We live in a world that does not just hand us all the answers. There is no ‘cheat sheet’ for the secrets of the universe. Each group of ‘truth seekers” has its own beliefs, and “knowledge,” about the actuality of God and an afterlife. This lack of omniscience compounded by all these different beliefs and theories opens the door for numerous “what ifs” about the nature of God and our universe, and the “life” that awaits us after we die.
In “Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives”, David Eagleman posits 40 vignettes from the afterlife. The stories are mutually exclusive and often depict an unpleasant afterlife. Some are amusing, and others are peculiar; but, all are peeks into the vortex of human desires and fears. Life after physical mortality …show more content…
It does not subscribe to any of the diverse claims of traditional theisms. It challenges the views of atheism as well. It postulates that numerous possibilities can exist when it comes to the afterlife because we have no physical evidence of it. It is a thought provoking and interesting concept. Eagleman labels himself as a ‘Possibilian’, (source: http://www.eagleman.com/sum/q-a-a-with-david) and I believe that he uses Sum to hint at the role religion plays in society.
There is some iconoclasm embedded in his stories. In ‘Missing’, God is a married couple; in ‘Spirals’, our Creator is a species of small, obtuse creatures; in ‘Microbe’, God is a bacterium who is unaware of our existence; and in ‘Reins’, God is incompetent, the afterlife is run by a committee, and the good are going to Hell and the bad to Heaven. These vignettes hit at classical religious views by their redefining of God.
In ‘Absence’, God is missing and as a result wars begin to break out. Heaven now mirrors the religious wars that exist on earth. This depiction hints at the claim, “Religion causes war”, made by numerous atheists and secular humanists. (https://carm.org/religion-cause-war) This tale seems to portray a negative view of religion. It also seems to suggest that human beings might be better off avoiding convictions
In “Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives”, David Eagleman posits 40 vignettes from the afterlife. The stories are mutually exclusive and often depict an unpleasant afterlife. Some are amusing, and others are peculiar; but, all are peeks into the vortex of human desires and fears. Life after physical mortality …show more content…
It does not subscribe to any of the diverse claims of traditional theisms. It challenges the views of atheism as well. It postulates that numerous possibilities can exist when it comes to the afterlife because we have no physical evidence of it. It is a thought provoking and interesting concept. Eagleman labels himself as a ‘Possibilian’, (source: http://www.eagleman.com/sum/q-a-a-with-david) and I believe that he uses Sum to hint at the role religion plays in society.
There is some iconoclasm embedded in his stories. In ‘Missing’, God is a married couple; in ‘Spirals’, our Creator is a species of small, obtuse creatures; in ‘Microbe’, God is a bacterium who is unaware of our existence; and in ‘Reins’, God is incompetent, the afterlife is run by a committee, and the good are going to Hell and the bad to Heaven. These vignettes hit at classical religious views by their redefining of God.
In ‘Absence’, God is missing and as a result wars begin to break out. Heaven now mirrors the religious wars that exist on earth. This depiction hints at the claim, “Religion causes war”, made by numerous atheists and secular humanists. (https://carm.org/religion-cause-war) This tale seems to portray a negative view of religion. It also seems to suggest that human beings might be better off avoiding convictions