A question for reincarnation experts/believers

[kslib]

I'm interested in how this works. If the population of the world is growing, does the population of the other living things necessarily get smaller? (only so many "souls", so a limited number of living things on the earth)

:shrug:

I'm searching for some faith. A little background--I was brought up in the Charismatic christian faith, that doesn't work for me, but the idea that we just fizzle out when we die doesn't really make sense to me either (perhaps because I don't WANT it to). Since energy has to go somewhere and is not destroyed, reincarnation makes some sense to me, but I don't know a lot about it. I'd be interested in everyone's thoughts, and if anyone can suggest a good resource, that would be great too!!!

Thanks!!!

[momzno1]

1. the explanation that I have heard

is that we are not the only planet, or "school of learning" in the Universe, so the number of souls available for incarnation is huge.
Some believe that we have chosen to reincarnate en masse in this time period because of all of the "learning opportunities" and changes in the world at this time.

brian weiss wrote a bunch of books on past life regression that are great. Many Lives, Many Masters -- is his first book. He was a traditional psychiatrist who came to believe in reincarnation after he accidentally regressed a patient to a previous life when he suggested she go to "the time the problem started" while under hypnosis.

[ixion]

2. here's a wiki link

that may provide some info for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation

My personal opinion is that since our molecules retain a collective memory of the entire timeline of their history (meaning the molecules in our bodies have been around for billions of years, and hold a memory of that experience) that the molecules which comprise our body will naturally retain memories from previous human instances.

Note: I am a Pantheist / Buddhist (proponent of the Great Middle Way)

[kslib]

11. Good link!

I'm interested to know if you were "born" into this belief (that is raised this way) or if you have come to it from another faith or no faith.

[ixion]

14. Thanks!

I've come about this belief from my own research over the years.

Albeit my father is a scientist, I was raised as a Catholic, and went through a brief stint as a 'born-again' Christian, but dumped the whole Christian thing all together when I was a Freshman in college.

That decision led to many years of research -- reading about all types of religions and spiritual pursuits -- and forming my own set of beliefs.

I describe myself as a spiritual person, not a religious one, and have often said that I would become a monk if it weren't for the religion. ;-)

[kslib]

15. We must be kindred spirits!

Sounds almost exactly like my situation, but this is towards the beginning of my research.

[ixion]

16. cool!

Always nice to bump into a kindred spirit. :hi:

It has been and continues to be a fascinating journey for me.

Here's to wishing that yours is the same. :toast:

[seaj11]

23. I never thought of it that way.

That would mean that a being had two channels to the past: in its molecular being, and its life force (its soul), which is reincarnated (that's my personal belief). But no organism keeps the same molecules throughout its life. We'd be losing and gaining residual memories every second of the day, as our cells die and are replenished. All is transient.

Elle (also a Buddhist)
http://www.nophicent.org

[jody]

3. “from where do we come, to where do we go”

Religion, philosophy, and science all pose the same question “from where do we come, to where do we go” where I use “we” to mean self, perhaps the only thing about which one can make a positive assertion although even that is suspect. I don’t believe anyone has provided a definitive answer to those two questions.

Your comment focuses on energy and that is very insightful. As a digression, if one mixes red, green, and blue paint (material substances) the resultant color is black often associated with evil. If one mixes red, green, and blue light (energy) the resultant color is white often associated with good and gods.

:hi:

On edit add: I strongly recommend you speed read "Story of Philosophy" by Bryan Magee

[kslib]

13. Interesting.

I'd never thought of that before. I'm not sure about the whole good vs. evil phenomenon. I think we all have a little of both (or at least the capacity for both), some people just show one more than the other. :shrug: I'm sure there are exceptions that I'm not thinking of...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. I tend to think....

that our souls are just pieces of one big soul, when we die, it's absorbed into the life energy of the planet (universe, whatever)and each baby that is born gets it's own piece of the collective 'soul'

:eyes: it's an incomplete theory, I might figure it out before I die.......

[jody]

5. And then you will know . . . . or not! n/t

[kslib]

12. I like that. n/t

[SheilaT]

6. New souls come into existence

constantly.

I can't figure out why a limited number of souls seems to be a valid counter-proof to reincarnation, and yet to any other theological system.

Here are two phenomenal books to read:
Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls both by Michael Newton. He's a hypnotherapist who stumbled across past lives somewhat accidentally in his practice, and wound up asking a lot of questions about life between lives. Among the things discussed is how souls are born from the "over-soul".

[lady lib]

19. These books are great!

I love Michael Newton's work! He reports on his sessions with clients where he regresses them to their "between lives" (rather than their past lives). His patients describe how the universe is constantly giving birth to new souls, and that with each incarnation on Earth or other planets our souls develop and mature. It might give you some comfort to know that you are briefed ahead of time and chose your situation in each life depending on the challenges you would need to grow (don't know where living through 4 more years of Bush fits into this). Dr. Newton's findings seem to coincide with what psychics say about the afterlife as well. Btw, he says his clients report the same experiences regardless of their religious backgrounds.

[Sporadicus]

7. I Have Trouble With Reincarnation (Ghosts Too)

because I see the 'soul' as an entity that exists outside the bounds of the physical universe. I have a hard time believing that a soul could remain oriented to the rotating, revolving earth within a solar system that is itself rotating and revolving about the center of our galaxy, which is itself moving away from other galaxies.

I do believe, however, that a plausible explanation for ghosts and past-life memories will be found in quantum mechanics one day. I believe it's possible that physical structures - especially those constructed from silicon-bearing materials like brick and mortar - can retain some vestige of energy from previous inhabitants. This may constitute a primitive semiconductor for this energy, which gets reflected back in a manner analogous to a hologram. Sensitive individuals may be able to pick up these vibrations and interpret them as ghosts or past-life memories.

Of course, no present-day instrumentation can measure this energy, but I believe it will happen some day. If some 'angel' wants to finance me, I'd be more than happy to research the phenomenon.

[peacetalksforall]

8. If you mean animals, birds, insects by other living things...I would

suggest you postpone connecting animals in your search and concentrate on the human soul, especially when reaching out to discuss the concept as you are doing now. You'll probably learn different beliefs and an answer will evolve. The subject of other living things becomes contentious because some western religions follow the belief that other living things cannot have souls. It can sidetrack you.

[junker]

9. It does not work that way. Do a google on the Jain religion

which arose simulatenously with buddhism
and seek out the 3 lankahara sutra from buddhism

or look up kalapa in relation to vipassana meditation

basically there is rupa (material 'stuff') and nama (personal mind stuff)

the material is an illusion so the number of bodies of live things is not pertinent.

the 'soul' that exists is only unity (one) so it never runs out and can never be 'diluted'

the number of nama (personal minds) is also without meaning as this is drawing on the universe nama. kind of like an ocean from which all water flows and all water returns. So at any given 'time'(also an illusion existant only in 3d material 'world') the number of drops of water which are 'circulating' in wind and rain and fog and ground water is not really pertinent as they are merely in transit back to the ocean.

sorry, words don't do it here. see vipassana.

none of the above includng buddhism and jain are really religions in the sense of deriving from cults with cast-iron, 'revealed' dogma which allow one human to take control of another human via emotional triggers (the actual definition of religion). Instead jain, buddhism, vipassana all come from the before-time existant before the global catclysm of 12450 years ago.

from that time, knowledge survives. some, sought after by the likes of the Templars/Masons/NWO-freaks, is mis-understood, and was there under their feet the whole time. Now these bastards have blown their chance now that the quickening has started.

it sounds bizarre to the western schooled mind (can't say educated as there is little education in our schooling), but the cycles or waves expressed as time here in material world (meat world as rishi hon says) are creating new patterns which we will experience as earth-changes. What most humans fail to note is that as part of earth, we also shall-are changing. See, it has happened to you already.

seek your ass off and you shall easily see the truth. Problem is that it won't make you 'happy' and will likely increase your irritation in general, but, what the hay, realy truely have nothing better to do.

buddha says there are two mistakes possible on the path to knowledge, 1) giving up too soon
2) not starting at all

good luck exists, go and find it
namaste, seeker (poor bastard).

and good luck to all humans in the coming new year. We gonna need it.

[indigobusiness]

21. I disagree with one thing you said, the rest tell me I could learn a lot..

from you.

When you say:

-seek your ass off and you shall easily see the truth. Problem is that it won't make you 'happy' and will likely increase your irritation in general, but, what the hay, realy truely have nothing better to do.-

I agree that you truly have nothing better to do, but I challenge the assertion that it won't make you happy. Just settling a confused mind, and feeling an honest path beneath your feet that you sense leads in an ultimately meaningful direction, is a form of bliss. This sustaining undercurrent of "happiness" carries through all of the ensuing trials and "irritation".

[kslib]

10. Thank you all!

Things are starting to make a little more sense now, and I have some good books to research with. I find it very exciting to start down this path!

[Mabus]

17. Check out Belief-O-Matic, it may help point you in the best direction

Even if YOU don't know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic™ knows. Answer 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, and Belief-O-Matic™ will tell you what religion (if any) you practice...or ought to consider practicing.

Warning: Belief-O-Matic™ assumes no legal liability for the ultimate fate of your soul.

http://beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html

[clydefrand]

22. I just took the test and it looks like I'm most suited to

UU. And I used to go to a UU church. Maybe I'll start again. Need something, but not sure how much effort I'm willing to put forth for it.

Thanks for the link.

[dweller]

18. The Voice

Small blue flowers like points
of sky were planted to pin
the earth above me, and still
I went on reaching through leaf
and grass blade and the saw-toothed
arms of thistles for the sky
that dozed above my death.
When the first winter came
I slept and wakened in late March
to hear the flooded fields
singing their hymns to the birds.
The birds returned. And so it was
that I began to learn what changes
I had undergone. Not as in
as sea change had I been pared
down to the white essential
bones, nor did i remain huddled
around the silence after the breath
stormed and collapsed. I was large,
at first a meadow where wild
mustard quivered in warm winds.
Then I slipped effortlessly up
the foothills overlooking
that great awakening valley.
Then it seemed I was neither
the valley below or the peaks above
but a great breathing silence
that turned slowly through darkness
and light, which were the same,
toward darkness and light. I
remember the first time I spoke
in a human voice. I had been
sweeping away the last of sunset
in a small rural town, and I
passed shuddering through a woman
on her solitary way home, her arms
loaded with groceries. She said,
Oh my God! as though she were
lost and frightened, and so I let
the light linger until she found
her door. In truth for a while
I was scared of myself, even
my name scared me, for that's
what I'd been taught, but in
a single round of seasons I saw
no harm could come from me and now
I embrace whatever pleases me,
and the earth is my one home,
as it always was, the earth
and perhaps some day the sky too
and all the climbing things between.

Philip Levine
the Poet's Choice, 1980

Peace,
dp

[indigobusiness]

20. It is difficult, in a culture which stresses the individual, to grasp

concepts such as reincarnation. Which is sort of ironic since Christianity was reincarnationally oriented until Constantine's purge.

We exist in a timeless, interconnected field of becoming, with concepts such as time, space, and materialism framing our perception as reality; while, as Buddhism states, "all is mind". Very difficult to grasp rationally, but consider that the chair on which you sit is a construct of mostly emptiness, or that the cup you drink from loses its cupness if shattered...where did it go? These sort of seemingly ridiculous questions are used to grasp the deeper meaning of things like soul, self, and reincarnation. Good luck in your efforts, and remember one admonition: 'Seek and ye shall find'.