The existence of the immortal soul

Well the first thing that I will look at is your claim that buddhism has been teaching that our brains can produce the illusion of consciousness due to evolution. If this is not the case and you are simply stating that buddhism and modern science came to similar conclusions about the nature of perception then i apologize, however that is not how you have worded your argument so I will continue under the assumption that you meant that buddhism teaches that doctrine. This does not make any sense considering Siddhartha Gautama the founder of buddhism existed long before the idea of evolution was accepted by science. Siddhartha would have had no knowledge of evoultion or the brain so he could not have come to the conclusion that through evolution our brains developed the ability to produce the illusion of consciousness. So your first argument from buddhism if I understand it properly is simply invalid. Furthermore any scientific ideas that state the brain produces the illusion of consciousness are flawed theory not fact and heres why. Modern science admits that the brain is made of the very same particles that everything else in the universe is made up of. Things such as rocks, chairs, and entire galaxies. According to modern physicists these particles are not conscious. Since the brain consists totally of non conscious particles the brain itself cannot produce consciousness the same way anything else made up of particles such as a rock cannot produce consciousness. The idea that the brain produces consciousness is based on mere faith not evidence. Although the buddhists may say that the brain produces consciousness, most modern scientists admit that modern science cannot explain this. Scientists such as evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. I also have the great pleasure of being friends with a practicing cognitive psychologist, this man has a Phd in understanding the brain, how it works and how the perceptions of the brain influence our realities. He has told me that modern neuroscience cannot explain how consciousness is produced by the brain. . http://www.google.com... I will also address the fact that apes have consciousness. Does it mean they have an immortal soul? It most certainly does! I am a strong believer that all life not just human life is worthy of love and respect and if apes have consciousness then they certainly have souls as well. I assume that you were under the impression that I am a christian, which I am not. Im on my own path developing my own spiritual ideas and understandings of things. If anything though I identify much more strongly with animistic nature based spirituality such as that practiced by the American Indians. Finally I will answer the questions you have for me. To your question as to what is consciousness, it is simply our sense of self awareness, our ability so realize that we are all individual beings. So for the second question do I envision the immortal soul as a form of cosmic consciousness? I do not, I view the soul as the immortal essence of the individual. This soul functions by working through the physical brain as a medium for understanding the physical world. Finally the immortal soul certainly allows us to have emotions and feelings after death because it is reincarnated into a new body. In the case that the soul through the practice of great virtue and compassion escapes the cycle of reincarnation and enters the spirit world it still has the emotions and feelings which it had learned in the physical realm.