Do you believe in Reincarnation?

[bb113]

If you answer yes:
1) Do you think there are more or less souls than there are living things on the earth suitable for reincarnation?
2) In other words, would there be a "queue" a soul would have to wait in before getting back in the game?
3) What do you think is the ratio of souls to suitable vehicles for "incarnation"?

I've just never really taken the idea seriously so if these are dumb questions sorry.

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[FirstAscent]

When does 'you' stop becoming you, before you die, when you undergo certain events?

1. You were beamed planetside by Scotty, but the transporter failed to vaporize you shipside.

2. Three quarters of your brain is spliced with one quarter of another person's brain.

3. Your neurons are all replaced with electronic versions which seem to function like your neurons.

4. Someone else exists on this planet with a brain almost exactly (but not quite) like yours from a molecular standpoint, implying very similar memories, etc.

What does it mean to be you, anyway?

[gabbergabe]

I watch american Idol, therefore I am.

[usagi]

If you answer yes:
1) Do you think there are more or less souls than there are living things on the earth suitable for reincarnation?
2) In other words, would there be a "queue" a soul would have to wait in before getting back in the game?
3) What do you think is the ratio of souls to suitable vehicles for "incarnation"?

I've just never really taken the idea seriously so if these are dumb questions sorry.

Reincarnation is a holdover from Jainism and the Buddha is on record stating that it falls outside the domain of knowable truths. In short there is no way to prove that it is true nor that it is untrue. It's one of those things that doesn't affect our lives no matter what else happens. So I tend not to pay it any heed.

[FirstAscent]

If you answer yes:
1) Do you think there are more or less souls than there are living things on the earth suitable for reincarnation?
2) In other words, would there be a "queue" a soul would have to wait in before getting back in the game?
3) What do you think is the ratio of souls to suitable vehicles for "incarnation"?

I've just never really taken the idea seriously so if these are dumb questions sorry.

Reincarnation is a holdover from Jainism and the Buddha is on record stating that it falls outside the domain of knowable truths. In short there is no way to prove that it is true nor that it is untrue. It's one of those things that doesn't affect our lives no matter what else happens. So I tend not to pay it any heed.

That's not an answer to what I said - but that's fine. I pay it no heed either.

[thebaron]

I believe that we are all the same whatever, so I don't think we really have separate souls. An analogy would be that we're like individual computer nodes without internet access, and that we're usually only able to connect back to it when we die.

[Lethn]

I believe we know nothing about death and you are either an extremely arrogant or ignorant tosser if you claim you do.

Thread about religion ruined

[Rob E]

Oh Boy . reincarnate means exactly that into or becoming flesh again going in to flesh again - carne - flesh . So you can drop two selections right there off rocks and plants . other wise it wouldn't be "reincarnation". . Would it. Secondly " Mamals" are Animals  yes  . You wouldn't believe it but it's true. Check it if you like to be baffled. .
Actually i'm baffled. .

But that leaves "nothing"  which means " you don't believe in reincarnation. .) Hm m.

Animals or humans. . Actually those are the two long held beliefs. Eastern philosophies do not deal so much in belief but more in understanding insight and comprehension. I don't believe in reincarnation.  
I know for my self it is the truth.  

 Though there are accounts of animals having human tendencies intelligence or like behavior and character.  ( Like a dog refusing all food except italian ) I do believe it is fairly rare ..  but does happen. .

[b!z]

I think, therefore I am.

[interlagos]

If you answer yes:
1) Do you think there are more or less souls than there are living things on the earth suitable for reincarnation?
2) In other words, would there be a "queue" a soul would have to wait in before getting back in the game?
3) What do you think is the ratio of souls to suitable vehicles for "incarnation"?

I've just never really taken the idea seriously so if these are dumb questions sorry.

There is quite a few cases of people remembering their past lives supporting the idea that reincarnation does occur though none of it can be considered as a proof. Below is a few videos of little kids telling their parents about their past lives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT0B4V_kowo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoSrzpLoODo
The fact that these cases involve children adds weight to the evidence because it's much harder to trick children to lie to make up a good story.

Another video on past life regression hypnosis from the pioneer in this area Dolores Cannon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihH0L_bffAA

Regarding your questions about numbers of souls and vehicles for reincarnation it's all infinite and yet there are still queues of souls waiting to be reincarnated on a certain planet (not only Earth) within a certain parallel reality of which there is an infinite number of. The Earth currently seems to be the place "where it happens" as they say because of the transformation that is going on, that's why we have the population explosion that we do.

[interlagos]

When does 'you' stop becoming you, before you die, when you undergo certain events?

1. You were beamed planetside by Scotty, but the transporter failed to vaporize you shipside.

2. Three quarters of your brain is spliced with one quarter of another person's brain.

3. Your neurons are all replaced with electronic versions which seem to function like your neurons.

4. Someone else exists on this planet with a brain almost exactly (but not quite) like yours from a molecular standpoint, implying very similar memories, etc.

What does it mean to be you, anyway?

Yes, many people have problem with reincarnation because they associate the totality of their existence with their physical body and that's understood because this is how they've been conditioned by the mainstream science.

There is a good down-to-Earth thought experiment that would probably help them think more about who they really are:
1) Imagine you get totally drunk before going to sleep
2) Imagine waking up barely remembering who you are and going to the mirror
3) Imagine seeing a different body than the one you've anticipated in the reflection (or a body of the opposite gender for better contrast)
4) Imagine getting confused, saying "WTF?" and not recognizing your own voice.

Notice how it would still be "you" going through this whole experience while not having anything left from the body you thought you previously had.

[deadweasel]

When does 'you' stop becoming you, before you die, when you undergo certain events?

1. You were beamed planetside by Scotty, but the transporter failed to vaporize you shipside.

2. Three quarters of your brain is spliced with one quarter of another person's brain.

3. Your neurons are all replaced with electronic versions which seem to function like your neurons.

4. Someone else exists on this planet with a brain almost exactly (but not quite) like yours from a molecular standpoint, implying very similar memories, etc.

What does it mean to be you, anyway?

Yes, many people have problem with reincarnation because they associate the totality of their existence with their physical body and that's understood because this is how they've been conditioned by the mainstream science.

There is a good down-to-Earth thought experiment that would probably help them think more about who they really are:
1) Imagine you get totally drunk before going to sleep
2) Imagine waking up barely remembering who you are and going to the mirror
3) Imagine seeing a different body than the one you've anticipated in the reflection (or a body of the opposite gender for better contrast)
4) Imagine getting confused, saying "WTF?" and not recognizing your own voice.

Notice how it would still be "you" going through this whole experience while not having anything left from the body you thought you previously had.

The You we believe we are is constantly changing.  There is very little, if anything, that doesn't change about ourselves through our lives.  So where is the real you?  Which one of the many yous are you?

I can't find any part of myself that doesn't change.  But I am able to just be sometimes.

[Rob E]

Ok Here's an experiment close your eyes . Look at a cat. What color is the cat?  Make it run back and forth left to right.
What is looking at the cat?





  That is you looking at your mind right? Somebody is observing what is going on.
 You!

[Rob E]

Then what is that you. ? ..

[mjc]

When my son was about 18 months old he was capable of speech.  Between then and when he was 2 1/2 yrs old he would tell us about his previous life.  He didn't see it as a previous life he called it when he was in the city in mommies belly.  He said he graduated high school in 1917 in Balitmore, MD.  He was in the army and drove big tanks that killed little tanks.  The detail that he spoke of and about things we know he had no witness to in life to that point, made me interested.

There is a great book which is called "Proof of Heaven" :
http://www.amazon.com/Proof-Heaven-Neurosurgeons-Journey-Afterlife/dp/1451695195/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358526540&sr=1-1&keywords=proof+of+heaven

It's a good read, a little long for me to get to the point, but good none the less.

I have heard a number of stories from my mother as I was growing up about people who died and came back to.  as a nurse in Cardiac Critical Care she was often the first person they spoke to after these events.  They would speak of out of body experiences some were local to the earth some to the cosmos.  The key is there is a soul that lasts longer than your presence in the human form.

My barber, told me of his experience where he would dream that he was in WWW I and the Germans were after him.  He had these dreams wen he was 2 and would tell his family about it.  He lived where there was no TV and had no access to such knowledge.  He describe the appearance of the Germans and folks figured it out.  He was born in 1940.

I believe so much so I have an experiment I have been toying with:

Hide a small time capsule somewhere.  Take the GPS coordinates and memorize them.  Repeat them morning, noon and night.  Every day until you die.   In the capsule give just enough information to explain the experiment, and my family.  Do not however speak of the memorized coordinates.  This way if someone finds it on accident they cannot scam my family.  I have told my family of the plan, they know to ask how did you find it.  If the person says I had number stuck in my head they know its me again.  I think the likelihood is slim that this will work as there are so many things that could go wrong, like I'm not reincarnated for 100 years as a human, or I end up in half way across the planet, or they develop in the area where I hide the capsule.  If many of did this it could prove that reincarnation does occur.  Imagine the impact of that knowledge.

[TalkingAntColony]

If there's nobody at the wheel, the human/automaton must always act according to some program, and this is known to be problematic. The person's overarching operating system or algorithm would be faced with the Halting Problem. It would sometimes crash and therefore have to be periodically rebooted... by something else! But by what? Reset circuitry is not foolproof either -- it's still part of the system. What if that gets stuck in an infinite loop and the whole thing has to be rebooted? There could be a long chain of reset circuits, and they all get stuck in a recursive loop! Therefore, at the end of the chain, there still has to be something else -- some conscious being that is capable of breaking the loop by being illogical.

I have many problems with your premises/conclusions here. First of all, if "someone" is "at the wheel," do they violate the laws of physics to influence brain particles whichever way? If they do not, then there is no difference between "someone" being there or not. What do you mean by the brain being faced with the Halting Problem? Would this be assuming the brain is equivalent to a Turing machine (quite an assumption itself)? A Turing machine cannot modify its instruction set, so I think maybe it is not so accurate for a brain model.

Also, consider that I can remove part of your brain, and you can no longer recognize faces. Remove more and you could lose the ability to think in/use language. Another and you lose short/long term memory. The more we learn about the brain, the more aspects of our experience get mapped to brain regions. It seems to me more evident that we are our brains and nothing more. The concept of "I" or "you" is a psychological construct. Really, there is no separation between the atoms of your body/brain and the atoms of the air next to it. For our brains to be able to make sense of the world, they make such arbitrary distinctions.

[myrkul]

Really, there is no separation between the atoms of your body/brain and the atoms of the air next to it. For our brains to be able to make sense of the world, they make such arbitrary distinctions.

Try to move the atoms in your hand in a coherent direction to do something.

Now try to do the same with the atoms of air next to your elbow.

That's the distinction, and it is not arbitrary.

[DarkHyudrA]

First I tought that this was another Dank BS.
But them I was  "oh wait, he was killed by the mexicans"

[evolve]

When you die, your body decomposes and provides energy for plant life, bacteria, etc.  So in a way, your energy does become a part of other living creatures.

That said, I dont believe in a soul or anything, so I dont think your consciousness transfers when you die...it just ceases to exist. So no, I don't believe in reincarnation in a religious or spiritual sense; but if the definition is stretched to mean transfer of energy, then yes, I do believe.

[Richy_T]

I don't but I used to in a previous life.