You Don’t Really Exist!

I know you think you exist but if you will give me your attention for a few minutes, I will persuade you that your existence isn’t quite what you always thought it was.  
 
This won’t take long.
 
Some people dive into arguments without first agreeing exactly what it is they are arguing about.  I am not one of those people. So let’s first agree what we mean by “exist.” 
 
It will be easiest to use three examples to distinguish between different kinds of existence. Let’s use bowling balls, shadows and Mickey Mouse. 
 
A bowling ball has mass. If you ever dropped a bowling ball on your foot you will be acquainted with this concept. A bowling ball can be put into a duffel bag and transported. We can call this kind of existence fundamental. 

https://www.tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1948
 
Shadows have no mass. You can’t peel a shadow off the ground, stuff it in a bag and transport it anywhere. Yet we agree that shadows exist. A shadow’s existence is dependent on the proper alignment of a light source, an opaque object to cast a shadow and a surface on which the shadow will be cast. Shadows are destroyed by interfering with the arrangement of the light source, the opaque object and the surface where the shadow will be cast. This kind of existence is called “emergent” because the phenomena emerges when conditions are just right. 

https://www.tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1949
 
Mickey Mouse has an even weaker grip on existence than a shadow. You have never actually seen Mickey Mouse. Mickey is just an idea – just a concept. You have seen dolls, costumes and screen images that look Iike Mickey Mouse. But these are only images that conform to the defining qualities of Mickey Mouse. Mickey has a certain look and a certain personality. He doesn’t have any tattoos, scars or five o’clock shadow. He doesn’t smoke, cuss, drink alcohol or slap Mini Mouse around and run trains on her with his mousy buddies. The real Mickey Mouse is just an idea, the intellectual property of the Disney Company. Mickey Mouse has no mass and cannot be transported in a bag but, as a piece of intellectual property, Mickey can, nevertheless be bought and sold or licensed. This kind of existence can be called “conceptual.” 

https://www.tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1950
 
So, are you more like a bowling ball, a shadow or like Mickey Mouse?
 
Before you answer this question, consider the following:
 
Your body has mass and can be transported. But is your body really what people mean when they refer to you?
 
Your body changes constantly. It grows from a microscopic size to your full adult size in about 18-20 years. Your body changes in size and appearance as your life progresses. Despite the physical changes that can render you unrecognizable, anyone who knows enough about your history can still verify that it is you despite all the changes In your appearance.

Even the material that makes up your body changes over time. Your body is 75% water by weight. NONE of the water in your body today was in your body two weeks ago. That means 75% of the material that forms your body is being replaced every couple of weeks. The rest of your body’s material is also undergoing relentless substitution, but more slowly than the water. Within 10 years all the atoms that make up your body today will have been replaced by other atoms and the ones that make up your body today will be back in the dirt, the water or in the atmosphere.  
 
Yet, it’s always still you.

https://www.tuscl.net/photo.php?id=1951  
 
A minute or two after you die, your body will still look the same as it did before you died and the materials will all still be there. But people will definitely say that you are gone even though your body is still lying there drawing even more flies than usual.
 
Are you more like a bowling ball, like a shadow or like Mickey Mouse?
 
Is your existence fundamental, emergent or conceptual? 
 
Face it, what defines you is your personality – something that has no mass, can’t be put into a duffel bag and transported across town and that can’t even cast a shadow. Your personality is emergent. It emerges from the sum of your life experiences - the knowledge and memories stored between your ears (but only so long as your brain is still functioning).

Some people like to call this a “soul” but I think “personality” is a more useful and less confusing term.
 
When you turn off the TV and Mickey Mouse disappears, no one above age 5 will ask, “Where did Mickey go?” When your brain dies, your personality is snuffed out forever. There is no reason whatsoever to believe that your personality (or your “soul” if you prefer that word) will persist after your death. 
 
Why would it? 

Your existence is not fundamental.

It never was. 

We are each just an ephemeral, emergent personality, no more substantial than smoke in the wind.