Why do you think, especially for atheists, that once this body is 'dead' that whatever is inside it that lets you think dies too? if we're all just walking zombies, we're obviously Not because we all think differently and have different personalities and interests, why would 'YOU' just disappear with the shell that contains 'YOU'? do you think 'you' disappear? or do you reincarnate? so do atheists believe in reincarnation?
2006-10-13 17:54:57 · 14 answers · asked by Nikki 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Some atheists do believe in reincarnation, especially Buddhists. Disbelief in god does not preclude belief in reincarnation.
2006-10-13 18:10:19 · answer #1 · answered by ♥Mira♥ 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The big problem I have with reincarnation is the fact that, if you buy into it, you have to believe that every new thing being born is just somebody old come back to life. I have a daughter who is six, and I have to believe that she is her own unique person with a unique identity, and not just some milkmaid from the Middle Ages come back to life. Reincarnation just seems like another incarnation of heaven if you ask me. It seems like a refusal to believe that we just go away when we die, only instead of a heaven and an afterlife, it's just another chance to live here again. Nonsense.
2006-10-14 01:06:28 · answer #2 · answered by Tommy 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, I don't believe in reincarnation. I really do believe that my entire sense of existence is contained within the operation of my biological brain. When my brain ceases to function, I totally cease to exist. All that remains is the works I leave behind, and the memories of those who knew me and live on beyond me.
Why do you think this makes me a walking zombie?
2006-10-14 01:04:39 · answer #3 · answered by Jim L 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Where do you believe those thoughts are? They're in the brain. Watch someone with brain damage, and their thoughts are different. Watch someone with a stroke, and they're thoughts and movements are altered. You (or I) are nothing more than the body we present to ourselves and to others. Every thought, from your dreams to the way you interpret the symbolism of these very letters & words, occur in your brain. I don't believe in a soul, or reincarnation, or life after death, or any of that. We're simply thinking, talking animals who have brains that include a complex language processing center.
2006-10-14 01:00:17 · answer #4 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I don't care at all what happens after I die and neither should anyone else. What matters so much more is what happens when I'm alive. In fact, it's because it matters so much more that it completely cancels to other out. Death is so important to religious types and it forms the basis of many of their religions. It's a last line defense against attacks on their archaic beliefs. No one can escape death and religious types use this and the fear of not knowing what happens after death to justify their exploitation of their fellow human beings.
2006-10-14 01:09:42 · answer #5 · answered by Desiree J 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's an analogy in cognitive science, misleading in some respects but still useful:
Software is to Mind as Hardware is to Brain.
I believe your question is more or less equivalent to the question "what happens to my Internet Explorer if my computer is destroyed"?
It's true that Internet Explorer, or Windows, or whatever, is not the "same thing" as the computer, but it depends on the computer to exist.
I do not believe that "I" am the "same thing" as my body, but I depend on my body to exist.
2006-10-14 15:32:40 · answer #6 · answered by Zhimbo 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think the activities of the mind can account for the differences in thinking and opinion
and yes i suppose that i do sort of disappear
if "i" were to reincarnate it wouldnt really be me because all my memories and experiences and personality and ideas from this life would be gone.
so it wouldnt really be me
2006-10-14 01:08:03 · answer #7 · answered by kitty is ANGRY!™ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is not a shell that contains me. This is what I am. all of my personality and thoughts occurr inside a volume of about 1500 mL. That is what I think. I am a big organic chemical reaction.
2006-10-14 01:04:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'd answer your question by saying just one statement - some things are best left unanswered . None of the deceased have returned to tell us what happens after death . I am an atheist myself - According to me , as I said , its a mystery , something not known to us .. ! So let it be at that , if we'd know that we wouldnt be humans ,we'd be super humans!
All the best !
2006-10-14 01:00:02 · answer #9 · answered by Beautiful Snowwhite 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I'm not an atheist in that respect. I don't believe in "God" or any "Gods"... but, I believ our energy lives on. I just don't pretend to think I know what happens after we no longer exists in human form.
2006-10-14 01:00:30 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋