"...no earthly reason ..."

*grin*...and therein lies the rub. Those who begin with the assumption of the possibility of UNearthly reasons have no trouble plowing ahead with all sorts of opinions about consciousness, past lives, etc.

I do NOT believe I will have any residual 'consciousness' after death, and have noted many times that my big frustration is that, IF I am right, I don't get to say "I told you so!".


What is interesting to me is how people can look at the same facts and come to different conclusions. A lot of it is buried so deep in the very language they grew up with and use daily, that they often have little awareness of their own thought processes.

When I studied Philosophy, my major concern was to be able, as much as possible, to 'step back'...or sideways...or whatever... and get a sense of what the various opinions of human thought thru the ages were and have some way of evaluating them.

I argue that:-- the more one is able to do this semi-neutral evaluation, the less one will be inclined to accept certain beliefs and arguments that require premises with little or no verification.

When *I* am voted Emperor of the Universe, I will have kids very early begin to study about HOW to think and evaluate. (You can guess that with that kind of platform, I am not likely to get many votes... ☺)