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Re: Thought Question

jhey@iii2.iii.net (John Hey) wrote:

>In article <3pscic$5m1@dingo.cc.uq.oz.au>,
>Madhudvisa dasa        <madhudvisa@krishna.org> wrote:
>:
>: ...
>:  The soul has consciousness, the soul has memory, and the soul has the
>:  ability to reason. All these things are completely separate from the
>:  bodily machine. The soul can reason, remember and is conscious even
>:  without the body. [That's what "out of body" experiences are.]
>:
>:  So your statement that "Memory is apparently physiologically based" is
>:  not correct. The memory is in the soul, the body is a machine, the
>:  interface, the input/output system. If the input/output system is put
>:  under stress the ability to interact with the world and process the
>:  data may be impaired but these I/O problems do not affect reasoning.
>:  The soul is quite capable of reasoning by itself without a material
>:  body or material brain... So I think the sound of no hands clapping
>:  might be something of an inappropriate analogy!
>:


>Memory IS apparently physiologically based.  I'll entertain notions (and
>hope they reciprocate) that it's not ACTUALLY so based, but they'll have
>to explain such things as the "apparent" selective destruction of memory
>by, say, surgical intervention.

  There is obviously a machine there inside our heads which, if played
  with, affects our "memory". We can't "remember" most of what is in the
  soul's "memory". We have memories there from many, many births, but we
  can't access them. It may be that we can only consciously access the
  data stored inside our heads.. but that doesn't mean the other data is
  not there.

>To those who don't dig death,

  Nobody "dig's death". It is a notion completely foreign to us ..
  because the soul doesn't die.

>the model of a disembodied, transcendent,
>reasoning and recalling "self" is a comfy one...

  And a real one...

>which is, of course, that
>model's weakness, even when presented with coherence and conviction....

  One doesn't need coherence and conviction. There is a very good case
  for the existence of the soul. It explains consciousness, it explains
  why we are all individuals, it explains why two people [twins even]
  brought up in the same environment don't develop into the same
  "individual". It explains "individuality". It actually perfectly fits
  the observed data..

  It is those who are suggesting we don't exist, we are but combinations
  of chemicals, who are "religiously" presenting their arguments with
  conviction, but without coherence, who have the weak model...


  Thank you. Hare Krishna.


Thank you. Hare Krishna!

Madhudvisa dasa       
(madhudvisa@krishna.org)     /sudarsana 
                                
All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!
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