Is That All There Is?

This thought of being laid to rest,
a hoax it seems to me at best.

Does it refer to skin and bone,
and all the thoughts we've ever known.

Since long before my final day,
those things began to fall away.

What care have I of things that rot,
though, to me, these things... they restith not.

Nor will the spirit ever lay to rest,
not for the worst nor for the best.

The spirit given up at death by thee,
lives on throughout eternity.

Is this the point of rest for you,
where forever will be set for two.

One, for where death awaits for some,
a death who's rest will never come.

The other, where rest awaits in great amaze,
but is traded for our eternal praise.

This thought of being laid to rest,
a hoax it seems to me at best.

By Preston Pittman

I'm back my friend, and I hope you're continuing your search for God. The poem, this time, may sound like a dark way to start off this section of our study together, but the material I want to cover with you today will fit with the point within this poem. So, here we go!

I know, today... that God was always drawing me to Himself... and that may be getting ahead of your belief just yet... but, one of the things that seemed to help me get closer to believing was my look into the issue of death.

This may seem odd to some, but I think you may have considered it too, because of the depths of your thinking. I know you agree there are so many people who think that when you die... "That's It". When the brain stops getting what it needs to continue functioning, so will the thought processes. It's just simple science... but is that all there is?

I have experienced times, when my thoughts were brought toward one end... while, it seemed, something inside of me was set toward another end. No matter what calculations, pre-existing rules, or facts there were, which assured my decision... there was sometimes this, separate conflicting persuasion. At times it made no since... contrary to what I had fixed my mind to, but quite certain of itself. It just didn't seem like me at all. It was different than the, "Oh I want that shiny car... no you can't afford it", which I understood as reasoning. This was something not of my own and I wanted to understand it.

Now, I have read of the concept of dualism. Not a new concept, in fact, it was accepted in ancient Greece. But, there is an example recorded in the Bible, thousands of years before Greece came to exist. The ancient scriptures in the book of Genesis say that mankind was created in God's image and Adam was breathed with the spirit before he became alive.

From this account in Genesis, we can see that Adam was not totally made of a physical body but more importantly, a spirit breathed by God into him. Without this spirit, Adam would not be alive. This is the basic premise held by religious believers behind their belief that the body merely houses the spirit. Plato and Aristotle had touched on the mind-body link... pointing out that the human mind or soul could not be part of the physical body. But it was Rene Descartes that discussed this concept in detail. Descartes believed that the immaterial mind and the material body are two completely different things. They are not one. That is why they function differently. They can only interact with each other but not be one.

Rene Descartes argued that the mind and body are distinct and separate. This is the first point of Cartesian Dualism. According to Cartesian thought, man looks upon his world as a direct reflection of him, his values, beliefs, experiences, conditions and development. Being a rationalist, Descartes asserts that clarity of perceptions of intellect is the best way to gain knowledge. The information derived from the senses merely helps us to live in a practical manner.

Descartes explored his beliefs by starting with doubting or questioning his own beliefs so he could arrive at what he thought is certain. In this experiment, he pointed out the fact that he could doubt if he had a body by convincing himself and thinking that he could either be dreaming of it or it is an illusion created by evil, but he could never question the reality of his mind.

This served as the first basis for his theory that mind and body are totally different. The mind is conscious and self-aware unlike the brain, which is the seat of intelligence. The brain is part of the physical body but the mind or the spirit is not. The mind interacts with the physical body through the brain, more specifically, through the pineal gland in the middle of the two hemispheres of the brain. In Meditation VI Descartes stated: "I have a clear and distinct idea of myself as a thinking, non-extended thing, and a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended and non-thinking thing. Whatever I can conceive clearly and distinctly, God can so create", he says.

The body could be divided up by removing a leg or arm, but the spirit is indivisible. The mind is not only indivisible but also invisible and immortal. The body is the exact opposite being visible, mortal and divisible. The spirit in Descartes explanation is a "thinking thing" and immaterial. This "thing" is capable of doubting, believing, hoping and thinking on its own.

How man will ever find something which is totally invisible leaves great doubt, but for the reasoning man, it is still very real. Regardless, the bible teaches throughout, that our bodies are temporal and that our spirit is eternal. It teaches us that there are only two places that these spirit will exist throughout eternity.

People who have died and were brought back to life and others who came back through, what can only be explained as a miracle... give us again, an even greater puzzle to consider.

Often, they speak of "out of body" or "near death" experiences. Images of themselves below them surrounded by medical technicians trying to revive their now, "lifeless" body. Even more revealing are accounts of seeing a great light... the presence of spiritual beings... and even more dramatic accounts of seeing hell and heaven.

"Are out of body or near-death experiences real?" Even skeptics now concede that it is a real phenomenon. The question to ask is, "Are these experiences a phenomenon of a person's consciousness being outside of their body?" And if this can be proven true, then the next question is, "Can consciousness survive bodily death?" This last question likely cannot be proven true to the satisfaction of the skeptics using near-death research alone. This is because no matter how you define "death," the only kind of definition that satisfies the skeptics is "irreversible" death. Just the very nature of the phrase "near-death" suggests that it is not true death - where nobody comes back. However, good scientific evidence for survival can be found in other realms of research such as psychic studies, quantum physics, consciousness studies, and remote viewing - not to mention the mountain of circumstantial evidence.

My friend, if you are collecting these letters I am writing to you, there should be already much to suggest "coming on in"... so-to-speak! But I am not anxious about this... I believe the evidence is insurmountable, and I want to come back later with some other things for you to consider. I have great hope for you.

I love you, Preston
Keep Searching - Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV