Karen Armstrong, Religions, and The Golden Rule

"As she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about how the Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. People want to be religious, she says; we should act to help make religion a force for harmony. She asks the TED community to help her build a Charter for Compassion -- to help restore the Golden Rule as the central global religious doctrine."

Immortality and Afterlife

So where do you go from here? No, I don't mean the grocery store. Where do you go when you die? Is life just a one-act play? Is there an eternal epilogue? Do you come back for a second chance to learn from your mistakes? How about your loved ones? Will you get to see them again?

From Buddhism to Christianity, something is supposed to survive us. In Buddhism it is our karma; in Christianity it is our soul. What can you make of it all? Is there evidence for any of it? For that matter, why would you want to come back to this place to get cheated or robbed or despondent again? Or live eternally where they smile and are boringly nice to one another all day long and do nothing but sing hymns while standing on fluffy clouds? Check out this conversation about immortality and afterlife at Philosophy Talk.