Narcothymia
The Illusory Soul
G.M. Woerlee
Do you believe in the reality of the human soul? I do not. Yet about 70% of all people in modern Western countries do believe in the reality of a human soul. Many of these believers do not explicitly express this belief in classical religious terms, instead they believe in an immaterial "something" that is part of their being. This same belief is even more prevalent among peoples living in other parts of our world. Even more surprisingly, about one half of all atheists also believe in the reality of the soul!
The soul is supposedly immaterial and separate from the human body, and the vehicle of the equally separate and immaterial conscious mind. Believers claim the immaterial soul controls the material human body, and is the source of all thoughts, all memories, all emotions, and personality. Believers also claim that the separate and immaterial nature of the conscious mind is proven by, and consistent with all the discoveries of modern science. Moreover, they also claim that poorly understood experiences, such as paranormal experiences, near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences, are fully explained by the reality of the human soul.
Nonetheless, there is absolutely no concrete physical proof for this ancient belief in a soul that is immaterial and separate from the physical body. We cannot sense the presence of the soul with our senses, we cannot photograph the soul, nor detect it with any known instrument. But as believers correctly point out, radio waves, neutrinos, and X-Rays are also invisible and incapable of detection with the senses of the human body, yet are able to be detected with the appropriate instruments. So perhaps the wrong instruments have been used in attempts to detect the human soul? At this moment in time, the human body is the only known instrument capable of detecting the apparent reality of the human soul. Indeed, this almost universal belief in the reality of the human soul arose because of experiences seemingly proving the reality of the immaterial and separable nature of the human mind. But popular belief in the apparent reality of an experience does not mean that experience is objective reality. So is the ancient, and almost universal belief in the reality of a human soul, proof of the reality of the soul? Or is this millennia-old belief in the soul, an illusion generated by the functioning of the body?
When viewed from an objective scientific viewpoint, this popular belief in the reality of an immaterial soul is actually an ancient theory of the origin of the conscious mind.
Narcothymis explains how the functioning of the human body generates this almost univsersal belief in the human soul. But Narcothymia differs from many other skeptical books. Many such works describe how extraordinary experiences, supposedly proving the reality of a soul, are all explicable with natural and bodily processes. Such explanations are expected to convince readers that the conscious mind is a wondrous product of the functioning of the physical brain. However, such explanations only reveal an alternative way of viewing the same physical evidence, and leave the student with the same two questions. Is the conscious mind a product of the functioning of the brain and the body? Or is the expression, and experience of conscious mind by the physical body a product of control of bodily mechanisms by a separate immaterial conscious mind? True, one explanation is based upon observable physical facts, but that does not mean the alternative theory of a separable immaterial conscious mind, can simply be dismissed as a delusion. So this book systematically examines many medical, as well as supposedly paranormal phenomena to explicitly test which of the two theories of the nature of the conscious mind best explains these phenomena. Readers are left in no doubt as to which of these theories best explains the observed and provable facts.
This reality means our minds are products of the functioning of our brains. This reality frees our minds from the blindfolds and shackles of worn-out ancient beliefs. This reality allows our minds to transcend and soar beyond the here and now. This reality means true freedom of the human mind.
Read a sample chapter of Narcothymia by clicking on the image of the cover.
The soul is supposedly immaterial and separate from the human body, and the vehicle of the equally separate and immaterial conscious mind. Believers claim the immaterial soul controls the material human body, and is the source of all thoughts, all memories, all emotions, and personality. Believers also claim that the separate and immaterial nature of the conscious mind is proven by, and consistent with all the discoveries of modern science. Moreover, they also claim that poorly understood experiences, such as paranormal experiences, near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences, are fully explained by the reality of the human soul.
Nonetheless, there is absolutely no concrete physical proof for this ancient belief in a soul that is immaterial and separate from the physical body. We cannot sense the presence of the soul with our senses, we cannot photograph the soul, nor detect it with any known instrument. But as believers correctly point out, radio waves, neutrinos, and X-Rays are also invisible and incapable of detection with the senses of the human body, yet are able to be detected with the appropriate instruments. So perhaps the wrong instruments have been used in attempts to detect the human soul? At this moment in time, the human body is the only known instrument capable of detecting the apparent reality of the human soul. Indeed, this almost universal belief in the reality of the human soul arose because of experiences seemingly proving the reality of the immaterial and separable nature of the human mind. But popular belief in the apparent reality of an experience does not mean that experience is objective reality. So is the ancient, and almost universal belief in the reality of a human soul, proof of the reality of the soul? Or is this millennia-old belief in the soul, an illusion generated by the functioning of the body?
When viewed from an objective scientific viewpoint, this popular belief in the reality of an immaterial soul is actually an ancient theory of the origin of the conscious mind.
Narcothymis explains how the functioning of the human body generates this almost univsersal belief in the human soul. But Narcothymia differs from many other skeptical books. Many such works describe how extraordinary experiences, supposedly proving the reality of a soul, are all explicable with natural and bodily processes. Such explanations are expected to convince readers that the conscious mind is a wondrous product of the functioning of the physical brain. However, such explanations only reveal an alternative way of viewing the same physical evidence, and leave the student with the same two questions. Is the conscious mind a product of the functioning of the brain and the body? Or is the expression, and experience of conscious mind by the physical body a product of control of bodily mechanisms by a separate immaterial conscious mind? True, one explanation is based upon observable physical facts, but that does not mean the alternative theory of a separable immaterial conscious mind, can simply be dismissed as a delusion. So this book systematically examines many medical, as well as supposedly paranormal phenomena to explicitly test which of the two theories of the nature of the conscious mind best explains these phenomena. Readers are left in no doubt as to which of these theories best explains the observed and provable facts.
- Narcothymia shows how anesthesia and medical science reveal profound insights into the relationship of the conscious mind to the body. These simple and repeatedly proven insights conclusively prove the conscious mind to be a product of the functioning of the brain and the body.
- Narcothymia also reveals that near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences are not proof of a immaterial soul, Instead, medical science conlusively reveals these wondrous experiences to be illusions generated by the functioning of the human body.
- Narcothymia reveals the soul to be an ancient, but illusory model of the conscious mind. The conscious mind is a product of the functioning of the body.
This reality means our minds are products of the functioning of our brains. This reality frees our minds from the blindfolds and shackles of worn-out ancient beliefs. This reality allows our minds to transcend and soar beyond the here and now. This reality means true freedom of the human mind.
Read a sample chapter of Narcothymia by clicking on the image of the cover.
