Preaching to the choir on this one, BK

[findingblanks]

1) In his latest AMA, Bernardo says that "from the viewpoint of qualitative consciousness if you feel the same than you are effectively the same."

He says this in the context of his deprivation tank thought experiment.

I know this thought experiment probably works for those of us who already have strong reasons to conclude there can only be one consciousness, but I think it is a fairly terrible thought experiment if you are talking to people who haven't yet embraced a form of idealism.

2) several times I've heard Bernardo claim that materialism as a whole was very consoling to the average person because it made the average person feel, "Oh, wow! I won't ever have to worry about having bad feelings again once I die." I think this points to a specific blind spot in Bernardo. No doubt that some people feel that materialism brings them relief. Of course. But, on the whole, I find that my deeply materialistic friends have all kinds of existential neuroses that my religous and idealist friends have much less of. I think we see this on a social level as well.

Equally confusing: Bernardo has described the deep fear that idealism gives him because upon death his personal existence will be reabsorbed into universal consciousness and, therefore, can never get away from unpleasant feelings.

Aren't his unpleasant feelings part of his aler that goes away when his consciousness goes back to its essence? Or has he given reasons why he believes that mind at large is an unpleasant phenomenon?

[Eugene I]

Equally confusing: Bernardo has described the deep fear that idealism gives him because upon death his personal existence will be reabsorbed into universal consciousness and, therefore, can never get away from unpleasant feelings.

Note that there is a range of versions if idealism, and BK's is only a specific one, and even the BK's variant is flexible and does not have to assume that all alters will be reabsorbed into MAL upon death. So this is only his personal belief unsupported by any evidence or arguments/proofs. And actually the NDE accounts would be the evidences of the opposite, unless BK joins the materialists camp and claims that the NDEs are nothing more that hallucinations of a dying brain.

[findingblanks]

Yeah, I think he does a good job in interviews remaining agnostic about those details.

That said, it is almost always right after he says that his suspicion is that the personality goes away and consciousness is reintegrated with and as mind at large that he'll then stress that idealism terrifies him because means unpleasant (by implication) experience never ends.

This is connected to the strange claim he makes that materialism ended the fear of death for most people. My materialist friends often talk about the deep sadness they feel in knowing they will never experience being with loved ones after death. My religious friends often long for the next life dancing in heaven with their friends and families

He oversimplifies and generalizes on this topic. No big deal. But interesting. And know that I appreciate that he is NOT saying that his fear of death is what his model explicitly suggests or causes.

[AshvinP]

Yeah, I think he does a good job in interviews remaining agnostic about those details.

That said, it is almost always right after he says that his suspicion is that the personality goes away and consciousness is reintegrated with and as mind at large that he'll then stress that idealism terrifies him because means unpleasant (by implication) experience never ends.

This is connected to the strange claim he makes that materialism ended the fear of death for most people. My materialist friends often talk about the deep sadness they feel in knowing they will never experience being with loved ones after death. My religious friends often long for the next life dancing in heaven with their friends and families

He oversimplifies and generalizes on this topic. No big deal. But interesting. And know that I appreciate that he is NOT saying that his fear of death is what his model explicitly suggests or causes.

I thought it was the opposite - BK is terrified of the personality continuing after death because it means more corporeal pain and suffering. Maybe I misheard him in the interviews but I don't think so.

I agree that we can't simply say materialists don't fear death and religious people do or vice versa. I think nearly all people fear life because they cannot find their authentic soul-spirit amongst all the idols they are offered to worship. Death is also troubling because it's hard to swallow the idea that our lives are discontinuous with our deaths even for religious people. I would also say most people who claim to be "materialists" are actually naïve dualists, i.e. they believe in an immaterial realm but fail to take notice of how that realm influences everything they think and do.

[findingblanks]

Great comments, thanks.

Yeah, I just see a disconnect between Bernardo's claim that idealism is more terrifying for him (when he clearly states he thinks his personal self will not survive...so what is he afraid of) and I see no evidence for his claim that materialism caused people to no longer be afraid of death compared to those who believed in an afterlife.

Again, thanks for your thoughtful comments.