Reincarnation

[Maya]

I have read/watched some stories regarding reincarnation in different religions and beliefs. I would like to know any thoughts regarding reincarnation, experiences and if you guys believe in it. Do you guys think that every living person here on Earth had past lives? Your insights are much appreciated.

 

[What 23]

In a way. Yes. No perhaps in a way.

 

[Foreigner]

If reincarnation is real then it might be more likely that we are part of one large mega consciousness that divides into smaller components, who become human. Sort of like how the ocean becomes the drop, then becomes the ocean. Otherwise, if one life = one soul, based on the number of humans around now, the souls would have to be coming from somewhere else in the universe.

Reincarnation makes sense to me, based on the personal experiences I've had. I was born with aptitudes and interests that no one else in my entire family (even extended) has, and they seem to come naturally to me. In travelling to different parts of the world, I've had vivid recollections of already being in certain places. When I visited Shao Lin Temple in 2009, I had such strong "deja visite" that I knew the layout of the place without having been there before, and could recognize what had changed since I was last there. It was like part of me was coming home while the ego of this life felt very confused and new to it all.

I don't know for sure obviously, and I'm open to the idea that I'll just become nothing when I die, but I've had some interesting circumstances that have given me pause.

 

[MyDoorsAreOpen]

Yes. I see no reason why that "I"-ness that is living itself through your eyes right now might not continue on to the first person experience of some other sentient being after this present life is over. Maybe not on this planet or right after this life ends. Reincarnation / rebirth is not really provable, though some of the cases that claim to support it are certainly intriguing. But I don't see anything that rules it out as impossible, and it definitely seems like a more sensible and plausible afterlife scenario than the folk concept of heaven most of us grew up with.

 

[tkarr]

We're just the electrical impulses in our brain, there's no essence of you or me seperate from our physical bodies.

 

[What 23]

But what are electrical impulses? Maybe these bodies simply facilitate us?

 

[tkarr]

But what are electrical impulses? Maybe these bodies simply facilitate us?

Maybe but there's no evidence to suggest such a thing. So to believe in it would just be wishful thinking, just like all the people who believe in heaven or praying. I think a person should formulate their believes based on evidence.

Everything we know suggests that consciousness is produced by electrical activity between the billions of neurons in your brain, and their connection to each other and the other parts of your nervous system throughout your body.

It's kind of a trendy thing these days, followed by lots of celebrities and such, to move past Christianity to Bhuddism as if it's any less baseless a belief system.

You as your consciousness and you as your physical body are one and the same. When you die the you that exists right now is gone for all eternity. Maybe the matter that makes up your body right now will find it's way into a new baby that's born sometime in the future, or a squirrel or a bird, but that won't be you.

 

[What 23]

You can't really know, though. The fact that two electrons can know what is up with each other across the galaxy, or what (quantum entanglement) is enough to make one realize how little they know about the nature of reality... IMO. And despite us having an idea as to what might say "consciousness", in the brain, we have no idea what the state of conscious experience actually is.

But much of the time, I see the same. But I can't just say reincarnation doesn't exist, and that what I see on the surface (bodies, flesh, and dirt) are all there is.

I don't think you understood my response. If consciousness is electrical, a result of electrochemical processes, as it is, then what are these things, and just how does that make consciousness? Do you know?

Step up to the edge. I highly doubt you can see the bottom. Look up. When does it stop? You can't know.


I guess... In my eyes, we might be, in fact it only seems logical, that we are at first not this body. Of course we began as something else. Sure we can look at the pieces in our microcosm, but on the macro, it all might make sense... That we are more than ourselves. Yourself is more than your conventionally known self. We need to just change our concept of what we are.

You might be one branch from the one. Might be one cell in a larger body. And perhaps it wasn't your past life... no more than this is really "your" body now (but it is, but reach out and so is that). But maybe with past lives, people... Some people simply have access for one reason or another, or many... Like certain chemicals are attracted to others, or shapes fit into others. I don't know.

How do you explain Foreigner's experience? Luck? Intuition? What are those?

I am not really sure if the I that I am will be able to retain the memory of this individual life, after death. "I" very well may still experience something... Heaven, Hell, or reincarnation on some level... But I doubt I will remember anything to make me aware of it. But I might catch glimpses. I may get hints. Sometimes I think I do now, but I haven't made my mind up what is up. I don't know.

We are "spirit" before body.

 

[tkarr]

Well there is lots of scientific research into how exactly consciousness is created by the brain. I've read a few books on these topics but I'm no expert.

There's no such thing as luck. And intuition? I'm sure if you could take all the statistics on people's intuitions and the outcomes, it would be wrong as much as it's right. But when someone's intuition proves right it's memorable and they tell everyone about it. When something happens that seems to defy reason, it's always some individual experiencing it of course, never something that can be observed and investigated. Like every person who says God talks to them.

I can't understand how people have these ideas and notions. Sure we don't know everything, but we certainly don't know, and furthermore, don't have any evidence whatsoever, that our consciousness is anything seperate from what goes on inside our heads. You can't rule them out, but everything we know points against it, so what is thinking about these things other than daydreaming?

We're made up of the same stuff as every other living thing, so do bacteria and caterpillars get reincarnated or go to heaven? Just because we're the first organism to hit the level of consciousness where we can displace ourselves from the present moment, think about the past and future and pass what we learn on, we assume we're special and therefore must be eternal in some sense? It's silly.

 

[What 23]

Good point on confirmation bias as far as intuition... But I found his story compelling enough to question standard ideas of reality... Again.

I respect your views. They are all that is really known (well you know what we can know). I don't really have anything constructive and finished right now in response, on the contrary. But my experience keeps me open.. And I am still trying to figure things out for myself.

Can you point to examples of this research? Just curious to bring it on the scales.

 

[tkarr]

I'll find some examples of such research.

One thing that I've always thought is pretty compelling in demonstrating that consciouness is a purely physical creation is drugs. Drugs can profoundly affect our consciousness, and they are simply chemicals interacting with the chemicals in our body. Say an honours student in college starts shooting heroin when he's 20. 15 years later he's 35 and has done great damage to his body and mind. He commits crimes to get his fix and doesn't give a damn about anything or anyone that gets in his way. He dies of an overdose. Is the essence of his "soul" or whatever we will call it, the eternal aspect of himself, the nice young man he was at 20, or is it the nihilistic drug addict he was at 35 when he died? A person's entire mindset and consciousness can change based on physical factors in their life in 15 years, and even far less. So is your soul or spirit some fixed, unchanging element of you seperate from the person you are in this life, and the person you may become later?

I just don't think any of us will ever find anything out over the couse of our lives in relation to these sort of questions. Whether we are finished when we die or some part of us lives on, goes to heaven, gets reincarnated. These are unknowable questions. Any insight or epiphany a person claims to have in regards to the subjects will be self created, certainly not one that they can share with others and have it's legitimacy seem obvious. So we're better off to just live honest, happy lives under the assumption that when we die it's all over, so we don't waste time. If something else happens, hopefully it's good, not hellfire for all of us who didn't follow Islam, or damnation because you weren't a Mormon and they were the one's who were right. But none of these religions, philosophies, etc. have any compelling reasons to make me want to live my life a certain way so as to position myself for what happens after this life. Rather I'll just live to try to be happy, which seems to be the most meaningful pursuit I've encountered, and in a way that doesn't infringe on others' ability to do the same.

 

[RobotRipping]

drugs as well have showen me that consciousness is purely physical. If i can mess with it with chemicals then i can obviously affect it physically.

However, i think there's just something special about life, the spectrum of our own emotions, the animals, fish, galaxies, possible universes or just one. It doesn't really matter how it works chemically but i think it's meaningful or special, this whole unfolding of the universe from a pile of matter and look what came of it. It's like seeing a fractal form into more and more beautiful fractals. I don't really live my life by a certain rules or way of thinking, I just stay open minded and hopefully science can evolve with us and we can actually figure out enough to give a pretty good guess of what's possible and not.

 

[What 23]

But drugs are of spirit.

 

[tkarr]

But drugs are of spirit.

Just alcohol

 

[BlueHues]

Anybody who suggests "there's no evidence..." of anything as a reason to not to not believe in it's possible existence....well, thats's kind of....I don't wanna say ignorant....

what about electricity and radio waves and computers?.....anybody who doubts that there's spiritual beings and spiritual energy today are the same people that would have doubted those things existed a few hundred years ago.....particularly radio waves, who the fuck would've ever guessed that shit existed?!

 

[-=SS=-]

Reincarnation is a belief for children, and those in less fortunate positions.. don't worry mr. cripple, next time around you'll get a better shot at life! Or mr. peasant, next time you'll be the king and i'll be the poor man! Also the idea that we get to live another life or have lived other lives.. first you need to ask who is doing the experiencing. A part of us may have lived other life strands, but if we are not identified with that part us it's irrelevant.. that organism died when it died, and you will cease when you die here.

If there is such a place where one can view life strands like the akashic records, then really we lay no claim to our own life strand. It was just a bit of film in the archive. Either way what the fuck does it matter if reincarnation is true or not when 99.99% of people have no idea where they were before they were born or where they will be after they die. There are more pressing questions than whether reincarnation is real.

 

[Magickduck]

It's kind of a trendy thing these days, followed by lots of celebrities and such, to move past Christianity to Bhuddism as if it's any less baseless a belief system.

I agree but,

You as your consciousness and you as your physical body are one and the same. When you die the you that exists right now is gone for all eternity. Maybe the matter that makes up your body right now will find it's way into a new baby that's born sometime in the future, or a squirrel or a bird, but that won't be you.

Don't you find this baseless as well?

 

[What 23]

If there is such a place where one can view life strands like the akashic records, then really we lay no claim to our own life strand. It was just a bit of film in the archive.

This is an interesting thought. I felt something quite similar. I think at times for one reason or another, we might pick up on frequencies, or something... That allow us to see. Maybe some are more susceptible, as well.

 

[-=SS=-]

This is an interesting thought. I felt something quite similar. I think at times for one reason or another, we might pick up on frequencies, or something... That allow us to see. Maybe some are more susceptible, as well.

Oh definitely. I've had numerous pre-cognitive flashes of my own future whilst asleep, which also suggests there is somewhere outside of space and time that contains everything.

 

[RobotRipping]

yeah prophetic dreams aren't unheard of. Due to sleep paralysis i constantly end up out of my body and it just shows me my body and my spirit are intricately connected but not one in the same as i still have full consciousness yet my brain is for the most part asleep and body paralyzed. Never reached the akashak records tho, i've tried to lol but usually i get this intense fear that my spirit is not going to come back to my body if i go too far, so i basically float around my apartment.

I don't necessarily believe i am experiencing my body's separation from the spirit/soul but it is sure as hell convincing when you are going through it and because of that, i know right now, science has no idea about stuff like this because it is metaphysical and unobservable, so science can neither confirm nor deny and i'm not going to bet on probabilities of one theory over another when neither have any real evidence. Even if the consciousness is created by the human (i think this is indeed the case) and the evolution of matter/energy, who cares? it's still there isn't it? the fact we can even contemplate this kind of thing is amazing in its own way.

as for reincarnation,i don't think it's really logical, i'm sure there's more than enough consciousness (since it's created by the physical form anyway) to go around for each individual to go on until our universe dies. If reincarnation is true then most of us are going to end up as insects or bacteria if you look at the numbers.

the interesting thing is that if each body makes up a perspective, a view from a single point of the universe and that is our consciousness then if we were to add all these consciousnesses together then that would that encompasses all viewpoints of all living creatures and maybe non living creates. Which i find fascinating as well, just the idea of it, the cosmic consciousness just makes sense to me.

And sry for the long post, i'm a bit spun.