If there is scant evidence for survival after death, why do so many people believe in their own immortality? I think the two main reasons are religious faith and motivated inference. People acquire belief in life after death (and, for Hindus, in life before birth) from their religious teachers, especially their parents. As I remarked in the previous chapter, it is natural for children to acquire beliefs from their parents and other seeming authorities, and these beliefs are often reliable. Life after death is a part of a whole package of beliefs that includes God and the soul. Immortality is a particularly attractive part of the package, as it provides a way of reducing fear of death and separation from loved ones. Illness and the other difficulties of life are of small significance if you have the prospect of eternal happiness in heaven, united with God and all the people you care about who have died before you. Some religions, however, make survival after death less clearly attractive because of the prospect of eternal punishment in some version of hell. The Greek philosopher Epicurus maintained that the expectation that your existence will end should eliminate the fear of death because you will then have no awareness of anything. Nevertheless, for most people the prospect of immortality is positive. As Woody Allen remarked: “I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.” Unfortunately, the belief in a soul that survives death is faith based rather than evidence based.
If there is scant evidence for survival after death, why do so many people believe in their own immortality? I think the two main reasons are religious faith and motivated inference. People acquire belief in life after death (and, for Hindus, in life before birth) from their religious teachers, especially their parents. As I remarked in the previous chapter, it is natural for children to acquire beliefs from their parents and other seeming authorities, and these beliefs are often reliable. Life after death is a part of a whole package of beliefs that includes God and the soul. Immortality is a particularly attractive part of the package, as it provides a way of reducing fear of death and separation from loved ones. Illness and the other difficulties of life are of small significance if you have the prospect of eternal happiness in heaven, united with God and all the people you care about who have died before you. Some religions, however, make survival after death less clearly attractive because of the prospect of eternal punishment in some version of hell. The Greek philosopher Epicurus maintained that the expectation that your existence will end should eliminate the fear of death because you will then have no awareness of anything. Nevertheless, for most people the prospect of immortality is positive. As Woody Allen remarked: “I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.” Unfortunately, the belief in a soul that survives death is faith based rather than evidence based.
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