Atheist Analogies #1: The Soul and the Afterlife

As I mentioned in the previous post BD has already done a wonderful post on What the Soul Means, but I wanted to add something to that.

When I speak of a soul I'm not talking about something supernatural. It's not an entity to itself that magically combines with our body after birth. To me the soul is a byproduct of society, consciousness, and beliefs. It influences our lives, and part of it even continues on after our demise. The soul influences the thoughts, actions, and behavior that makes us who we are. The things and people we love and hate, what we're willing to stand up for or against, who we enjoy spending time with, and even the books and music that we prefer are all influenced by it. The term "soulmate" can even be taken to mean someone who shares beliefs and/or interests.

The "good" soul is one that tries to help make the world a better place than when they came into it. They support the rights of everyone, make an effort to improve the life of the current and future generations, and understand that their actions now will influence the future. Thanks to the information age, they even have a way of sending their message to a large audience without having to spend finances on travel and publication.

Then there's the "bad" or tarnished soul. They spend their days hating those different than (or in some cases the same as) themselves and/or work to make future generations retain the same bigotry, live for themselves and not for the rest of the world or future generations, and in general try to set the world back by endorsing ideals that are detrimental to society.

Both of those lead to the afterlife. Of course, I'm not refering to a Heaven, Valhalla, or Hell (or Hel) of religous nature, but to what happens after our demise. Our actions and beliefs have an effect on those around us. Our offspring in particular are affected by our beliefs and how we've lived our lives, but also anyone who's observed us. Anyone who's had any authority over another influences how those people think and act. Someone respecting you even gives you an amount of authority over them. Particularly, it influences how they remember you and "honor your memory".

After you die they'll follow your example. The influence your actions and beliefs had on them will affect their interactions with the world around them. Perhaps they will start a charity in your honor, make donations to an existing charity, start a scholarship for students who show promise in a field that you were passionate about. Conversely, they may spend the time after you die furthering all of the things that you got wrong but now have no way of correcting since you're pushing up daisies.

Some of you reading may recognize my concept of an afterlife as a legacy. How we influence future generations is at least as important as how we influence the world around us while we're still walking on it. Once we're dead there's no way to change what we've said and done while we were alive, so don't waste the time you have.

Atheist Anaologies Index

The first time I heard the term culturally Christian was from Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion. The term applies to those who grew up in a Christian environment and understand the biblical references, but who do not follow the Christian faith.

The more I thought about it, the more things that I find analogous in everyday conversation. Heaven, Hell, spirit, soul, and even God still means something to me. However, now it's as a shorthand way of speaking of something that has nothing to do with Christianity, or even anything supernatural.

Bronze Dog just did a terrific post on What the Soul Means and explained how he views it. It's very eloquently written and does a very good job of explaining how something normally viewed in a supernatural way can be used in a naturalistic definition.

So I've decided to go with my idea and start a list of atheist analogies to terms that Christians relate to. As always, my definitions and explanations only apply to myself and other atheists are welcome to give their views.

Listings:
Atheist Analogies #1: The Soul and the Afterlife

Fiasco Finale

Someone going by Anne of GG left a comment on an old post concerning the P-Momma fiasco/boondoggle/clusterfuck/etc.

Hi Berlie,

Congrats on the twins!

Thank you. That's why I haven't responded to you sooner. Things are a bit hectic with the approaching births.

P-momma just posted some pics that lead to some albums with pics of her frolicking in the sun and water.

Which definition of "frolicking" are you using? It appears she's amusing and enjoying herself, but I don't see any where she's playing and running about happily.

Is she cured?

Lupus is treatable but not curable, at least for the time being. The primary symptoms also come and go. Like rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases there are good days and bad days.

I don't see any protective clothing and she looks happy and very healthy. Go Here. Hope the link works.

As far as the protective clothing, I don't cover my arms and legs when the temperatures get warmer. If I'm concerned about sun damage I wear sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher.

Of course she's happy. She's spending time with her four children in a beautiful setting. I would expect that makes most parents happy.

Now, I want to ask how does a person look "very healthy"? She's standing, moving about, and smiling. If she's having a good day, as I mentioned above, she probably would look healthy to a person who's only seeing a snapshot of a split second in time. Thanks to modern medicine people with chronic diseases can function in a day to day setting, but that in no way makes them healthy.

I responded to this assuming that Anne of GG (I wonder if she has red hair?) is not a griefer or a troll. As far as I'm concerned, any further commenting on the fiasco/boondoggle/clusterfuck/etc. is beating a dead horse. I've got much larger issues to deal with, and this has become a waste of my time.

Argument from Ultimate Authority

In November of '07, I wrote a post about Understanding Atheists. In it I touched on the difference between believing in the existance of God and following the same God.

Before and since that I've heard several times that God is necessary for an "ultimate standard" of morality, whatever that means. The arguments against this attempt at reasoning usually involve the one contending that morality depends on God is assuming God exists (and that it is their specific god providing the morals), that they know what God intends, and even asking where God obtained his own morals. Of course, those are just a few.

I can understand the arguments against the believer conclusion, but what strikes me is the release from responsibility that the believer's view provides. Instead of examining the evidence and circumstances they are only for and against what the voice in their head or what their interpretation of the book supposedly based on God tells them to be. Each time I hear them say that morals come from God as an excuse for their point of view, I picture a child in front of their parents defending their actions by saying "He told me to do it".

Prop. 8 in California, and other instances across the U.S., are prime examples. The argument's I've heard mostly consist of "marriage has always been between a man and a woman", or "if we let man marry man or woman marry woman people will be marrying their pets, vegetables, and children". However, when you point out the history of polygamy and confront them on their fallacious use of the slippery slope argument they try to bullshit their way through it.

We're all fully capable of thinking for ourselves. The problem is that so many don't have the desire to do so. Instead of coming to their own conclusions they either interpret their book in the way they can keep their bias, just accept what an authority figure says, or just listen to the voice in their head.

While I don't agree with everything Anne Lamott believes, there's one quote by her that I think sums it all up nicely.

That's how you can tell you've created God in your own image is if he or she hates all the same people you do.

New 419 Variation

The last few months have been spent preparing for the arrival of our twins. Between the nursery and restocking newborn supplies, general work that needs to be done around the house and on our property, and my workload at my job I haven't had time for blogging. However, things are starting to slow down a little now.

One thing I have been doing is consistently checking my Gmail. In between the comment moderation notices and subscription emails a piece of SPAM periodically slips through. Most are just advertisements for things that I have no use for (Princess and I have a wonderful love life, thank you very much). However, one came through today that actually made me grin.

from Mrs Tara Muldock
reply-to taramuldock@live.co.uk

to
date Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 8:51 AM
subject Finally Your Compensation Is Here
mailed-by iis.com.br


Dear Friend,

I am Mrs Sara Bagwell. I am a US citizen and i am 34 years Old. I reside here in Dripping Springs, Texa and i am thinking of relocating since I am now rich.

I am one of those that took part in the United Nations Compensation program in Nigeria many years ago and they refused to pay me. I had paid over $20,000 while in the US, trying to get my

payment but all was to no avail.

So I decided to travel down to Nigeria with all my compensation documents and I was directed to meet Mrs Tara Muldock, who is the member of COMPENSATION PROGRAM COMMITTEE, and i contacted

her and she explained everything to me.

She said who ever is contacting us through emails are fake. She also took me to the paying bank (ZENITH BANK) for the claim of my compensation payment.

Right now, i am the happiest woman on earth because I have received my compensation funds of $5,000,000.00 more over, Mrs Tara Muldock showed me the full information of those that are yet

to receive their payments and i saw your email as one of the beneficiaries who have not yet received the payment under CASE FILE 54AC003 and that is why I decided to email you to stop

dealing with those people. They are not with your fund, they are only making money off you.

Therefore, i would advise you to contact Mrs Tara Muldock for assistance and inform her that your CASE FILE is 54AC003. Contact her directly via the information below.

UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION AWARD PROGRAM
Name : Mrs. Tara Muldock
Email: taramuldock@live.co.uk
Phone: +234-802-132-9323.

You really have to stop dealing with those people that are contacting you and telling you that your fund is with them because it is not with them. They are only taking advantage of you and

they will dry you up until you have nothing.

The only money i paid after i met Mr. Pitt Parker was just the bank transfer charges, which is only normal and legitimate as it is in all banks in the world. So please take note of that.

Mrs Tara Muldock shall ensure that you deal directly with the bank(ZENITH BANk).

Once again stop contacting those people. I advise that you contact Mrs Tara Muldock so that she can help you in the collection of your transfer payment instead of dealing with those liars

that will be turning you around asking for different kind of money to complete your transaction.

Thank you and be blessed.

Mrs. Sara Bagwell.

When I read these, it's almost like playing Where's Waldo?, but finding Waldo means trying to find something that might be plausible.

What's really ironic is when I did a Google search on buta@iis.com.br, the email address. One hit gave me a site listing the exact email address (translated from Portugese). When I did some further digging, it gave me a listing for the person (also translated from Portugese). Under the listed name was "Lawyer".

I'm wondering if the account was created just to try to lend credibility, or if the person's account was hijacked for the same reason.

Oh well. Regardless, sending an email for such a thing to my Gmail account automatically discounts it's viability. There are much easier ways to find me than my pseudonymous email account.

Update:

I tried contacting the email address used to send me the message and it failed.

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

buta@iis.com.br

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 554 554 5.1.1 : Recipient address rejected: User unknown (state 14).

Things that make you hmmmmm...

X-Rays for Alzheimer's

Scientists think that plaques, called amyloid beta (Abeta), are the cause of Alzheimer's. The problem has been trying to find a safe and non-invasive way to track the Abeta's number and size. The Abeta plaques are very small, with the largest being 4 microns. For comparison, human hair is about 100 microns wide and red blood cells are 7 microns in diameter.

Enter diffraction-enhanced imaging, DEI. DEI has a high enough resolution that scientists and doctors can get the information they need on the plaques. It's currently only in the early stages, but hopefully they can find a way to make it safe for use on humans (the current work was done on a mouse).

DEI itself can't be used to treat Alzheimer's, but it will help in comparing the efficacy of treatments. With DEI researchers can compare the size and number of Abetas in the brain before and after treatment.

Pizza and Porn

The University of Cincinnati (UC) Wellness Center and Pure Romance are promoting an event at UC called Sexploration. Sexploration is a week long sexual education event with events planned with names like Pizza and Porn, Got the Hook Up?, and America's War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust and Liberty. All are free and open for the public to attend.

According to the radio, the titles were made as an attempt at humor. The organizers were hoping that making the title humorous would alleviate some of the discomfort associated with talking about sex. For instance, those who attended Pizza and Porn didn't sit around eating LaRosa's and watching Debbie Does Dallas. Instead, according to a student who attended, they had a debate about porn itself while eating pizza. No porn was shown, there was only a lively but civil discussion about the topic. Since even the Supreme Court has had trouble deciding what pornography is I would expect the discussion to be interesting indeed.

However, to the general public sex is a taboo subject, and UC promoting such an event has created some controversy. Enter Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk who received a PhD in Classics from UC in 1969. According to Mr. Pilarczyk:

“I find the ‘Sexploration’ program … to be profoundly disturbing,” Pilarczyk said. “The gross disregard of the moral sensibilities of many in the university community is troubling in the extreme.”

When it comes to speaking about morality those who live a glass house shouldn't be throwing rocks. I expect that Mr. Pilarczyk wouldn't approve of anything greater than abstinence. However, the reality is that "75% of UC students have had one or more sexual partners within the past year." Mr. Pilarczyk has decided to remain ignorant of sex, but 3 out of 4 UC students need to know more about it. Reality takes priority over "moral sensibilities".

The archbishop, who earned a doctorate in classics from UC, said he is offended as an alumnus and as a leader of the church. He said university money and resources should not support a program that has no academic value.

Neither does sports. Does that mean those should be done away with, too? Sexploration isn't "academic" anyway.

UC officials said the program focuses on sex education and is a response to student demand for more information on the topic.
...
Wellness Center program director Regan Johnson told The Enquirer last week that the center had received requests from students for a sex education program and that it made sense to combine all of the events and activities into one week.

The UC Wellness Center doesn't use tuition or tax dollars, and is just responding to student demand. Those who might feel offended at the content aren't required to attend. Perhaps those complaining, like whoever sent the email to Mr. Pilarczyk, think that sex should be left to the parents. If that's the case students wouldn't be demanding more information from their school if the parents/clergy/whoever were giving the students the information they seek.

In some respects, I find myself also feeling profoundly disturbed at Sexploration. That students of college age demand such information from institutions of higher learning should tell us something about the sex education they've received before. Whether that be from school or their parents, that information has apparently been sorely lacking.

Our educational system and parents need to wake up. Young adults are having, and will have, sex. Not explaining to them methods of pregnancy prevention is ignorance at it's worst. This goes for the parents, teachers, and students. Perhaps some parents often reject the thought of teaching anything but abstinence, but their children are not them. I remember the "sex education" I received in high school, which involved showing what STDs can do. While sickening, the pictures had about zero effect on stopping the students from engaging in risky behavior.

If you are one of those who is upset by the number of abortions and pregnant teens there are, as I expect Mr. Pilarczyk is, you should be explaining condoms, birth control, and every method of contraception, including abstinence. The ones who are being taught are the ones who will have to deal with the consequences. If you don't give them all of the information, then you are as, or maybe even more, liable as the one who's taking the risk.

Fear and disgust, like the pictures I was shown in high school, can be an excellent deterrent under normal circumstances. However, you have to realize that endorphins override both of those emotions.