Do you beleive that you have a soul or spirit that survives after death?

I was just talking to my mom about this the other day, because we were, morbidly enough, discussing what happens to babies when they die. I find it difficult to believe that babies remain in that age or spiritual development for all eternity. So I certainly hope that we have spirits that evolve and survive long after death. I don’t know if I believe in god in the organized sense, like calling myself a good Christian, Muslim, Jew, etc—but I would like to think that there is something about us that goes on after our physical life. I find it too depressing not to honestly. I guess I want to believe that “all dogs go to heaven” or something like that.

Probably wishful thinking or something, but I “feel” the soul is separate from the body… Not sure whether it survives if the body dies, though. I guess I’ll find out in time ;-)

No. I think that we die and that’s the end.

It depends how you define soul/spirit. I for sure think my spirit will live on after I die, because any contact (or lack of) with the people around me has had an impact. An impact through just being there, being remembered is having your spirit live on. So everyone has that.
You’re soul is another matter that depends on your view of God/religion. My personal view is that souls do live on, but ultimately none of us know. It baffles me that there’s so many battles between religions, ultimately we don’t know the why’s or how’s, so why do we feel we have the power to decide who is right and who is wrong?

@Tennis5tar – I agree that you’ll live on in the people around you, but how big is that influence five generations after you’ve moved on? :)

I know there is. I was drowning once at a lake and the thing I feeled only I can now, it was the most awesome peaceful unconditional love feeling. God is beyond our human imagination , he’s beyond anything .

@Vincentt: That’s completely up to you. What you do with your life. Everyone has a huge impact on the world, some people don’t get famous for it, but their legacy lives on, even if it is anonymously.

I can’t say for sure, but my belief is “no.”

Someone’s been watching Troy haha

I have a very scientific view at this point in my life, so as much as it scares me I’m sorry but I just don’t see how there can be a separate consciousness that can live without a body. My view might change later in life though, who knows.

I don’t. When I look at all that goes into making what I think of as “me”, I don’t see a single thing that would survive my death. The more I look at it, in fact, the more convinced I become that “I” am little more than a psychological construct, a character in a story that this brain is constantly writing.

Just to hint at what I mean, memory is clearly a neurophysiological function, isn’t it? Trauma or disease to the brain can permanently wipe out memory. If this were to happen to you, who would you be then? Clearly, a huge element of your identity is based on your personal narrative, your sense of having had a past. But that resides in the neurons, not in some spirit.

Is who we are expressed by our moral valence? That too has a strong neurophysiological component. Damage to certain areas of the brain can completely alter one’s ability to constrain impulses, a key facet of morality.

Does one lying in a coma, incapable of thought, have a “self”? I think you could argue that it’s at best a potential for self. If this comatose body has some spirit that is capable of thought, then where is it as that body lies there, and why doesn’t it go on thinking and being aware in spite of the body’s incapacity?

Those are some of the questions that lead me to doubt any claims that something that could rightfully be called me will carry on past the demise of this body.

Your soul/spirit’s existence is one of those things that can never be proven, it can only be believed. It is our belief in a god that leads us to think there is a more powerful being in this world, around us and within us. I guess it just depends on who you’re asking. But at this point in my life, I find it hard to believe such a thing is possible.

Yes I do.

I do agree that it is not possible unless you have had a near death exsperiance or are dead. But i dont like the fact if my spirit does live on and where does it go does it wonder aimlessy around? That does’nt seem like a great after life to me.

EDIT: What I meant to say there was was I do agree it is not possible TO PROVE IT unless…

What is that living on is something like Mothman Prophecy?