In his book, The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins artfully articulates an atheist perspective. I have traversed a number of his points along life's path. He drew a chuckle from me regarding his statement that pantheism is sexed up atheism, considering that I float between pantheism and panentheism.
Anyway, this caught my attention…
"David Mills, in Atheist Universe, transcribes a radio interview of himself by a religious spokesman, who invoked the Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy in a weirdly ineffectual attempt to blind with science. 'Since we're all composed of matter and energy, doesn't that scientific principle lend credibility to the belief in eternal life?' Mills replied more patiently and politely than I would have, for what the interviewer was saying, translated to English, was no more than: 'When we die, none of the atoms of our body (and none of the energy) are lost. Therefore we are immortal.' Even I, with my long experience, have never encountered wishful thinking as silly as that."
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006), pp. 84-85.
I was to close to the silly, for I had to read this a couple of times to understand the point. Is Dawkins amused in the case that if the body is energy, and energy is indestructible, then the body can never die, which is ridiculous in light of the fact that the body does die?
I have to admit to finding a degree of immortal comfort in this law of physics that states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. In regards to our quantum nature, I have tried to be careful in posts and refer to awareness rather than consciousness. The difference may be subtle. Awareness is the explicit understanding that one exists. It is this that persists. Consciousness is credited with the development of an identity. It is this that is transient. Extending this to the manifest world of energy, this too at its root is non-descript. Gasoline and water are both made of elementary particles, both forms of energy. Yet, the properties of gasoline have the ability to animate a car, the properties of water do not. Likewise, with the body, not all energy contained within has the property to animate, but some form of it obviously does. It is this that I embrace.
"Every being in the universe is an expression of the Tao. It springs into existence, unconscious, perfect, free, takes on a physical body, lets circumstances complete it. That is why every being spontaneously honors the Tao."
- Tao Te Ching
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3 comments:
I should look out for this book.
good post. thanks for sharing.
Thanks for stopping by pink ginger. I get a kick out of the energy that goes into your extraordinary life...as you put it.
I am more interested in "what is a body" e.g. a human body, than in energy.
I believe there has been too much talked intellectually about awareness and consciousness: the intellect trying to examine its own self.
The body, and its non-conscious mechanisms and essence, needs to be understood, because that is where I feel soul resides.
With the intellect it is very easy to be silly.
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