THE AFTERLIFE
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I've been thinking a lot about the after life lately (seems normal as one of my pals just passed on). More specifically, I've been thinking about what will happen to me after I leave this world. We are ultimately narcissistic creatures, aren't we? Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably selling something. Regardless, perhaps my thoughts may be of interest to you.

Part 1 - Afterlife: The Logical/ Intellectual/ Scientific Approach
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I started off thinking about my "after-life". My first question is "Is there is an after-life?" Regardless of any religion, I could say there is one due to three concepts: the metaphysical nature of life, the concept of universality of natural laws and the principal of the conservation of energy.

There is a provable metaphysical component or energy to something that is alive. For example, the action of a creature based on data other than the physical indicate that something metaphysical (or non-physical) is taking place. An excellent example is the process of teaching, which is an exchange of ideas (a non-physical object) between two entities.. At a lower level, we can teach a college freshman to go on a beer run or face the consequences. At a higher level, you can teach someone integral calculus. Examples of other metaphysical concepts are emotions, memories and judgments.

Next we come to the scientific principal of the Universality of the Laws of Nature. This a is the concept that underpins the scientific method by stating that "laws of nature do not change in universe, but rather stay consistent no matter where in the universe you are". This has been proved time and again since Newton "discovered" gravity.

Finally consider the law of nature discovered by Einstein’s equation E=mc2: The Law of the Conservation of Energy. This is a law that states, "In a closed system, i.e., a system that isolated from its surroundings, the total energy of the system is conserved.” That means that energy cannot be destroyed, but converted into matter.

So if we accept the above three premises, (1) that three is a metaphysical component or energy to life, (2) the Law of Universality and (3) the Law of Conservation of Energy we can say that there is some form of afterlife. In more down to earth language, we can say that there is some kind of soul that it exists in a universe that is built on consistent laws and that if a soul is a form of energy it cannot be destroyed.

If all this is so, then what happens to the metaphysical component of a living creature? Since it exists, then it must have come from somewhere and go somewhere. Stay tuned for Part 2 - "Afterlife Style: Quality of the Afterlife"