Joey120746 wants me to ask a "real" question ...?

Question

John Hospers explored the notion of whether we can truly separate into distinct parts the mind and the body ... such that, following death, the mind (soul) continues.

In order to dissect this line of thought, try to imagine yourself without a body. Your sensory organs are intrinsic to the notion of sensation ... sight, smell, sound, touch, taste ... these are all functions of the physical body transmitted to the brain ... and each of them can easily be disrupted even while we are alive.

So then how do we sense without them in death? Does this notion seem to imply that, as St. Thomas Aquinas argued, "the body is necessary for the action of the intellect, not as its organ of action, but on the part of the object" (Summa Theologica, Burns and Oates of Welwood, Tunbridge Wells). St. Thomas' assertion implies the necessity of a reformation of the physical form in the afterlife ... be it Heaven, Hell, or some other location.

But Aquinus encounters troubled waters in determining the nature of the resurrection of the body. In what shape are we to be reformed? Does a child live for all eternity in the body of a child? What of a woman who underwent cosmetic surgery? A man who suffered massive burns in a fire? Does God treat these cases in some special context and enable them to be as they desire? What shape will we all have in the afterlife? Where will the matter that forms our resurrected bodies be taken? If from that which we once were, how do we deal with the issues of cannibalism wherein more than one being may have been composed of the same?

If the soul is capable of seeing, hearing ... sensing ... without the body, then why is it that the soul is at times incapable of seeing, hearing ... sensing ... with the aid of the body? Such as is the case with a blind man ... or an elderly man who can longer taste food without it being excessively spicy.

Jesus' own resurrection seems to indicate the necessity of the body ... if it did not, then why would his remains not be present following his "spiritual" resurrection.

Answer 1

Hinduism teaches that you have seven sense organs that sense things:
touch, taste, sight, smell, and hearing are the basic five that most people are familiar with. Hinduism adds the following:
intellect and mind
The intellect senses thoughts and the mind sense consciousness.

Consciousness is the make up of all things in the universe. Brahman is the word usually used by Hindus for God. It comes from two Sanskrit words Brah and Manah and means Expanding Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness is another way of translating. Consciousness flows from God and it is the minds job to sense it. The atman (often translated as soul....although technically Hindus say you have five bodies so this may be a mistranslation only because English has no equivalent translation) is at the root of what we each are.

Now according to Vaishnava Hindus the following is true:
Brahman manifested the entire universe into being from Itself and yet Brahman remains in unmanifested form beyond the manifested universe as well. Everything is conscious, but not aware. Prana, the life force, gives us awareness and it is what seperates the prakriti (matter) that is dull and that which is living (thus a rock and a plant both come from consciousness, but prana is what makes a plant seem different because the plant has awareness and requires food and air, etc and can grow, reproduce, etc). So with this understanding Vaishnavas say that living things with Prana have an atman, that which does not have prana does not have an atman. When the physical body passes away you enter into a heavenly state of existence. The physical body is composed of two bodies (remember there are five). These two pass away and the remaining three move to the heavenly state of existence (heaven is a projection of our consciousness and is temporary). Once we have spent time in the heavenly state and it is now time to reincarnate, two more bodies pass away and only one body remains (the atman) and that is what incarnates back into a new set of bodies (physical and spiritual) and is born again and the process continues.
Now assuming you reach moksha (liberation from the cycle of reincarnation and union with God). Vaishnava Hindus say that the atman then unites with God, but is still seperate and distinct from God. Saivite Hindus say that at moksha the atman merges into God and loses the distinction because the truth is that the Atman is Brahman, they're not seperate (although individuality is still retained). Smartas say that the Atman is Brahman but that the Atman, too, must be shed before moksha in order to merge (the individual loses all sense of individuality).

So that's the Hindu answer to your question.

Answer 2

What is wrong with you?? Do you need another million years to evolve or what?
The soul is completely capable of seeing, talking, thinking, apart from the physical body.. You are trying too hard to be smart, look in the mirror and see that you have evolved from apes or primates and need all the help that you can get just to go to work in the morning.. If you take time to read the whole thing in the Bible you will see that he also remembered his family.. People have out of body experiences, try reading about some of them.

Lukee 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
Luk 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luk 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Luk 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

Answer 3

It's an interesting question. And a lot of Christians regurgitate something they've heard without thinking it through. I refer you to the answers I got on my question from late last week about knowing loved ones were in hell:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Arhe6tRScQ9Mnb4pZznALA3sy6IX?qid=20060721191833AAmnsfB

It seems that failure to make sense is insufficient criteria for questioning the belief in an afterlife. Sadly, since making sense is a requirement for rational conversation, these dialogues are fairly pointless.

Answer 4

The spiritual body has senses as well as the physical body. They can be developed and used here as well as when one leaves this body behind.

Answer 5

You are so over my head, but, the Bible teaches that we will be given a "glorified" body when we are in heaven. Could that cover this issue?

Answer 6

What exactly is your question, numbnuts.