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    Musings Before We Die
    Musings Before We Die
    Musings Before We Die
    Ebook150 pages2 hours

    Musings Before We Die

    By George M. Brockway Ph.D.

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    Here's something we do know. We're going to die. Maybe sooner than we had planned or hoped, maybe later. But that needn't stop us from wondering about what is real, or about how the world, how reality, is structured, or about what happens, or might happen, next. And those wonders, those attempts at understanding, actually inform and enrich the selves that we are and become. We may not come away with certain or irrefutable answers, but we will come away with a greater appreciation of life's richness and our participation in that richness. And that's the purpose of this book, to help the reader on that journey.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateJan 21, 2024
    ISBN9798823019422
    Musings Before We Die
    Author

    George M. Brockway Ph.D.

    George M. Brockway, Ph.D. (Philosophy, Univ. of Wisconsin) Dr. Brockway spent many years in the classroom both here in the U.S. and in Switzerland, making Philosophy and other subjects come alive for his students. Initially trained as a Jesuit, he has read deeply in the classics and the Philosophy of Religion, especially, in recent years, in the area of Buddhist studies. Dr. Brockway also spent time in the private sector, first as an administrator of a medical clinic and then as a stock broker and investment consultant in the financial industry. He finished his professional career back in a university classroom teaching Comparative Religions, Logic and Philosophy. His broad experience and keen interest in teaching give his writing a very practical and down-to-earth bent.

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      Book preview

      Musings Before We Die - George M. Brockway Ph.D.

      1333_c.jpg

      ALSO BY GEORGE M. BROCKWAY, PhD

      Musings Before We Die

      George M. Brockway, Ph.D.

      AuthorHouse™

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.authorhouse.com

      Phone: 833-262-8899

      © 2024 George M. Brockway, Ph.D. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse  01/19/2024

      ISBN: 979-8-8230-1941-5 (sc)

      ISBN: 979-8-8230-1942-2 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2023923957

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

      and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      So Socrates! he teased, you are still saying the same things I heard you say long ago. Socrates replied: "It is more terrifying than that: not only am I always saying the same things, but also about the same things."

      (Xenophon, Memorabilia IV.4.6)

      And, alas, so also am I.

      Much thanks to Jonathan Lear who put me on to this epigram in his book: Imagining the End – Mourning and Ethical Life. I adopt it here because it so aptly captures what I’m doing in this book and which is indicated by the multiple references to my other books in the Table of Contents.

      Musings Before We Die

      INTRODUCTION

      This book considers some questions which people have struggled with over the centuries in their effort to figure out what their human life is all about, what meaning it has, if any, and what, if anything, happens next. One of the reasons they have engaged in this struggle is the desire to understand, to put into context and to find meaning in their existence. And it seems to me that pursuing those goals is both worthwhile and, perhaps even more important, something that will enrich the life of anyone who makes the effort. And thus, one of the things you should try to do before you die.

      This is not a How To book. Rather, it’s a here’s something to think about book. The questions we’ll be looking at deal with issues concerning your you or your self and whether that you is anything substantial or anything at all, and what might happen to that you after the death of your body. They deal with the way reality is structured, more precisely, with the way non-physical reality is structured, if there is any such. And whether there is any such. They deal with the spiritual and consciousness and mind, but these latter two not from the viewpoint of the physical sciences. Rather, these questions are seeking to understand what is true and what we should believe about our selves and the kind of existence these selves have and might have in the future.

      And so, the fuller title for this book might have been: The Questions You May Want to Explore Before You Die. But that seemed too clumsy and long, so I’ve shortened it to the title above. I am assuming that most of us are curious about such things as: whether our lives are meaningful and important? And if so, what makes them such? And if not, how should (does?) that affect the way we live or should live? Is this life all there is for each of us or will we, in some way(s), continue to exist after the death of our body? And how does/should an answer either way affect the choices we make, what we think is really important, how we treat other people, how we understand our actions in the here-and-now and whether there is any connection between how we live in the here and now and whatever might happen to us next.

      At this point we could divide the world into two different groups of people. Those who have not yet considered such questions to their own satisfaction but do wish to do so, and those who have thought about those sorts of things and have come to conclusions about them that satisfy themselves. To the first group, I say ‘welcome, I hope you will find these thoughts and reflections to be helpful in your quest. And to the second group, I would suggest that this advice columnist has some wisdom to offer all of us.

      If you’re unwilling to question whether you’re wrong, then there’s little chance you’ll be right.

      Caroline Hax, WP 10/11/09

      *************

      A word about how the book is structured.

      Each chapter is prefaced with a one page outline of what the chapter is about, the major parts that chapter is broken into and, most importantly, the connections between and within those parts. This is meant to be helpful to the reader both in deciding whether they want to continue reading that chapter (at that time) and in following the flow of thought when they do read the chapter.

      Chapter Outline

      Chapter 1

      Is there anything you can do now that will

      affect what happens to you after you die?

      Some of the topics this question (or the answers to it) opens . . . or closes:

      1.You – or one’s ‘self’? Does such (a ‘self’) even exist? And if so, to what does it refer?

      The most common options: . . . .

      Something substantial and lasting or merely a temporary conglomeration of constantly changing attributes designated as one’s ‘self’ for convenience sake?

      2.Consciousness and the ‘self’. Can there be a ‘self’ without consciousness? And what is consciousness? Does anything which is conscious have a ‘self’? Self-consciousness.

      3.Is there any personal existence, does any ‘self’ survive after the death of the body? Could one ever know such a thing? In this life?

      Does any such realm or reality (one that is non-corporeal, i.e. a spiritual realm or reality) actually exist? And again, can one ever know such a thing? (See Ch. 2)

      4.If one’s self does persist beyond the death of the body, does/should that affect how one lives? Depends on whether what we do now affects what happens after the death of the body.

      (And implies we have some choice about and power over how we live, = free will.)

      Does one have to act/live in a particular way, or achieve a particular insight, in order to get there?

      There as a state of being or as knowing the transcendent?

      There before death and there after death.

      And does this imply different ways of being in such an ‘after life’.

      5.A bit more on Free Will.

      Chapter 1

      Is there anything you can do now that will affect what happens to you after you die?

      Here are just some of the /subjects involved in trying to answer this question. What does the you refer to? (I’ll assume throughout that it refers to the same thing as one’s self.) But is there such a ‘thing’ as our self? If there is, of what is it composed? Or, in order to not beg any questions, how is it most accurately described? What is its nature? What sort of a ‘thing’ is it? Is it anything substantial?

      And how is it related to one’s consciousness? Indeed, what is consciousness? And, to be clear, I am not assuming that anything will, in fact, happen to this ‘you’ after you die. It’s a question. So it is, in effect, also asking whether or not there is anything, any sort of personal existence, after one’s death. And, of course, if anything does happen to our self after the death of our body, then that would seem to require some sort of spiritual realm or spiritual reality. How is that to be understood? What would that be like? And what evidence is there, if any, that any such realm or reality actually exists? And finally, the question implies that there might be some connection between how we live in the here-and-now and what happens to us after we die. Woah! Those are a lot of pretty significant questions. Questions and topics which people have struggled over for millennia! And since the question that heads this chapter involves all of these subsequent topics and questions, it might very well be thought of as, if not the, at least a very important question.

      *************

      1. So let’s start by examining the whole notion of the self. One’s you. To what does this refer? Well, I would start with: it refers to one’s character plus one’s personality; to one’s abilities, desires, inclinations, history, and to one’s patterns and habits of thought and behavior (= character?). This would normally include what is usually referred to as one’s will and one’s mind. A couple of our more obvious and important faculties or abilities.

      I would also say that this ‘entity’/subject is constantly changing. As our history proceeds and our abilities grow and change, our knowledge base and experience expand, our character and personality change accordingly. So one’s self is not a fixed, never changing, entity.

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