Ask an Atheïst

[cesara]

[quote author=Madness link=topic=384.msg5751#msg5751 date=1287758751]
Can I play too?!?!

I think this is where I differ from a lot of atheists I know. I DO "feel" something. There's a lot out there that is awe inspiring and a lot things we don't currently understand. For me, atheism is more about the fact that there are no creator gods and no intelligent force guiding things outside my control. It doesn't mean I don't think there's other weirdo woowoo stuff going on out there (that one day, with enough understanding, could be explained by science).
[/quote]

Very much how I see things, too. No 'creator gods', no 'intelligent' force....but a force nonetheless.....science just has to catch up.

[Sin]

ooh ooh oohh!! *jumps up and down waving my hand in the air* memememmememememememeee!!!!


As an athiest how do you approach the subject of dualism and that of the soul? Do you have a soul? Or are you just a body?

[Madness]

[quote author=Sin link=topic=384.msg8921#msg8921 date=1288648592]
As an athiest how do you approach the subject of dualism and that of the soul? Do you have a soul? Or are you just a body?
[/quote]

I had to look up dualism. You mean like yin/yang and good/evil? I guess I don't see it as a driving factor of life. It's too black and white for me. Nothing is absolute.

Hmmm...a soul. I think that human consciousness is simply the result of a certain configuration of material, interacting with the world at large. Is that a soul? Will "it" continue after I die? I've read arguments that our "energy" will exist forever in some form. I can understand the argument but it doesn't speak to me. I guess I just don't have interest in the afterlife really (as in, I don't think it exists and I'm not going to spend a lot of time dwelling on it).

But there are vast definitions of soul, so its hard to say yes or no to believing in a soul. But essentially, I do just think we are bodies.

[Sin]

ahhh dualism as in haveing both a mind/soul and a body

alot of people think we have only a body

others believe we have a body AND a mind/soul

and the there are people who believe we are completely spiritual with no material body :P

[Madness]

Ah, ok I know read some definitions along those lines!

Well, I do believe we have a 'physical' form. But that could merely be a good way to describe it. There's weird research that the whole universe is a hologram (I don't recall the details...) but I think it's just semantics. I think I have a material body as I currently understand the definition of 'material'. :P

But I do also see that our minds are something special. Now, our minds could entirely be a result of the stuff inside our head, or they could be something all together different. I've heard an interesting argument that our brains are a holding medium for a type of energy that then manifests itself as coherent thought. As in, our minds are simply the interference pattern between matter (the brain) and the universe (the energy). I think that's cool. I don't necessarily have an opinion on whether or not its true. But I don't believe that we have an entirely separate entity (a 'soul&#039 that comes from somewhere and resides in our bodies while we live and then leaves them when we die and stays as an entity.

So...I guess I'm halfway between "just body" and "body + mind/soul".

But, like I've said before, I don't think there is anything woo-woo or supernatural about the (hypothetical) soul. Just something that we currently can't explain with science but is perfectly naturally.

[B. de Corbin]

As a near atheist ( ), let me jump in here -

What I imagine is this:

We do have something which could be called a "soul" (it depends on how you define "soul," of course). However, it arises out of the functioning of the body, just as the mind does. When the body goes, so does the mind and soul. Whatever "energy" it has just goes into whatever energy goes into when it stops having a source (entropy? I dunno).

[Sitnamorcen]

[quote author=Sin link=topic=384.msg8921#msg8921 date=1288648592]
As an atheist how do you approach the subject of dualism and that of the soul? Do you have a soul? Or are you just a body?
[/quote]

To say it in a kind of crude manner: I believe that the concept of a soul is one created out of the idea that our bodies are but a "container" and that whatever is inside it goes/does somewhere/something notable when we die.
I think that whatever "energy" in our brain that could presumably be the "soul" in question, withers away into the ground like one's body decays after death.
And as to the idea that that "soul" and body are seperate or seperable, I do not think so.

But related to atheism by definition, I'm certain there are atheists who can believe in the existance of a soul, but feel sure that there is no such thing as a god.

[Sin]

for the athiest who believes in the soul.. what substance makes up the soul? It is there.. but we cannot see it? Or can we see it through it's acts and quirks? Does this sound like a God?

Could the belief in a soul through this lead to belief in a God? If one can believe in a soul that was... these properties that can reflect something of a greater being.. such as.. God..? :P

ok I don't believe in God... But I like to think I have a soul so yeah ;D

[spartacandream]

[quote author=Madness link=topic=384.msg8992#msg8992 date=1288658615] But I do also see that our minds are something special. Now, our minds could entirely be a result of the stuff inside our head, or they could be something all together different. [/quote]
It's our brains in my view. The mind is what thinks, and when we think, areas specific to specific thoughts are fired in the brain. That and the fact that people with serious brain damage lose certain abilities, to me, is enough evidence that there is no mind seperate from the physical brain.

I don't believe in a soul either. We are what we are, and unless we find a way to make death obsolete, we have an expiration date. After that, we just return to being matter scattered about. If there is an immaterial soul and afterlife, there's no way of knowing, so there's no reason to worry.

[Madness]

Ok atheists, put your thinking caps on!

Why does humanity seem to have an innate desire and need to worship something, or someone? Why is there such a universal religious sense within humanity?

How do you account for the many supernatural experiences that people have, such as encounters with god(s), ghosts, spirits, etc.?