Thoughts about reincarnation

[SeattleUte]

Of all the metaphysical speculations about the hereafter reincarnation makes the most sense to me. It makes a lot more sense than the Judeo-Christian dogma that we come to this earth for a fleeting moment (measured against etermity) hopelessly freighted with inequities and factors beyond our control, and a "final judgment," based upon our comportment in that infinitely small particle of time, will determine our lot for all eternity to come.

Reincarnation dovetails nicely with evolution. It appeals to a historical perpective such as my own. We really are like raindrops (I tip my hat here to Lex de Azivedo, from whom I first learned the analogy) coming down coming down, and evaporating and coming down over and over again. All of us pushing the rock up the hill, becoming better individually and making the world better through experiencing infinite permutations of lives.

Don't you feel in your gut that you've been here before? Watch your children, they seem to be born with a latent understanding of the earth and human experience and culture. You watch them awaken to life and all its wonder and profundity and complexity and it seems they've been here before. Even their inate appreciation for what a castle is, all that it connotes, was something they always knew.

But even this leads to some unsavory thoughts. It's hard not to slip into the Mark E. Peterson line of reasoning that people are fortunate in this life becuase they were valiant in a prior one.

Also, I've wondered about my prior lives. Do I even want to know about them? Certainaly we don't know for a reason. Chances are I'd learn about unbearable tragedies, unbearable loss. What if I was a truly heinous person? The minute I try to console myself that that must not be so, I find my consolation to be Mark E. Peterson's warped reasoning. .. .

[Drunk Tank]

SU, it is like you were reading my mind. I was thinking about reincarnation this morning while in the shower. I usually dont think much about reincarnation, as I dont really subscribe to the theory, but for some reason this morning it was all I could think of. I'm not sure what sparked the thoughts.

Who was I before? What life experiences have I been through? What experiences will future lives bring? Will I have the same traits, personality, etc... What bearing if any have my past actions brought about in my current life and what actions in my current life may have bearing in my future lives? It was interesting to think about, and a bit overwhelming at the same time.

As I said earlier, I dont really subscribe to the theory, but the thought of it is intriguing.

[Moliere]

Don't you feel in your gut that you've been here before? Watch your children, they seem to be born with a latent understanding of the earth and human experience and culture. You watch them awaken to life and all its wonder and profundity and complexity and it seems they've been here before. Even their inate appreciation for what a castle is, all that it connotes, was something they always knew.

When I see kids grow up it astounds me how much they observe and replicate. I think a lot of what your sentence is getting at is the replication of what a child has seen you do or act or say and not so much because they lived some life before this life. Each one of my kids has progressively learned their letters/counting/mannerisms faster than those that are older and I attribute most of that to the fact they replicate what they see.

[Jeff Lebowski]

This is worth a reposting:

Reincarnation

"What does Reincarnation mean?"
A cowpoke asked his friend.
His pal replied, "It happens when
Yer life has reached its end.
They comb yer hair, and warsh yer neck,
And clean yer fingernails,
And lay you in a padded box
Away from life's travails."

"The box and you goes in a hole,
That's been dug into the ground.
Reincarnation starts in when
Yore planted 'neath a mound.
Them clods melt down, just like yer box,
And you who is inside.
And then yore just beginnin' on
Yer transformation ride."

"In a while, the grass'll grow
Upon yer rendered mound.
Till some day on yer moldered grave
A lonely flower is found.
And say a hoss should wander by
And graze upon this flower
That once wuz you, but now's become
Yer vegetative bower."

"The posy that the hoss done ate
Up, with his other feed,
Makes bone, and fat, and muscle
Essential to the steed,
But some is left that he can't use
And so it passes through,
And finally lays upon the ground
This thing, that once wuz you."

"Then say, by chance, I wanders by
And sees this upon the ground,
And I ponders, and I wonders at,
This object that I found.
I thinks of reincarnation,
Of life and death, and such,
And come away concludin': 'Slim,
You ain't changed, all that much.'"

[LA Ute]

So now we have a question to ponder: Who was SU in his prior lives? My guess is that most recently he was Dostoevsky's valet.

[cowboy]

Don't you feel in your gut that you've been here before? Watch your children, they seem to be born with a latent understanding of the earth and human experience and culture. You watch them awaken to life and all its wonder and profundity and complexity and it seems they've been here before. Even their inate appreciation for what a castle is, all that it connotes, was something they always knew.

Perhaps, and I know I'm talking crazy here, there is this thing called the pre-existence where our spirits were taught about life on earth and may have even been able to watch history unfold. Then, when we come to earth and gain a body, all things we learned and saw are gradually brought to our remembrance as we progress. I know, foolish talk.

[il Padrino Ute]

So now we have a question to ponder: Who was SU in his prior lives? My guess is that most recently he was Dostoevsky's valet.

Or perhaps he was Brigham Young.

As a Ute fan, I say thanks for founding the U!

[YOhio]

SU, beautiful post.

[Indy Coug]

I remember reading somewhere about the possibility that people who died in infancy would return to the earth during the Millennium to get a more extended dose of mortality.

Making the huge assumption that claim is true, isn't that a form of reincarnation?

[TripletDaddy]

I have never subscribed to the notion that we will be judged solely by what we do on Earth. I know that this has been taught by lazy Sunday School teachers and well-meaning missionaries alike, but a closer look at our core beliefs reveals that our judgment will be based upon the summum bonum of our entire existence......the pre-mortal sphere, mortality, the spirit world, the Millennial reign.....agency has always been and will always be a key component of each of these phases and this is actually a very broad swath from which to cull a sample size for judgment.

This makes more sense to me than to think that I was once a horse and now I am a man. Although, my once being a horse would certainly explain a few things..........not THAT sickos! I'm talking about my ability to run really fast. Plus I love to snack on apples!

SeattleUte, this is an interesting post because you open the door to a belief in previous existence and future existence beyond this mortal coil.

[Non Sequitur]

I remember reading somewhere about the possibility that people who died in infancy would return to the earth during the Millennium to get a more extended dose of mortality.

Making the huge assumption that claim is true, isn't that a form of reincarnation?

As a reward or punishment?

[creekster]

Of all the metaphysical speculations about the hereafter reincarnation makes the most sense to me. It makes a lot more sense than the Judeo-Christian dogma that we come to this earth for a fleeting moment (measured against etermity) hopelessly freighted with inequities and factors beyond our control, and a "final judgment," based upon our comportment in that infinitely small particle of time, will determine our lot for all eternity to come.

Reincarnation dovetails nicely with evolution. It appeals to a historical perpective such as my own. We really are like raindrops (I tip my hat here to Lex de Azivedo, from whom I first learned the analogy) coming down coming down, and evaporating and coming down over and over again. All of us pushing the rock up the hill, becoming better individually and making the world better through experiencing infinite permutations of lives.

Don't you feel in your gut that you've been here before? Watch your children, they seem to be born with a latent understanding of the earth and human experience and culture. You watch them awaken to life and all its wonder and profundity and complexity and it seems they've been here before. Even their inate appreciation for what a castle is, all that it connotes, was something they always knew.

But even this leads to some unsavory thoughts. It's hard not to slip into the Mark E. Peterson line of reasoning that people are fortunate in this life becuase they were valiant in a prior one.

Also, I've wondered about my prior lives. Do I even want to know about them? Certainaly we don't know for a reason. Chances are I'd learn about unbearable tragedies, unbearable loss. What if I was a truly heinous person? The minute I try to console myself that that must not be so, I find my consolation to be Mark E. Peterson's warped reasoning. .. .

While the idea of reincarnation has some nice appeal, i fail to see how it makes any more sense or has any more attraction than Christianity. For example, in order for it to eliminate inequities, as I understand it from your description, it would requite a perfect gatekeeper, a perfect judgment of past lives and merit for the next life. Random life assignments will inevitably lead to inequities. No less difficult to swallow than the christian model. In fact, it seems to me that the reincarnation model is more likely to be inequitable or uneven.

Moreover, I fail to see how it dovetails with evolution at all. And you are now relying on a 'gut' feeling to conclude that we are experiencing an infinite permutation of lives? And given that fifty thousand years ago there were only a very few humans, where did all the current souls comes from? Or do some of your apst lives include stints as microbes or insects? And how do you KNOW this system? Is it your gut feeling? Surely after all the ridicule you have heaped on believers in spiritual manifestations of the truth you are not going to fall back on a gut feeling for your truth?

ANd a castle? I suppose this is like little boys innately wanting to play war? I think evolution explains this much better than reincarnation, and with many fewer complicating factors. We innately like and understand a castle because we innately fear and want to protect ourselves from the non-tribal enemy or the predators of the night. That is a lot easier than thinking I used to be genghis khan's yak herder or some such.

From a purely objective point of view I fail to see how this view of life has any more rational or natural probability of being correct.

[myboynoah]

While the idea of reincarnation has some nice appeal, i fail to see how it makes any more sense or has any more attraction than Christianity. For example, in order for it to eliminate inequities, as I understand it from your description, it would requite a perfect gatekeeper, a perfect judgment of past lives and merit for the next life. Random life assignments will inevitably lead to inequities. No less difficult to swallow than the christian model. In fact, it seems to me that the reincarnation model is more likely to be inequitable or uneven.

Moreover, I fail to see how it dovetails with evolution at all. And you are now relying on a 'gut' feeling to conclude that we are experiencing an infinite permutation of lives? And given that fifty thousand years ago there were only a very few humans, where did all the current souls comes from? Or do some of your apst lives include stints as microbes or insects? And how do you KNOW this system? Is it your gut feeling? Surely after all the ridicule you have heaped on believers in spiritual manifestations of the truth you are not going to fall back on a gut feeling for your truth?

ANd a castle? I suppose this is like little boys innately wanting to play war? I think evolution explains this much better than reincarnation, and with many fewer complicating factors. We innately like and understand a castle because we innately fear and want to protect ourselves from the non-tribal enemy or the predators of the night. That is a lot easier than thinking I used to be genghis khan's yak herder or some such.

From a purely objective point of view I fail to see how this view of life has any more rational or natural probability of being correct.

Well, I guess it's true what they say; one can leave reincarnationism, but one can't leave reincarnationism alone.

[beefytee]

I have never subscribed to the notion that we will be judged solely by what we do on Earth. I know that this has been taught by lazy Sunday School teachers and well-meaning missionaries alike, but a closer look at our core beliefs reveals that our judgment will be based upon the summum bonum of our entire existence......the pre-mortal sphere, mortality, the spirit world, the Millennial reign.....agency has always been and will always be a key component of each of these phases and this is actually a very broad swath from which to cull a sample size for judgment.

Hasn't the pre-mortal judgment already taken place? Didn't that happen before we came to earth (or followed Satan)?

[FMCoug]

I have never subscribed to the notion that we will be judged solely by what we do on Earth. I know that this has been taught by lazy Sunday School teachers and well-meaning missionaries alike, but a closer look at our core beliefs reveals that our judgment will be based upon the summum bonum of our entire existence......the pre-mortal sphere, mortality, the spirit world, the Millennial reign.....agency has always been and will always be a key component of each of these phases and this is actually a very broad swath from which to cull a sample size for judgment.

I think the "mortal life is what matters" thing is largely cultural and is based on a desire to get people to be good / do good works.