Last updated on 11th Sept. 2012
A correspondent who is a Professor in the US sent me the link to this CNN interview of Prof. Dawkins, http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/06/dawkins-evolution-is-not-a-controversial-issue/.
It is nice to note that Dawkins is ensuring that evolution is taught properly in the “Bible Belt” and other parts of the US. The unfortunate aspect of his efforts is that he combines spreading reason and science with an agenda for spreading atheism.
Prof. Dawkins is asked whether on his death, it will just end. His emphatic declaration is, “Of course it just ends. What else could it do? My thoughts, my beliefs, my feelings are all in my brain. My brain is going to rot. So no, there’s no question about that.”
His words, “Of course it just ends” on death, IMHO, show that he is a scientist who has gone wonky and is not a wise man. How can he assert it? Does he really know? It is an unproven opinion of his – that’s it. To clarify, there may be no question that his brain will rot on his death. But it is not proven by science that his thoughts, beliefs and feelings will all disappear on his death. Spiritual masters and mystics who have spoken out of their experience and not only book-knowledge/intellectual analysis have declared/asserted that the beliefs and feelings do not disappear on death of a body.
An acceptable and sensible answer from Prof. Dawkins would have been that I guess it just ends but I cannot be sure.
The sad thing for me is that most parts of the West as well as some parts of the East are so enamoured of science & technology that most readers of such interviews and many other “bookish-knowledge educated” people who have not had any spiritual or religious experiences will take what Dawkins says as the “scientism gospel” truth and start believing that on death, it just ends!
I feel we have to do our bit by spreading the word to the extent that we can that Dawkins is talking through his hat when he ventures into spiritual territory and that he is an ignorant fool when it comes to spirituality. Please excuse the strong words but I feel it is necessary to counter him using his top-scientist image to push atheism into the minds of young (and old) Westerners (and some Easterners who read his stuff), with the truth. And the truth is that he simply does not know anything about what happens after death like most of us. So he should shut up or say he doesn’t know. Otherwise he has to be branded an ignorant fool on spiritual matters.
I am I 
I got into a conversation on this on the CNN blog: http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/06/dawkins-evolution-is-not-a-controversial-issue/comment-page-9/. But, after a point, my comments were not getting posted though others’ comments were getting posted. So perhaps the moderator has blacklisted my id. I have given up retrying to post.
Even a partial post having only the @ vincastar-Jerry-fimeilleur: posted with a non iami1 email id (had logged off as iami1 from wordpress at that time) did not appear. So some screening seems to be coming into play which is blocking any comments from me. Well, it is a learning for me about how even CNN seems to block comments if they don’t like it without letting the commenter know.
So I have posted the comment I intended to post on the CNN blog here.
@ vincastar: I prefer not to get buttonholed into definitions on this very elusive and mystical topic as I feel they may be pretty inadequate and so I will skip commenting on that part of your response.
My belief is that I am I. Further my belief is that the inner I at the deep core of my being is the same at the core of all of existence, including you, dear vincastar. It is that deep core of all beings I that has projected the whole of existence and which my lower-level consciousness I (as against the expansive higher-level of consciousness I at the deep core of my being) refers to as God. However this is a matter of belief for me and not an experience. Some spiritual masters who are very rare in the human race over centuries and millennia have experienced it and have spoken deep spiritual truths from that experience.
So I am I and I am also one of God’s and a part of God.
You may hold a different view and belief and I respect that belief so long as it provides me the freedom to have my belief. I hope we can amicably agree to disagree on this one :).
@ vincastar-Jerry-fimeilleur: Regarding “Science and math support the existence of God.” I am not convinced about that from the little that I have read on this topic.
But I think Dr. Francis Collins, an American physician-geneticist who was a leader of the Human Genome Project and is currently the director of the National Institutes of Health, USA, puts it very well when he says, “If God has any significance in most religions, God has to be, at least in part, outside of nature, not bound by nature. Pantheists might be an exception but most other religions would certainly agree that God is not limited therefore by nature itself. Science is. Science really is only legitimately able to comment on things that are part of nature and science is really good at that. But if you are going to try to take the tools of science and disprove God, you are in the wrong territory. Science has to remain silent on the question of anything that falls outside of the natural world.”, https://iami1.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/francis-collins-the-language-of-god-a-scientist-presents-evidence-of-belief-transcript/.
So I agree with vincastar that, “Science does not disprove God.”
Here’s a compelling account of a Glasgow kid remembering a previous life, with well known psychiatrist and reincarnation researcher, Jim B. Tucker of University of Virginia, USA, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_B._Tucker, http://www.medicine.virginia.edu/clinical/departments/psychiatry/sections/cspp/dops/staff/jimbio-page, joining in the investigative journey, “The Boy Who Lived Before – Extraordinary People”, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFHWb7IuPno, 47 min, 08 sec.
I watched a fascinating program in 2009 on CNN which dealt with near death experiences and what happens after death. The program was CNN LARRY KING LIVE but moderated by Jeff Probst that day instead of Larry King, titled, “Near Death Experiences Explored” and aired on December 22, 2009 – 21:00 (USA) ET.
The guests on the program were famous people like Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Deepak Chopra, famous new age Guru and a medical doctor, Dr. Dinesh D’Souza an author of a book on life after death. Later in the program Dr. Michael Shermer, founding publisher of the Skeptic magazine joins in as well as Prof. Jim Tucker, of University of Virginia, mentioned in earlier comment above. There are some other guests too.
Here’s a video snippet, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tFDEaH_klo, 5 min. 54 sec.
The rush transcript of the program is available here: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0912/22/lkl.01.html.
I was riveted to the telly during this program barring a few interrupts at the door. It was an extremely enjoyable and lively show.
An interesting piece of info is that Deepak Chopra mentions in another interview with NBC about Life After Death: [broken link, maybe they removed it from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnL2mku4OCQ ] that, “My father died in meditation consciously, closed his eyes and said give everyone my love and that’s how he left – as elegantly as he had lived.” I have heard Chopra say earlier that his father was a doctor who served people lovingly (Jabalpur, India, I think was where his father practiced).
One hears of many spiritual masters deciding their time of exit. I heard about a Tibetan master telling his disciples that the time has come for him to go. He asked lovingly for a cup of chai (tea in Hindi) (We can truly relate to him ?), had his chai and closed his eyes. That’s it. He was gone or rather had given up his body.
What a mastery over death! What a conquest!