You Are Not Book.indb - Stephen H. Wolinsky Ph. D.

ealizing death / 149
Student: There is no longer a consciousness remaining
in the structure of the body. The consciousness
disappears, its consciousness disappears.
Wolinsky: Okay, how are you doing now?
Student: Okay, I am still here, struggling with this.
Wolinsky: This concept called “my” consciousness, which is
struggling with this. What is the concept called
“my” consciousness struggling with?
Student: “My” consciousness is struggling with the, it’s
very confusing. I am feeling very confused at this
moment. That I have concepts about alive and
dead. That I have concepts of a body that has a
nervous system and is functioning and is heart
is pumping and blood is flowing and there is
mental activity going on and then my concept
of death is that at some moment all that ends
and the body is no longer being activated by the
nervous system or the body, the mind that all
of that stops at a certain second.
Wolinsky: If this concept called “my” consciousness believed
in the concept of death, what else might
it struggle with?
Student: Umm, it would struggle with certain questions
about what happens after death? Is there a consciousness
that lives on after death, is it important
to stay alive? It’s like, oh well, it’s important to be
alive rather than dead, there’s a change, there’s
a difference there is a distinction that alive is
good and dead is bad there is a whole series of
concepts about that.