riviersonderend

‘n Interessante artikel in die New York Times wonder of daar ‘n lewe na die dood kan wees sonder God? Is dit moontlik vir mense wat nie in God (of dan die monoteïstiese godsbeeld van die Abrahamitiese gelowe) glo nie, om te glo in ‘n “ewige lewe”?

Blykbaar ja.

Die artikel wys daarop dat die idee van ‘n hiernamaals met beloning vir sommige, en straf vir ander, nie altyd deel was van ons denke nie. So ken die Ou Testament byvoorbeeld nie die idee nie. Jy word in hierdie lewe beloon en gestraf. Dit was die Fariseërs wat die idee van ‘n “nuwe, opgestane liggaam” begin verkondig het. Dit is oorgeneem deur die Christendom.

Hier is ‘n paar gedagtes oor ons moontlike “onsterflikheid”:

In his 1994 book, “The Physics of Immortality,” Frank J. Tipler, a specialist in relativity theory at Tulane University, showed how future beings might, in their drive for total knowledge, “resurrect” us in the form of computer simulations. (If this seems implausible to you, think how close we are right now to “resurrecting” extinct species through knowledge of their genomes.) John Leslie, a Canadian who ranks as one of the world’s leading philosophers of cosmology, draws on quantum physics in his painstakingly argued new book, “Immortality Defended.” Each of us, Leslie submits, is immortal because our life patterns are but an aspect of an “existentially unified” cosmos that will persist after our death. Both Tipler and Leslie are, in different ways, heirs to the view of William James. The mind or “soul,” as they see it, consists of information, not matter. And one of the deepest principles of quantum theory, called “unitarity,” forbids the disappearance of information. (Stephen Hawking used to think you could destroy your information by heaving yourself into a black hole, but a few years ago he changed his mind.)

Die Harvard filosoof, Robert Nozick, wonder of jy nie na jou dood jou eie heelal kry nie (klink cool): “One of the more rococo possibilities he considered was that the dying person’s organized energy might bubble into a new universe created in that person’s image. Although his reflections were inconclusive, Nozick hit on a seductive maxim: first, imagine what form of immortality would be best; then live your life right now as though it were true. And, who knows, it may be true.”

Die artikel eindig met ‘n cool aanhaling van Vladimir Nabokov: “Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.”