Life after death? Weird..

[n0v0s]

Sorry to hear about your Nan mate.

I believe that once you pass, that is it. I don't believe in there being a body and seperate soul/spirit. The 'spirit' is you. The very thing that characterises you from any other person. It is the unique structure and physiology of your brain, and the way in which it has become wired throughout having lived a life with experiences unique to you and the way in which it interacts within itself and with the world around you.

Once you die, my belief is that the 'spirit' dies with you. Your loved ones hold memories of you, and remember you. That i believe IS the spirit people talk of. Memories of someone who once lived, living on. When we dissect cadavers, the body is very much detatched from 'human' so i can see where the idea of the body being a vessle belief comes from.

Well that is quite a negative view on things isn't it! I to think that is the case however, once you die thats the end, just like before you were born!

On the human dissection thing, I do find it incredibly sinister the way the government can just whisk off your cadaver, strip it, rip all of the organs out, dissect them, keep them, do whatever they want with them basically and ship your empty carcuss out to be disposed off with the innards missing! As if dying isn't bad enough, is it too much to ask for a dignified burial, with your body intact!?

From a physiological perspective, there is truth in it. It may appear negative to some, maybe because contemplating the very thought of ceasing to exist makes people feel instinctly down and lost.. and thus people tend to become optimists and there imo stems the creation of core ideologies of life after death and so on. Being a medical student, dealing with death is part of the job and so there is an element of detatchment i suppose.

With regards to the cadavers, people have to actually give permission for their bodies to be used after they die - for educational purposes, fully aware of what they will be used for. The bodies are not just snatched! We treat the cadavers with utmost respect and dignity in a controlled environment. Any organ/internal tissue removed is specially stored and returned back to the cadaver at the end of the academic year to be burried/cremated in accordance to the families wishes. I'm feel privileged to be able to dissect, as only very few universities offer dissection as part of the medical programme now. Most offer prosections of ready prepared sections, presented by qualified demonstrators.