Why We Exist - Inferences from Science for an Explanation of Human Purpose

This independent and well-researched book attempts an answer to the question implicit in its title. Three chapters are devoted to a discussion of religious and scientific accounts of our origins, then a chapter on purpose. The sixth chapter describes the author's own view that life is part of an experiment being conducted in the 'solar laboratory'. This leads into a detailed discussion of the nature of memory, sleep, dreams, consciousness and death. Bell-Gam thinks that the NDE is 'very likely a by-product of the brain's back-up mechanism for processing and transmitting residual short-term memories in an emergency, in the same way that dreams are a by-product of memory consolidation during sleep'. He rejects the idea of a soul, arguing instead that what survives our physical demise is a huge databank of memories and experiences - not dissimilar from the Buddhist idea of skandhas. The treatment is impersonal, neglecting the feeling dimension. A final chapter considers the implications of his view, in which he encourages us to develop ourselves to the fullest, consistent with his idea of the intelligent designer of life. Space does not permit a more detailed consideration of the many interesting ideas in the book, but it makes for stimulating and informed reading.