I hold my hands up i am a believer in re-incarnation
By ESKARENA1
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
June 23, 2007 4:12am CST
OK, maybe ill bring the fun de mentalists down on me, but here goes. In theology I got to thinking about afterlife and heaven and hell and this set me off thinking. I dont believe the afterlife is a place of tranquility nor a place of punishment and gnashing of teeth, but i do feel our behaviour in this life governs the reincarnation in the next life. Therefore good behaviour leads to a better next life, being evil leads to a nasty next life, so i guess we make our own heaven and hell, what do you think?
6 people like this
9 responses
@derek_a (10874)
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23 Jun 07
The "hell on earth" is something that came up in my zazen (meditation) this morning very strongly that I blogged about it - http://piecesofzen.blogspot.com/2007/06/what-is-hell.html
This is the thing about past, present and future that can be very difficult to see. The past is no more. What is no more must be an illusion and you get bet your bottom dollar that the mind will start distorting what really happened. But it's not that that's difficult to grasp so much as the ego has so much invested in keeping out of the present by "showing" us the past all the time and forming the future out of it. We can get a hint of this if we endeavour to focus the mind totally on the moment of now - the inhalations and exhalations of our breathing is an excellent method - there will be tremendous resistance and our minds will "hop" everywhere. And if we keep persisting on looking at - (the only thing that IS real) - we will discover some sort of discomfort.
Why you do think the ego would want to keep us from the only reality there is? Look deep enough and you might just see a state of fear, even. Is this the survival instincts cutting in as the ego fears being knocked of its perch as "ruler" of our life?
Just questions and the valuable thing here is that your whole post poses a question. There is no answer, only a belief that the intellect can put together. So is the secret not to have belief? Is it of more value to have certainty? How do you feel when belief is threatened in this way? Is it OK that you feel this way? Can you see now why the Buddha with the big belly is laughing?{{hugz}}:-)
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@ESKARENA1 (18261)
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23 Jun 07
It certainly is an extremely unsettling thought that all our thought is simply illusion. In truth, thought is all we have. Yes it is dangerous thinking
thank you
blessed be
2 people like this
@derek_a (10874)
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23 Jun 07
Ah.... But it isn't.. There is a state of being when the mind stops thinking. Awareness continues to be there though. We may glimpse on it momentarily here in the west. In Japan and other parts of the east, in zazen they (Zen masters) can stop the thinking mind at will and hold that state of what they term "no mind". I think it's something to do with the vast ages some of them get to in perfect health.
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@craftwave (1338)
• United States
23 Jun 07
Derek a question for you. If the past is no more and nothing but an illusion then do you exist at all? By your way of thinking you do not exist. You were born and that is past and the past is an illusion therefore you do not exist. An illusion is not real therefore you are not real. If you are real then the past is not an illusion. So which is it? And if you are real then whatever you are learning is bogus. Because its teachings are faulty. I'm not putting you down for your beliefs but it is very confusing when you say things like the past is an illusion. Pardon me but Christianity makes more sense. Why is it so hard to believe that someone loved you so much that they were willing to die for you and to take your wrong doing on themself and take the punisment for them. To me it makes much more sense, is easier to understand and there is more proof for this belief then any other. I'm not talking just about the bible. I'm also talking about seccular historical writings as well. Oh yeah, I forgot, the past is an illusion so anything written about history must not be real and never really happened because illusions aren't real. How convenient. means we can never learn from our past mistakes either.
3 people like this
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
23 Jun 07
"but i do feel our behaviour in this life governs the reincarnation in the next life. Therefore good behaviour leads to a better next life, being evil leads to a nasty next life"
I do think that each life decides the next but not in a sense of better life next time nasty life next time....I am firm believer that each life we have lessons to learn and if we DONT learn them for whatever reason in one life they will be carried over to the next life and so on until you have conqured that challenge/learned that lesson...
I really dont see or rahter beleive in ANY form of heaven or hell whether its the biblical sense or the type you speak of (we create our own).....I think life and all our lives are about learning lessons and conquring challenges on our road to complete understanding of what existance is...
does that make any sense? I JUST woke up and dont even have a sip of coffee into me yet LOL
great topic ESK!!!
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@ESKARENA1 (18261)
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23 Jun 07
great response. Yes i agree its all about learning and over coming challenges, i just wonder if we are therefore making things better or worse for ourselves and each other by owr actions
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@ESKARENA1 (18261)
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24 Jun 07
haha yes well, its of value anyway, I agree some people wallow in their own missery and glow with pleasure at it, its as though attention is what they crave. Do not take away the sourse of their ultimate pleasure without suffering consequences , lol.
blessed be
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
24 Jun 07
Well if we dont deny the challenges and DO learn the lessons to move forward then we are making things better for ourselves...Unfortunately some ppl get all caught up in the "whoa is me", NEVER learn their lessons by way of conquring their demons/beating the challenges so ultimately ya, they are making things worse for them.....I know a couple of ppl whom I have tried to help over the yrs repeatedly (to the point of draining myself in a big way) to conqure their demons and they just dont get it, but the DO get it....yet they see how i've made those changes over the yrs and how I've done exactly what I'm trying to help them do..they'll comment on it, they KNOW what to do but for reasons unknown (aside from the obvious "fear of change"/"stick with what you know" thing)..they make a little effort and then stop and go back to "whoa is me" mode..BUT the way they act is like they expect ME to do the work for them....they SAY they wnat it, but they dont want to work for it like the rest of us ya know..so ya ppl like that definately make their own hell, make their lives worse and they KNOW IT but they also seem to love it in a really sick twisted way if that makes sense...
*ponders* um did I just completely go off topic??? LOL
*shuffles out of MyLot to drink more coffee dang nab it*
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@ESKARENA1 (18261)
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24 Jun 07
please lose the fear my friend, I have seen far too much for it all to be an example of my over-active imagination
blessed be
@sukumar794 (5040)
• Thiruvananthapuram, India
23 Jun 07
Just a little bit of disagreement, my dear friend. I have been experiencing sour elements gaining supreme in my day to day life . Is it just because I had done severe harm to someone in my past existence . There is no justice in punishing me for the cruel or unholy deeds that I might have committed in my past birth . I would not vouchsafe God's or whatever power that metes out such cruel judgments to poor souls like that of mine .
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
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23 Jun 07
this is a strong point you have made and one i find difficult to disagree with. Maybe it is just that we have to meet certain challenges
blessed be
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@Jermboy608 (53)
• United States
24 Jun 07
There is no such thing as re-incarnation. It is just something man made up because he is afraid of the afterlife. The Bible makes it very clear that when you die you will go to heaven or hell.
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@ESKARENA1 (18261)
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24 Jun 07
many of us feel the same way about the christian bible. It too was writen by men, men lie. It is quite possible the bible was just made up, I guess its all a matter of belief. The bible is also quite clear on a few things that no rational person would do now
blessed be
@lecanis (16647)
• Murfreesboro, Tennessee
24 Jun 07
Yay reincarnation! =p
I've always believed that in the afterlife we continue to learn and grow, and have options about the continuation of our spiritual development. Whether that means coming back to earth, going somewhere else, becoming some sort of spirit guide... whatever.
My whole problem with the "eternal reward or punishment" thing is this: basing what will happen to someone for eternity off of a short human lifespan is just completely irrational. Whether you're basing it off the person's acts, or their acceptance of a particular deity, it's still ridiculous to think that all eternity for a spirit is based off the actions of a maybe 100 year life!
I definitely believe that there is an afterlife, or rather many afterlifes, and that our path will continue there, not in perfection, but in learning and growth as it does here. And I fully believe that for some people, that means coming back to earth again in a new life.
@barehugs (8973)
• Canada
24 Jun 07
yes I think you are right. WE do make our own heaven and hell. LIfe can be hell if we make it so, right here on Earth. After we leave our physical body, we change dimensions for a while before reincarnating to begin a new Life. The lessons we learn in one life, help us to have a better life next time around. There is no Afterlife, because we never die. Life continues on forever. Good and evil are really Knowledge, and Ignorance. No one ever does anything that he/she believes is evil. Hitler believed he was a Great Leader, doing what he thought was best for the German people!
@minijumbuk (514)
• Australia
24 Jun 07
"i do feel our behaviour in this life governs the reincarnation in the next life."
no i do not believe that your behaviour in this live governs the reincarnation in the next life, infact i do not believe in re-incarnation at all, i used to but logically...just think about it logically...
the biggest thing known to us ==== the universe
the smallest thing know to us ==== the atom
both have similar structures with a dense centre and things orbiting it...
i think the universe has a "Designer" and a "creator". so i am half christian, because i dont worship god...at least not yet, but i believe that he exists
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