freethinker58 wrote:
Who are we? Let's start with the known universe. The evidence suggests it had a beginning and will have an end. The same applies to the physical life within it if astrophysicists are correct in their conclusions. I believe they are. However, the energy from which the universe sprang is eternal. We understand very little about this energy. Is it (or part of it) intelligent or is it completely chaotic? We'll probably never know. At least we realize that something had to have always existed in order for anything to exist. Nothingness is but a figment. There's never been such a thing and never will be.

Where am I going with this? How does this apply to the question of who we are? Our physical bodies are a product of the energy within the known universe. The laws of physics apply to our bodies. These laws may not apply to consciousness - the ability to experience reality. Consciousness apparently transcends the laws or physics. Does this mean we have souls with or without the ability to experience reality without the aid of a physical body? Not necessarily. We became conscious beings with or without souls. In other words, it doesn't really matter whether or not the soul exists. Consciousness obviously exists and that's primarily what we need to ponder.

Let's analyze this from a different perspective. We popped into existence inside a physical body. Fortunately for us, we popped into the most advanced bodies with the most advanced brains on this planet. But let's not pity our pets. We have no clue how or why it happened. We have no memory of a single past existence. Despite claims of strong evidence, I don't believe anyone who claims otherwise. When our bodies die, all the information stored in our brain's memory banks is deleted. Has this life and death process happened before and will it happen again? We can dig deeper and wonder if living life after life is an eternal process. I see no reason to believe otherwise. God or no god, soul or no soul, we somehow managed to come to life. We are now experiencing reality. I see no reason why we can't duplicate the feat. If it can happen once in an eternity, it should be as endless a cycle as eternity itself. That is, if there's no force controlling the process. If there is a force controlling it, it becomes a more complicated issue because we don't know what this force has in mind for us in the future. Perhaps we are destined to eternally live life after life with no memory of any of them. Maybe we need countless, relatively short experiences in many dissimilar lives to keep us from realizing that our essence is eternal, if consciousness is possible without a finite body. I can't imagine having an eternal existence in a fictitious place like heaven. I'd probably be bored after a trillion years or so. The thought of existing forever would probably drive me insane. I'd probably beg my master to either end my existence or do whatever it takes to keep me from realizing there is no end. If our fate is under the control of an intelligent force, the plan of living life after life may have already been in place to provide an eternity of wonders.

I'm on the fence when it comes to belief in an intelligent force of nature, but I firmly believe in life after death. If I can pop into existence once, what can prevent it from happening again. How myopic is it to believe it can happen only once in an eternity? I only question where and when it will happen again. To me, that's the mystery of it all. I don't expect to remember a thing about this life in my next one. However, I'll die firmly believing it will happen again.

Incidentally, I don't expect to spring to life again on this planet. There's a vast universe out there and perhaps something more vast beyond it. If there's an average of only one living planet per galaxy, that's 100 billion living planets. I believe that estimate is ridiculously low. There may be trillions of living planets out there. Our universe may be one of countless universes that have come and gone. I see no reason why that process can't go on eternally. Our universe may be only a flash of light in a much larger, much more complex reality that has always existed in one form or another.

So who are we? We're probably timeless travelers through countless, finite universes.