By S. Mahalingam –
All religions assure us we’re special: our consciousness survives bodily death. However, based on science, humanism declares that if certain parts of the brain die, consciousness also dies.
When there’s a lot of verified evidence (albeit anecdotal) of afterlife, we’ve to take serious note. If such evidence is of three, quite separate types – as follows – we cannot justifiably dismiss them outright and declare the entire bulk of evidence as “inconclusive”:
(i) Verified details of near-death experience by patients, including self-review of past actions;
(ii) Verified details of previous life, by children under hypnosis, including untaught language;
(iii) Over 500 tape-records recorded by sitters, now stored at the University of Manitoba, which serve as evidence of direct communication between spirits of dead people and their loved ones during séances conducted by the most tested, silent, direct voice medium Leslie Flint (1911-1994). The séances were held at various locations, including places not open to prior adjustment to commit fraud – but always held in the dark (infrared cameras permitted). Everything was thoroughly scrutinised by professionals who were sceptical about Flint’s renowned ability to attract the spirits of dead people. Despite the abysmal record of fraud by most mediums, no such thing by Flint was ever found during his career lasting 40 years; yet doubts by diehards continued: “he was using ventriloquism”, and, with his lips were sealed, “he must’ve been talking through his stomach.” It is clear that the spirits have no voice box, and their conversation with the sitters was through an ethereal ‘voice box’ formed ad-hoc by Flint, few feet above his or his sitters’ heads for conveying the spirits’ thoughts in his language – with difficulty and with varying clarity and modulation, but with passable similarity to the dead persons’ manner of speaking when living.
The ensuing book Life after Death by Neville Randall gives first-hand accounts of the far more pleasant spirit world to which, when we die, might be escorted and met by people we had loved. To the spirits it was a natural transition from one kind of experience to another, without pain or fear. They took a while to realise that they were dead. The new world seemed to them to be as real and diverse as ours – with all sorts of voluntary occupations – but far more beautiful. Conversation is by thought, so is (instantaneous) travel to anywhere – even into our world: they can see us but we can’t see them. The book gives plenty of fascinating and detailed information about life there, as told by the spirits. It seems all they needed to get there was dutiful obedience to their own conscience. But even there, lives aren’t everlasting. They either fade away after a very long time or, if they deserve, move into a yet higher realm.
Sceptics reject all of the above evidence as impossible, yet they’re prepared to accept as the truth whatever science says. Even Albert Einstein rejected as impossible, John Bell’s insight in the 1960’s that strange, weird, “spooky” and instant, non-local quantum connection exists in the universe, yet it was proved experimentally – and accepted – two decades later.
Apart from the overwhelming and wide-ranging anecdotal evidence, there’s a logical basis that underpins the belief in afterlife. Among all forms of life only we, humans possess a conscience, enabling us to reason out (using our mind through our brain) if our actions are morally right or wrong. It is nature’s special gift to us; so we are duty-bound to use it in good faith – devoid of spurious, self-satisfying justification – when faced with morally right/wrong issues. It doesn’t matter if we decide wrongly provided that our own conscience genuinely believes that it is right. Knowing how penetrating ,perceptive and incapable of being fooled the ‘mind’ of nature is and how pervasive, inescapable and inexorable her laws are, we can logically expect to enjoy/suffer the positive/negative effects of obeying/disobeying our conscience, right up to the date of death. For this, our minds must be capable of surviving death and existing in some form (not necessarily human) at least for some time – or none of these – as judged by Mother Nature as ‘blindfolded goddess of justice’: the logic of afterlife’.
A universal survival instinct; three types of anecdotal evidence in plenty – at least a few of which are likely to be true, which is sufficient proof – and an underpinning logic, all combined, point to a hypothesis that at least on balance of probability, if not beyond reasonable doubt, humans have a conscience-based consciousness which can survive bodily death.
This is also what religions say, but they are based on faith and are so divisive that they were responsible for so much death and destruction throughout the ages – a never-ending curse. In contrast, the above hypothesis is based on evidence, reason and logic – and is unifying, because it provides a common basis for all of them. However, it cannot displace them, because they satisfy the spiritual needs of their communities, which the hypothesis cannot do.
However, one problem with the hypothesis is that testable ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ cannot be found. Without it, humanism considers any evidence, however numerous, as “inconclusive” even though they’re backed by logic. And based on studies of the brain, humanism concludes that consciousness (mind) is entirely dependent on the brain. So humanism loudly proclaims its opinion that nothing can possibly survive bodily death – music to the ears of those who fear possible moral justice after death.
Danger to society from such emphatic claim is that unscrupulous people, especially criminally inclined ones, are likely to conclude that they’re sure to avoid moral justice and accountability after death, so they can do anything – damn the others, but don’t get caught! This attitude is likely to become infectious, leading to increasing strife, immorality and crime.
The issue is far too serious for all of the evidence of afterlife to be summarily dismissed as inconclusive – the same can be said of humanists’ opinion, because there’s increasing opinion among scientists that mind can be independent of the brain.
Bane of humanity is the plethora of conflicting religious and sectarian beliefs which breed hatred and disharmony. Humanism arose as a unifying influence. But despite exhortations by humanists to promote ethical conduct, society is likely to suffer increasing immorality and selfishness. What’s important to note about the above hypothesis is that, even if it is on balance of probability wrong, its effect on society will be beneficial, whereas, even if humanism is on balance of probability right, its effect will be harmful.
So humanism owes it to society to review its position vis-à-vis the above hypothesis, and adopt a ‘carrot and stick’ approach in order to promote morality and harmony. The least that they can do is to proclaim that there’s no proof beyond reasonable doubt that afterlife is not true and that it might be true on balance of probability. Scientists, for their part, can help by declaring that on matters relating to afterlife, truth beyond reasonable doubt cannot be found, and truth on balance of probability is all that can be expected. Readers can help with specific comments on the hypothesis and suggest amendments on the basis of their own insight.
Related posts;
What Happens To Me At Death?By Shyamon Jayasinghe
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / July 19, 2013
Are near death and the real death experiences the same. Near death is yet near life. Death is post- life. Consciousness may exist to some extent while in the near death state. If life can be potentially created from a piece of the chromosome, with the accompanying consciousness, what does the concept of soul stand? Are the soul and body complementary and integrated attributes of life? Is what we call soul, the consciousness? Do the consciousness and the physical presence end with death, while ‘We’ continue through the lives of our progeny, through the dynamics of the genetic mechanisms, evolving or degenerating in accordance with how we, our immediate ancestors and our progeny live their lives?
As the science of molecular genetics unravels the workings of the DNA, I am beginning to think that abstract parameters lime consciousness are also subject the rules and dynamics of inheritance. This may also explain the evolution of consciousness as described in the Sivapuranam- ” Pullaahi, Poondaahi, Puluvaahi, Maramaahi —– etc.”
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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Spring Koha / July 19, 2013
Bane of humanity is the plethora of conflicting religious and sectarian beliefs which breed hatred and disharmony……….
I would suggest that the bane is not so much the conflicting religions and beliefs but the propensity of the organisations that propogate these noble visions to attract a slew of charlatans, con artists, crooks and deviants. The ensuing suspicion, hatred and conflict comes from this pollution.
Whatever happened to sincerety and simple faith?
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Agnos / July 20, 2013
“Danger to society from such emphatic claim is that unscrupulous people, especially criminally inclined ones, are likely to conclude that they’re sure to avoid moral justice and accountability after death, so they can do anything – damn the others, but don’t get caught! This attitude is likely to become infectious, leading to increasing strife, immorality and crime.”
Mr. Mahalingam,
Your arguments are flawed. You are asking people to suppress the truth because if the truth is revealed, it may lead to moral decay and criminality. Upholding truth is itself a moral imperative. Just because some people lack the discipline to conduct a moral life knowing full well that there is no afterlife, I cannot shirk my responsibility to tell the truth that there has been no evidence of afterlife.
The fear of crime and moral decay has to be handled by insistence on social and cultural values, self-discipline, as well as strict adherence to the rule of law, not by foisting untruths; such untruths then permeate every aspect of human life; in other words, I argue that elders, by teaching children to believe in lies concerning God, etc, contribute to them growing up with the belief that it is OK to lie and cheat, because they often know deep down there is no such God and that elders are foisting false ideas on them for the sake of maintaining social order, or to maintain their own power.
The vast majorities of those who commit crimes, or exhibit moral decay otherwise, happen to be believers. Look at the Rajapaksa clan, or even VP. Gotabhaya is a vegetarian, preferring not to kill animals for food, but is fine with abduction, murder, torture, ransom, war crimes, etc. committed against innocent people. Faith hasn’t exactly contributed to upholding moral values. Those who have self-discipline, whether believers or not, will lead a moral life. So the task for society is to teach habits of self-discipline as a way of life.
And the so-called evidence you provide is nothing–you are talking about mediums and psychics, who have never amounted to anything or withstood any serious scientific inquiry. True, the human brain is still not fully understood. But we know there are dreams, hallucinations and other phenomena that are still being studied.
Out of the 6 billion people of this earth, if a few hundred people come to us to tell about their past life, we will have to study that as a phenomenon of the mind. Such experiences will have to be much more widespread, shared by at least a few millions of the world’s population, for us to take such claims more seriously than that.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / July 20, 2013
Agnos,
The big question that has to be answered in terms of present day knowledge is whether the ‘Mind’ is also inherited through genetic mechanisms yet not understood.
Dr.R.N
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Agnos / July 21, 2013
I am not a neuroscientist (like V.S.Ramachandran) nor an evolutionary psychologist (like Steven Pinker), nor a biologist (like Richard Dawkins). But I have trust in their work; Pinker is well known for his book How the Mind Works. And evidence for any claims of consciousness outside of the brain is non-existent or rather thin to be taken seriously.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / July 22, 2013
I would agree that the brain is the organ of consciousness. there can be no dispute about this. However, is this consciousness heritable? Are memories and mental attributes transmittable genetically? If so, the evolution of the consciousness or the soul can be explained scientifically. The phenomenon of child prodigies, memories of past life and even born criminals can be then explained.
If we can reconstruct a man (this is becoming an increasingly likely possibility), several years after his death from his chromosomes, would he be the same person he was at the time of his death in terms of his consciousness?
Dr.RN
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Agnos / July 23, 2013
Phenomena like child prodigies can usually be explained by the computational theory of brain. IMO, the evidence for other things like ‘memories of past life’ has never been properly verified by serious scientists. We only hear of third party reports saying it is ‘verified,’ but I haven’t seen any serious scientists making that claim.
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shankar / July 20, 2013
“Gotabhaya is a vegetarian, preferring not to kill animals for food, but is fine with abduction, murder, torture, ransom, war crimes, etc”
So it is clear from your own statement that he does not kill any humans for food.So what is your complaint against him?
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Jim softy: / July 20, 2013
Mr or Dr. Mahalingam is right. Every society both the modern and aboriginal societies believes the same. that belief has intermingled with their other beliefs and understand it in different ways.
I have heard there is some work about this, as past life regression theraphy – in the West Virginia University people too.
Further to this, One Jewish, A Surgeon turned to Psychiatrist – Dr. Brian Weiss in his books “ONE SOUL and MANY BODIES”, Many Live – Many Masters explain the same thing. All those are his personal experiences which began with his son’s death during surgery by himself.
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Jim softy: / July 21, 2013
Dr. Mahalingam:
Start meditating. Follow the basic buddhist methods. YOu yourself will be able to understand these things very clearly.
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Jim softy: / July 21, 2013
Brain is connected to the Spinal chord. Charge is involved in every thing that is happening inside the nervous system.
I think, Near death experience is something related to the Charge circulation along the spinal chord.
What I think, A person in a COMA like situation is vegetatively dead as well as his brain may stop functioning. But, he is not completely dead as some charge or neural activity is left in the spinal chord. I came to that conclusion, because buddhism and/or Hinduism too explain that when life leaves the human body it leaves along the spinal chord and upto the top of the head. The life of Lord buddha like humans ended at the top of the head while for most human beings it happens along the spinal chord. In this case, life is the neural activity or the left over charge of the nervous system.
Once come into life the experience of moving along a long tunnel may be related to the charge moving back and forth along the spinal chord.
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Wickramasiri / July 21, 2013
Life after death may be something we will never understand when living and also when we are dead! May I recommend to you guys to read a book by Robert Lanza M.D. on a subject he calls ‘BIOCENTRISM’. Deepak Chopra says “… I found his insights in to the nature of conciousness original and exciting..”
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m.c.spencer / July 21, 2013
JS,
So does the charge from proton gradient after all the oscillations enter your rectum and come out of your fingers to splatter this website with delusionary muck?
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 22, 2013
Response from the author:
Medically researched NDEs of patients included out-of-body experience of being able to observe events going on well outside, which means that when nearing bodily death consciousness can detach itself and move away from the body.
The NDEs also included self-review of past actions, which indicates that the detaching consciousness is conscience-based.
All three types of evidence referred to in the article are NOT “thin on the ground” – and they’re verified.
Opinions can vary – they must vary if evidence is to the contrary. Humanism is based on opinion (albeit scientific opinion). All I’m asking of Humanism is to realise what they are doing to the well-being of society and review their claim in the light of the evidence and logic presented in the paper. By asking for this I’m not trying to suppress the truth – the real truth (it seems to me) is the hypothesis developed in the article, which will be beneficial to society. But I’m open minded; that’s why I’m seeking the views of the readers.
Many thanks for all the comments on the article.
Mr S. Mahalingam
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Agnos / July 23, 2013
Thanks Mr. Mahalingam. I am all for keeping an open mind. That is why I usually call myself an Agnostic or Agnostic-Atheist, rather than just an Atheist.
But my mind remains skeptical of what you present as “verified” evidence. There are questions like verified by whom, under what conditions, etc. Your evidence #3 is not even admissible as evidence for any serious inquiry. Mediums and Psychics are a No-No. It is unnecessary to delve into it because you haven’t established anything as truth even based on ‘balance of probabilities,’ let alone ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt.’
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 23, 2013
Thank you, Agnos, for your clarification.
I too was initially dismissive of mediums and psychics as a whole, but not after I read the book referred to in the article. This made me delve into the record of Leslie flint, the most tested (SILENT) medium. Despite the taboo and fear of anything related to ‘ghosts’, he became famous because his career lasted four decades, and all efforts of sceptics to expose him as a fraud failed.
You asked: who did the verification? In the case of the séances it was done by those among the sitters – some of them well known and trustworthy – who had previously known the spirits who came forward to partake in the conversation.
It seems you have no such serious doubts about the other two types of evidence obtained mostly by relevant professionals, or about the logical justification for afterlife. What you wanted to know was why, if afterlife were true, millions of spirits and children haven’t come forward to prove it. My guess is that the spirits can see though the fraudulent mediums and psychics and avoid them like the plague – genuine ones are extremely rare, perhaps none at all at present.
With regard to children, almost of them in whom a past life of someone had been allowed entry at birth may not remember after they are able to speak.
My apologies to Dr Narendran for not answering his query about ‘soul’. This word usually implies a continuous series of afterlives of the same identity. None of the evidence in the article supports this concept. Even the theoretical justification implies only a limited life extension – or none at all – depending on the spirit’s fate as determined automatically by the moral conduct up to the date of death.[I have avoided delving into metaphysical concepts because they’re only opinions of particular authors – opinions can vary; facts don’t.]
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / July 23, 2013
In my deep dreams- very rare- I have been a witness to my giving fabulous recitals in Carnatic music. In real life, although I enjoy Carnatic music and learned as a child to play the flute and the Mrudangam, I cannot sing for beans. This is an out of the body experience of sorts being witnessed by me from outside in my dreams.could this be similar to the near death experiences related by many? Is there music within me that is trying to find a means of expressing itself? I have also the experienced giving fantastic speeches in my dreams, which I have yet to give in real life. How does one explain these occurrences while in a dream state? Is my desire or wish to do so, finding expression or is it the potential within me, providing me a preview? My father and paternal grand mother had talent for music. Did this talent find a place in my genes and will express itself some where down the line?
Dr. Rajasingham Narendran
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m.c.spencer / July 24, 2013
The myriads of bio-chemistries of the souls of microbes not only influence evolution, they also influence are memory and thinking, metabolism, body odour and immune defences and responses.
In fact we are not just ourselves we are in reality the interactive sum total of the thousands of microbes that we carry. In fact, they represent an invisible majority that may be more than we all realize. These microscopic fellow travellers are collectively called the microbiome.
The current statuses of the results of research in these fields move the controversy of hologenomic evolution from an idea to an observed phenomenon. “The question is no longer whether the hologenome exists, but how common it is?”
Better to read up on the following URL and its host site than keep guessing in the dark.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/07/18/microbes.can.influence.evolution.their.hosts
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 24, 2013
The fundamental question raised by the article is what nature will do if we don’t use our conscience in good faith. Humanist say she doesn’t care. If this were true why on earth did she give it to us – and only to us? If there is no logical answer to this question from humanism or atheism, then a limited afterlife must be true at least on balance of probability – it gives nature the chance to assess our moral conduct up the date of death. This conclusion is well supported by the three types of evidence given in the article, at least some of which is likely to be true beyond reasonable doubt. I do not wish to stray from this central argument and become mired in armchair philosophy or in the dream world or microscopic world.
Mr S. Mahalingam
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m.c.spencer / July 25, 2013
It is an observed amongst the many facts of life and living that Life lives on Life both in completion and cooperation as in symbiotic relationships; for food, sex, transport and procreation for yet untold endless cycles and spirals of even more food, sex, extensive propagation and even greater procreations.
Apparently only humans kill each other for their superstitious, mythical and fictitious beliefs and belief systems that are mostly used as facades not only for the basic necessities of life to survive but as well as to thrive amongst and over each other.” These are some of the raw crude facts of life that you fail to observe and/or comprehend.
Further your blinkered outlook lacks truer and proper evidence based valid knowledge and discernment and is incapable of having a holistic view of life. What you probably need is better mahamulai and not a mahalingam as you seem to be thinking more with the latter part of your name.
Let me end with some quotes’ to reduce your pain and shame “It is impossible for a man to learn, what he thinks he already knows”. “Truth is going to hurt, but the truth has to be told. If not, the wounds will never heal.” “Facts don’t cease to exist because they are ignored.” “The human herd stampedes on the fields of facts and the valleys of truth to get to the desert of ignorance” That’s where the maha-lingam sleeps comfy.
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 25, 2013
My dear M C Spencer, It’s clear I’ve upset you terribly with my last comment. Actually, what I wanted was a focussed discussion on the topic of the article. I hope you’ll appreciate this, in as much as I appreciate your advice to me to take a holistic view of things. However if you think I am like the child who couldn’t see the emperor’s clothes, there is no hope for me – I’m too old to grow up, and, in my childish opinion a change of name is pointless.
My apologies to Dr Narendran for not answering the point about the similarity between out-of-body experience in NDEs and dreams. In the latter cases it is purely imaginary, whereas in the case of NDEs, the patient was able to describe events that actually went on outside, during the time he/she was on the verge of death.
I have re-examined the validity of evidence #(iii) in the article to which Agnos had serous objection, but, although I’m relying only on the evidence from séances conducted by just one medium, he was the most tested one and there’s ample recorded evidence, still preserved. Even then I accepted it only because the other two types of evidence and the logical basis of afterlife, all corroborated each other.
However I very much appreciated Agnos’s outspoken rejection of that particular evidence because it helped in the quest for the truth or falsehood of the hypothesis in the article. I earnestly appeal to anyone who is convinced that there is no afterlife- especially humanists – to come forward with their specific comments on the hypothesis. Their comments will be greatly valued, because they’ll help in my yearning to find the truth.
Afterlife of humans is unique to lives in the universe, but may not be so if we consider the fate of our Universe. The current majority view is that our Universe – like animals and plants – has no afterlife. However I find there’s enough evidence and logical backing for an afterlife (even for Mother Universe, by way of recurring big bangs and big crunches – like mother, like child. How’s that for a holistic view?
Mr S. Mahalingam
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m.c.spencer / July 26, 2013
Just a mere smattering of scientific hypothesis is not a holistic view of the cosmos and life. You seem lost in an archaic time-warp. Please try to watch and learn from recent science documentaries like the “The fabric of the Universe”, “The wonders of Life” and other partially Stephen Hawking narrated titles on the origins, transmutations and endless recycling of the presently known and/or knowable universe etc. Your wistful thinking seems to get the better of you through culturally genetically, mematically and epigenetically damaged brain software like 90 to 95 % of humans on this present planet earth. The risk is that these vast majority will make human’s fate that of the dinosaurs.
The following may help if are a genuine seeker and not a wistful thinker:-
CONTEMPLATING THE BIG AND THE SMALL PIX?!(IN PROGRESS DRAFT)
1. There have been 41 officially recorded attempts on Hitler’s life, yet the master crim leader lived through them all to take his life at a time and place of his choosing whilst having horrendously murdered over 5,000 fellow Nazis whom he called co- conspirators. One wonders at the number of such serial killers, despots and dictators who were lucky enough to die a natural death.
2. Nature seems to triumph in hardwiring living forms, be it sexually or asexually to procreate and multiply from food and for food and then become more than food like transport, accommodation and sometimes in a tri-way of symbiotic relationship along with the flight and/or fight response in an unholy secular trinity of sex, food and life forms.
3. Amoral nature, other than by its own gimmicks of beauty, ugliness, violence, awe inspiring power, wisdom and folly also causes horrendous disasters in subjective and objective forms. Some through other microscopic life like viruses and pathogens with eternal conflicts of interests and cross purposes of life where life lives on life as almost a norm. It prefers more unempathetic ruthless and cruel psycho-sociopaths such as the recent over 60 and 70 victims serial Killers Alexander Pichushkin, Anders Brevik along with other religion, ethnicity class and caste based political despots like, Hitler, Stalin, Sadam, Kaddafi, Pol Pot, Mao, Mugabe and the current Assad etc for a higher multi-generational faster and higher throughput and turnover of life forms as it probably cannot simulate the multitude of living forms or else it may even be simulating on Earth these countless generations for variations in the multidimensional infinite and timeless multiverses of the cosmos of Stephen Hawkins. Somewhat akin to the computer generated myriads of generations with sudden sea changes in the cyber-worlds as illustrated in Stephen Wolfram’s “a new kind of science”.
4. Nature by its hardwiring and ongoing re-programming through mutations apparently within Rupert Sheldrake’s morphogenic fields for and of proto-type experimentations of humans and other life forms in a never ending quest to self realise, communicate and know itself through a multitude of varying life facets as Carl Sagan may say. This is now being further developed and expanded with the added ingenuity of the many manmade technological and other disasters, accidents and blunders in the wings through cross contaminations and experimentations from, off and by humans as well.
5. In a related matter to other more relatively complex forms of life like humans it may also be observed that in the final analysis it’s a person’s individual tendency and interests that always triumph and it’s by-products be it right or wrong or good, evil or ugly in human religious moralistic terms. What flows through to the others many may call it ostensibly as being self-sacrificial and philanthropic as being for the greater good of its own cult, small or larger group interest, be it the political, religious, linguistic or any other cultural by-products of fulfilment? Even in the case of an ordinary suicidee, suicide warriors or the so-called martyrs for a cause that the epi/mematic virus activated in them and their group through socio-cultural factors being unable to be other than what they are as nature’s multifarious robots akin to various UAVs and a whole lot of other varieties of Bee seized and large Robots made by humans.
6. In Isaac Asimov’s ideal world Robots would rather self-destruct than harm or destroy humans. Should not all humans who are primarily and mostly the by-products of their forebears’ sexual pleasure that had no choice in the matter of their birth have the least and the ultimate human right to a comfortable death at any time and place of their choosing for any reason or emotion? Should not a sweet and pleasurable lolly or chocolate be made available overcoming the stupidities of humans’ vanity, greed and grandiose delusions and irrational fears?
7. Those primarily self serving and more deluded and irrational priests and politicians alike would dislike or even detest such a hope even though in some enlightened and progressive Scandinavian countries it is provided for under special circumstances yet we may all observe that anyone can, does and will take their life under painful, horrible and gory circumstances. When will we humans of various colours, hues and backgrounds going to lighten their task and try to make available along with the nourishing biscuits given to refugees from calamities as another option to be exercised on their own volition? It’s stated that the presently approx US$ 250,000.00 is the worth of body parts of a relatively younger corpse or cadaver. Should this not be put to a better and more productive use and all other living humans and criminals share in the overall social capital?
8. It has been estimated that it took approx 50,000 years for the first billion of living humans to live on this planet yet at current rates approx 13 years is all it takes for the next billion people. Of this approx one third are over-eating, another third are under nourished and starving to death. Of all the water on Earth there is less than a percent of fresh water, desalination technology does help but at what cost to the environment as well? Will not more people need less horrible exit strategies in the midst of natural disasters, man-made disasters and slow, painful and prolonged horrible deaths to geriatrics through the advance of science, medicine and technology? When will these so-called first worlds enlightened developed Govts permit a “Dignitas” like the one in Switzerland.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / July 26, 2013
Mr. Mahalingam,
Are there any studies on the ‘ Near Death’ patients where brain wave activity was measured? Such a study would provide the data for valid comparison between brain activity during the dream state and the near death state.
I think man is only unique in the sense that he has evolved a bigger brain that is capable of the most profound and the most profane. I occasionally refer to man as God’ mistake, in terms of the creativity theory. This world would have been a paradise indeed, without man trying to play God. We are part of the animal kingdom and are like the rest in more ways than we like to accept.
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 27, 2013
There’s an interesting article by Dr Upul Wijayawardena in The Island On-line of 27 July 2013 (today). He’s a medical doctor and despite his long experience of treating heart patients(with a high death rate) he’s non-committal about afterlife.
Dr Wijeyawardena’s opinion is opposed to the opinion of humanists: they’re convinced that there’s no afterlife, and they’ve been campaigning to make it known to the general public. As I pointed in my article this tends to increase crime, greed and immorality in society.
What I’d like to know from the doctor is what he thinks of the evidence from patients with NDE, from children who can remember their past lives (at least faintly), from the spirits of the dead (made possible by thoroughly tested mediums), and, above all, the logical justification for afterlife. His views will be greatly valued.
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m.c.spencer / July 28, 2013
You are an incurable old hack you need to get the help of “Dignitas” or similar organisation to get a quick-fix of and early dose of your longed for “life after this life” to which you have not been able to cope that well enough that you need another one to cause greater mayhem, “Pain. Puss and Poison” which is also the title of the most recent science based infotainment documentary, which is probably beyond the ken of your fossilised mahalinghamahamoolai.
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 28, 2013
My dear (Mr/Ms)M C Spencer, I request you to avoid personal attacks against me and maintain a reasonable level of dignity and decorum when you express your opinion during our public discussion. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Mr S. Mahalingam
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m.c.spencer / July 29, 2013
What’s to be done when there is no other way to get one’s message across some self righteous thick and fragile skulls that lack dignity and decorum in their evidence-less wistful claims and thinking’s? Whilst there are far more wonderful, weirder and wanderlust speculations in the latest and most current scientific theory that encompasses the circumstantial evidence from three streams of thoughts forming the tripod on which rests the multidimensional varied string theory, the cosmos’s 70% dark energy (similar to the 70% water that we and our planet are made of) and the many parallel universes forming multiverses in the 10 to 500th power numbers range where you may already be living out many of your wistful lives paralleling and concurrently which our fellow travelling microbiome nor the hologenomic evolutions may make claim to. The more reliable evidence and/or proof for these may be decades or centuries away.
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m.c.spencer / July 30, 2013
Corrections to the above to set the record of the current status of the big and small pixes as close to unreal reality as possible for the benefit of any other discerning reader. Firstly the words circumstantial evidence should be corrected to read as mathematical evidence
The other is that the 3rd leg to this tripod of thoughts and ideas is “Eternal Inflation” with the other two namely dark energy with an approx value around 10 raised to the minus 120th odd power and the multidimensional varied string theory all three point towards multiverses.
In passing there’s another weirder and wonderful phenomenon of “quantum entanglement”, in which particles behave as a unit even if some distance apart which allows the prospect of scanning transmitting matter as in the sci-fi films.
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m.c.spencer / July 30, 2013
Better not to pretend that we have not met at the Tamil Seniors gatherings in the late 80’s or early 90’s. I am on FB and LinkedIn.
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 29, 2013
My dear Agnos,
Since you support the views of Professor Richard Dawkins, the pre-eminent humanist, I’d like to come back to you if I may.
It’s beyond dispute that only humans have a conscience, a unique gift from nature, which is further developed by their amazing intelligence and by their society at large. Aren’t they therefore duty-bound to use it in good faith right up to the date of death? If the answer is “yes”, aren’t there any adverse consequences if they don’t obey and favourable consequences if they do? Since man-made laws – which in cases such as this are only punitive, never rewarding – are never fully effective, will the defaulters be allowed by nature (the giver of the conscience) to go scot-free? Given this dilemma, don’t you think that afterlife (however brief, long-lasting or fleeting)is a necessity? Given this logic and the three types of verified evidence referred to in the article (some of which are likely to be true)don’t you think that at least on balance of probability afterlife is true?
The hypothesis presented by humanists that there is no afterlife is based entirely on the opinion of some scientists. But there’re other scientists who hold the opposite view. My hypothesis given in the article is based on the Principle of Sufficient Reason, according to which, we should not speculate: we shouldn’t go beyond the need to explain available evidence. If there is contradictory evidence we should not emphatically take one side or another, but consider which side has a well-rounded case, backed by verified evidence.
I look forward to hearing from you before this page disappears from the screen for good. Thank you.
Mr S. Mahalingam
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m.c.spencer / July 31, 2013
I am going by your pix on this CT site. You are incapable of reasoning and too emotional. Not enough you are messing up this life you want yet another life “after this life as well” to carry on your stupidities and blunders? How pathetic of you.
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Mr S. Mahalingam / July 30, 2013
My dear (Mr/Ms) M.C. Spencer,
Thank you for your last comment. Now I know why you were attacking me personally. It seems you have a grudge against a person with my name – a common name with a Hindu connotation. You undoubtedly are a Christian, but the subject matter is not about the superiority of one religion over another. So there’s no need to criticise my name.
You are absolutely wrong if you think I am the one you met at a Tamil senior citizens’ club several years ago. I hardly ever attended old peoples’ clubs, nor do I belong to one. It’s more likely you saw me at a library – which I used to visit frequently – and at once you didn’t like my face. It was when you saw my photo in this article that your memory was reignited.
I never knew anyone by your name, which – you’ll be glad to hear – I associate with the British royal family after Prince Charles married the late Princess Diana – not that I think you have royal blood in you; far from it.
You say you belong to FB and Linkedin. I didn’t know what this meant, so I had to look for it in the internet. I’m sorry I don’t belong to any such clubs; nor do I wish to join one, because I wouldn’t know what sort of characters I’d face. Any way, thank you very much for your kind (implied)invitation.
One last point. I don’t think that Colombo Telegraph – which has a good reputation among on-line magazines – is the right place for anyone to ‘wash dirty linen’.
Best wishes and goodbye.
Yours sincerely
Mr S. Mahalingam
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m.c.spencer / August 1, 2013
To reassure you of your still very good handsomer looks may I say that you look much better than the guy who fathered a child at 106 years of age in India recently? Even if had not seen your pix, I would have stated all that I have stated in response to your somewhat immoral, silly with flawed reasoning’s and absurd contentions that is quite contrary to most observed facts of life. It’s a case of more to do with the song than the singer whoever it may have been.
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