Do you believe in past life / reincarnation?

[Riven]

So... on this subject, I kind of feel like I'm in a dark room searching for a black cat. On one hand, I don't see how it could be possible. On the other, I think maybe there's something to it.

But I've always had this weird experience with just about everything related to the Vietnam war. I'm not one to get very emotional, but there's something avout that war that really gets to me. Sometimes it feels like I was there. Not me now, but another version of me that was alive then.

I get the sense that, whoever I was then, didn't make it back home. Just like so many others. It's like a feeling of profound sadness. Like it's personal. But it shouldn't be because I didn't fight in that war. That's what the logical part of my brain is telling me.

Well anyways, that's my little story on the subject. I'm not clear on where I stand on past lives. I have considered doing some past life therapy just to see if maybe there's something there. But I've read some accounts that day is it's all just a scam

I dunno...

 

[Daku Rinku]

I believe we live one life, "And inasmuch as it is apportioned to men to die once, and after this, judgment." (Hebrews 9:27, The Holy Bible).

I also think one life makes your life more precious, that you should not waste it.

I have two movies to quote on this subject as well,

"The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.” -Achilles, Troy

"See that is where they lose me. What does a snail have to do to reincarnate? Leave the perfect trail of slime?” -Edward Cole, The Bucket List

 

[Vanessa28]

Oh, I experience the same but with sea or oceans. As long as I live I always felt a weird deep nostalgic feeling with the sea. I always lived near the beach and still do but that's not the reason because I already had this feeling since I was a kid. Also when I look at pics or paintings of the sea. The sea always feel like coming home. None of my family members experience the same.
I don't know if reincarnation is real. I always declined that idea but there are things we can't explain.

 

[Daku Rinku]

Oh, I experience the same but with sea or oceans. As long as I live I always felt a weird deep nostalgic feeling with the sea. I always lived near the beach and still do but that's not the reason because I already had this feeling since I was a kid. Also when I look at pics or paintings of the sea. The sea always feel like coming home. None of my family members experience the same.
I don't know if reincarnation is real. I always declined that idea but there are things we can't explain.

I found myself drawn to swords, certain knight order, and I found out I am descended from the leader of the order I actually dressed up as at Renfaires. My theory is it was genetics, a pull in the DNA to it. Assassin's Creed went real science fiction with this idea, but I really do think we pass down passions and pulls to things, including some of stuff we battle. Just my two cents.

 

[spookyheart]

nope what you have is what you get.

 

[Daku Rinku]

Going down in reincarnation from human to animals makes sense because humans are capable of fathoming and creating horrors, but animals living in the Circle of Life, and honestly.. do not commit atrocities, so how could they ever move up either? That is where it falls apart, "what does a snail have to do to move up? Lay down a perfect trail of slime?" I understand it sounds insulting, and Jack Nicholson a Nihilist does say it mockingly, but it does make a point. Going down makes sense, but how do creatures without Human Reason get judged at all?

 

[Dio]

Going down in reincarnation from human to animals makes sense because humans are capable of fathoming and creating horrors, but animals living in the Circle of Life, and honestly.. do not commit atrocities, so how could they ever move up either? That is where it falls apart, "what does a snail have to do to move up? Lay down a perfect trail of slime?" I understand it sounds insulting, and Jack Nicholson a Nihilist does say it mockingly, but it does make a point. Going down makes sense, but how do creatures without Human Reason get judged at all?

Clearly you don't know much about dolphins if you think Humans are the only animals creating horrors. Thankfully they don't have hands

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

I'm an ontological naturalist, meaning, I'm inherently doubtful the supernatural even exists in the first place.

People refer to that idea as limiting, but I prefer to think of it as appreciating how precious and fleeting life is in the grand scheme of things.

If we only look at our planet, Earth has only been around for 4.5 billion years. 3 billion years ago is the start of life, and only around 300,000 years ago did our species, Homo sapiens come to the picture with our brains capable of intelligence, self-awareness, and metacognition, and for an individual of that species, we have around 75-100 years or so to live.

Our mere existence is fleeting, and rather than bogging me down, it gives me a sense of meaning, purpose, and urgency.

And to me, it presents profound hubris that we think the universe was made and fine tuned for us. Maybe we're the products of the universe we live in, not that everything that has happened led up to us.

For the brief moment that these atoms have coalesced to make me me, this gives me a profound sense of meaning and purpose. These atoms won't combine together in the exact same way again, so I, as an individual, have a sense of duty to make sure the things that do live on after I pass on, like my legacy and such, live on fondly.

So no, I don't believe in reincarnation, but I do believe that your legacy lives on after you die, and thus, you become "immortal" in that sense.

About the one "supernatural" thing I believe in, I suppose is karma, in the sense that you reap what you sow. If you act like an ass, don't expect people to respect you, or hold you in a high regard.

But you don't need to believe in karma in the supernatural sense to see the inherent truth that people end up reaping what they sow.

Weirdly, this makes me strangely optimistic when looking at political turmoil. Everyone doom and glooms, and things almost never turn out as bad as people say, and people tend to have a strong negativity bias when it comes to consuming the news, which itself is a product and holdover from our evolutionary ancestors.

They had to be wary of everything as a way to survive.

We don't anymore, because we stand upon their shoulders as their progeny, and thus we can see further than they ever could.

Who knows what the future will bring?

I dunno, I'm rambling again.

 

[Riven]

I'm an ontological naturalist, meaning, I'm inherently doubtful the supernatural even exists in the first place.

People refer to that idea as limiting, but I prefer to think of it as appreciating how precious and fleeting life is in the grand scheme of things.

If we only look at our planet, Earth has only been around for 4.5 billion years. 3 billion years ago is the start of life, and only around 300,000 years ago did our species, Homo sapiens come to the picture with our brains capable of intelligence, self-awareness, and metacognition, and for an individual of that species, we have around 75-100 years or so to live.

Our mere existence is fleeting, and rather than bogging me down, it gives me a sense of meaning, purpose, and urgency.

And to me, it presents profound hubris that we think the universe was made and fine tuned for us. Maybe we're the products of the universe we live in, not that everything that has happened led up to us.

For the brief moment that these atoms have coalesced to make me me, this gives me a profound sense of meaning and purpose. These atoms won't combine together in the exact same way again, so I, as an individual, have a sense of duty to make sure the things that do live on after I pass on, like my legacy and such, live on fondly.

So no, I don't believe in reincarnation, but I do believe that your legacy lives on after you die, and thus, you become "immortal" in that sense.

About the one "supernatural" thing I believe in, I suppose is karma, in the sense that you reap what you sow. If you act like an ass, don't expect people to respect you, or hold you in a high regard.

But you don't need to believe in karma in the supernatural sense to see the inherent truth that people end up reaping what they sow.

Weirdly, this makes me strangely optimistic when looking at political turmoil. Everyone doom and glooms, and things almost never turn out as bad as people say, and people tend to have a strong negativity bias when it comes to consuming the news, which itself is a product and holdover from our evolutionary ancestors.

They had to be wary of everything as a way to survive.

We don't anymore, because we stand upon their shoulders as their progeny, and thus we can see further than they ever could.

Who knows what the future will bring?

I dunno, I'm rambling again.

I'm skeptical as well. But I still find myself facing my own morality with a degree of fear. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid that I won't exist anymore. Afraid that I will still exist and end up who knows where.

It's all just unknown territory. It's kind of like being in a pitch black room looking for a black cat. We're on this planet. We're alive. But we don't know how the universe got here, or the origin of life itself. Or if we do reincarnate for that matter. :/

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

I'm skeptical as well. But I still find myself facing my own morality with a degree of fear. Afraid of the unknown. Afraid that I won't exist anymore. Afraid that I will still exist and end up who knows where.

It's all just unknown territory. It's kind of like being in a pitch black room looking for a black cat. We're on this planet. We're alive. But we don't know how the universe got here, or the origin of life itself. Or if we do reincarnate for that matter. :/

There's nothing wrong with not knowing.

We can't possibly know everything. But we can learn, and facing the unknown is basically what life is.

If you ask me, we fear saying, "I don't know" because we were conditioned to be afraid of that phrase, of admitting our ignorance.

But on the bleeding edge of science and philosophy, you basically are staring ignorance in the face.

In school, "I don't know" was always punished. You were encouraged to at least try and reason something, even with an incorrect understanding, because we valued trying as opposed to giving up. People started growing up equating not knowing something as an admission of weakness.

Even outside of school people were encouraged to have an opinion on current events. You had to keep reading the news, magazines, attend town hall meetings, read books, etc. TV shows in the 90s and early 2000s always made the person who wasn't caught up on things look like an ignorant and uncaring person. Even if you had an incorrect understanding it was seen as just another perspective.

Now these people grew up and had kids and probably taught them the same things.

But I'm saying there's nothing wrong with saying "I don't know."

"I don't know" is an admission that you have gaps in your knowledge and understanding of the universe, which is being honest, because everyone does.

"I don't know" is an opportunity to learn and find out.

Even on things that are known, I admit that there's limits to my understanding, which, in science, is right around special relativity and quantum physics. I can't figure it out because it's just a bit too deep for my brain to grasp it.

In these circumstances, there's nothing wrong with deferring to someone who has more expertise on the subject.

In that instance I am admitting my ignorance by saying, "I don't know for sure, but here's someone with more expertise, so, take it for what you will."

Another example, if a pipe bursts in my house, that's also another area where my knowledge and experience is limited, so I don't feel guilty in admitting I can't fix it on my own, I don't know how, so I'm calling a plumber.

So there's nothing wrong with admitting your own ignorance. It's an opportunity to learn and decrease the gaps in your knowledge, or, if something's a bit above your pay grade, so to speak, deferring to someone with expertise.

The whole of human existence is our curiosity about the world around us, and learning about it. We poke reality, it pokes back. We learn, we grow, we adapt.

This is why I'm such a big believer in legacies. Some humans, their legacy is remembered and looked on fondly, and used to further our knowledge and understanding. Some have reputations that will remain tarnished for an eternity.

Best we can hope to do with the time that was given to us is learn, grow, adapt, be a better person today than yesterday, and by fostering that mindset of being a better person with each passing day, you just end up benefiting other people's lives too, as Aristotle argued in his theories on morality and ethics.

We can learn new things from reality, and learn from our forefathers. Both are different kinds of wisdom in my eyes.

 

[Daku Rinku]

Clearly you don't know much about dolphins if you think Humans are the only animals creating horrors. Thankfully they don't have hands

Come one, Dolphines love to play. I know, I have swam with them.

 

[Riven]

Come one, Dolphines love to play. I know, I have swam with them.

I didnt know Yoshi could eat them! Over thirty years of playing this game, too. XD

 

[Daku Rinku]

I didnt know Yoshi could eat them! Over thirty years of playing this game, too. XD

Yep its Yoshicide! XD