Is the soul eternal

[Entropist]

It would be nice to live forever.

Not really. To me, living forever would actually be hell. I think Buddhists at least had the right idea on this point-- it is bliss to no longer exist (contrary to what many new agers feel, to be reincarnated, at least according to Buddhism, means you screwed up royally). The Abrahamic religions, on the other hand, are content to place the supposed continuance of the self into categories of eternal "pleasure" or eternal "pain" and question the issue no further. Buddhism at least opts out of this game altogether: Existence is suffering.

I think the desire for immortality is a biological need projected as a perceived metaphysical necessity, a weird aberration of the mind. Its understandable since it is really impossible for one to imagine themselves not existing, and so one feels the need to posit the existence of a "soul" which exists independently of the body. But I am glad to be a mortal creature. I don't think I could stand my own self for another 50 years, even if I were in some so-called "paradise." I've been locked in this prison for 40 years already-- why would I want that to continue forever? *shudder*