TheBanyanTree: Philosophy, The Heart and Other Questions

[Jim Miller]

Another man's heart beats in my chest. The original DNA match was exorcized
and killed at approximately 2AM on July 28, 2004. My heart donor suffered a
brain injury that destroyed all brain electrical activity and for all
practical purposed he was dead to the world. His body was kept alive by
machines until viable organs could be removed.

 

The majority of humans believe that all humans posses a soul ("The essential
being of a person, regarded as immaterial and immortal: spirit) which
departs the physical body at the time of death. Often, possibly only within
a poetic sense, the soul is attributed to the heart, as in he acted from his
heart; he has a good heart. We know the heart is directly impacted and
reacts to emotion, ie; his heart skipped a beat when he saw her, or; his
pulse raced at the sound of gunfire.

 

Without a heartbeat, the remainder of one's physical existence dies. The
brain ceases to function almost immediately due to oxygen starvation, and
cell death begins within approximately five minutes.

 

Here is the question; for my heart donor, did death occur when the brain
activity ceased, or when the body died because the heart was removed? Did
the soul depart at the failure of the brain to function? (There are recorded
incidents of those who believe that they experienced an existence outside
their body, before returning, when they were already pronounced dead - no
heartbeat.) If the soul follows the heart, did my soul depart when my heart
died, and finally, is it rational to believe, if we have a soul, that I now
am in possession of, not mine, but another man's soul? 

 

By the way, I don't have an appetite for new foods, and I've experienced no
changes in my interests or habits. But then, would I know, if in fact, I am
possessed by another man's essence? 

 

Things that keep me awake at night.

 

Jim Miller