not occur for many, many, years. It is simple logic that if no matter how far in the future a nihilistic death occurs, it causes all pain that you ever suffered to be as if it never happened, then there can be no logical reason whatsoever to commit suicide now to avoid future pain, period. Committing suicide necessarily eliminates all possibility of finding meaning and purpose in your life. You cannot know if a nihilistic death awaits you or not. Even if there is a nihilistic death in your future you cannot know that there is, so there is no reason whatsoever not to live for the possibility, no matter how remote you may believe it to be, that in the future you will find meaning and purpose in your life.
No matter what we may think or you may think, there is always a possibility that your life has meaning and purpose, whether there is a life after death or there is no life after death. If there is a life after death, or if there is no life after death, there is always a possibility that sometime in the future you will find meaning and purpose in your life. If in fact there is a life after death then there is every reason to live for the hope that you will enjoy a peaceful existence after death. If in fact there is no life after death then there is every reason to live for the hope that your physical existence right now has meaning and purpose. Even if there is no life after death and physical death annihilates our past, there is no reason whatsoever not to live for the possibility your physical existence has meaning and purpose right now, simply because during your physical life on earth you can never, never, know with any degree of certainty whether your life has, or does not have, meaning.
If you are depressed and suicidal it is extremely difficult for you to see the absolute fact that there is absolutely no reason not to live every moment of your natural life for the possibility that you may find meaning and purpose and happiness in your life. There can be no reason whatsoever to commit suicide and eliminate the possibility that your life has meaning and purpose. There can be no reason whatsoever to eliminate the possibility that you will eventually find, if not joy and happiness, at the very least peace and contentment in your life.
If you do not yet understand the fact that there is no reason whatsoever to be disturbed or depressed by our conclusions, especially our conclusion that if there is no life after death, then your past, present, and future are most probably annihilated on your physical death, then you still do not understand what we are saying. Please take as much time as you need to reread and carefully think about what we are saying, until you satisfy yourself that there is in fact absolutely no reason to be depressed by our conclusions, and absolutely no reason whatsoever for any human being to commit suicide.
Depression is a medical condition, if you are depressed, for any reason, you must seek professional help:
Life is full of good times and bad, of happiness and sorrow. But when you are feeling "down" for more than a few weeks or you have difficulty functioning in daily life, you may be suffering from a common, yet serious medical illness - called clinical depression.
You are not alone
Every year more than 19 million American Adults suffer from clinical depression. Young or old, man or woman, regardless of race or income - anyone can experience clinical depression. Depression can cause people to lose the pleasure from daily life. It can complicate other medical conditions - it can be serious enough to lead to suicide. Yet this suffering is unnecessary. Clinical depression is a very treatable medical illness. So why don't many people seek the help they need? Clinical depression often goes untreated because people don't recognize the many symptoms. They may know some symptoms, such as sadness and withdrawal, but they are unaware of others, including anxiety, irritability, and sleeplessness. Some incorrectly believe that only people whose depression lasts for months, or who have completely lost their ability to function, have "real" - or "clinical" - depression. Many people even wrongly think that depression is "normal" for older people, young adults, new mothers, menopausal women, or those with a chronic illness. The truth is, clinical depression is never "normal," no matter what your age or life situation. Also, people need to know that treatment for clinical depression really works - and to learn how to go about finding the treatment they need.
Clinical Depression can be Successfully Treated
Clinical depression is one of the most treatable of all medical illnesses. In fact, more than 80 percent of people with depression can be treated successfully with medication, psychotherapy or a combination of both. Only a qualified health professional can determine if someone has clinical depression. But knowing the symptoms of clinical depression can help you as you talk with your health professional.
As with many illnesses, if treatment if needed, the earlier it begins, the more effective it can be. And, early treatment increases the likelihood of preventing serious recurrences.
You Do Not Have to Cope with Clinical Depression on Your Own
Some people are embarrassed to get help for depression, or they are reluctant to talk about how they are feeling. Others believe that depression will go away on its own. You can't just "Tough it out!" Help is available.
Talking to friends, family members and clergy can often give people the support needed when going through life's difficult times. For those with clinical depression such support is important, but it is not a substitute for the care of a health professional. Remember, clinical depression is a serious illness that you do not have to treat on your own. http://www.nmha.org/
Depression
A depressive disorder is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. A depressive disorder is not the same as a passing blue mood. It is not a sign of personal weakness or a condition that can be willed or wished away. People with a depressive illness cannot merely "pull themselves together" and get better. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Appropriate treatment, however, can help most people who suffer from depression. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm
Also see: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/depression.html
(Copyright (c) 1995-2008 Compact Library Publishers Inc., all rights reserved. You may make and distribute copies of this essay, or selections from it. You must include all copyright notices and include this paragraph with every copy. You may not make any additions or deletions to the text. Any alterations to the text would be a violation of our copyright. Any comments that you attach to the text must clearly state that they are not part of the essay, and that they are the opinion of the commentator and not necessarily the opinion of the author. Significant portions of this essay were taken from "LOVE - In Search of a Reason for Living", Copyright (c) 1990-2008 Compact Library Publishers Inc.)
(Third Millennium Final Edition - corrections and revisions are continuing)
Last major revision: December, 2002