Reincarnation cannot exist because there are to many people alive?
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According to all the sources I can find - theres approx. 20-30 dead people for every 1 living today... I'm sure theres something you can do with those figures, average human life expectancy and reincarnation to suggest possibilities but I can't get my head around it atm.
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Reincarnation, as I'm aware of it, bases itself upon a (in the most basic form) a rewards scheme, start off on a lowest form of life, live a good life, and you move up a level, bad deeds means you're going down or repeating your current level
But you can look at it this way, back in "bible times" (used for your own reference) there were a lot more trees and wildlife around, these days, lots more humans (this is assumeing that humans are infact a higher form of existance) so you could make a logical connection betweent the number of "souls" as trees has decreased leading to more humans, "souls" were living much better lives to get to this point, and now there are many people either looping as humans and some have acsended to a higher plane of existance? some have decended to a lower form.
Of course, this is all speculation and complete BS even if I do say so myself
but in a way, the logic is impressive 
But you can look at it this way, back in "bible times" (used for your own reference) there were a lot more trees and wildlife around, these days, lots more humans (this is assumeing that humans are infact a higher form of existance) so you could make a logical connection betweent the number of "souls" as trees has decreased leading to more humans, "souls" were living much better lives to get to this point, and now there are many people either looping as humans and some have acsended to a higher plane of existance? some have decended to a lower form.
Of course, this is all speculation and complete BS even if I do say so myself
but in a way, the logic is impressive I don't believe in reincarnation because I'm a full blooded Atheist and quite simply put, don't believe in such things. However, one could come up with the argument that not everyone is reincarnated and only a certain percentage of people are actually reincarnations.
But to reiterate, I don't believe in it.
But to reiterate, I don't believe in it.
The bible is a load of crap anyway. Dinosaurs and evolution don't exist to god botherers.
Scientifically speaking, the molecules making up the cells and compounds of your body would be recycled by the environment and spread across thousands of other organisms so you'll always "live on" just not consciously lol
Scientifically speaking, the molecules making up the cells and compounds of your body would be recycled by the environment and spread across thousands of other organisms so you'll always "live on" just not consciously lol
Reincarnation, as I'm aware of it, bases itself upon a (in the most basic form) a rewards scheme, start off on a lowest form of life, live a good life, and you move up a level, bad deeds means you're going down or repeating your current level
But you can look at it this way, back in "bible times" (used for your own reference) there were a lot more trees and wildlife around, these days, lots more humans (this is assumeing that humans are infact a higher form of existance) so you could make a logical connection betweent the number of "souls" as trees has decreased leading to more humans, "souls" were living much better lives to get to this point, and now there are many people either looping as humans and some have acsended to a higher plane of existance? some have decended to a lower form.
Of course, this is all speculation and complete BS even if I do say so myself
But the bible says that man was created with a soul, by God in God's image, and that animals and plants do not share a soul with man. It also says that when people die, they stay dead until judgement day, so your point is indeed moot.
Some reincarnation-based religions do indeed teach that karma affects the quality of your rebirth, and that you have no 'say' in this process outside of your actions in previous lives. Others (eg Spiritualism) state that man's soul is absolute, immortal and not related to animal souls. They espouse 'eternal progression of the human soul', whereby you continue to 'develop' (either on Earth as a human or in the spirit world) until you reach such a level of consciousness that you are able to rejoin with God/the universal spirit.
Theres nothing to suggest that reincarnation would follow any specific pattern, reward scheme or that souls - or atleast the sort of souls attached to humans are ever attached to anything but human bodies... not that theres anything to confirm the existance of the soul either.
I do believe tho that having a soul and that it can come back to this plane of existance again in a different physical body - maybe several times - is a strong possibility.
I do believe tho that having a soul and that it can come back to this plane of existance again in a different physical body - maybe several times - is a strong possibility.
If the soul does exist - personally I'm of the belief that the main function is of learning and progression - towards what end I don't know - and that what we do in a "past" life has no direct impact on what or who we come back as... I don't believe in karma as such only causality on the physical plane.
At the highest level, Buddhist doctrine on the law of karma actually says pretty much the same thing. It's all about causality, rather than "chop someone's leg off and be reborn in a wheelchair" a la Glen Hoddle. But in general what you're talking about is much more along the Spiritualist lines of thinking, and makes more sense to me personally.
I wasn't using the bible/christian belief system specifically, more just the entire concept of reincarnation on a general level
exactly, once you reach the highest plane of existance and ascend to that level of omnipotency you're "free" of this world and all physical needs/wants
but why is it impossible to believe that animals/ plants have souls? they are infact living beings, some more sentient than others and possess a higher level of intelligence, but while major religions have decided that animals have no souls, this brings the aspect of "what is a soul?" personally I belive a soul to be the personality/entirety of the individual, it is in esscence what makes us what we are, in which case, animals display a distinc set of individual personality traits, they empathise, protect, have pride, in cases I've seen animals become embarrassed, what's to say they aren't aware of everything? maybe a little less so than ourselves as far as our own understanding of the situation goes
In which case is chemical and electrical paths in the brain. Brain damage alters peoples personality.
What makes you think major religions have all decided animals have no souls? Buddhism certainly teaches that animals have 'consciousness' (Buddhists don't believe in a permanent 'soul' as such, but rather a continuing stream of consciousness across lifetimes), and indeed they say a human could be reborn as an animal or vice versa.
Hindus, I'm not sure of. But Spiritualists also assert that animals have a Spirit/soul, just that they're not interchangeable with the human soul (else how could you 'progress' to human level and revert back to being an animal?). But they still very much believe that animals possess a soul/spirit.
I think that the core lessons we learn in life stay with us even tho we won't remember the specifics - as a poor example if you learn to ride a bike - in the next life you'd naturally have a better aptitude towards bike riding and be able to pick it up quickly again... the same with deeper aspects of our character which we slowly refine over concurrent life times as new experiences open our eyes to perspectives we didn't appreciate before.
Thats an interesting observation... it would alter the behavior of the physical body and possibly the way the soul interacts with that information in both directions - assuming its not just a read only connection... but I don't think its an issue in the grand scheme of things.
Which kinda trips up my thinking... if we learn a lesson in one life - assuming that alters how our physical body reacts - and how the soul orientates itself it can't just be a read only connection if in the next life you then act sub-consiously on what you took onboard from that previous lesson... as you'd have to have a way to interact with causality. But if your soul can make changes to the actions of the physical body that screws with the concept of causality... or atleast screws with my mind hah...
Think I need to rethink free will.
Think I need to rethink free will.
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Soldato
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You actually inhabit every body in the world once. After the 1st body you are sworn to keep it a secret from yourself, then hurled at random into another body somewhere in time.
There is only one person, so no overpopulation problem.
There is only one person, so no overpopulation problem.
in a way, but even to the point of vegetation, the individual remains somewhere buried deep beneath the confusion imo
ok, not *all* major religions, but catholics, if I remember correctly believe animals do not go to heaven, mainly because they have no souls, so they can't "repent their sins"
But I like to believe souls are interchangeable between species, after each life cycle, you're given a fresh start, how else would it be fair? for argument's sake, someone of pure benevolant evil, as a human massacres millions for the fun of the sport, the higher being see this as a bit over the top, and reduce the person back to the form of a frog upon the next start of their life, with previous knowledge of their life, they'd be the maleficious ruler of the toad kingdom, and doom themselves to never improving their station, so I like to believe that not only is our memory wiped of all that has been, but our personality gets wiped too, so we are given a truly fresh start and shape ourselves, destined, as it were to either be born neutral to decide for ourselves as opposed to being born good/evil
btw, I know very little about most religious practices, and all I say is just my own personal views, so please, don't take me too seriously