Immortality is in a way Mortality in Reality. |
The new age saga, Physical immortality researches are flourishing. Why we have become so rapt to the concept of Immortality? I feel dejected to know that humans today have overlooked the joy of shedding a mortal coil. Does the existence of a body really matter over the existence of your soul-deeds? It absolutely doesn't ! Like Buddha imparted the secret of Immortality “Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue.” Deeds have been illustrated to be the ignited inferno of human impermanence. Every religious conviction has a few lines to say when it comes to MORTALITY.
Krishna: Hindu Faith, 2000 B.C. Holy Scripture: Bhagavad-Gita
Who in all his work sees God, he in truth goes unto God....
He is the never-created Creator of all: he knows all ... the creator of all time.... From him comes the transmigration of life and liberation: bondage in time and freedom Eternity.
The transmigration of life, takes place in one’s own mind. Let one therefore keep the mind pure, for what a man thinks that he becomes: this is a mystery of Eternity.
The Spirit, without moving, is swifter than the mind; the senses cannot reach him: He is ever beyond them. ...
... the Spirit though one, takes new forms in all things that live. He is within all, and is also outside.
The Spirit that is in all beings is immortal in them all: for the death of what cannot die, cease thou to sorrow.
At the moment of death the sum of all the experiences of life on earth comes to the surface of the mind-for in the mind are stored all the impressions of past deeds and the dying man then becomes absorbed in these experiences.
Moses Jewish Faith, 1330.B C. Holy Scripture: Old Testament
A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. Ecclesiastes 7:1
...the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7
...he who goes down to the grave does not return. Job 7:9
... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me...Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalms 23: 1-6
Buddha Buddhist Faith, 560 B.C. Holy Scripture: Tipitaka Quotes from: (The Tibetan Book of the Dead)
First of all there will appear to you, swifter than lightning; the luminous splendor of the colorless light of Emptiness, and that will surround you on all sides. ...Try to submerge yourself in that light, giving up all belief in a separate self, all attachment to your illusory ego.
... Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas will for seven days appear to you in their benign and peaceful aspect. Their light will shine upon you, Wonderful and delightful though they are, The Buddha’s may nevertheless frighten you. Do not give in to your fright! Do not run away! Serenely contemplate the spectacle before you! Overcome your fear, and feel no desire! Realize that these are the rays of the grace of the Buddha’s, who come to receive you into their Buddha-realms. Pray to them with intense faith and humility.
But if you miss it, you will next be confronted with the angry deities, threatening you and barring your passage ... because you turned a deaf ear to the saving truths of religion. All these forms are strange to you, ... they terrify you, ... and yet it is you who have created them. Do not give in to your fright, flee them not! They are but ... the contents of your own mind... If at this point you should manage to understand that, and you will find yourself in a paradise among the angels.
The judgment: You are now before Yama, King of the Dead. In vain will you try to...deny or conceal the evil deeds you have done. The mirror in which Yama seems to read your past is your own memory, and also his judgment is your own. It is you yourself who pronounce your own judgment.
Christ Christian Faith, 1 A.D. Holy Scripture: New Testament
...Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. ...
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. John 11:25,26-5:24
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body...And just as we have borne the likeness of earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. I Corinthians 15:50
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. II Corinthians 4:18
The spirit gives life the flesh is of no avail. John 6:63
...The body without the spirit is dead. ... James 2:26
As long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord... and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. II Corinthians 5:5-6
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13
God will give to each person according to what he has done. Romans 2:6
Muhammad Muslim Faith, 622 A.D Holy Scripture: Qur'an
They know the outward shows of this life present but of the next life are they careless. Have they not consider the heavens and the earth and all that is between them but for a serious end, and for a fixed term? But truly most men believe not that they shall meet their Lord. 30:6-7
... and we will test you with evil and with good; and unto us shall ye be brought back. 21:35-36
Whatever good works ye send on before [death]... ye shall find with God. 13:20
And they will ask thee of the spirit. Say: The spirit proceedeth at my Lord’s command; but of knowledge, only a little is given to you. 17:18
On a certain day shall every soul come to plead for itself, and every soul shall be repaid according to its deeds; and they shall not be wronged.
By God ye shall be called to account for your doings! 16:58
Baha'u'llah Baha'i Faith 1844 A.D. Holy Scripture includes writings of The Bab (the forerunner), Baha'u'llah (the prophet founder), and 'Abdu'l-Baha (the son of Baha'u'llah)
Know, thou, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel. It is the first among all created things to declare the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth, and bow down in adoration before Him. ... Verily I say, the human soul is exalted above all egress and regress. It is still, and yet it soareth; it moveth, and yet it is still. It is, in itself, a testimony that beareth witness to the existence of a world that is contingent, as well as to the reality of a world that hath neither beginning nor end.
The soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and centuries, nor the changes or chances of this world, can alter. It will endure as long as the Kingdom of God, His sovereignty, His dominion and power will endure. It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes, and will reveal His loving kindness and bounty. When the human soul soareth out of this transient heap of dust and riseth into the world of God, then veils will fall away, and verities will come to light, and all things unknown before will be made clear, and hidden truths be understood.
The nature of the soul after death can never be described, nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of men. The Prophets and Messengers of God have been sent down for the sole purpose of guiding mankind to the straight Path of Truth. The purpose underlying Their revelation hath been to educate all men, that they may, at the hour of death, ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and with absolute detachment, ... The light which these souls radiate is responsible for the progress of the world and the advancement of its peoples ... and constitute the animating force through which the arts and wonders of the world are made manifest.
Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds.
... The decrees of the Sovereign Ordainer, as related to fate and predestination, are of two kinds. Both are to be obeyed and accepted. The one is irrevocable, the other is, as termed by men, impending. To the former all must unreservedly submit, inasmuch as it is fixed and settled. God however, is able to alter or repeal it. As the harm that must result from such a change will be greater than if the decree had remained unaltered, all, therefore, should willingly acquiesce in what God hath willed and confidently abide by the same.
Unto each one hath been prescribed a preordained measure, as decreed in God's mighty and guarded Tablets. All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition.
Abdu'l-Baha
The wisdom of the appearance of the spirit in the body is this: the human spirit is a Divine Trust, and it must traverse all conditions, for its passage and movement through the conditions of existence will be the means of its acquiring perfections.
The human spirit may be likened to the bounty of the sun shining on a mirror. The body of man ... grows and develops through the animal spirit.
This perfected body can be compared to a mirror, and the human spirit to the sun. Nevertheless, if the mirror breaks, the bounty of the sun continues; and if the mirror is destroyed or ceases to exist, no harm will happen to the bounty of the sun, which is everlasting. This spirit has the power of discovery; it encompasses all things...
In the beginning of his human life man was embryonic in the world of the matrix. There he received capacity and endowment for the reality of human existence. The forces and powers necessary for this world were bestowed upon him in that limited condition. In this world he needed eyes; he received them potentially in the other. He needed ears; he obtained them there in readiness and preparation for his new existence. The powers requisite in this world were conferred upon him in the world of the matrix.
Therefore, in this world he must prepare himself for the life beyond. That which he needs in the world of the Kingdom must be obtained here. Just as he prepared himself in the world of the matrix by acquiring forces necessary in this sphere of existence, so, likewise, the indispensable forces of the divine existence must be potentially attained in this world.
That world beyond is a world of sanctity and radiance; therefore, it is necessary that in this world he should acquire these divine attributes. In that world there is need of spirituality, faith, assurance, the knowledge and love of God. These he must attain in this world so that after his ascension from the earthly to the heavenly Kingdom he shall find all that is needful in that eternal life ready for him.
The mind and spirit of man advances when he is tried by suffering... Hence, suffering and tribulation of free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment.
Pursuit to Immortality-Technology, claimed to be Spiritual-Technology. |
A Russian mogul wants to achieve cybernetic immortality for humans within the next 33 years. He's pulled together a team intent on creating fully functional holographic human avatars that house our artificial brains. Now he's asking billionaires to help fund the advancements needed along the way.
The man behind the 2045 Initiative, described as a nonprofit organization, is a Russian named Dmitry Itskov. The ambitious timeline he's laid out involves creating different avatars. First a robotic copy that is controlled far-flung through a brain interface. Then one in which a human brain can be transplanted at the end of life. The next could house an artificial human brain, and finally we'd have holographic avatars containing our intelligence much like the movie "Surrogates."Gizmag's Dario Borghino wisely warned that "one must be careful not to believe that improbable technological advances automatically become more likely simply by looking further away in the future." And in the grand scheme of things, 2045 is not that far away. So just how likely is it that this project will succeed? For more insight, let's check in with Ted Williams. Oh, wait. Recently Itskov published an open letter to the Forbes world's billionaires list telling them that they have the ability to finance the extension of their own lives up to immortality. He writes that he can prove the concept's viability to anyone who's skeptical and will coordinate their personal immortality projects for free. PopSci's Clay Dillow described Itskov in March as a 31-year-old media mogul, but I couldn't find a detailed biography for him. The project's ultimate goal is to save people from suffering and death. While there are smart experts involved, that's no guarantee that human immortality is even a goal worth pursuing. Anyone caught up in the vampire mania that's punctured popular culture has pondered whether, given a choice, you'd actually want to live forever.
For me, there's a world of difference between pursuing a brain-controlled exoskeleton to help paraplegics regain control and wanting to essentially upload a human brain into an artificial body. I read a sci-fi novel involving disembodied live brains once. It didn't turn out well. All the same I wish them Luck!
Guys this really serious, we must actually think about it. Is being mortal that bad, in datum – Is being immortal any better? Mortality or immortality! leave back a few comments and suggestions. I would love to know what you contemplate!
Dmitry Itskov-Evolution 2045- Alpha Prototype Avatar A |
An excellent summary of what the main religions teach and how the promise of immortality has always fascinated mankind. At day's end it's the legacy you leave behind, not simply your years lived, that counts. I think Woody Allen best summarised this dilemma when he said :- "I don't want to become immortal by leaving a legacy. I want to become immortal by not dying."
ReplyDeleteI'm just a mortal human beings, what can I do if become immortal?
ReplyDeleteAnd certainly I do not want to be immortal, because I was sick&tired of life as mortal human being. Accepting my fate as a mortal human being with no hope to become immortal one. That was more than enough, because i've much time to resting in peace.
How about you?
Very true... Its hard to find someone who has fathomed the true meaning of a life cycle. Mortality is one boon god gave us to develop and enhance as a human, we get a chance to evolve in manifold environments and lives and learn different philosophies and ethos. I’ am glad you feel Mortality overrules and Immortal life.
DeleteBecause we're all in the queue for eternity.
ReplyDeleteIndeed we are!
DeleteWell, I recall when this discussion come out a few weeks ago and was reminded then, as I am now reminded, that it also reminds me of some of the ideas propagated by Ray Kurzweil and the Transhumanists. I am not saying that make sthem bad ideas at all.
ReplyDeleteIT is a hard question to ponder this notion of immortality versus mortality. It raises questions about what is the right thing to do which often plagues the birth and utilization of new technologies that raise ethical quandaries.
For example:
If (and this is a big 'if') we can achieve a sort of immortality, even in some sort of artificial body, a new body, or if by downloading our consciousness, is it the right thing to do? And what about quality of life issues? Would we really want to live in this plane of existence forever? Is my downloaded consciousness really me or doe sit cease to be me if it ceases to be primarily biological? The movie 'Bicentennial Man' sort of captures this flavor in backwards manner. (spoiler) The eternal robot becomes more human, living long, but dying in the end. Could we bear the loss of our loved ones again and again if we were among the only ones immortal? Or those that had some accident or some other illness that still could cause fatality? Say we forgot the eternal life device at home and grandpa gets hit by a car? Or we don't get him to the hospital in time.
Or we can't afford it?
I think a lot of us might like the idea of living longer, if it is not too unpleasant. How to assure that? Regardless of whether we want it or not, one thing is sure, medical science and technology is continuing to advance and along with it foremost of the developed world, so is life expectancy.
Which begs another question, if this is to be only for the billionaires, and those with money, would immortality, the future of biotransplantation, access to life prolonging technologies be reserved only to an upper elite class? I think that is likely, at least initially. How is that fair?
And do we even dare to think about immortality? I just really don't know the answers, but I know I certainly wouldn't mind living as long as I can if that can be a cause for happiness and helping others, but I am not sure I want to live forever in this place. Hard to know an din time we will see how it all pans out.
Tim Kavi
Uncle Tim,
DeleteThanks a ton for adding a view to my piece of writing. Your insight is most valued...I'am also looking forward to E2045 lets see how it all works out...But I would a 100 times wish to be a mortal being!
Cheers
Mata-e-be baha hai, Dard soz-e-aarzumandi
ReplyDeleteMaqaam-e-bandagi de kar na lu shaan-e-khudawandi
Tere aazaad bandon ki, na yeh duniya, na woh duniya
Yahaan marne ki pabandi, wahaan jeene ki pabandi