Does one ceases to be human when one dies?

[Epic Beard Man]

Since death means non-existence, if you don't exist you will have a bloody time being anything at all. It is a null state. You've become history. End of story.

But there lies the issue. Assuming we have an incorporeal soul that exists after death and suppose our collective memories and thoughts exist along with our soul. We cease to be human but we are something else

 

[sayak83]

I was wondering whether we lose our humanity when we cease to exist when we die....assuming the incorporeal soul exists, do we cease to be human or are we an undefined entity?

In Hinduism that is certainly a possibility. Humanity has a certain "wattage" of conscious effulgence. If your actions are "good", there is greater assimilation of power around you and your "wattage" increases. Hence you will shine brighter in the next life, becoming a higher being. Conversely bad actions will cause dissipation of power and hence in the next life, one will shine weaker, becoming a lower being.

 

[Windwalker]

That is the nature of the question. My body ceases to sustain life therefore I die. Assuming a soul exists am I still a human or am I just an incorporeal entity? I am trying not to use the word consciousness because that is a slippery slope. I want to say a life force that somehow sustains my physical body to continue. So again assuming such a force exist do I cease to be human?

You do have to bring it to that, which was my point. The ego is a collection of thoughts and emotions we self-identify with as ours, and hence "me". Prior to the development of the ego, we identified as our bodies in early childhood. Yet, as we continue to develop, we likewise recognize that like we have a body but are not our body, we have an ego, but are not our ego. Now you are into consciousness itself, as you pointed out. But without trying to go down that path to understand what consciousness actually is, I think it's fair enough to say that all of what goes into this sack of skin we inhabit, whether that's our cells and molecules, our ego constructions, or awareness itself before and beyond all that, the the whole thing is energy collected into this form we call a human, or a cat, or a dog, or a tree, or any other lifeform.

When that lifeform dissolves, where does that energy that coalesced into that go, or in fact came from? And then the question is, what is that energy that took shape over 14.5 billion years of evolution into this "me" I walk around with goes? I'd say it's safe to say, that in fact continues, as it came to form "me" in the first place. But not the form itself. The egoic "me" dissolves just as the body does. But the energy that became does not, but is rather transmuted and continues to take form, just as it has from the beginning and continues to do until the universe itself dies. And then it goes.....?

But to answer the question about supposed "life after death", I'd say in most cases that is an egoic projection, an immortality project that can't let go of self-identification as the form we currently identify with. I don't believe in some pure nihilism, but I also don't believe this "Me" who I am will go skipping along after this body turns to dust. I am afterall, 14.5 billion years of evolution walking on two legs. You don't think that process is going to continue after this form dies?

 

[Brickjectivity]

The current understanding of Physics is that we do not cease to exist, because we still are alive in the past, just as real as anyone living at any other moment. This has implications for 'Ghost' ideas, because the concept of a ghost assumes that the person is gone when in reality we are never gone as we still exist at a different time.

 

[Thief]

But there lies the issue. Assuming we have an incorporeal soul that exists after death and suppose our collective memories and thoughts exist along with our soul. We cease to be human but we are something else

yeah....it is written.....
Do not conform to this world
Be transformed by it

I suspect we do become.....whatever we really are

this life forms the basic thought and feeling

it's the NEXT life wherein we receive the training!!!!!
the language, the territory and the scheme of things!!!

 

[Stevicus]

Scientifically speaking there were studies done to show there is a level of consciousness when one dies.

Yes. I wonder if it's a kind a dream state, as some people have said that they've seen their life "pass before their eyes." One's sense of time may be distorted as well, so that a few seconds in real time might feel like a much longer time for someone in a distorted or semi-conscious state. I think about this whenever I have a brief "power nap" where I might sleep for a few minutes but feel as if I've been asleep for hours.

Is it possible that, at the very moment of death, a person could be locked in a kind of "dream state" where time (from their perspective) literally stops or slows down to such a degree as to seem like an "eternity"?

 

[Akivah]

I was wondering whether we lose our humanity when we cease to exist when we die....assuming the incorporeal soul exists, do we cease to be human or are we an undefined entity?

We don't cease being human when we die. At death, the soul splits off from its vessel. Both the soul and the body are human.

 

[Liu]

I would say so - if some part of us continues to exist after death, then it will be independent of the physical nervous system and brain it formerly was attached to. And thereby lack a lot of characteristics that are typical for a human being.

I'm at a loss as to what would remain of one without a body, though, except for pure awareness, as pretty much any kind of thinking and feeling seems to be dependent on the body.

But there are quite a few in my religion who believe that one can continue to exist and even think after death, at least as long as one is spiritually strong enough that one's spirit doesn't simply dissolve. We call that self-deification (although we use that term also for more mundane goals), and in that sense, someone who would accomplish that would become a deity (or spirit or demon or however you wanna call it) and cease to be a human being.

 

[Skwim]

In as much as we call the bones of a long deceased and desiccated person "human bones," I think it's quite proper to regard those of a single individual taken together as representing a human. After all, "human" indicates those animals of the genus Homo.

Modern humans (Homo sapiens, primarily ssp. Homo sapiens sapiens) are the only extant members of the subtribe Hominina, a branch of the tribe Hominini belonging to the family of great apes.
Source: Wikipedia
​

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[Epic Beard Man]

In Hinduism that is certainly a possibility. Humanity has a certain "wattage" of conscious effulgence. If your actions are "good", there is greater assimilation of power around you and your "wattage" increases. Hence you will shine brighter in the next life, becoming a higher being. Conversely bad actions will cause dissipation of power and hence in the next life, one will shine weaker, becoming a lower being.

Interesting...I would like to learn more on the Hindu perspective

 

[Epic Beard Man]

You do have to bring it to that, which was my point. The ego is a collection of thoughts and emotions we self-identify with as ours, and hence "me". Prior to the development of the ego, we identified as our bodies in early childhood. Yet, as we continue to develop, we likewise recognize that like we have a body but are not our body, we have an ego, but are not our ego. Now you are into consciousness itself, as you pointed out. But without trying to go down that path to understand what consciousness actually is, I think it's fair enough to say that all of what goes into this sack of skin we inhabit, whether that's our cells and molecules, our ego constructions, or awareness itself before and beyond all that, the the whole thing is energy collected into this form we call a human, or a cat, or a dog, or a tree, or any other lifeform.

When that lifeform dissolves, where does that energy that coalesced into that go, or in fact came from? And then the question is, what is that energy that took shape over 14.5 billion years of evolution into this "me" I walk around with goes? I'd say it's safe to say, that in fact continues, as it came to form "me" in the first place. But not the form itself. The egoic "me" dissolves just as the body does. But the energy that became does not, but is rather transmuted and continues to take form, just as it has from the beginning and continues to do until the universe itself dies. And then it goes.....?

But to answer the question about supposed "life after death", I'd say in most cases that is an egoic projection, an immortality project that can't let go of self-identification as the form we currently identify with. I don't believe in some pure nihilism, but I also don't believe this "Me" who I am will go skipping along after this body turns to dust. I am afterall, 14.5 billion years of evolution walking on two legs. You don't think that process is going to continue after this form dies?

Neil.degrass tyso said that the energy escapes. I do believe in the law of thermodynamics but I think the me aspect does not exist anymore and that I am something else.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

yeah....it is written.....
Do not conform to this world
Be transformed by it

I suspect we do become.....whatever we really are

this life forms the basic thought and feeling

it's the NEXT life wherein we receive the training!!!!!
the language, the territory and the scheme of things!!!

Very interesting position.

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

I was wondering whether we lose our humanity when we cease to exist when we die....assuming the incorporeal soul exists, do we cease to be human or are we an undefined entity?

A good question. Is it only our genetics, sentience or some other aspect of our physiology that makes us human or is it something more?

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Yes. I wonder if it's a kind a dream state, as some people have said that they've seen their life "pass before their eyes." One's sense of time may be distorted as well, so that a few seconds in real time might feel like a much longer time for someone in a distorted or semi-conscious state. I think about this whenever I have a brief "power nap" where I might sleep for a few minutes but feel as if I've been asleep for hours.

Is it possible that, at the very moment of death, a person could be locked in a kind of "dream state" where time (from their perspective) literally stops or slows down to such a degree as to seem like an "eternity"?

Right. I know when I take my 30 min breaks at night it seems that I sleep forever but only slept for a few minutes. I think in a resting state our brain slows the perception of time and in death obviously it's non-existent.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

We don't cease being human when we die. At death, the soul splits off from its vessel. Both the soul and the body are human.[/QUOTE

But my soul is not composed of human qualities.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

A good question. Is it only our genetics, sentience or some other aspect of our physiology that makes us human or is it something more?

Right. I cease to be a bipedal human I wonder what am I? Energy? If that is the case I cease to no longer exist as a human I am something else.

 

[Milton Platt]

I was wondering whether we lose our humanity when we cease to exist when we die....assuming the incorporeal soul exists, do we cease to be human or are we an undefined entity?

Why make the assumption that we have an "incorporeal soul"?

 

[osgart]

soul is nothing more than the heart,mind, and will unitary in one's being. it's self evident. death must be detachment from the body.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Why make the assumption that we have an "incorporeal soul"?

Because when they open our bodies we cannot see the soul. There is nothing measurable scientifically so the only other thing is our soul has to be incoporeal. If we are a creation of divine providence we are incorporeal beings when our mortal bodies die.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

soul is nothing more than the heart,mind, and will unitary in one's being. it's self evident. death must be detachment from the body.

Like the belief in the soul it is theoretical kind of like belief in wormholes. It is theoretical until we discover it. Knowledge comes at death we are right or wrong we still know.