-Thanks, Bill. To the extent that I get your meaning, I agree with you.

Now, I'm about to take a deep breath and wade in to stuff that is way over my head. It appears to me that metaphysics is about the use of metaphor to make meaning out of the incredible amount of phenomena and experience for which we do not have sufficient 'facts' to logically define, and also as psychological defense to keep anxiety about survival at bay. I understand 'spirit', 'soul', 'god' etc. as metaphor. I consider belief systems about the same to also be metaphor. "Chunky stuff", i.e. matter, is not metaphor. However, as science continues to explore the nature of matter and energy, we find we have to continually revise our understanding of what matter is, what its attributes are, what are the laws that govern it. One day, we may factually understand consciousness, and at that point metaphors such as spirit and soul will no longer be useful. It is likely, however, that we will then have awareness of additional phenomena to which we are currently oblivious, but for which we have not yet discovered or developed the knowledge base to understand, and there will be new metaphors to make meaning of those.

Therefore, I think it reasonable and logical to conclude that we just don't know what happens after what we call death, and the most we can say about it is that it is a mystery.

Janie



Janie