XPost: alt.philosophy, alt.atheism, alt.agnosticism   
   From: epicurusboth@YOUR_SHOESaapt.net.au   
      
   Last time that great scribe Pro-Humanist FREELOVER    
   chipped away at his/her stone these gems of wisdom for posterity ...   
      
   >   
   > ---   
   >   
   > Up to now, religions have owned the immortality   
   > promise. Their primary method, believe X (varies   
   > from religion to religion) and get it (or at least   
   > maximize your chances of getting it), disbelieve   
   > or doubt X, and either don't get it -or- get it in   
   > a very unpleasant way -or- get a chance to get   
   > it, later, if you pass some post-death test.   
   >   
   > What if everyone gets it, and what if immortality   
   > is simply another natural part of a mysterious   
   > natural adventure? What if immortality isn't neces-   
   > sarily better or worse, but instead, is simply a   
   > different naturalistic experience?   
   >   
   > Certainly, selling immortality as the ultimate drug,   
   > the ultimate high, the unltimate in pleasure, if you   
   > jump through the 'right' religion's hoops, that has   
   > enormous appeal. The threat side, not so much.   
   >   
   > But, is religion really necessary for immortality?   
   > What -if- immortality is as natural as any other   
   > event in this particular naturalistic realm we are   
   > familiar with, and it's not earned, and no one is   
   > excluded from it, and everyone and everything   
   > is a part of it? What if all that is natural is part   
   > of some naturalistic realm in which a continua-   
   > tion of possibilities is the ultimate reality?   
   >   
   > Just a thought, for those of you who, like me,   
   > find the immortality promise of religion to be   
   > its most seductive feature, but who have been   
   > taught that if you disbelieve or doubt, you either   
   > get eliminated from existence forever, judged   
   > and punished and eliminated from existence   
   > forever, or judged and punished forever.   
   >   
   > A naturalistic immortality, in my view, offers   
   > a far more attractive alternative to religion than   
   > has been posited 'til now, not only by religions   
   > and their followers which equate naturalism   
   > with oblivion, but also by disbelievers and   
   > doubters who've bought into the religious argu-   
   > ment that's it's their way -or- no way, dismis-   
   > sing any possibility that a naturalistic immor-   
   > tality is even possible.   
   >   
   > Just saying, within the unknown realm of the   
   > totality of that which is natural, pondering a   
   > naturalistic immortality is a potentially power-   
   > ful concept, and worthy of consideration until   
   > or unless the totality of naturalism is known   
   > to exclude the possibility of *any* immortality.   
      
   Nothing lasts forever so immortality is dead in the water before you   
   even starts. Not a species, not a solar system, not even the universe,   
   which is destined to chill out, lights out, expand at an ever increasing   
   rate, and decay in an to infinitely sparse realm of electrons and   
   neutrinos in 10^100 years.   
      
   --   
      
   Remove both YOUR_SHOES before replying   
   apatriot #1, atheist #1417,   
   Chief EAC prophet   
   Jason Gastrich is praying for me on 8 January 2009   
      
   Apatriotism Yahoo Group   
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apatriotism   
      
   "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make   
   you commit atrocities." - Voltaire   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)