According to some scientists, the soul/spirit may not die
Preface
The first linked article was on my Facebook feed, yesterday.
Citations in italics, my comments in regular text. As I am not a scientist, my comments will more so be from a theological and philosophical, background and biblically based.
agoodone.me
(Appears to be a 2022) article on Facebook)
Cited
According to scientists, the ‘soul’ does not die, it 'returns to the Universe
An initial thought. If the human soul or spirit could ever be significantly, scientifically, empirically, demonstrated, some aspects of metaphysics would then become, in a sense, physics.
Referenced
Louis P. Pojman defines metaphysics as beyond physics. The study of ultimate reality, which is not accessible/available through empirical senses. He lists free will, causality, the nature of matter, immortality and the existence of God as being within the study of metaphysics. Pojman (1995: 598).
Simon Blackburn explains the term was used for three books from Aristotle after 'Physics' and is a term that raises enquiry about questions that cannot be answered by science and its empirical methods. Blackburn (1996: 240).
Referenced
Louis P. Pojman explains that the term a priori comes from the Latin “preceding” and is knowledge that is not based on sense experience but is innate or known to human beings by the meanings of words and definitions. Pojman (1996: 595). Arthur Pap defines a priori knowledge as being independent of experience. Pap (1973: 666).
Pojman writes that a posteriori comes the Latin “the later” and is knowledge that is obtained from human sense experience only, as in the five senses. Pojman (1996: 595). Blackburn reasons that something can be known a posteriori when it cannot be known a priori. Blackburn (1996: 21-22).
If science and physics could significantly demonstrate the soul/spirit as within empirical knowledge, then philosophically, at least, aspects of metaphysics could be considered physical, empirical, a posteriori knowledge.
I would, however, deduce that many aspects of the spiritual realm would still remain within metaphysics and therefore, based on the philosophy of religion, definition, at least, a priori knowledge.
Within Biblical and Reformed traditions, we believe in God as spirit (John 4: 24) and angelic and demonic beings as spirit (s). This primarily based on scriptural revelation and a rational, reasonable faith and philosophy/theology. The academic disciplines of Biblical Studies and Theology may be connected to, as in my case, the use of Philosophy of Religion. Biblically, the theological content of the nature of the soul/spirit is non-empirical, but the human means of divine revelation, the Hebrew Bible writers and prophets, the New Testament writers and apostles, and Jesus Christ as God incarnate, were empirically experienced as religious history.
As a non-scientist and non-physicist, I have no firm opinion on any empirical, possibility of demonstrating the human soul/sprit. I am simply reviewing and responding to the article and some related links.
Cited
People who are religious or spiritual typically believe in a paradise or an afterlife. Some people believe that nothing happens to us and that we simply die. Others, on the other hand, think that our souls continue to exist after we die. A couple of researchers claim to have the evidence to suggest that this is a possibility.
I realize that many scientists do not believe in the existence of a human soul/spirit.
Paraphrasing, philosopher and expert on the resurrection and near death experiences, Dr. Gary Habermas in several of the audio discussions I have heard:
If there is any reasonable evidence for the existence of the soul/spirit after death, then naturalism is dead.
Naturalism
Nature is viewed as the fundamental and original source for all that exists, and therefore all reality needs to be explained in terms of nature. All events find an adequate explanation within nature itself. Dubray (1911)(2007: 1).
I highly doubt that naturalism and empiricism can ever fully explain all reality. The infinite nature of God, for example, as spirit (John 4: 24), makes this highly unlikely.
Cited
Our souls do not disappear when our bodies die
Two specialists claim that while our bodies die, our consciousness – or soul – lives on indefinitely after significant investigation. Quantum mechanics, they claim, enables this. Quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that studies how matter behaves at the atomic and subatomic levels. It explains the properties of molecules and atoms, as well as the processes that produce them.
This includes the following:
Neurons
Electrons
Protons
Quarks
Gluons
Other esoteric particles
Consciousness, according to scientists Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose, is simply information stored at the quantum level.
My British theses work required me to research and cite scientific and philosophical journals in regards to consciousness.
Rocco J. Gennaro (2006) of Indiana State University documents grammatically that the main term under review, consciousness is derived from the Latin con (with) Gennaro (2006: 1). and scire (know). Gennaro (2006: 1).
Michael Winkelman (2004) of the American Anthropological Association writes that common understanding of a model of consciousness includes attention-awareness, phenomenal experiences, self-referencing, learning and the use of information, interpreting meanings, having goals, and systems of social reference.[6] Winkelman (2004: 1).
Cited
Orchestrated Objective Reduction
This storage procedure, according to the duo, is called Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR). This is accomplished by protein-based microtubules, a structural component of human cells that carries quantum information.
Cited
If the person is resuscitated...
...the information simply returns to the microtubules, and the person regains consciousness. A “near-death experience” is what we term it. If, on the other hand, the patient dies, their awareness may exist as a soul outside of the body.
Cited
'What we consider the here and now, this world, it is actually just the material level that is comprehensible,” explaines Dr Hans-Peter Durr. “The beyond is an infinite reality that is much bigger.”
Theologically and philosophically, I consider only God as infinite reality. Everything else is finite creation. But, I think I get the point being made here that there is according to some scientists and physicists, a reasonable possibility that reality exists, beyond what is presently known within empirical science.
Cited
Consciousness is derived from deeper level microtubule vibrations, according to Hameroff and Penrose’s study. This not only aids in a better understanding of human consciousness, but it may also aid in the treatment of mental, neurological, and cognitive disorders.
Max Planck Institute for Physics for reference
Cited
“Illusion of Death” -In the Quantum Universe We Exist Indefinitely
Posted on Jul 5, 2019
Cited
The renowned mathematical physicist, Sir Roger Penrose at the University of Oxford and researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich suggest that the physical universe that we live in is only our perception and once our physical bodies die, there is an infinite beyond. Some believe that consciousness travels to parallel universes after death.
Cited
“The beyond is an infinite reality that is much bigger… which this world is rooted in. In this way, our lives in this plane of existence are encompassed, surrounded, by the afterworld already… The body dies but the spiritual quantum field continues. In this way, I am immortal.”
Cited
In “Beyond Biocentrism: Rethinking Time, Space, Consciousness, and the Illusion of Death,” Robert Lanza asks “does the soul exist?” The theory he propounds says we’re immortal and exist outside of time. Biocentrism postulates that space and time are not the hard objects we think. Death does not exist in a timeless, spaceless world. His new scientific theory suggests that death is not the terminal event we think.
The biblical concepts of paradise (heaven 1) and hades (hell 1) are where post-mortem souls/spirits are present. This appears to be different realms created by God, specifically for a post-mortem context. The culminated Kingdom of God (heaven 2) is a restored universe and earth (Revelation 20-22, 2 Peter 3). The lake of fire (hell 2) is where death and hades are cast into in Revelation 20.
Cited
Can our brains help prove the universe is conscious?
By David Crookes , All About Space magazine published 29 days ago (2022)
Cited
"Consciousness — or better, conscious experience — is obviously a part of reality," Johannes Kleiner, a mathematician and theoretical physicist at the Munich Center For Mathematical Philosophy, Germany, shared in an interview. "We're all having it but without understanding how it relates to the known physics, our understanding of the universe is incomplete."
With that in mind, Kleiner is hoping math will enable him to precisely define consciousness. Working with colleague Sean Tull, a mathematician at the University of Oxford, U.K., the pair are being driven, to some degree, by a philosophical point of view called panpsychism.
Cited
This claims consciousness is inherent in even the tiniest pieces of matter — an idea that suggests the fundamental building blocks of reality have conscious experience. Crucially, it implies consciousness could be found throughout the universe.
Cited
"A mathematical theory can be applied to many different systems, not just brains," Kleiner told All About Space via email. "If you develop a mathematical model of consciousness based on data obtained from brains, you can apply the model to other systems, for example, computers or thermostats, to see what it says about their conscious experience too."
Cited
And if it's shown that the universe is conscious, what then? What are the consequences?
"There might be moral implications. We tend to treat systems that have conscious experiences different from systems that don't," said Kleiner.
Yet if it is proven that consciousness plays a causal role in the universe, it would have huge consequences for the scientific view of the world, said Kleiner. "It could lead to a scientific revolution on a par with the one initiated by Galileo Galilei," he said.
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And that really is something to bear in mind.
A conscious soul/spirit, post-mortem implies a conscious, infinite, eternal, first-cause, that is in my theistic view, the biblical God. This implies that there are moral implications such as judgement of post--mortem persons (Revelation 20, perhaps general, 2 Corinthians 5, for those within the Christian Church in particular) for deeds (Revelation 20).
Revelation 20:12 New American Standard Bible (NASB): And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Those within the book of life, have their deeds and sins covered by the applied atoning and resurrection work of Jesus Christ, biblically speaking. The remaining, fully judged for deeds, become residence of the lake of fire (Revelation 20).
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