Friday, December 23, 2005

The nature of nature.

Looking up into the depth of the sky I am forced to reminisce my own childhood. To my young and developing consciousness the sky was always a sight of beauty and majesty. The piercing blue of the sky the billowing puffy white clouds rolling overhead, shape shifting; the random flock of birds flying in an effortless phalanx, the sense of something wonderful, powerful, and majestic; the sense of nature.
I have always sensed the power and majesty of nature. I have never sensed super-nature as the theists claim. You can see nature, you can feel it, taste it, smell it, and revere it. Super-nature is unseen, not felt, tasteless, odorless, and unbelievable.
As a child nature is seen as something outside of comprehension, it eludes the child. The child asks, “Why is the sky blue?” “What are clouds?” “What is beyond the sky?” “What is space?” The child is a natural philosopher using the scientific method and inquiring into the nature of existence. The child is the epitome of scientific reductionism, they ask “What is a cloud?” when they receive the answer in some degree they ask “Why?” The child, like me, is attempting to understand the nature of nature, what is the nature of nature and why is the nature of nature.
The only difference between me, a child, and a theist would be in what way we conduct our inquiry into these matters. The child utilizes elder authority and knowledge, I utilize the scientific method and the various scientific fields, and the theist utilizes religious doctrines and dogma. I inquiry into the nature of nature through nature, using nature to help explain itself, the theist intercedes super-nature to explain nature. They compound the questions, “What is super-nature?” “Why is super-nature?” The theist is misguided and confused, the nature of nature isn’t super-nature it is nature.
Why is the sky blue? Because of nature. What are clouds? Nature. What is beyond the sky? Nature.
When looking at nature, its mysteries, and its complexities do not heed the urge to swallow easy, hollow answers. Do not fall for the theist’s magic trick; fight the ‘transcendental temptation’. When attempting to understand nature use nature, then and only then will the true beauty, wonder, and majesty be revealed to you; only then will you be able to comprehend the nature of nature.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

NDE's

I recently came across a question regarding N.D.E’s (near death experiences).

“There have been people who die but then get their heart beat shocked back with shock paddles right? Well do these people know what happens when you die or is the mind still temporarily going and it turns out to be like sleep?” – Monko

My response:

“It is highly improbable that what these individuals claim to have experienced i.e. “seeing the bright light” or “seeing dead family members” is actually realistic. When a physical body dies, the heart ceases to pump blood to the brain hence the brain ceases to receive oxygen and then literally begins to suffocate. The brain under such duress will function for a while before it completely “dies”; this is one of the reasons that people can be brought back to life by having their heart electrically pumped back into action. While the brain is still “alive” it is under immense duress from the lack of oxygen and is subject to fairly bizarre phenomena; it is known that a lack of oxygen to the brain produces a sense of “transcendence” and that one will see a world of explicit bright light, ask anyone that has been on one of those space shuttle force simulators. After death there is ample evidence to believe that existence of self ceases to be. Consciousness seems to be intrinsically bound to the physical realm through the functioning of the brain, after death the brain will cease functioning and will decay altogether consciousness following suit. There can be no afterlife with out a physical body based on the current evidence and research produced by modern science through fields of psychology, physiology, and neuroscience. In short the brain will continue to run for a while after the heart has ceased pumping blood through the body; much like when you cut off a large electronic item quickly and the electric charge remaining within the component runs the item for a short time before finally running out of electricity and shutting down completely. So the mind still runs for a time after immediate death, however, any claim made by the individual after such an occurrence that they saw the bright lights of heaven or their dead loved ones should be considered the delirious superstition being ascribed to the trauma of a suffocating and dying brain.”