The Spirit World

It takes humans a while before they have any concept of themselves. This happens by gradually putting experiences together in the form of memories. Without memories, humans struggle to understand the consequences of their actions, because what is right or wrong is learned from experience. Much of our personality, then, is created by the physical process of our brains collecting information and storing it. Those who care for alzheimer sufferers talk of them becoming a different person - they often claim the person at the end of this particular illness is no longer the person they knew before the disease.

Where does this leave the concept of the spirit? What exactly is the spirit supposed to be? We can see what happens when the physical component which holds our life's knowledge breaks down - we don't know who we are, or who our friends and family are, or what we did in the past. Presumably, if you are a Christian or a Muslim, you believe your spirit will resemble your personality and you will arrive in the afterlife to be welcomed by those friends and family who got there before you.

If so, how will you recognise them and they you?

Because, if your spirit contains the memories, then any damage to the memory-containing area of the brain should have no effect, as the spirit will provide the information.

Are we supposed to believe the spirit inside an alzheimer sufferer's body is hiding away, to be released upon death, memories and personality restored?