Reincarnation?

[BigTrex 0]

Does anyone believe in reincarnation? I don't know why, but I do. I wanna be a squirrel!

[tricky77puzzle 0]

I don't believe in reincarnation. I believe that when you die, you can go one of two ways:1. You go to either Heaven or Hell, depending on whether you've been good or bad, or whether you believed in Christ or not.2. You lose all consciousness in your first body. It degrades and you begin as another body. Not a reincarnation, but your consciousness will be reset and you will be born in another body, possibly in another universe, all over again.

[truefusion 3]

I wanna be a squirrel!

Why not a bald eagle? Regardless, why degrade yourself? Do you think you're going to have the same mindset? Do you think you'll notice you've been reincarnated? Also, what's preventing you from becoming a plant, or a white blood cell, or a rock at the bottom of the ocean or on the moon? Or how do you know you weren't already a squirrel and no longer have the chance to be a squirrel? Since reincarnation is said to be a loop, what would happen when there's no longer something to be anymore?
But to answer your question, i don't believe in reincarnation.

[Watermonkey 0]

I think the only thing gained, as TF alluded to, is in order for reincarnation to be a valid or reasonable philosophy is if through it you gain something. So, if that's the case, wouldn't it make sense that if you were to be reincarnated, you'd be reincarnated to something equal to or better than human? Would it be likely you'll live again and again as a human in an unending variety of circumstances so as to learn as much as possible? Following that logic, it would stand to reason that, if they're superior or equal to us at some mental level, we'd either have been or will be born in the seas as sea mammals like dolphins or whales? What would be the ultimate goal? Some would suggest that ultimately we'd become ethereal beings not constrained to the physical form at all: like angels or something. Just food for thought. Yes. I'm a believer in progress, and I don't believe this is the only shot we've got to destroy this planet with our vile presence.

Edited March 19, 2008 by Watermonkey (see edit history)

[Thingcubed 0]

I tend to believe that we're entirely organic beings, and our concept of "consciousness" is merely a byproduct of our hyper-developed brains (a sort of genetic defect unrelated to survival that has persisted because it is not detrimental). On that note, I think that the only way we are "reincarnated" is in the fact that the atoms that make us up will eventually be broken up and reconstituted into some other form.I'm also agnostic, so it's not that I disbelieve in god, just I can't be sure and it makes more sense if we're just random bits of energy formed into mass that happen to interact with each other in specific patterns.

[Coolguy 0]

Nope I dont ...I think its just some superstitious rubbish created by a jobless person.I dont think that a person can be reincarnated into some one or something else having same characters as his last birthI think its plain rubbish .So if you ask me, I dont believe in "reincarnations."

[vijeth 0]

I do belive in this and it is true that this happens. As i have see in my won eyes the true stories around me that has made me to accept that reincarnation takes place. Now a days mass media r heightlinting many such stories in news and in many newspaper we read those stories. I am finind the truth behind that. Will get back here once i find ho and what ecactly is reincarnation is?

[sheepdog 10]

Does anyone believe in reincarnation? I don't know why, but I do. I wanna be a squirrel!

I think it is entirly possible. Though I don't believe we would come back as a lower life form than we were to start with. I think we have to come back to improve and develop into the next higher level. Or pay for past mistakes. Or learn from past mistakes, not really sure, maybe all of the above.

[TheBlessedOne 0]

Yes, there is reincarnation but a human being cannot reincarnate in animal, bird, fish, insect or plant, only in another human body... It's the process of revolution of the human soul into perfect one, until then the soul doesn't stop to reincarnate. There is no such thing as eternal suffering when you live bad on the Earth or the opposite it's at least very naive explanation for such evaluated minds in 21st century. Of course depending you made good or bad things in your temporary life on the Earth after each reincarnation you gain karma which can be positive or negative. In your next life you can have very good start, you can be born in some intelligent, careful and also wealthy family and you ... you can be born with talents, good physique, beautiful and intelligent or with the more reincarnations gaining positive karma, you can be even born genius! Of course if you gain negative karma in your next life you can be born in poor, uneducated family and you also to be bad looking, without any talents with some kind of diseases or even cripple... And how and when a soul became ready to leave the Earth?...Well a soul is ready only when it interrupt the dependence from earthly needs, everything connected with the materially and when... it depends on the person.

[KansukeKojima 0]

I do not believe in reincarnation, and I highly disagree with its principles. I believe that you spend an eternity either with Christ, or an eternity separated from Him. I will never be able to thank Christ enough for the grace and mercy that He has shown me, and I am certain I will spend eternity with Him.

 

This world is sinful and corrupt, I can not belive in reincarnation for this reason. I can not see any hope in the belief that we will be reincarnated, again and again, forced to live many lives in this sinful place.

[gendull 0]

I think it is entirly possible. Though I don't believe we would come back as a lower life form than we were to start with. I think we have to come back to improve and develop into the next higher level. Or pay for past mistakes. Or learn from past mistakes, not really sure, maybe all of the above.

sorry , my en is bad.
i don't believe it. i believe, if people died, they lay to rest and wait for a totality destroy (in islam is KIAMAT).
then we would meet a final justice, then we'd live in heaven or hell .

in hindu or budha, they belive reincarnation

[savge17 0]

I beleive in heaven and hell but also reincarnation. I think that when you go to your judgement before god he has three options.1) Send you to heaven.2) send you to hell3) Put you back on earth as another form/animal (like a smaller punishment other than hell for an eternity)Thats just my opinion but to me it makes perfect sense.

[Misanthrope 0]

As mere mortals, I'm not sure any of us can say with any certainty what takes place after the heart stops beating, beyond the obvious physical decay of the body, that is. Knowing what happens beyond the grave and believing per the faith you grew up with are two different things entirely. There are some things our limited minds but can grasp the surface of, and this may be one of them. But as I ponder the immortal question, "What happens after death," I do find myself favoring the concept of reincarnation over the first two options, which appear to be:

 

1. Materialism: You're born kicking and screaming into this cold, cruel world, your mind and body animated only by your physiology. Soul, spirit, metaphysics, theology and the like never enter into your miserable equation. Your intelligence and unique personality die with you. When you're gone, you're gone. You had your chance. Curtains close, lights off, game over. You are now fodder for maggots and a host of other revolting fauna, nothing more.

 

2. Western Theology: When you were born, God created a brand new soul for you, but you're only allowed to use it for one short, miserable lifetime. If you're really bad during this lifetime, your soul gets to burn for all eternity in hell with Satan and other troublemakers. Of course, if you tell God you're sorry right before you croak you might get to go to heaven, no matter how bad you were all those other years. No harm, no foul - right? Oh, but if you were one of the millions upon millions of unfortunate souls born into material bondage before salvation became available to the masses, you're sh*t out of luck. Sorry.

 

And then there's:

3. Reincarnation: God is too busy to churn out brand new souls every time some bald, screaming lump of clay claws it's hideous mass from the woman it just spent the last nine months of it's parasitic existence torturing. We are all a part of God, and are (hopefully) progressing toward a state of improvement and ultimate perfection, though some faster than others:). One minuscule lifetime on this planet is hardly enough time to learn the lessons we must in order to reach a state of spiritual dynamism, and so we come back for periodic descents into the physical (hell), till at last we are freed from the spiral dance of rebirth and finally reunited with God.

 

The first two theories rub the Enlightened Misanthrope the wrong way. The materialist cannot explain how matter animates consciousness, or how in the heck mind can be destroyed at death. Science has established our bodies are in a constant state of flux - the cells renewing approximately once every seven years, so in essence, you are an entirely new person every seven years - and yet mind stays intact and remembers everything, well, most everything. Think of those close encounters you've had with death and your life flashing before you, every last second remembered in minute detail. If the materialist were to follow this line of scientific reasoning, then it follows consciousness must also renew every seven years, thereby rendering the individual with no memory of that time span. But to do so would expose the fallacy of materialism, and so the Atheist and his ilk simply ignores the argument. How convenient. That being the case, I choose to conveniently ignore the materialist's narrowly focused thinking in favor of philosophies more natural. Imagine, if you will, the possibility that the Christ incarnated as the Nazarene actually held the principles of rebirth to be true. There are actually references in the Bible that elude to this, and to the possibility Jesus the Christ was head of the holy order of Essenes, a Jewish mystical sect who embraced the tenants of vegetarianism and, among other things, reincarnation. And their roots can be traced back to 5th century BC Pythagoreans, whose namesake, appropriately enough, is thought to have reincarnated as the Nazarene himself. Doesn't anyone find it curious that Easter (Christ's rebirth) also coincides with Spring equinox? Yes, the pagan origins of the sacred holiday might come as a shock to the uninformed, but that is fodder for another topic.

 

But back to Spring, this time of year we are again reminded that the iris bulb which was covered in snow all winter isn't dead, but merely biding its time until it can grace the earth with it's sublime beauty for yet another season, another cycle of rebirth. Are we to believe the natural laws that govern all of nature's glory do not apply to mankind? To do so is nothing less than labeling man an unnatural creature. I no more believe the soul dies at death than the earth dies at winter. No, I suspect we will return again, again, and again, whether we like it or not. As a squirrel, perhaps? Why not? Well, there is that little issue of the Group Spirit which governs animals species, making the idea of transmigration a bit hard to swallow. And still, I've observed a dog or two I could have sworn were human, and vice versa. You've no doubt experienced it too: the canine who's just so dog-gone human it makes you scratch your head in bewilderment. Some would call such soul travel retrogression, but for much of mankind, I call it an improvement.

[A200 0]

Yes I believe when we die, we will return to live again, whether it be this dimension or another one we have never discovered, but definitely I believe we go some place!A200

[joeblogg 0]

I don't believe in reincarnation. I believe that when you die, you can go one of two ways:
1. You go to either Heaven or Hell, depending on whether you've been good or bad, or whether you believed in Christ or not.
2. You lose all consciousness in your first body. It degrades and you begin as another body. Not a reincarnation, but your consciousness will be reset and you will be born in another body, possibly in another universe, all over again.

i agree with your first point as i am christian but i don't believe in the second part. i do not believe in any form of reincarnation or anything like that.