I recently was tricked into watching a video which questioned the reality of everything we see. It had two parts. The first part was really nothing new, as I have always read and do think everyone’s picture of reality is different, and is based on comparisons to past perceptions. In essence, the video asserts: nothing exists except the perception in your brain. It seems so real? What you see in reality is an interpretation by your brain. Then what is being interpreted?

Sometimes the theists can be so deceitful. We must remember that many believers feel that lying for the Lord is justifiable.

What, the second video asks, is doing the actual viewing of the vision in the brain, what is doing the looking, the deciding on actions, etc. The conclusion is: surprise, surprise… the soul. Having watched up to this point what seemed a very interesting video, needless to say, my disappointment in finding this was a creationist produced video was way beyond mild.

The conclusion is there is a creator, from which all these visions emit, and from which all these visions are controlled.

Leaps of illogic, and bad reasoning, as well as conclusions which were concocted beforehand, rather than perceived, pretty much sums up this poor attempt to foist religion upon the thinking public at large.

Our consciousness, from all the scientific literature I have read on the subject, is a product of our organic minds, our brain. As fantastic as the process is at producing the illusion of consciousness, it is nevertheless, merely neurons at work. I have often contemplated, why am I me? The answer I fear is that most likely it is because I am not someone else. Although I have difficulty imagining a world without a me, I simply have to realize that I have no memories of me before I existed. Any memories which seem to be before my existence are simply the result of information which I have been exposed to since my existence began.

If there were a creator as a source of visions which we observe in our minds, then there would never be confusion as to what the images depict. Instead, our brains work on new observed objects, trying to identify them by comparing them to past observations. When observing unknown objects the mind compares them to past images and sometimes produces something familiar when in reality, there is nothing familiar. Ever observe the patterns in a rug, or floor and see shapes and forms, only to return later and either see nothing familiar, or something different? It is your mind trying to make something familiar out of something unfamiliar. This method of identifying unknown objects may be responsible for many UFO sightings. The mind not only tries to make out patterns where there are none, but is highly suggestible, and so mass sightings by groups of individuals comparing information may present one view of an image, but someone standing out of range of the group may see something else entirely.

Yes, it would be nice if we were immortal in the sense that the soul suggests. Even if it were so, this would not necessarily require a deity of any kind. Looking at our reality though, there seems no evidence of such an after-existence. Looking at our world, such a belief in this suggested after-existence is much too dangerous.