Sheer absence of soul reveals its nature

Ah, sheer poetry. About the soul. Featured on the front page of The Oregonian Living section yesterday, of all things. I've poeticized a quote from Gunther von Hagens, creator of the Body Worlds 3 exhibit that I wrote about recently.

In the exhibition
the pure absence of the soul
actually
underlines the soul

The longer I am
an anatomist,
the closer I am
to the soul

just
because of
its sheer
absence

I was surprised by the tone of the story, headlined "Exhibit or exhibitionism?" The reporter, Nancy Haught, must have gone out of her way to find people who were offended by this display of plastinated human bodies (plus a camel).

All of the people who donated their bodies did so voluntarily. Yet the story had numerous quotes along the lines of this ridiculous observation from a Unitarian minister (I'd expect a Unitarian to be a lot more open-minded).

People volunteer for all sorts of things. People volunteer to be prostitutes. People volunteer for genital mutilation, to kill themselves. That doesn't mean society should cooperate with their wishes.

My take is that underlying this sort of how could they?! reaction to the exhibit is the commonly held assumption among religious types that the soul, if not itself physical, still is closely linked to the body.

Why else would so much valuable real estate be taken up by graves? This is a great income producer for casket makers and embalmers, but theologically is absurd.

When the body is dead, it's a goner. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Finito.

If there's anything of us that survives death, it sure isn't material. There's no evidence of anyone being resurrected, notwithstanding the blind faith of Christian true believers (and members of other religions with similar supernatural dogmas).

So if you want to hang on to a belief in something spiritual – call it "soul" – that lives on after we die, any sort of physical evidence of it belies the belief.

When it comes to the soul, nothing trumps something.

That's why I liked von Hagens' statement so much. It's deeply profound, though I doubt most Oregonian readers appreciated it sufficiently, being a bump in the road on their dash through the Living section to the comics.

Spiritual emptiness: it's a good thing. The very best.

I don't know if the soul exists. But if it does, I'm pretty sure it won't be found in any familiar place. Like, the body. Or thoughts. Or feelings. Or perceptions.

It'll be hanging out where the really wild things roam.

Nothingness. Which, if you believe physicists and mystics, is a close kin to Everything.

Comments

[Mystic Wing]

On the face of things, I'd like to agree with you on this. Surely an empty corpse is not a sacred thing.

But when I saw the body worlds exhibit in St. Paul, I found myself offended by it. Some of the displays—particularly one in which the corpse had its flesh flayed open in a peculiar Michael Jackson dance pose—struck me as positively sacrilegious. I felt this way despite holding no particular religious beliefs whatsoever.

Much of the exhibit seemed to trivialize human life and pursuits, and thus I found it offensive.

[Tucson Bob]

Why go to the trouble of being offended like Mystic Wing was by the exhibit? Human life and events ARE trivial. Only our imagined egos feel there has to be some purpose, some plan, some design. Out of the fear of annihilation and non-existence we hope for some significance to our lives. But what 'we' really are is no 'thing' at all, that was never born and therefore can't die. Ultimately it all means nothing and that's the beauty of it. It just is as it is, a passing dream, a play of consciousness. Enjoy the show.

You might say, "Well, if it all means nothing, why bother to try and live a good life, to achieve, to live fully and gladly with good intentions, with an attitude of beneficense?" (Or for that matter.. why bother to live like a narcissist, a thug, or a rapist?)

Because choice is only an imagined appearance. The imaginary 'you' is being lived as a character in a dream. You will fullfill your role, good or bad, happy or sad, regardless of this figment known as 'will'. It just happens. The fingers type. The seasons change. And the beat goes on.

[tao]

Yes sireee T. Bob, those were the days...

...and like you said...

"The Beat Goes On" - by Sonny and Cher:

(Chorus):
The beat goes on ... the beat goes on,
Drums keep poundin' a rhythm to the brain,
La - di - da - di - dee ..... la - di - da - di - dah ...

Gyro-spin was once the rage, uh - huh,
History has turned a page, uh - huh,
The mini skirt's the current thing, uh - huh,
Teey-bopper is our new born king, uh - huh.

(Chorus)

The grocery store, the super-mart, uh - huh,
Little girls still break their hearts, uh - huh,
And men still keep on marchin' off to war,
Electrically they keep a baseball score.

(Chorus)

Grandmas sit in chairs and reminisce,
Boys keep chasing girls to get a kiss,
The cars keep'a goin' faster all the time,
Bum still cries, "Hey buddy, have you got a dime?"

(Chorus)

And the beat goes on ..... (Yes, the beat goes on.)
And the beat goes on ..... (And the beat goes on and on and on and ...)
And the beat goes on ..... (Yes, the beat goes on.)"

[Tucson Bob]

Thanks Tao, good buddy, for embelishing my comment so appropriately. Those were the days, and indeed, the beat goes on...

[Mystic Wing]

Well, Tuscon, you express a very interesting blend of eastern "emptiness" and modern western nihilsm.

But I don't think Buddhism, Taoism or other related philosophies really suggest that the empty nature of things means we're supposed to take life lightly or without respect. It seems a little disengenuous to invoke this philosophy on the one hand, while then utterly disregarding the very serious respect for life one finds in these traditions.

[Tucson Bob]

Mystic Wing, I think you are interpreting my comment through the colorations of your conditioning and assumptions. When one gets to the heart of things, all teachings and philosophies become moot or transcended. At this point one naturally has kind regard for life, but at the same time we aren't 'supposed' to do anything. Who is the authority for, where is the reality of, these conceptual 'shoulds' and 'should nots' that are merely bubbles in consciousness?