[quote]Before I begin this exploration into what I am I must first acknowledge two of Descartes' fundamental beliefs as true. First, that I am, I exist. Second, that I am a thinking being capable of forming thoughts about the world around me. Though I cannot actually prove the existence of the body and the mind without a doubt I will assume them to exist as is but that their perceptions of the world around them may be skewed or downright false. So, what am I? Some may venture to say that I am a corporeal object, simply a body. They may say I am a simple union of cells crawling closer to my demise with every second that passes, and that after my body is dead and gone, I cease to be. But isn't it more than that? Remember we are thinking beings and thinking is done with the mind (from this point on brain will be synonymous with mind). Descartes holds that the body and mind are two separate substances; working in unison no doubt, but also independent of one another. I will hold this belief to be true as well. That being said, could it be all that I am is simply a brain; an organic tool certainly special and unique, but destined to die and cease to be after a certain amount of time? The proponents of the B.I.V. (Brain in Vat) theory would have me believe that all that I am, the essence of me, is an organic bundle of gray mass. That in actuality I am my brain and that after it ceases to be, so do I. While this is closer to what I believe to be the truth, it has yet to grab the essence of it. I believe that I am what the religious would call a soul; a being of energy working in tangent with both my body and mind in order to achieve life. I do not believe that I am supernatural in that I am made from God and that the essence of me is not of this earth. I believe that I am a special kind of energy (that from this point on I will denote as "energy" so as not to restrain the idea by weighing it down with preconceived notions of the soul) found only in living things. It would follow that plants and animals as well are endowed with this energy. (I will venture a guess here and say that the energy comes from cells themselves. They are the smallest units of life and I believe the answer to what we are is hidden within them). The proof that energy is different from the mind is the notion of decision. Remember, the mind is a thinking thing as are we. However, the mind is not only limited to thought. The mind retains information and is able to recall it when situations arise that require specific information. This is how we are able to make split second decisions and arrive at logical conclusions, because the mind evaluates the information we have learned and provides us with what is most relevant at a time of need. What it cannot do, however, is act on those decisions and determine the right choice of action. If you were passing a burning building and you suddenly saw a person hanging out the second story window screaming for help, your mind would evaluate the situation. First, it would tell you that something is wrong and the situation requires immediate action. Next, that the fire consuming the building is dangerous. Next, that your options could either be to save that person yourself, go and get help, or do nothing. Your mind then evaluates each decision based on prior facts and knowledge (fame (you save her) vs. obscurity (you let someone else do it) and, a good chance of death (you try to save her yourself) vs. life (you let a professional do it)) and leaves it up to you, energy, to determine what decision will be made. That is the difference between you and your mind. You are the whole of your mind; all of it is you. However, your mind is not all of you because you are free from it at least by your ability to make decisions. From this it follows that who we are, our essence, is very much dependent upon our mind; how much experience it has had of the world, if it retains a lot of useful information, if the facts it brings to attention are relevant to the situation, etc. (Now many would say that if the brain is choosing which facts to give to the individual it can make decisions as well. This is false in that the brain acts much like an internet search engine. The situation that requires information is the keyword, and from that keyword it takes all the information that is stored, matches it, and makes you aware of said information. Your brain then is a search engine, constantly adding new information that can be accessed and updating previously known information, and you, energy, are the person at the keyboard. It should be noted as well that your brain often acts independently of what you "type in". It is truly a marvel in itself and if we were to try and control all of its actions in addition to living life, we would not be able to function.) Thus, though the mind is separate from energy, energy depends very much on the mind to make it what it is. Babies are different from adults because their mind is not yet situated to the world. The energy is there but it cannot accurately interpret the information around it. No experience has been imprinted onto the energy, thus the personality, "who they are" has yet to be established. Thus, at that point, what the baby is is simply a being capable of making decisions, but a being deprived of the knowledge to make informed decisions. The same holds true for plants and animals. They are energy from the second their life begins; however, as a result of their inferior minds (or lack of minds all together) they cannot make the same decisions or think the more advanced thoughts of humans. Animals are limited by their lack of a complex mind. Their thoughts and actions are all the results of brains that are inferior to ours. Plants have it even worse, however. They lack a true animal "body" in addition to lacking a mind. But the important implication to remember is that if the energy of a plant or animal were given the mind and body of a human, they would in all sense be human themselves. The energy of all living things is exactly the same. It is the mind and body that influence how thoughts, memories, and actions are imprinted onto this energy. I think I have sufficiently proved that what we are is indeed separate from the body and mind, yet utterly dependent on both to define the essence of what we are. I will now venture into the realm of religious discussion and state why I believe what we are is not a soul and why what we are can neither enter the realm of heaven nor of hell (I do not believe they exist but for this argument, I will assume that they exist and operate under the rules ascribed to them in the Bible). I have previously stated that we are in fact energy of one form or another. That being said, this energy exists and is as real as the computer I am looking at now, it follows that the laws of science apply to it; more specifically I am referring to the laws of matter. Einstein's theory of relativity together with the principle of causality requires that no matter or information can travel faster than the speed of light. Speeds faster than that of light are encountered in physics but, in all such cases, no matter or information is transmitted any faster than that. Thus since what you are, energy, is matter, it must abide by those rules and that it definitely cannot travel faster than the speed of light. That being said, the distance that light travels in one year, a.k.a a light-year, is about 6 trillion miles or about 9.5 trillion kilometers. The Milky Way galaxy is 1000 light years thick and has a diameter of 100,000 light years. In addition the universe is composed of HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of galaxies. Thus, even traveling at the fastest speed possible, that of light, and assuming heaven and hell were exactly outside of the Milky Way, it would still take 1,000 years after death to reach those places. Because the Bible states that Heaven and Hell are alternate planes of existence is follows logically that they lie outside of the universe. Thus after death it would take around 100 trillion years (one hundred billion x one thousand) to reach either heaven or hell. If you still believe this is possible consider that the universe has only existed for around 13.7 billion years; or, if you follow the Bible, around 6,000 years. Consider as well that some believe the universe to be infinite, which, if that's the case, would surely make it difficult to escape and thus pass into the realm of heaven or hell. So what exactly are you when you die? All that's left is the energy; you yourself. It is all of your emotions, thoughts, believes, and experiences. However, without the mind you are deprived of the ability to think, and without the body you are deprived of all of your senses. Essentially, you never die, however you are completely unable to express yourself in any way and most likely aren't aware you are dead.[/quote] I know this contains a lot of information and has little to do with Halo, however, all I'm asking you to do is to accept two things. First, that in the Halo Universe, such a thing as a "soul" exists. [url=http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Terminals]Terminal One[/url] outlines a conversation between Didact and the Librarian. It states, [quote]We have no time to spare, Didact. Every vessel we can fill, we send to the Ark. I dare not cease the mission. Not now, not until I've done all I can. Each one of these souls is finite and precious. And I'm close. Close to saving them all.[/quote]Taken literally, this is strongly suggests the existence of souls. Second, that this "soul" is actually matter and that it must follow the laws that are ascribed to matter. If these two off-topic conditions are accepted, then we can get to the meat of the theory. Holding the above as true, then, what we are is energy. But how exactly does this relate to Halo, the Forerunner, or Heaven? [quote][/quote] [Edited on 08.06.2010 3:07 PM PDT]