The Existence Of Soul And 'Certitude' Of Bodily Resurrection Are Theological Kite-Flying
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
24 November
2022
" The concept of soul in Eastern religious
thought process and even weirder bodily resurrection in the Semitic faiths are
actually psychological manifestations of humans' embedded desire to enjoy
immortality (in any form and by any means) and reluctance to accept physical
death as the final closure."
The Psychological Origins of Resurrection Myth
by Jack A Kent
As a
student of religions, I've always laughed at the eschatological beliefs like
soul and bodily resurrection. Eastern religions, viz, Hinduism, Jainism and
Buddhism concocted the soul to explain Law of Karma and justify hierarchical
supremacy or lowliness of humans. This needs explanation. In Gita, Krishna
exhorts unwilling Arjuna to kill Kauravas because even if he kills them, their
soul shall remain indestructible. So, Arjuna shouldn't have qualms about
killing his kith and kin on the battlefield! In other words, even if he kills,
he doesn't kill! (Hante na hante abhipsit: Nyaya Shastra/Hetvabhaas or
Vitandabhaas, Compare to Syllogism of modern logic). This is what we call
extreme specious reasoning or plausible provocation. All in the name of a soul
that simply doesn't exist. Jains and Buddhists, their fundamental religious
philosophy is similar on many counts, concocted soul to justify Jaati-smaran
or Re-birth to prove the validity of Tirthankaras and Dalai Lamas on the
basis of transmigration of Mahavira and Buddha's soul! Needless to say, this is
all balderdash.
Equally
nonsensical is the idea of bodily resurrection in Semitic faiths, namely,
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. By the way, theologically, the conflict
between the oriental soul and occidental resurrection is a classic example of
the conflict between the micro and macro (Sooksham avam Sthool Dwandwa,
12th century treatise in Sanskrit, author unnamed).
There's no
denying the fact, that though Soul Theory is absolutely wrong and misleading,
it has a philosophical finesse (Sookshmta), whereas bodily resurrection
of Semitic faiths has an element of grossness because it's blatantly Sthool
or corporeal. Quran's emphasis on bodily resurrection of the 'followers' has
its root in Judeo-Christian belief of the resurrection of Jesus after getting
crucified. Mind you, Quran as a scripture has nothing new or novel to offer.
It's a haphazard rehash of earlier Torah, Talmud and Bible. Since Muhammad and
most of his companions were unlettered, they just collected and collated
(copy-pasted in today's parlance) what was already there in the books that
predated The Quran. There were no divine revelations.
Modern
psychologists Fletcher and Elcott believe that the Quranic resurrection makes
its followers believe in the psychological Concept of the Continuation of
Sameness (CCS). To make it clear, a false belief that the body today shall
remain the same tomorrow even after death. It provides some kind of a faint and
feeble assurance to live life with.
Human
beings are terribly scared, sorry, shit-scared, of death. We're sickly
obstinate to accept the fact that once we breathe our last, that's our final
breath and none of us, whichever religion one may belong to, will screw around
in heaven or get screwed in hell.
-----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/soul-certitude-resurrection-theological-/d/128473
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