If consciousness existed apart from the body, bodily damage wouldn’t cause unconsciousness. Consciousness as we understand it is clearly tied to the brain: let something mess up your brain, and see how conscious you are.
The notion of the soul is separate. The question is, is there more to a human than an immediate consciousness (a set of perceptions at any given instant)?
It’s simple. When we die, we’ll either know or we won’t.
Which brings on another question. If someone dies, what happens to their consciousness? Do you just see black for all of eternity? Or do you take life as another?
Well I don’t know, you’d have to ask a dead guy. OH! WAIT!
Personally I believe in the Bible’s view. Good people go to Hevean and ev0l people get chucked into the big ole’ firey lake. FOREVAH!
¬_¬
Unless someone dead visits us.
You know how psychics and other people contact with the dead 'n shit? If I were to contact the dead, that’d be the first fucking question.
“When you die, do you just see black, or get re-incarnated as another person?”
Either that, or:
“What’s the meaning of life?”
>:D
For the last time, the meaning of life is cheese. Yeesh.
I’d go with “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes” with this one. I believe that everything disappears when you die, like passing out for all eternity.
So you’d be uh… ‘living’ an endless dream?
No, he’s saying you’d just cease to exist entirely.
I can’t imagine not being able to think, or see anything, and not be there… I don’t think anyone can.
That’s the point. It’s beyond our comprehension completely, so there’s no point discussing it. Not that that’s going to stop us.
I’d consider believing you dream an endless dream, or perhaps living an endless flashback, and living your life all over again.
But not exisiting? If there really is a god, I don’t think s/he would let us ‘live’ such a fate.
I do believe in God, for the simple reason that if God/Creator/Thing didn’t exist, what created the first thing (not sure if this would be particle, so thing will have to suffice).
God is a particle. 
We all started at tiny particles, which changed due to the world changing in environment. So we were once particles, which evolved, and evolved, and evolved. 'ntil we were true humans.
I <3 science.
Counsciousness is part of our minds, it’s what gives us our abilities of perception and sense. Once we lose that, we’re dead. Therefore our conciousness can’t exist independantly of the body. It must always be there, even if we aren’t always (ugh) conscious of it.
That’s my view summed up very quickly, I’d go into more detail but it’s too late to seriously debate this kind of stuff for me.
EDIT: Oh, and as for that whole “very first thing to come into existence” mind-fuck. I spent a while thinking about that a couple days ago and I came to the conclusion that time must work in a circle. That means that there would never have been a very first thing, particles and energy would have always been there and once our universe dies, time will loop and the universe will be reborn.
Ah, but on the whole “God loves us too much to let X happen to us,” if that’s the case, then why did God kick us out of Eden, let Eve be tempted, let Lucifer fall? You could continue it all the way to the start of the world. And even now. Why do we suffer? Why is there continuing evil? God apparently has his own plans for us.
As for the whole not being able to comprehend X, then maybe we just need a new way to look at it.
Cala. Then how do you propose we look at non-existance? By all means, explain it.
I never said I had an answer. Consider me a modern day muckraker.
Well, it’s not possible to think of non-existance.