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Switch to Forum Live View Why does it matter?
5 years ago  ::  Jun 26, 2008 - 3:41PM #1
ManzanitaBear
ManzanitaBear
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Here's my position:  I am a reincarnation agnostic.  But obviously, I have some interest, or I wouldn't be posting here.

Maybe there is such a thing.  Maybe there isn't.  If there is, I can't see how it matters who I was in a previous life--or who anyone else was.  It's here and now that matters.

I have had a few experiences that suggest there might be such a thing--flashes that may or may not have been past life memories, and occasionally meeting people I felt I already knew, even though I couldn't have.  But I still can't decide if I believe in past lives or not.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?
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5 years ago  ::  Jul 16, 2008 - 3:54PM #2
Whisperingal
Whisperingal
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Reincarnation may have an effect on how one chooses to live and act--consciously--in "the here and now."
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5 years ago  ::  Jul 17, 2008 - 12:23AM #3
Chiyo
Chiyo
Posts: 5,799

ManzanitaBear wrote:

Here's my position: I am a reincarnation agnostic. But obviously, I have some interest, or I wouldn't be posting here.

Maybe there is such a thing. Maybe there isn't. If there is, I can't see how it matters who I was in a previous life--or who anyone else was. It's here and now that matters.

I have had a few experiences that suggest there might be such a thing--flashes that may or may not have been past life memories, and occasionally meeting people I felt I already knew, even though I couldn't have. But I still can't decide if I believe in past lives or not.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?



You are not the same person now as you were when you were 6 months old, are not the same person now as you were when you were 6 years old or even 16 years old. Those incarnations were unique and precious while they were here, but they are  now long dead and gone. .. How do those incarnations affect your life now?

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5 years ago  ::  Jul 17, 2008 - 12:56PM #4
ManzanitaBear
ManzanitaBear
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[QUOTE=Chiyo;630319]You are not the same person now as you were when you were 6 months old, are not the same person now as you were when you were 6 years old or even 16 years old. Those incarnations were unique and precious while they were here, but they are  now long dead and gone. .. How do those incarnations affect your life now?[/QUOTE]

Yes, I've heard that analogy before.  What I'm thinking of is people saying things like, I was a dancer in my last life, so I'll be a good dancer in this one.  Or I was Princess So and So, etc.  Superficial identity.  Or even, I drowned in my last life, so now I'm afraid of water.  (I suppose if that really is the reason why someone's afraid of water, it might be important... I just don't sense that sort of thing in my life.  It makes me think of the Indigo Girls song Galileo, which rather makes fun of it all.)

But maybe that's not really what reincarnation is about, any more than astrology is about newspaper horoscopes.
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5 years ago  ::  Jul 17, 2008 - 1:21PM #5
Chiyo
Chiyo
Posts: 5,799

ManzanitaBear wrote:

What I'm thinking of is people saying things like, I was a dancer in my last life, so I'll be a good dancer in this one. Or I was Princess So and So, etc. Superficial identity. Or even, I drowned in my last life, so now I'm afraid of water. (I suppose if that really is the reason why someone's afraid of water, it might be important... I just don't sense that sort of thing in my life. It makes me think of the Indigo Girls song Galileo, which rather makes fun of it all.)

But maybe that's not really what reincarnation is about, any more than astrology is about newspaper horoscopes.[/quote]

I'm with you on the sentence I'd highlighted... It's not what reincarnation is really about. :cool:

If you listen to people's reincarnation stories, it's amazing, so many of them were famous or exotic people! You never hear people say; I was a back-water farmer's wife, he beat me everday, I plowed the fields with him into my 9th month of pregnancy and I died of smallpox...
I think a lot of people are fooling themselves, or perhaps they just want to impress others. To me, it's a lot of foolishness most of the time.

If you want to hear a [COLOR=red]REAL reincarnation story, a truly impressive one, click here -[/COLOR]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RRs7fXjs_w
But remember, this is the [COLOR=red]exception and not a rule, most people don't remember this much.[/COLOR]

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5 years ago  ::  Jul 17, 2008 - 11:23PM #6
Whisperingal
Whisperingal
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MB--did you read my post?
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5 years ago  ::  Jul 18, 2008 - 5:34PM #7
ManzanitaBear
ManzanitaBear
Posts: 946
[QUOTE=Whisperingal;632380]MB--did you read my post?[/QUOTE]
Yes... but I didn't address it in that last response, did I?  I wasn't slighting you and hope you don't feel that way; I just ran with the thoughts the other post triggered.

[QUOTE=Whisperingal;629321]Reincarnation may have an effect on how one chooses to live and act--consciously--in "the here and now."[/QUOTE]
And that is a very good point.  But, how?  If we've all lived a gazillion times (or have we?), haven't we tried everything at least once?  Are there lessons left to learn?

And how does anyone know, really, if they've accessed past life memories?

Love to open up discussion on these questions.
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5 years ago  ::  Jul 19, 2008 - 12:16AM #8
HinduGuy
HinduGuy
Posts: 373
Hi: The concept of Reincarnation came from Hinduism. Our view of God is very different, we view her as a Parent or Teacher. Each life is an opportunity to learn and grow, the objective is not bodily pleasures heaven, but Moksha - become part of God herself. We do not teach that we are born in sin, instead we teach that each one of us has a divine spark in us.

Take Hitler for example, he could have gone down in history as a great German President (if he had used his power of inspiration to build factories that made goods instead of bombs), instead he went down as the worst German ever. Germany was down in the dumps after World War I, people forget that Hitler built Germany back to propserity, before turning it into a war machine. Each one of us has this power to cause great evil or good, each life is a stepping stone in reaching this understanding of the power within and using it wisely.

I am just not sure how this applies to people of Abrahamic faiths though, you have only one life, there is nothing about Karma and rebirth in your faith.
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5 years ago  ::  Jul 19, 2008 - 8:15AM #9
Whisperingal
Whisperingal
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MB--hi. I apologize if my question sounded brusque. It wasn't supposed to sound that way.

As for your question of--"If we've lived a million times, are there lessons left to learn?"

One answer could be--maybe there are more purposes besides learning lessons.

Perhaps returns are chosen in order to do something specific for others.

What thoughts do you have about that?
Sending good thoughts for you.
WGal
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5 years ago  ::  Jul 19, 2008 - 12:44PM #10
ManzanitaBear
ManzanitaBear
Posts: 946
[QUOTE=Whisperingal;635079]As for your question of--"If we've lived a million times, are there lessons left to learn?"

One answer could be--maybe there are more purposes besides learning lessons.

Perhaps returns are chosen in order to do something specific for others.[/QUOTE]
Possibly.

I know I've met at least two people so far that I felt I already knew. Maybe one or two more, but with the two I'm thinking of, I felt it especially strongly.

Still, would it matter so much if we ever remember our past lives or not?

Curious.
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