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Soul Man

I stumbled across a discussion yesterday regarding what music people would prefer to have played at their funeral. My immediate reaction is 'why do any of you even care?'. People seem to forget that they'll be dead, and not only unable to hear that music, but also incapable of taking anything from the reactions of those who do hear it.

After voicing that opinion, it is predictably not long before I am confronted with the spiritual argument. An argument, it should be noted, that survives only on the basis that it requires no factual proof or physical evidence, and as such is impossible to be disproved. Hence, it is believable. Personally, I don't like that sort of logic.

I mean, should we really base our existence on little more than myth? The very argument which supports these spiritual beliefs is the same argument which provides no reason whatsoever for someone to believe it.

What annoys me is the pomposity some of the defenders of these beliefs eminate. Lines such as 'you cannot disprove the existence of a human spirit, therefore it must exist' are not uncommon. The inherent derision of science is remarkably short sighted. A few hundred years ago, science could not disprove the belief that the earth was flat, and any thought to the contrary (as this was the official line held by the church and governments at the time) was tantamount to heresy.

Of course, those who mocked anyone valiant enough to defy beliefs with no basis in fact were made to look quite foolish in the end. Science may one day answer other tough questions as well, perhaps including the existence of such a thing as a human soul.

What really grates though is the arrogance. A human soul? Why a human soul? What makes us so special that we are worthy of such divine connection? Because we can speak? Because we can build? Because we can destroy? These traits are not unique among the inhabitants of this earth. Every day we learn more about the natural world we have shunned and mocked for millenia. Every day we learn that we are closer to these animals than we previously felt comfortable to believe.

We are 1% away from being chimps. Hapless creatures we train to entertain us, or simply stare at through barred cages a fraction of the size of their natural environment. For all our lofty magnanimity, there are millions of us who would swap it all for a pair of wings and the freedom of the skies. To be a dolphin, and live, hunt and play in a beautiful, endless, 3 dimensional environment.

What gives us the right to a soul? Our ability to conceptualise one? Our self-proclaimed grandeur? Our need for a more satisfying solution to mortality?

It's a form of denial. Who can read the headlines today - any day - and consider human beings to be in any way magnificent or divine? We're so far from such things it's almost unreal. Take almost any other creature on this planet, and you'll see a complete contrast. Creatures that do not torture for financial reward, or war over the interpretation of literature. Instead, you will see creatures doing all they can just to continue living.

And that's the message for me. The secret to a happy life is not to have an answer to what will happen to you once that life is over, but instead to do all you can to enjoy the time you have. Life is precious, that's what makes death so powerful. The notion of an afterlife demeans life itself - implies that life does not suffice, and that is reason alone not to need to believe such things.

I have no soul, and of that I am proud, for it brings me closer to the world, closer to the animal kingdom a soul would sneer upon. The lack of a soul, or the want of one, brings me closer to life.



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Copyright Insane Bartender 2004-11-09 10:41 a.m.

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