I\u2019ve been wondering\nabout reincarnation again, at least intermittently. I never really settled\nmyself on where I stand with the whole concept. And in case you are wondering\nhow a 63 year old man could not know how he feels about reincarnation, or\nanything at all for that matter, let me explain. I take what I am taught, and\nwhat I absorb from living as in hear and see, at face value initially. And as\ntime goes on I tend to examine that particular thing; probe it, ponder it, and\nconsider it. And depending on the importance of the specific item and the time\nI have available to me, I may not really come fully to grips with how I feel\nabout it for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reincarnation falls\ninto that category. It is not something I think about often; more now that I am\nretired perhaps, but even at that \u2013 not often. As I made my way through life I\nwas certainly aware of the beliefs of some large and old religions such as\nHinduism and Buddhism in reincarnation. But not belonging to either of those\nreligions, that\u2019s all I was \u2013 aware \u2013 but never had time or cause to delve into\nit any deeper than what I knew of it at face value. And what I knew of it was\nthat, for seemingly different reasons according to the religion, some souls (or\nall, again according to the religion) get \u201crecycled\u201d back into a new physical\nbody and are reborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Essentially the root concept\nof reincarnation lies with the lessons of life; that is, in order to fully exit\nthis earth, there are a number of spiritual lessons we are to learn. I guess\none analogy would be a system of earning badges much like a boy or girl scout: prove\nyour \u201cmastery\u201d of a broad and diverse collection of life skills by earning\nenough badges and you \u201cgraduate\u201d. Learn empathy, sympathy, compassion, and\naltruism; master how to eliminate selfishness, envy, and jealousy, how to\nfoster acceptance, patience, and kindness; and develop yourself to be honest, brave,\nrespectful, and to have integrity and you \u201cern your wings\u201d so to speak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A variation of this premise incorporates a\nbelief that you collect positive marks for good deeds and actions and negative marks\nfor bad deeds and actions, and when the physical body ceases to exist, the\nmarks are tallied and you either pass on or are forced to come back and try\nagain; to atone your sins and to make things right. It has always been a\nfascinating concept to me, just far out on the periphery of what I had for bandwidth\nto examine up until now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps this latest\ninterest is also partly due to my proximity to an end of my physical time on\nearth. As we age and near our individual final chapters, we tend to deepen our\nthoughts and turn to spirituality and the afterlife. And one of the first things\nwe all want to know is \u2013 what happens? What becomes of us when the life light\ngoes out? Enter religion; the entities that try to answer that question for us.\nDo we go to heaven and sing in the choir with the angels? Do we go to heaven\nand meet our formerly passed loved ones? Do we enter a different, yet recognizable,\nplane of existence? Or is there nothing at all? Like a flame snuffed out,\nmerely a wisp of ethereal smoke and darkness? Or are we made to stand in front\nof our deity and be judged on our lives? In this scenario, many religions have that\njudgement result in heaven or hell. But others have that judgement determine if\nyou are done or if you have to go back (the prospect of which to some is the\nsame as the heaven or hell scenario). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, no one\nknows the real truth (assuming there is a singular truth). We only learn that\nanswer once we\u2019re gone. (Or not depending upon the model you embrace!) But the\nreincarnation belief is intriguing; it suggests a grander purpose to life, a\nhigher reason to be good for humanity \u2013 the reward for a virtuous life. Get it\nright or come back until you learn your lessons and finally do get it right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Through my years I\u2019ve\nheard of people being described as \u201ca young soul\u201d or \u201can old soul\u201d, and the latter\nis often prefaced with the adjective \u201ctired\u201d. This is meant to point out that\nsomeone has lived multiple lives and is still trying to earn their way out of the\nloop. They\u2019ve lived through loss and heartache and any other combination of the\ncountless daggers that strike at the heart of our soul in this journey. Life is\nnot easy; it is not for the squeamish or faint of heart. It is an arduous\njourney form which no one emerges unscathed. And after several cycles of that\npain and suffering, it is easy to understand how a beaten and battered old soul\nmight show through a fresh young face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the \u201cyoung souls\u201d\nare those who are bright and innocent and seemingly have no concept of that is\ncoming their way. Old souls look at them and knowingly nod and exclaim: \u201cthey\nhave no idea what\u2019s coming but wait \u2013 they\u2019ll find out soon enough.\u201d They look\nupon life with eagerness and anticipation and are always surprised when bad\nthings happen \u2013 they just don\u2019t know yet to expect it. They are the \u201cnewbies\u201d\nto life, first-timers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And there is another\nbelief that coming back has no bearing on what you learned, or not; nor on what\ndeeds or actions you may have committed. Rather, it is a grand design that\nguarantees complete immersion in all that life has to offer by means of\nmultiple, even endless, cycles of life. Like Groundhog Day or 50 First Dates,\nyou just keep coming back to do it again, over and over \u2013 for better or for\nworse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The common theme with\nall philosophies though, is that we are generally unaware of our past times on\nearth. Rarely, something will trigger a subconscious memory \u2013 a feeling of\nfamiliarity \u2013 that we can\u2019t own or identify and we, for a moment, jump back to\nanother time and place. It creates a feeling of remembrance without any single\nfactual or tangible memory associated with it. Unfamiliar memories that live in\nthe shadows of our mind, that furtively flicker in and out of the mind\u2019s eye\nare, to many, considered to be evidence of one having lived a past life. Other\nexamples are more startling and supportive of that claim. These often (bit not\nalways) involve young children who have dreams or nightmares of past events\nthat they can\u2019t possibly know of, complete with historically accurate details\nincluding names or dates that no child could have learned on their own, usually\nto the extent that the parents have to partake in extended research to uncover\nthe truth in the child\u2019s dreams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is it real? Does it\nexist? Or is it just another in a long list of concepts created by our elders\nin an attempt to provide us hope through our lives that something better awaits\nus and to help keep us on the \u201cstraight and narrow\u201d during our walk through\nlife? It\u2019s of life\u2019s greatest conundrums and is the perfect riddle because\nwhichever answer one selects, no one can prove you wrong. Even if reincarnation\ndoes exist, no one brings the proof of it back with them. It\u2019s a little like\nghosts \u2013 if you believe you\u2019ve seen one no one can convince you otherwise yet there\nis no way you can ever prove what you saw. Even if you are convinced you are in\nyour second or third trip through life, you\u2019ll never be able to prove it.\nBelievers will embrace your words as factual and disbelievers\u2026.well, they\u2019ll\nscoff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you consider\nlife with homage to the laws of physics, you have to tilt your head\u2019s axis to\nthe side and look at it all somewhat differently. It would take even the\nstrongest critic of the afterlife to deny that human souls\/spirits possess\ngreat energy. Our bodies follow the laws of physics and nature and are dissectible\ntangible proof of living tissue and how each part relates to the other and\nfunctions. And there is no physical pieces or parts of a human with which we\ncan study the soul, the spirit. It is vaporous, ethereal, and nothing more than\npure energy. There is no organ or gland that powers or controls the soul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picture a battery \u2013\nplace it in a device and it provides power to make the device perform some\nfunction. But cut the battery open and there is nothing to see from an energy\nperspective; no fire burning, no glowing furnace, no energy source \u2013 just the parts\nand chemicals that convey the result of their reaction. Cut open a human and\nyou will never see the soul, never see the energy that makes us each sparkle\nand glow. No sign of laughter or love or fear or honor; those are the miracle\nof souls \u2013 they are just energy, unique to each individual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The laws of\nconservation of energy are clear and immutable; energy cannot be created or\ndestroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another. And such with our\nsouls, the energy that is our souls can\u2019t be created here on earth \u2013 that comes\nfrom a higher source, a greater source than is found on earth. And once\ndelivered, born, to this earth, that energy can\u2019t be destroyed \u2013 only changed,\ntransferred, to something else. Like a new body. I am not done with this particular\nriddle by a long shot; I can promise more posts on this as I continue to work\nmy way through it all. And if our paths crossed two hundred years ago dear\nreader, forgive me for not recognizing you!! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve been wondering about reincarnation again, at least intermittently. I never really settled myself on where I stand with the whole concept. And in case you are wondering how a 63 year old man could not know how he feels about reincarnation, or anything at all for that matter, let me explain. I take what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritual","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n