Reincarnation--Fact or Phooey

[Ultra Lantern]

Do you believe in reincarnation?Some people think that when you die,you're reborn several moments later.Some people think that homosexuals are people reborn from the opposite sex.Others don't believe in reincarnation at all.What do you think?

 

[Manic]

I want to say something like, "Don't we have a Religion thread for this?" But I haven't seen that thread in forever, and last I checked the people in that thread had a habit of fully ignoring anyone who mentioned a religion that wasn't Abrahamic.

I'm open to the concept of reincarnation. I think the belief that you'll keep cycling through lives in a series of rebirths until you get it right is interesting. It's a concept that presents opportunity instead of just some grand reward/punishment for making it to the last level of the game one way or another.

 

[Ghostvirus]

In order for there to be reincarnation you have to die. I personally think that from a first person perspective we don't die. We just bounce between alternate realities. Learning things as we go.

 

[Schlosser85]

I'm not sure. I don't tend to believe in it myself, but I know people who believe they've been reincarnated.

 

[Alex The Great]

In before 20 Page argument

 

[The Squirrel]

Phooey.

 

[Gotham Knight]

In before 20 Page argument

This.

 

[Danalys]

no i don't and i don't think it's necessary from a karmic view point either. the more we know about what makes people live longer and makes people happy, the less some cosmic justice dished out through reincarnation up or down the chain becomes an appealing idea. this ranking of animals is pretty against evolutionary theory aswell.

and from a physics stand point there's just no specific you to become another animal or person. you are your ever changing state, and the state of you is you.

 

[Warhammer]

I don't believe it.

 

[E-Man]

Most religions believe in some kind of reincarnation. Even the belief of an afterlife is a form of reincarnation of some sort. Personally I think that there is some form of reincarnation because our energy has to go somewhere after we die. Just don't know where since that's impossible to come back from the dead.

 

[Danalys]

bits of you are dying and being replaced all the time. i expect when the replacing part breaks you go where those other parts went before. ashes to ashes dust to dust.

 

[chaseter]

In my former life I was a porn star.

 

[Danalys]

you were a 1930s porn star?

 

[The Slang]

Most religions believe in some kind of reincarnation. Even the belief of an afterlife is a form of reincarnation of some sort. Personally I think that there is some form of reincarnation because our energy has to go somewhere after we die. Just don't know where since that's impossible to come back from the dead.

To incarnate means to become flesh. Carnal, carnage, chilli con carne... carn=flesh.
To Reincarnate means to RE-enter flesh, so no an afterlife is not a form of reincarnation.

2nd, What energy are you talking about?

 

[E-Man]

2nd, What energy are you talking about?

Whatever energy that gives us life. Call it a soul, pah, or spirit. Whatever you call it, that's what I'm talking about.

 

[The Slang]

Whatever energy that gives us life. Call it a soul, pah, or spirit. Whatever you call it, that's what I'm talking about.

I'm not convinced it exists.

Some people think that homosexuals are people reborn from the opposite sex.

I know of a girl who went through a sex change for this reason. I don't buy it, I think it's more to do with the child's development in the womb. Hormone levels and such.

 

[E-Man]

Where did you get that second quote from? I never wrote that.

 

[The Slang]

Sorry. Fixed^

 

[Ultra Lantern]

In my former life I was a porn star.

You must have really had a good life,then.

 

[Prison Mike]

If I were to believe in something happening after death, I would believe in reincarnation. I like the idea that the soul is bouncing from body to body until you are truly worthy of nirvana. I like it better than the Judeo-Christian concept of afterlife.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

Hypnotists can actually find out if you had a past life.

 

[Hobgoblin]

I think its impossible to know what happens to us after we die, so I dont worry about it. The way I see it we can
1. Go to Heaven.
2. Go to Hell.
3. Be reincarnated.
4. Just decompose.
5. Something else that we cant imagine.

I'm good with 4 out of 5 of those options.

 

[Mario_Galaxy]

After getting completely burned out on Christianity, I did look at other beliefs and reincarnation fascinated me from the start. At this point I really have no idea, as I'm currently at a point where I'm burned out on spirituality/religion in general,but reincarnation certainly is interesting.

 

[Gotham Knight]

I think its impossible to know what happens to us after we die, so I dont worry about it. The way I see it we can
1. Go to Heaven.
2. Go to Hell.
3. Be reincarnated.
4. Just decompose.
5. Something else that we cant imagine.

I'm good with 4 out of 5 of those options.

Which are? A couple of those are depressing.

 

[Bat-Mite]

I'm a Buddhist, so I believe in rebirth, which is a similar concept. The major difference is that reincarnation (in Hinduism, at least) is a belief in the same "soul" moving from body to body, like a person putting on a new set of clothes. Buddhists do not believe that the soul/self/ego is static, but that it is made up of a number of psychological factors, and that the process that happens after death is more akin to a lit candle lighting a second candle. The flame from the second candle is not the same as the flame from the first, nor is it different. It's my understanding that those of the Tibetan (Vajrayana) tradition, do believe in literal reincarnation, however.

Having said that, this is an interesting read on the matter:

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