>This past August my mother passed away, and while my family did not go to
>church, there was a Christian service. I sat there, both in my grief and,
>somewhat strangely, somewhat in ponderance of this very question posed by
>David above.
I'm sorry to hear of your loss. Your mother is truly part of you and for as
trite as it may sound you lose part of your self when your mother passes
away. In my case, my mother dying caused an emotional upheavel, profound
sadness and during the funeral unrestrained grief. This was in the context
of a catholic household with a brother who had been a priest for eight years.
However, never once did it occur to me that there needs to be some form of
solace from the concept of an afterlife to make the experience feel
acceptable or complete. Those experiences with your mother that you remember
and undoubtedly some aspects of you (genes) are the reality of your mother
and although others aren't usually aware of it I'm sure your mother lives on
in your personality,humor, intellect etc,etc. This is as real as the chair
I'm sitting on.
I'm new to this group and sort of amazed how I've reached many of the same
conclusions on my own. I'm glad to be part of this group and look forward to
the learning experience. Surely I have to pull out some of my philosophy
books to keep up with the Heglian discussions !
I am surprised at the word religion being used so readily in this group. Is
this based on memetics? Am I to understand this use of the word religion to
be simply a memetic vehicle for bringing people like us together and
perpetuating our thinking.? How should I view the word "religion" in this
group?