Originally posted by vistesd
I do not think there is—nor do I have any “hope” for—an individual after-life, whether that entails reincarnation, resurrection or some kind of immortality of the “soul.” My chosen religious expression(s) was not determined by that fact, however, but by how I understand my existence in the cosmos, and what makes sense to me.
I am curious about how a beli ...[text shortened]... bology would need reinterpretation from the conventional view. I only offer it as an example...
This is the kind of stuff that I think cuts right to the heart of theistic belief. It ties in with another thread where the central question was something like 'why do some people believe rubbish?' First, I'd say a lot of theistic 'belief' is properly nothing like
belief at all. Or at least, it's certainly nothing like the "cool assent" of the intellect (pace Hume). It's more like noncognitive expression that stems from introspection, self attachments. These are typically passionate minds who shrink from the very confrontation that Camus thinks we ought to tackle directly. They simply cannot bear any thoughts related to the cessation of their own perspective, and they simply cannot imagine happiness or peace of mind within the Sisyphean adventure. Consider
the crowning moment for the Sisyphean hero: he turns; starts the long descent (again!); stands in a present awareness that is authentic and genuine; continues on in that present awareness. [Think Kabir: "Kabir says this: just throw away all thougts of imaginary things, and stand firm in that which you are."] Some are not prepared to bear that present awareness, and they mask the absurd, they live with appeal.
Honestly, I am completely, utterly unsympathetic toward the sort of hope that marks in a general way theism, after-life notions, etc. Maybe that's not entirely consistent of me; maybe it's the case that -- at bottom -- the noncognitivist expression that comprises such hope is the same "stuff" that comprises my own passions; maybe it's the case that we all work with the same material but sculpt it into different forms based on personal aesthetics. But in general, I'm just more than a little repulsed when organization becomes prevalent in the expression, overwhelming whatever it is that makes the expression worthwhile -- the dance becomes mechanical, the music becomes forced (I think you probably know what I'm trying to say here). I think that sort of organization and rigor undermines the Sisyphean adventure. I would say the vast majority of it is completely regrettable and constitutes nothing more than a pathetic and silly sort of idolatry. But maybe I should add that's just me.
I'm sure a lot of the after-lifers are spurred on by a fear of the permanent cessation of conscious experience. In some sense, I'm really not sure why: it's nothing to be like a dead human. I'm sure I have posted this before in this forum (probably more than once), but I really like the following words of Rosencrantz from Tom Stoppard's movie. They do a good job demonstrating the sort of absurdity that informs the irrational side of this fear. The passage also demonstrates, to an extent, the heavy grip of self attachment -- Rosencrantz cannot disentangle the self from the non-self:
"Do you ever think of yourself as actually dead lying in a box with a lid on it? Nor do I really. It's silly to be depressed by it. I mean, one thinks of it like being alive in a box, and one keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one is dead...which should make all the difference... shouldn't it? I mean, you'd never know you were in a box, would you? It would be just like you were asleep in a box. Not that I'd like to sleep in a box, mind you, not without any air, you'd wake up dead for a start, and then where would you be? In a box. That's the bit I don't like frankly. That's why I don't think of it. Because you'd be helpless. Stuffed in a box like that, I mean, you'd be in there for ever. Even taking into account the fact that you're dead, it isn't a pleasant thought. Especially if you're dead, really...ask yourself, if I asked you straight off...I'm going to stuff you in this box now, would you rather be alive or dead? Naturally, you'd prefer to be alive. Life in a box is better than no life at all, I expect. You'd have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking well, at least I'm not dead."