Life Science Journal, 2 (1 ), 2005, Edmondson, Life and Immortality. Life and Immortality: A Comparison of Scientific, Christian, and Hindu Concepts

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1 ife Science ourna, 2 (, 2005, Edmondson, ife and mmoraiy ife and mmoraiy: A Comparison of Scienific, Chrisian, and Hindu Conceps inging Z Edmondson " nsiue of Communicaion Sudies,Zheiang Universiy,Hangzhou,Zheiang 30028, China; ze@zu edu cn Absrac: n his paper concepions of immoraiy provided by wo of he word's eading reigions, Chrisianiy and Hinduism, are criicay compared wih each oher, as we as wih he possibiiies of aomic immoraiy impied by modem physica science, wih he aim of asceraining how hese reigious and scienific views mayor may no be compaibe or muuay supporive [ife Science ourna 2005;2( :2-6 (SSN: Keywords: aomic science; Chrisianiy; Hinduism; immoraiy; ife Everyhing in earhy exisence, incuding human ife in a of is faces, is invoved in a process of ongoing change Hence, permanence seems unaainabe, and hereby especiay desirabe The wish for immoraiy hus becomes one of he mos imporan origina reasons for he appearance of reigions, and he moives of many scienific research fieds can aso be raced o his moive Since very ancien imes humans have wondered if afer heir deahs in his word hey migh coninue o exis forever in some nex and unchanging condiion My purpose in his paper is o conras a modern scienific concepion of he possibiiy of human immoraiy wih some more radiiona reigious views of he same Scienific discoveries made during he as wo cenuries have deermined ha he fundamena buiding bocks of he physica universe as we now find i consis of submicroscopic" aoms", each of which in urn has a compex inner srucure of eemenary "parices" and" forces" (Brennan, 992 A furher soidy esabished scienific deerminaion is ha since he esabishmen of aoms during one sage of cosmic evouion hey have been invoved in a universa process of rearrangemen Thus individua humans in heir physica aspec are aggregaes of aoms ha formery and variousy consiued eemens of oher creaures or obecs, and upon he deah and decomposiion of humans' bodies, heir aoms, raher han simpy dissipaing ino nohingness, become pars of subsequen creaures or obecs, and so forh indefiniey n his sense deceased humans achieve an "aomic immoraiy" However, aomic immoraiy is heoreicay probemaic in view of aernaive scienific anicihp://wwwsciencepub org paions of fuure cosmic evouion On he one hand, asronomers anicipae ha if he average densiy of maer in he universe shoud prove o be ess han a cerain criica vaue, he expansion of he physica universe ha began some fifeen biion years ago wih he exposion of a poin of infinie hea and densiy (he Big Bang wi coninue o infiniy (" open universe" (Barrow, 99; Gribbin, 2000; Morris, 993 Science anicipaes ha wihin an "open universe" he sars (incuding he earh's sun, of which receding gaaxies are composed, wi evenuay burn hemseves ou, he u- niverse wi apse ino a cod darkness, and ife on he pane earh wi cease n such case, he aoms of former human bodies coud presumaby coninue as componens of he dead earh, and human physica immoraiy migh hus in a sense be susained However, he expecaion ha our dead earh wi coninue o be invoved in an infinie cosmic expansion, hereby preserving ha immoraiy, can for iving persons never be more han an unverifiabe anicipaion, for he one reason ha no persons woud remain aive during he aer (dead earh phases of ha expansion in order o verify i, as we as for he more genera reason ha any infinie expansion ipso faco denies he possibiiy of is own confirmaion (ha is, since infiniy can never exceed isef, by he same oken i can never be exceeded by a confirming observer "beyond" isef Scienific anicipaion hods, as anoher possibiiy, ha if he densiy of maer in he universe shoud prove o be greaer han he criica vaue, graviaiona forces wi evenuay cause he expansion of he universe o reverse isef and come o an end in an awesome imposion (Big Crunch ( Greene, 2003 f he Crunch occurs i woud 2 edior@sciencepub ne ", -

2 f f aiy, which may invove some of he aoms of a deceased person's body being recyced as componens of oher iving persons' bodies, ye wihou invoving any synchronous ransmigraion of he firs person's consciousness Undersandaby, hen, humans hroughou heir hisory have deveoped reigious beiefs ha accommodae he anicipaion of a coninuing pos-morem consciousness To exempify he muiude of reigious beiefs, pas and presen, he presen discussion wi focus on he docrines of wo of he word's maor iving reigions, Chrisianiy and Hinduism Chrisianiy hods ha one eerna God ( ehovah creaed he universe, incuding a of is forms of ife Ahough regarded as a spiriua being, his God is noneheess conceived of as anhropomorphic, ypicay as Caucasian, and as having mae gender (as he Chrisian scripure, he Bibe, pus i: "God creaed man in his own image" (The New Engish Bibe, 97 Chrisian docrine is srikingy differen in a number of ways from scien- [ ife Science ourna, 2 (, 2005, Edmondson, ife and mmoraiy mean ha he universe is finie (" cosed univer" n he case of he Crunch he aoms invoved in he expansion of he universe woud presumaby be ransformed and compressed back ino a pre-aomic poin of infinie densiy of he sor ha ed ohe Big Bang The radica ransmuaion of maer-energy invoved in he Crunch woud presumaby disaow reenion of any idenifiabe remnans of given human bodies; hence i woud be exravagan in his case o mainain ha he aoms ha had provided persons wih an exension of heir exisence beyond heir deahs woud provide rue immoraiy Wha woud ranspire afer he Crunch is unknown, ahough some asronomers have conceived he possibiiy of a series of Big Bangs and Big Crunches, and herewih he evouion and devouion of a series of universes, or of one "osciaing universe" (asrow, 992 Bu in he case of ransformaions of universes back ino poins of infinie hea and densiy, i is difficu o imagine ha any aoms ha had once been pars of human bodies wihin a given universe coud survive he changes from one universe o he nex; hus in he scenario of an osciaing universe human immoraiy woud be denied Noneheess, anicipaions of aomic immoraiy are presumaby meaningfu o some peope Ye i seems probabe ha such conceps are insufficieny saisfying o mos peope, who need o anicipae an immoraiy invoving no ony, in one or anoher fashion, heir pos-morem physica surviva, bu aso he surviva in some sense of he consciousness of sef which hey experience whie aive Such surviva is absen from aomic immor- hp://wwwsciencepub org ific concepions of being Scienific knowedge, however imposing i may be, remains eeoogicay neura, affording no insigh ino any uimae purpose, or ack hereof, of he universe Bu Chrisian docrine hods ha God had a purpose in creaing he universe, whereby i is concuded ha he universe isef, incuding he ives of humans, aso serve an uimae purpose Wih respec o God's own purpose, Chrisians mainain ha he freey creaed he universe, no from any necessiy of sefcompeion, bu ou of ove for he humans who are pars of ha creaion, whie he fundamena purpose of human ives is o ove God in reurn, ou of graiude for heir exisence Chrisianiy mainains ha God, as par of his coninuing creaive aciviy, adds o each new human body an immaeria" sou", incusive of "mind", which aer is he sea of a person's consciousness Afer he firs wo humans were creaed, he subsequen chain of human sexua reproducion has been ess a maer of direc causaion by God han simpy a resu of humans acing in accordance wih he bioogica "naura aw" esabished by God; however, he addiion of sous o new persons (a heir momens of concepion in heir mohers' wombs remains a direc and purey divine acion Whereas a sricy maeriais concepion of exisence does no deny individua human consciousness as an aribue of a' iving person's "mind", i hods ha mind is no more han an excepionay compex manifesaion of a person's physioogy; "mind" reduces, as i were, o physioogy, and physioogy reduces o aoms, and so here is no mind or consciousness as a reaiy in addiion o body One migh suppose ha if consciousness is hus merey an effec of a person's bodiy aoms, hen he paricuar aoms of a given person's body ha subsequeny become componens of oher persons' bodies woud ransfer a eas some par of he firs person's consciousness o hose oher persons However, he consciousness-quaiies of such ransferred aoms become newy and differeny operaive when incorporaed ino a new and differen whoe person, ese he coecive effec of any given person's accumuaed aoms coud ony be ha of an incoheren meange Tha is, on sricy maeriais erms any given person's consciousness is he resu ony of a paricuar, coheren, and unique assembage of aoms ha are meded ino a nonransferabe consciousness of "sef" This siuaion is reminiscen of he fac ha aoms of hemseves, in separaion from iving organisms, have no "ife" Wheher or no ife consiues (in accordance wih he bioogica phiosophy of "viaism" a sraum of being in excess of he 3 edior@sciencepub ne r

3 ife Science ourna, 2 (, 2005, Ednwndson, ife and mmoraiy > sums of physica aoms compnsmg bodies, i remains ha aoms manifes ife ony as consiuens of such bodies As for Chrisian docrine, even if i may gran ha persons' bodies of hemseves are composed of emporary combinaions of universay simiar aoms, i mainains ha each person's sou is an exra-aomic and unique eemen, which provides each person wih a sef-consciousness-reenive immoraiy (Awaer, 96 Chrisians anicipae ha humans wi experience ha immoraiy eiher in a paradisiaca ream-a pace or sae of being-for hose persons having ed ives accepabe o God, or in a ream of suffering for hose who have no eading ives accepabe o God requires beiefs and mora behavior in ine wih cerain inuncions, which, i is mainained, God has reveaed o humans and which are recorded in he Bibe However, i is furher assered ha God endows humans wih free wi, whereby hey can choose o obey or disobey hose inuncions According o he Chrisian hisorica scenario, in he pas many humans indeed disobeyed he inuncions, whereupon God sen his incarnaed son esus o earh o undergo a sacrificia deah by orure in aonemen for humans' sins of disobedience is genuine beief in he reaiy and purpose of his sacrifice, pus rue repenance for one's sins, ha quaifies a person o receive God's saving" grace" (mercy and hereby gain access o he preferabe kind of immoraiy (Chamberin & Fedman, 96 According o Chrisian docrine i wi be a he ime of a "as udgmen" ha God, in he aspec of his resurreced son esus, wi effec he consignmen of individuas eiher o heaven or he n conuncion wih he udgmen God wi reanimae he maeria bodies of deceased persons as hose bodies were a heir poin of physica prime whie on earh, o be oined wih heir sous before enry ino one of he supernaura reams A he cose of he udgmen God wi bring o an end he physica universe of human earhy experience And us as God exised eernay before his creaion of he ream of human earhy experience, so he wi coninue o exis eernay afer is annihiaion, whie he conoined and individuay idenifiabe bodies and sous of humans wi aso endure forever in one or he oher of he supernaura reams (Smar & Hech, 982 f God in his omnipoence inenionay creaed humans wih he capaciy freey o obey or disobey his inuncions, one can ony assume he reaized ha some humans woud disobey hem, and hus have heir reconsiued bodies consigned o puniive orure in he Reevan o his consideraion, hp://wwwsciencepuborg and o paraphrase a famous saemen made (in anoher conex by Aber Einsein, "God (by which Einsein mean simpy a supreme order in naure does no pay dice wih he universe" However, i seems he anhropomorphic Chrisian God does indeed pay dice in he case of humans wih heir free wi, as he has endowed hem wih even odds for moray ruining hemseves wih devasaing effec n a reaed consideraion, human earhy experience ofen invoves suffering, and if asked why God, who is regarded by Chrisians as boh apowerfu and oving, aows his o happen, Chrisians conend ha wihou he chaenge of reaining, hrough ess of suffering, heir reciproca ove for God, ha ove woud be merey rivia and vacuous Referring again o aomic immoraiy, science may someday achieve he grea success of saisfying human curiosiy concerning he componens and mechanisms of he physica universe, and herewih beer carify he possibiiies of aomic immoraiy Bu, again, here is no reason o expec ha science woud hereby afford any cue as o a fina purpose of he universe - or ha i woud yied any raionaizaions wherewih o usify he sufferings of iving humans - or ha i woud provide peope wih he dramaic simuus of being engaged in a mora srugge o achieve a fu-body and consciousness-reenive immoraiy - whereas Chrisian beief provides a of hese benefis is insrucive o consider a conrasing reigious perspecive provided by Hinduism The aer incudes an excepionay rich abundance of diverse and ofen conficing beiefs, and is discussion here mus be resriced principay o he docrines of one of is many schoos, ha of Advaia Vedana (sayeva, 993 The fundamena concep of his schoo is ha of brahman as he uncreaed and eerna ground of a being Brahman, ike he Chrisian God, is he spiriua and generaive source of he universe, incuding a of is forms of ife Bu unike he anhropomorphic, Caucasian, and mae Chrisian God, brahman is regarded as amorphous, raciay indisinc, and gender neura Whie undeecabe as such o human sensory percepion, brahman noneheess horoughy pervades a hings; he individua obecs and creaures of he word as humans empiricay perceive hese are acuay ony ransien manifesaions of he inangibe and unifying brahman isef Moreover, brahman encompasses no ony he hings and creaures of his word, bu aso an exensive roser of gods Ye he Advaia viewpoin (" Advaia" means "non-duaiy" is conceived of as monisic, as he gods are regarded merey as personaized re- 4 edior@sciencepub ne r i

4 ife Scienceourna, 2 (, 2005, Edrrwndson, ife and mmoraiy ( fecions of various aspecs and aciviies of he one supreme and unifying reaiy of Brahman (Menon & Aen, 960 The concep of brahman as a pervasive invoves he coroary ha brahman is he fundamena reaiy of each individua person's" sou", or "sef", erson, he aman, ike he Chrisian sou, never dies However, unike he Chrisian sou, he aman becomes oined wih a succession of emporary bodies in he course of an indefiniey ong series of bodiy birhs and deahs Thus, anoher feaure of Advaia (which i shares wih oher branches of Hinduism is he beief in reincarnaion, he cyces of which are known as samsara migh appear ha he Hindu concep of reincarnaion is congruen wih scienificay conceived aomism, insofar as he aer envisages he cosmic recycing of aoms, some of which pass from iving body o iving body However, no ony is he reincarnaion of he Hindu aman a meaphysica process, bu unike he foruious desinaions of recyced maeria aoms, anyone ransmigraion of a given aman proceeds ony from one specific person o anoher Moreover, oay unike mere physica aomic recycing, Hindu reincarnaion is inimaey bound up wih moraiy As he aman is oined ime and ime again wih a new body, he quaiaive experience of anyone of is incarnaions is deermined by karma, which is he cumuaive record of he houghs and acions, moray considered, of he individua aman ' s series of ives Hinduism embraces a concepion of he righ way of iving (dharma, and he ways in which a person's behavior in his or her pas incarnaions adhered o or deviaed from he preceps of dharma generaed good or bad karma The mora quaiy of a iving individua's own acions suppemen his or her received karma, and he new oa is embodied in he person's nex incarnaion and deermines he iniia quaiy of ha nex ife A he end of anyone of an aman ' s incarnaions, he body of ha incarnaion revers o a nonspecific, unmanifesed aspec of brahma (Deusch, 968 f, over a (usuay exensive mnnber of reincarnaions a person's accumuaion of good karma is sufficien, he cyces of samsara can be brough o an end Desires moivae human acions, which in urn produce karma, bu karma-producing desires resu a boom from a person's sense ha he or she is uimaey a separae eniy ef aone o pursue egocenric cravings Bu if a person graduay and profoundy comes o grasp he ideniy of aman wih brahman, hen he person's karma - producing desires are sied, whereupon he person's aman is reeased from samsara, an achieve- men ha consiues iberaion, or rnoksha Foowing he aainmen of rnoksha,and he subsequen deah of a pereon' s as physica body, he pereon' s aman coninues o exis forever as a supramundane componen of brahman By conras wih human experiencewihin samsara, rrwksha provides a new sae of coninuous sereniy, wihin which individuas enoy immoraiy n Hinduism here is no sae or condiion of he as a counerpar o rnoksha n he Hindu view enighened peope achieve rnoksha, whie unenighened peope, whose bad acions produce bad karma, simpy coninue o undergo repeaed, and EOmeimes quaiaivey worse reincarnaions, uni such ime as hey may reverse he process and evenuay become hemseves enighened (Kosennaier, 989 The Hindu concep of immoraiy is differen in a number of oher ways from he Chrisian concep Moksha is a purey spiriua iberaion ha enais no equivaen of Chrisian reconsiued bodies n addiion, whie Hindu immoraiy invoves, as in he Chrisian case, he reenion of consciousness, in he Hindu concepion ha consciousness expands from a persona o a universaized consciousness The sef-consciousness of he aman a he eve of bodiy invovemen is eevaed o ideniy wih he universa consciousness of brahman The Chrisian beief is ha persons who achieve immoraiy reain heir persona ideniies whie coming direcy o see and know God, Ye such persons even in heir new supernauray enighened apprehension of God do no become idenica wih God, nor do hey ever comprehend exhausivey he uimae mysery of God n a sense, hen, he achievemen of moksha may be he more profound and comprehensive immoraiy, since persons who aain moksha are horoughy a one wih brahman, wih uimae reaiy beyond any disincion or disuncion beween divine and human Wihin he compass of he foregoing discussion, wha can be said, in sum, abou anicipaions of human immoraiy? A pereonscan expec as ineviabe he aainmen of "aomic immoraiy," which, however, canno be expeced o provide peope wih an immoraiy ha is consciousne'is-reenive The promise of he aer is characerisicay an a<;pecof reigious beief Bu his recogniion immediaey poses he maor probem of here being no obecive basis for assering he vaidiy of anyone reigious anicipaion of immoraiy raher han any oher Rvoees of given reigions- Chrisianiy, Hinduism, andrnafiy ohers-ypicay regard heir muua confinnaion of he beiefs hey hod in common as evidence ha hose beiefs are rue Bu his is no he universa inerpereona vaidiy of many obecivey esabished scienific findings, and he word's reigious groups remain spinered among hem- hp://wwwsciencepub org 5 edior@sciencepub ne

5 ] ife Science ourna, 2 (, 2005, Edmondson, ife and mmoraiy seves and parochia in heir docrines From which circumsance i foows ha he ony obecive fac reveaed by he ong human hisorica record of conficing reigious beiefs is ha of he psychoogica occurrence of hose beiefs To focus hese issues from a somewha differen ange, oday here are scienificay educaed Chrisians, Hindus, and devoees of oher reigions, who recognize he vaidiy of aoms as fundamena consiuens of he physica word (who can deny, in he face, for exampe, of aomic power pans and aomic bombs, he vaidiy of aomic science? Bu whie he reaiy of aoms-and herewih aomic immoraiy, such as i may beappears o be a necessary par of any expanaion of exisence, he quesion remains wheher i is a sufficien expanaion of reaiy For persons who beieve in he vaidiy of samsara and karma, or in he reaiy of Chrisian indesrucibe sous, or in any of a furher exensive assormen of reigious conceps, aomism of isef is obviousy no a sufficien expanaion of he fu fabric of being (acuay many prominen physiciss have beieved, on a persona mysica basis, ha exisence in is broades erms is deermined by forces ha are ranscendena or spiriua in naure (Wiber, 985 Of course, comprehensive bu muuay conradicory versions of he fundamena aribues of universa exisence - incuding he eschaoogica scenarios of various reigions, as we as he sance of a rigorous maeriaism ha excudes such scenarios-canno a- ike be rue, ahough if anyone comprehensive version if indeed rue, i is ipso faco rue for a persons, as we a share one and he same universe reaize ha numerous persons' endure he frequen and someimes ragic frusraions of heir ife experience wih courage and poise as a consequence of heir reigious faih of whaever variey Surey such faih ypicay-and undersandaby-receives is greaes impeus from anicipaions of immoraiy, since hese provide a sense of reassurance ha he adversiies which peope experience in heir earhy ives amoun o more han a random absurdiy, as hese adversiies wi be usified and compensaed for in a fuure and beer exisence Having hese reaizaions in mind, submi merey ha on he hasis aone of obecive, nonsecarian comprehension, perhaps he bes any person can do is o hope ha humans are desined o experience a (preferaby benign immoraiy, ahough he exac cosmic saus and specific characerisics of ha immoraiy remain, for persons si in his ife, oay unsearchabe Simpe hope may emoionay be a poor subsiue for some firm and eaboraey conceived reigious-docrina convicion, bu such hope does no necessariy impy is own fuiiy Correspondence o; inging Z Edmondson nsiue of Communicaion Sudies Zheiang Universiy Hangzhou, Zhe iang 30028, China Teephone : Emai: ze@zueducn References Awaer D, ed, A Cahoic Dicionary (The Cahoic Encycopaedic Dicionary Macmian Company, New York, USA 96: Barrow Theories of Everyhing: The Ques for Uimae Expanaion Fawce Coumbine, New York, USA 99: Brennan R Dicionary of Scienific ieracy ohn Wiey & Sons, New York, USA 992:9-20,22-3,287 4 Chamberin R, Fedman H, eds, The Darmouh Bibe: An Abridgmen of he King ames Version, wih Aids o s Undersanding as Hisory and ieraure, and as a Source of Reigious Experience Houghon Miffin Company, Boson, USA 2nd ed 96: xxix-xiv 5 Deusch E Advaia Vedana: A Phiosophica Reconsrucion Eas-Wes Cener Press, Honouu, USA 968:3-0 6 Greene B The Eegan Universe: Supersrings, Hidden Dimensions, and he Ques of he Uimae Theory Vinage Press, New York, USA 2003:3-387, Gribbin The Search for Supersrings, Symmery, and he Theory of Everyhing ie, Brown and Company, New York, USA 2000:3-99 8sayeva N Shankara and ndian Phiosophy Sae Universiyof New York Press, Abany, New York, USA 993: asrow R God and he Asronomers W W Noron & Company, New York, USA 2nded 992: Kosermaier K A Survey of Hindusim Sae Universiy of New York Press, Abany, New York, USA 989: Menon Y, Aen R The Pure Principe: An nroducion o he Phiosophy of Shankara Michigan Sae Universiy Press, [Eas ansing, Michigan], USA 960: Morris R Cosmic Quesions: Gaacic Haos, Cod Dark Maer, and he End of Time ohn Wiey & Sons, New York, USA 993:-94 3 Smar N, Hech R Sacred Texs of he Word: A Universa Anhoogy Crossroad Pubishing Company, New York, USA 982:9-24, The New Engish Bibe wih he Apocrypha Oxford U- niversiy Press, New York, USA 97: Wibur K, ed, Quanum Quesions: Mysica Wriings of he Word's Grea Physiciss Shambhaa Pubicaions, Boson, USA 985:3-208 ;, " \ -' hp;/ /wwwsciencepub org 6 edior@sciencepub ne,