Reincarnation killed in one sentence.
If reincarnation is true then explain population growth.
Fear of Dying
- Thread starter cpamonies
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Reincarnation killed in one sentence.
If reincarnation is true then explain population growth.
Because it wouldn't necessarily be restricted to a single species on a single planet, you might become a beast or a celestial body or a bounty hunter a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
I am more fearful of infinite possibilities/universes (see quantum immortality) - if you can be everything and everyone then there is a huge amount of shit to experience in reality.
Anything that you can imagine is happening and will happen/has happened somewhere and you have/will experience(d) it.
Then you start to shit yourself because you realise that everything is one and you are everything. It starts to get a bit scary as you soon realise that you are conciousness and that's all there is nothing else.
Of course there will be a lot of good stuff to experience as well so it will balance itself out and everything will go back to zero.........
Anything that you can imagine is happening and will happen/has happened somewhere and you have/will experience(d) it.
Then you start to shit yourself because you realise that everything is one and you are everything. It starts to get a bit scary as you soon realise that you are conciousness and that's all there is nothing else.
Of course there will be a lot of good stuff to experience as well so it will balance itself out and everything will go back to zero.........
Are you guys really that dense?
The earth is billions of years old developed from single cell organisms that reproduced. There are more organisms on the planet every generation than there were the last.
Then you want to talk about a practical argument?
All of the people remember multiple past lives where they were some type of nobleman. No one ever says "back when I was a protozoa".
Reincarnation is just more religious bullshit with no empirical evidence. So sorry.
EDIT: I see you said multiple planets.
I see so I can just make up random shit and live my life by that. I gotta try that.
I'm going to start praying to my royal, cosmic twin living on the third earth just 15 parsecs outside of Alpha Centauri and tell him that I want a mind meld so I can gain access to the universe's cosmic Karma field, thereby becoming spiritual royalty.
Yeah there isn't empirical evidence for it, but it's an interesting way of looking at things, especially from a quantum perspective. It's a refreshing way to look at death after having heaven/hell shoved down my throat since childhood. It's not perfect, but it's more reasonable than most religious beliefs.
There are certainly holes in the idea of reincarnation/rebirth but your arguments against it are sort of weak.
Your first point about growth and evolution doesn't really prove anything either way, the quantity and complexity of life certainly grew over time on the planet (and likely every other planet with life on it), but that doesn't prove that their consciousness was limited and unable to continue after their bodies died. Evolution certainly catches a lot of religious beliefs with their pants down, but it doesn't prove anything about what happens after death for the consciousness.
Why would we remember our life as a protozoa or simple life form, there are hardly any senses through which to experience the world at that level, it would be an almost unconscious state. In fact, we don't seem to remember anything at all before our birth into our current bodies, but does that imply that we were non-existent before that point? Your point seems to be that people who talk about their past lives always talk about being human, personally I think they are a bunch of bullshitters who want attention and they don't remember shit, and considering that you think reincarnation is bullshit you feel the same way, right? IMO they are obviously lying, their testimonials don't prove anything.
And I'm not sure what your beef is with the idea of reincarnation being a universal trait instead of being limited to a single species/environment/planet, in fact diversifying the way that you come back that would be a requirement for equilibrium to be maintained if reincarnation were to occur.
I won't argue that there's empirical evidence for reincarnation, but I will say that it's one of the most reasonable religious/spiritual ideas I've come across if you strip away the superstitious interpretations of some cultures and religions.
Seriously, you just blew my mind. I in fact could not locate the voice talking in my head aka myself. I am at about a 5 right now though.
To the denizens of this thread:
If you quoted Kanye West, punch yourself in the dick repeatedly.
If you quoted Tool and or Tool related propaganda, thumbs up bros.
I didn't say that.
Buddhism is both a philosophy and a religion. My wife practices the Buddhist religion but knows very little about Buddhist philosophy. I don't practice Buddhist religion but have read quite a bit about the philosophy.
Like I said, a lot of the TBotD has to do with simply reflecting on death. Appreciating death. Understanding that we are all born, suffer, and die.
Your statements about building up an impressive eulogy are somewhat related though I think in Buddhism the goals would be much more humble. However, your point that our goal should be not to regret the life we've lived seems very much the same. When our time comes, there is no fear of dying because we've lived every day.
BTW, part of understanding the line between Buddhism the religion and Buddhism the philosophy is to recognize that the Buddha taught to people what they were already familiar with. For him, it was not important if you believed in a soul, god, demons, angels, or whatever. His core teachings about life and suffering stand on their own.
However, that does mean that Buddhism, as a religion, picked up many traditions of other popular religions of the time. Reincarnation was a popular idea in many areas where he taught. Since renouncing reincarnation was not important for people to grasp his teachings, people sometimes merged their existing beliefs with the Buddha's teachings.
I think you're referring to the notions of karma and reincarnation as they pertain to the religion, not the philosophy of Buddhism.
Universe can come to end. What has a beginning has an end. You are beyond that. Universe can only exist because you are aware of it. You are permanent and infinite, not the universe. Universe exists inside of you, not you inside of the universe.
You are everything and nothing, you have no qualities, you are not a person. If there is quality to anything then you can experience it. If you can experience it, than it is changeful and not permanent. Hence you are not your body, your mind, your thoughts, your emotions, because you are aware of them and they change.
Who are you? Who is the witness of all the thoughts, all the emotions? Mind?! But who is aware even of the mind?
In our daily lives we feel separation between inside of the body and outside of the body. In reality there is no separation. It is just one stream of experience.
All I am saying might seem as some kind of hippie/buddhist/newage Bullshit crap. =)
I don't expect anyone to believe it.
I have confirmed it for myself through multiple psychedelic and life experiences and the teachings of ALL truly enlightened teachers completely match. =)
One of them:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ_zNVTKBNI"]The Power is Yours - YouTube[/ame]
Belief in reincarnation is not an ultimate truth.
The one single most important Buddhist teachings that is commonly ignored is a teaching of No Self.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQT6FWOmkOU"]The Experience of No Self - YouTube[/ame]
The one single most important Buddhist teachings that is commonly ignored is a teaching of No Self.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQT6FWOmkOU"]The Experience of No Self - YouTube[/ame]
I feel that most people have fear of death (mostly of the unknown).
Nobody knows if their is nothingness, afterlife, or reincarnation.
I believe in afterlife.
Nobody knows if their is nothingness, afterlife, or reincarnation.
I believe in afterlife.
A recent episode of "Nova" on the topic of quantum mechanics addressed the death topic in a way that made me think about it in a new way. The possibility that alternate universes exist in the same space, at the same time as our own, addressed the probability that we understand very little about the true state of our existence.
I am the most irreligious person ever, but I like to believe there's a little something extra when we're finished here. For all we know, death may mean we shift from this universe into the others.
To quote the late Steve Jobs on his death bed: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow." I wonder what he was seeing.
I am the most irreligious person ever, but I like to believe there's a little something extra when we're finished here. For all we know, death may mean we shift from this universe into the others.
To quote the late Steve Jobs on his death bed: "Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow." I wonder what he was seeing.
