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Re-incarnation/'past-lives',etc. Any thoughts?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Carlgustav, Sep 21, 2014.

  1. Carlgustav

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    I am not a religious person, in the sense of believing one set of fables and rules as compared to another set. I don't really believe in a single GOD entity who sees all and knows all and controls all. I do have some belief in a consciousness beyond our seeing or proving, more in line with Eastern religions, I guess. Which leads me to my question.:

    Do you believe in reincarnation? Do you have any sense of having lived before? Do you know anyone who thinks they have?

    I have a belief that I (possibly) have memories of being a sailor in WWII who died in the Pacific. And 'memories' is really too strong of a word. It is more of a vague perception. Feel free to call me loony or nutso if you like. No offense will be taken!
     
  2. Gen

    Gen
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    Well, we are all products of physical reincarnation. Living matter is constantly evolving and recycling itself.

    Do I believe in spiritual reincarnation? Not personally. If life is never physically recreated exactly as it once was, then why would a mind or soul be any different?
     
  3. Carlgustav

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    Note to GEN:

    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
    Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio

    I quote this all in good fun, respecting your beliefs. I'm just hoping to get some stories about people who may have had some experiences/feelings, whatever.
     
  4. Jwis

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    Gen, I like how you summed it up about physical recreation.

    There are times where I have deja vu I swear I have done it, when I know I haven't. Could this be a memory from a past life trying to surface? Maybe.

    But overall I don't think there is, and it's not depressing to me. What we do while we are here is all that matters. If you want to live on, make a difference in the life of another and they will remember you after you have passed. To me that is still a part of me existing.
     
  5. Carlgustav

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    C'mon. Wasn't somebody Genghis Khan or Catherine the Great or someone else exciting?
     
  6. Ticklish Fish

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    well then. if the population is increasing and there were past lives, most of us probably won't live too long.

    also does population evolving means that there's "new life" creating? maybe some people don't have a "past life" cause they're "new life"?

    IDK
     
  7. Aussie792

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    Given the propagandistic bullshit reincarnation is used for in conservative Hinduism (telling Untouchables to obey in order to be granted a better existence in the next life), I feel like it's a very easily-abused concept I'd rather not entertain.
     
  8. radicalmuffins

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    I don't know if I do believe in it but I get what you mean. I get many feelings and dreams about me being in places I've never been before. These dreams don't occur in the present time as well.. Somewhere in between the 1800s to the 1900s. I also feel a deeper connection with that point in history.
     
  9. AsheTheHuman

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    At the very least, I think reincarnation is FAR more likely to exist than a Heaven or Hell, or whatever eternal afterlife one may believe in. At the most, I believe it exists to an extent. What I mean is, after a while, even if it may take billions of years, atoms that were once something else reform themselves as something new. We don't have memories, or if we do they're very faint ones, but what was once sentient, then dead, is now sentient again. That's what I use to cope with death, and I dunno. It just feels right. I can't explain why it makes sense to me, but it does. It's no more ridiculous than any religion that you can name.
     
  10. HuskyPup

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    I can't see I really believe in it per se, but there are times I try to meditate, and see what comes to mind, perhaps as way of 'free association': But one image that keeps coming back:

    I am an elderly black woman, living in an old, square farmhouse in Ohio, the two story sort with that square room on top, known as a widow's peak. My husband has died many years earlier, and I chose to stay single; I don't have any real family left, yet have been left enough to live on. It is sometime in the 1920s, and I am very well educated, and spend a good deal of time reading. Around me, fields stretch off into the distance, though around the house there are some very old elm and maple trees. I am content, and feel a sense of wisdom that I don't feel compelled to boat about. I feel no need to prove myself right, or to prove anything, for that matter.

    But other than this image that struck me from who knows where in the unconscious, I can't say I've ever felt like I 'was' anyone at some past time, even if only symbolically.
     
    #10 HuskyPup, Sep 21, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2014
  11. Tightrope

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    I do not. I don't even want to think about it.

    That said, I have been a few places in my life that felt eerily familiar, as though I had lived there in a past life. Perhaps it could have just been that the places and I were an incredibly good match in terms of "energy," which I also don't believe in. However, I do believe in "vibes" as opposed to "energy."
     
  12. Gen

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    No worries. Actually, I don't believe that our stances have to conflict either. Since matter is recycled, I don't think it would be completely out of the realm of possibility that certain information can be passed on after life is recreated. Who knows? My stance was merely that the molecular combination that makes our actual minds, identities, personalities, etc, would likely never be recreated completely.
     
  13. Damien

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    Yes to all three, although in my spiritual path of Buddhism, the term 'rebirth' is used, rather than 'reincarnation'. It's not considered a wonderful thing, though, but rather as something that ought to make us careful about what we say and do, because while good actions will lead to happy results in this or a future life, bad actions will lead to unhappy results in this or a future life. As for why we can't remember, well we can't even recall everything we've done in this lifetime, so why should we able to recall what we did before this lifetime? Most folks just can't do it, myself included, although as a very young child I had a few memories and feelings that are hard to explain as coming from my current life, to be honest.
     
  14. HuskyPup

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    Huh, to a striking degree, Buddhism and Christianity are very similar: Both have in place systems to punish and reward. In the eastern version, we're made to suffer in future lives for doing 'bad' things, and rewarded for good by Karma; in Christianity, we end up going to Heaven or Hell, or even facing God's wrath or rewards here on Earth. It is odd to me, how so many religions have these mechanisms in place, to punish or reward, even after you die. How and why did the punish/reward paradigm get so tangled up in ideas of the afterlife?

    In any event, I don't mean to dismiss anybody's beliefs, but found this an odd point of convergence.
     
    #14 HuskyPup, Sep 21, 2014
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  15. MCairo

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    I do believe in reincarnation. Well, sort of.
    (Hope I don't offend anyone)
    You see, I don't believe in the Heaven or Hell idea. If a place like Heaven existed, where everything was peaceful and stable, I think people would eventually get pretty bored living there. Mind you, I am somewhat ignorant on the Christian faith, this is just my opinion.
    So, if there's no Heaven/Hell, one could say that after death there's simply...nothing. But I also don't believe that because I can't imagine that. In other words, I can't imagine the soul, spirit or whatever you call it ceasing to exist. Even when we sleep, we're still conscious in our dreams.
    Which is why I believe in reincarnation. Of course, I'm not sure if one is necessarily going to be reincarnated in our timeline or on our dimension/universe. I could die tomorrow and be born again as a Roman peasant, who knows.
    Do I have any proof of what I'm saying? Not really. Well, I don't have the feeling that I know a place that I've never been or any fragment of memory about past lives. However, there are some people that I feel that I had already known, even when meeting them for the first time. Of course, this can be just my imagination...Or not.
     
  16. Kaiser

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    I used to think the same thing, too. Well, similar enough. I asked a pastor about it, and their response, can be summed up like this:

    When you go to Hell, you just suffer. That's that. When you go Heaven, you'll just be fine with worshiping God. That's it. It's like a church service, 24/7, 365 days, sunrise to sunset, moonrise to moonset. But the thing is, you won't care.

    It sounds like slavery, to feed a narcissistic creator. But I say that with the mind I have now, not the mind, I assume I would have, if I were granted entry into Heaven.




    Okay, that said...

    I've had my moments of deja vu. My most recent one was, while driving, doing what I usually do. I came to a four way stop, and while waiting to let someone go, a car pulled up behind me and, for whatever reason, I felt like I had seen myself... in the situation I was currently in. Nothing fancy, just a car stopping behind me.

    Sometimes I have these deep reflective thoughts, which wind up making me feel empty. Not in a bad way, but more of a curious one. Curious in the sense, I want to know why, I feel like I was meant to do something, or have done something. Perhaps, if reincarnation is indeed what happens, I was some sort of leader or significant figure in the past. I have no absolute way of confirming or denying such hunches, but they are interesting to think about.
     
  17. Hexagon

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    I don't believe in reincarnation. It actually seems like a nice idea. You're free, not threatened with hell, and not created by a deity. Most of all, you have the comfort of thinking you're essence will persist after death. So I wouldn't be opposed to it. But I still don't believe, for the simple fact that the universe doesn't appear to have the capabilities to sustain consciousness outside of physical form, aka souls. What we see, what science tells us about everyday life, is pretty much all we get. There is more to be discovered, but not there. There is nothing mystical in the universe, and nothing terribly special about the human animal to distinguish it from a rock on a spiritual level.

    Oh, and Kaiser, yes you think it's slavery with the mind you have now, not the one with which you'd enter heaven. But surely it's wrong to take away the mind you have now, and would it really be you entering heaven and living the eternal afterlife of worship to a narcissist, or just something with your name?
     
    #17 Hexagon, Sep 22, 2014
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2014
  18. Quem

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    This is exactly what I wanted to say. :lol: To quote a line some might know, "we are all made of star dust.".

    I have no evidence for the concept of a "soul" and I don't have evidence for the concept of reincarnation.. There's no reason for me to believe in either of them.
     
  19. Hexagon

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    :slight_smile:
     
  20. PlantSoul

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    I believe in reincarnation. I'm a very spiritual person and it takes an important role in my religion, Buddhism.

    While I wouldn't say that I have yet uncovered tangible ties to a past life, I do feel ties to things. When I was younger, I had for a very long time, a very strong connection to England. When I was 16, I went to England. It was amazing in how I felt like I had been there before. There was an overwhelming familiarity that I sensed.

    I also feel connections with other time periods. As of late, I've been feeling a pull towards medieval England. Maybe, I lived back then. I've also been feeling a pull towards Scotland.