Lives on Earth

afterlife

  • How Language Encourages Belief in an Afterlife

    People believe in life after death for many reasons. A contributing factor, one that goes unnoticed, are certain characteristics of nouns and verbs in English and other languages. Essentially, the way nouns and verbs work help make it easy for… Continue reading

  • On Revising My Will

    My wife and I have been updating our wills and the financial and legal documents that go along with them. It’s a strange, awkward process. We discuss a scenario in which dying triggers a whole series of events from which… Continue reading

  • The Very, Very Long View

    From yesterday’s New York Times (9/28/2014), a chart of the artist and his particles over billions of years.    Me and the Universe By ANDERS NILSEN SEPT. 24, 2014 Anders Nilsen is the author of the graphic novel “Rage of Poseidon.” Continue reading

  • Near-Death Experiences: what they tell us about THIS life

    Lots of buzz this week about “Heaven Is Real: A Doctor’s Experience with the Afterlife” by Dr. Eben Alexander, in Newsweek. The Harvard Medical School neurosurgeon changed his mind about the afterlife after getting a taste of it during a… Continue reading

    Near-Death Experiences: what they tell us about THIS life

  • “Do Atheists Have Deathbed Conversions?”

    As reported in Pacific Standard, two studies have shown that when reminded about dying, religious people strengthened their convictions, agnostics became more uncertain, and atheists clung to their disbelief. Not too surprising. The results support the Terror Management Theory that… Continue reading