First of all let's state the difference between Theory and Speculation or Beliefs. Science is based on observations and facts, a theory is then based on those facts which are then tested, and refined until a conclusion is reached. Speculations and Beliefs are made up entirely by imagination such as when a UFO is explained as an alien space ship. Here I will explain why my conclusions are a New Theory, not Speculation or a Belief, since it is based on facts and observations.

Facts and current scientific Theories:

1. The Universe as we know it, is not eternally in a steady state but constantly changing..
2. All current humans are of the same race descended from a small group of survivors in Africa between 195,000 and 123,000 years ago
   
3. Awareness, consciousness and memory are brain functions.
4. The person you are, is formed by your memory.

 
            The universe, as observed to day, is not in an eternally lasting steady state. It expands until it dies or pulses from big bang expansion to eventually contract again.
            The Great Spirit originally was based on the air we breathe, the obvious life force we need and we cannot live without. The individual spirit, a small part of the Great Spirit, enters the baby upon birth and leaves the body upon death. I found that this concept is wide spread throughout many religions, indicating a common origin before the small surviving tribe started spreading throughout the world and eventually became the only human race which has not faced extinction as did many other human species such as the Cro-Magnons, Neanderthalers, Homo Floresiensis, Homo Heidelbergensis and Homo Erectus.
Conclusion: Spirit (Soul) was a natural force, not a supernatural one, which it later became because of speculation not based on real observations.
            Neuroscience has now determined that awareness, consciousness, and memory are brain functions. We are conscious of ourselves because of memory. We observe the fact that when the brain deteriorates (Alzheimer’s), memories deteriorate and awareness of “self” slowly disappears. In brain injuries, resulting in total permanent amnesia, a person does not remember his/her previous “self” which is now dead, but has to start building a new self awareness.  Also discovered is that memory is not infallible but can be changed by confabulation, false memories, hallucination, mental disorders, drugs and many other causes, as many researchers have shown and therefor memory is not reliable. Conclusion: Brain dead, the "self" is dead. No imaginary continuing awareness exists. An afterlife is an unwarranted speculation.
            These facts and observations are outlined and referenced in my book “Why You Won’t Go to Hell” (google it)
            My theory is the conclusion that since the supernatural is pure speculation which distorts the original meaning of  a natural phenomenon, the atmosphere, the supernatural is a fantasy and is not a valid “theory” . That the “self” dies when the brain dies, while the existence of an afterlife in an eternal steady-state universe, is also pure speculation and belongs in the category of fiction. Proofs of an afterlife or spiritual alternate awareness state, as proposed by some (NDE's etc.), are already debunked and found wanting by current respectable neuroscience research.
            I welcome criticism and corrections if they are based on real observations and facts. Just denial and speculations will just be ignored.

. I hope you will see the value of convincing many people that the supernatural does not exist to wipe out not only religious fear, but also wipe out the extensive superstitions including the belief in Astrology, Ghosts , Spirits, Souls, Karma, Psychic powers, Fortune telling, Prophesies, Dowsing, Lucky numbers, Faith healing, to name a few, which fill the internet and which are used by greedy people to fleece the gullible masses. To spread this message is the last item on my Bucket list.

Who am I? I am a bag of biological matter with an evolved brain that because of electrical/chemical action in a neurological network creates awareness through sensors. This brain activity also creates a memory that brings about the recognition of the entity called “me”. Without a memory, self-recognition would be impossible. A person with brain injuries, which destroyed the part of the brain that contains memory loses its self- recognition and would have to start building up new memories to become a new “self”. This has been observed in patients with total amnesia. The conclusion is that awareness combined with memories is needed to create “me”. I am unique and alone (not to be confused with loneliness) in the universe. I can see with my eyes but I cannot see through anyone else's eyes. I can imagine what other people see but my vision is my own. If I perceive the color “red”, I do not know and can never know whether another person “sees” another color but calls it red because we have agreed to call it that. This goes for all our senses. We can guess what other people actually think or perceive but we can never be sure.
There is the other matter about memory. Research clearly shows that memory is not always accurate and that it can be altered though confabulation, hallucinations, false memory implants and many other factors. Who you perceive yourself to be does not always have to be correct even if you are absolute sure that what you remember is correct. Humans have a great capacity of imagination but we all imaging different things.
If we could duplicate every function of our brain is it sill “me”?. For years I have planned to write a short science fiction story based on a world were a Star Trek transporter was used all the time. A traveller, who had used this device many times, experienced a mal function with the result that the device created two persons instead of one. When the two finally meet, they realize, that since they were both convinced before that each was the real person, that neither of them was. Their awareness and memory up to the point of the mishap were exactly the same but from there on their lives were different, so they suddenly understood that neither of them was the original, the original died when he took the first trip using the transporter and that each trip was a suicide, although the duplicate, because of the intact awareness and memory had always believed he survived the trip so did not hesitate to use the device over and over again.
What am I trying to tell you here? Science has established as a fact that our “self” is totally depended on your brain function. When parts of the brain fails or is faulty, it affects our “self”. There are many brain failures such as genetic defects, mental retardation, injuries, mental illness and so on, some are born with defects, some are obtained later in life but they all affect the “self”. The only way that we can speculate an after life exists  is that there is a spiritual parallel world that records our memories, which defines our self awareness, as a duplicate of the actual brain function so that when the brain dies these memories are preserved and live on in some other dimension. Therefore your “self” would be identical, with all its shortcomings and defects of your real life experience. If the memories are altered it isn’t you any more. Will babies grow up in the afterlife, retardation and mental illnesses cured, old age reversed, bad memories wiped out? In that case you are, just like the patient with amnesia another person. The supposition that an afterlife exists is therefor a moot point. If there is, you cannot experience it. You died when your brain died, even if a duplicate lives on forever, convinced it was you.

 I have a dream. There is enough logical scientific evidence that awareness and memory are brain functions which are destroyed when the brain dies. Awareness and memory develop slowly when the brain develops, you are your own witness to that fact, and they get destroyed when the brain deteriorates as observed by Alzheimer’s disease sufferers. Therefor an afterlife is not possible, unless we resort to pure speculation (fantasy). The human brain is capable of making up any story, such as Superman, Star trek or God and this capability probably served us well during evolution to be able to cope with the totally unknown, but that time is past. My dream? If we could convince everyone that there is no afterlife, and that this short journey in this magnificent universe, after overcoming enormous big odds, is the only chance they will ever get, we would not have suicide bombers, or even soldiers willing to give up their lives for any cause. Just like nobody, after winning a big lottery would say, no thank you, I will wait for a bigger pot.
For a better world I Dream the following:

1. Everybody realizes there is no afterlife
2. We do find cures for mental illnesses
3. We find out how to repair genetic defects
4. We develop 100% renewable energy
   
5. We find ways to stabilize the population humanely
6. We find a way to reuse and recycle all our waste
7. We prevent extinction of the existing flora and fauna
8. We extend our life span to the maximum

Would any body willingly die? When you look at the list then the first requirement is absolutely necessary. The others are not fantasies either but actual possibilities in the future centuries. We don’t have to wait until we accomplish the others. We CAN start number one right now. This message must go out. The supernatural does NOT exist. I have outlined the evidence and logic that this is the case in my book. “Why You Won’t Go to Hell”. I am sure that further research in the sciences will strengthen that case. It is a completely different insight, using the latest research and applying Occam’s Razor to  the development of religion and the explanation of how the belief of the spirit world came about. I wrote it so that people like us, have ammunition to spread the message. I did not write it to become rich. I assure you that I will use most profit, if there is any, on ways to educate, especially our youngsters, who now get abused by parents and religious leaders to believe in obvious myths. Not only does this apply to religions but also to people who believe in anything supernatural: psychics, snake oil salesmen, conspiracy advocates, faith healers, medical quacks, pseudo scientist, and so the list goes on and on. I would appreciate it if you also comment on this website’s blog page so we can see all of your comments of all the different groups together, rather than on facebook alone were the comments only reach the group. Your comments are so valuable, and what I learn from you will be passed on in my blogs and possible future book(s).
PS Since you are here, please visit the home page.
 

Many of us regard the method of reward and punishment to be a valuable method of controlling people. Many religions employ this method. The reward for good behavior is Heaven, the punishment  for bad conduct is Hell (or their equivalencies). The problem is the determination of what is good or bad or what is moral.  The preacher who declared the recent murders in Florida were justified because it is moral to kill gays according to his interpretation of the bible, a sentiment echoed by Pat Robinson, would indicate that the murderers were actually agents of God to punish the sin of homosexuality? Does the murderer of an abortion doctor get awarded with eternal life in Heaven? Does a suicide bomber get awarded 72 virgins? Some other religious leaders even argued that 9/11 was God’s punishment for the sins of the American people. The method of reward and punishment to control people is a two edged sword. The argument that without religion we do not have morals, is a ridiculous argument. The opposite is actually the case. Morals must be adapted all the time to adjust to the circumstances we are living in.  The ancient “morals” became written in stone and did not adapt to the evolving complex societies which developed after.  We have to adapt and evolve to make it possible to live together in more and more complex and always changing environment.