Keith Ward - What Would an Immortal Soul be Like?

Suppose that immortal souls exist. Would we feel any differently now? How would it feel after our body disappears? Would we be aware, cognizant of our individual identities?

[tomashull]

Since our bodies are subjected to the laws of physics, why should our "self", like consciousness, be any different? Could the "soul" - what makes us, considering the fact that 99.9% of our body is replaced every few years, be simply information? Quantum information?

[jeffwunder]

Sure you could have a soul. It would live in the "real" world. You might be living in a dream and wake up into a greater reality when you die. Dreams seem real when you're in them, and anything that's temporary might as well be a dream, including your life. Consciousness is everything. Without it, there might as well be nothing. When consciousness can be explained by a physical mechanism, then I'll believe the materialists.

[sturedeng]

It's nice that we let these people have a day out of the asylum now and then.

[JAYDUBYAH]

easy.... like casper the friendly ghost!

[travxlx]

HMMM...HMMMM....To speak of souls and identities in this manner exposes just how much has been taken for granted by the faithful throughout history. The soul or essence in order to transend and survive after death is complicated by the modern knowledge that the brain is where all mental and emotional activity occurs. Of course, even that is debatable for some but then again to argue against that also lends one vulnerable that they may not know anything either due to any allegation that one observable event does not correspond to another merely because there are corelations. Those allegations, if accepted render all observations null and void and not only the observations of the unfaithful or nonbelievers religion or spirituality. Those of faith sometimes forget that long enough to step over that threshold. The concept of an immortal soul is even more intriguing when one consider what state that soul may have been before being embodied as much as its fate after death. William Blakes "Book of Thel" is a good exploration of that. To speak of laws or rules regarding how one's identity or personality i.e. psyche would remain intact after transending or otherwise surviving the death of the body without questioning how it could be immortal in terms of starting from it being embodied at birth. If the soul is made at birth, how is that immortal? How does that affect the definition of the term immortal with regards to their being a beginning point somewhere in the middle of the universe's timeline as opposed having always existed just not in embodied state. It's about what one knows and what one feels and what one can prove and the differences between them....or at least in a way it is. Otherwise, the faithful are all just stating how they subjectively feel about something and not objectively observing. What state does a soul exist in before birth? What happens to a soul as it travels time while embodied? How will it end up after the time of its embodied state? The second two questions cannot be thoroughly addressed without consideration to the firs one. William Blake was profound in his questions as the yrelate to his story ...Does the Eagle know what is in the pit? Or wilt thou go ask the Mole: Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod? Or Love in a golden bowl?

[uremove]

What he says doesn’t sound unreasonable, except that we know that memory IS stored in the brain - and people lose it through brain damage, (patient HM), or dementia or simple neuronal death as a result of ageing. Moreover, we know that personality changes following brain damage too (Finneas Gage), as well as through life. Without our memories, personality or the continuity of a body, how are we the same person with the same identity after death? If dementia patients are “recreated” by God, He could presumably recreate 100 clones of eg. Elvis, all with identical memories and Elvis unique personality. Would any of them actually be Elvis? Would anyone WANT to be the same person for eternity anyway!? One lifetime being me is quite enough for me!

[smhaack]

The proof for this and many other incredible stories is all contained in one very ancient book!!! Amazing!!!!

[PresidentialWinner]

Wow he is absolutely hilarious. He can't be serious can he?

[zoheirnoaparast]

2:21 because you know, I wouldn't want you in mine and I'm sure you don't want me in yours

[ahmedp]

Life is pointless.
Mostly suffering for many, and for what?
I don't understand why God created us (or why we evolved to what we are).

[mycount]

thoughts and memories don't need a brain or a body for that matter... how? like a fart in the wind? So, when we die ... everything will be just the same as here ... only better? Nothing more than vacuous and wishful thinking.

[ScottWorthington]

At 2:10 he asserts that you can have a mind without a brain. I wonder if he has ever seen such a thing.

[amirmograbi]

This should’ve been released on April/1

[andrewizzoclarke]

"Your memories can be stored without any material, physical embodiment." I don't think so; there's a wealth of evidence linking seemingly incorporeal experiences (memories, sensory experiences, our experience of time and cause and effect, etc) to the workings of the brain. Our mind arises out of the brain, and it doesn't seem to be the case that there can ever be a mind that exists without a brain. Memories 'cannot' be stored without material, physical embodiment.

[harishpudukodu]

Is personality not incidental? Why would this so-called "immortal soul" contain information about preferences or disposition, if information is (by definition) contingent on relationships?