Glenn,
You seem to not understand the thinking of modern science. Rather than beleiving that "there is no independent entity that exists alone" modern scientists think that matter exists and in General Relativity and its outgrowth, Quantum Gravity, it is matter that creates spacetime. Even in QED as I said before, only particles of matter and particles of light exist in an independently existing 'spacetime'.
You seem to be adopting one particular interpretation of quantum mechanics, that only eigenfunctions or waves exist, and claiming that such thinking is believed by scientists. That is actually what I believe. But it is contrary to the predominant thinking of most high energy physicists who say that the two most accurate theories in physicis, QED and General Relativity (GR) are based entirely on only space, matter and particles existing.
Regarding the soul, the Buddhists including you yourself say that what passes from life to life is the 'root', which as far as I can determine is just another name for the soul. Apparently the Buddhists wished to distinguish themselves from Hindus by claiming that the soul does not exist. But they and you do admit that something with individual distinction passes from life to life. That is all that matters. What you call it is beside the point.
I admit that Buddhists attribute slightly different nuances to what distinguishes a human after death. But all those nuances were absorbed into Hinduism. There is much greater difference in the Buddhist regard of god and gods, claiming that they do not exist. But even here some Buddhists admit that the Lord of Great Compassion available to all for salvation does exist. This is very close to Hindu and even Christian thinking. But not Jewish thinking. Jews think that god exists but that salvation does not, in spite of their belief in transmigration, a kind of reincarnation. Of course not all Jews believe in transmigration.
So what I see is that the collective thought of Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Jews overlap. My take is that each religion leaves out some major aspect of religious thought. The Buddhists leave out God, the Jews leave out salvation, and the Christians leave out reincarnation. What we need is a religion that leaves nothing out, including scientific thinking...
Richard |