Busting Stereotypes: Reincarnation and Past Lives

[Deoridhe]

Iosonos

I'm not saying that there aren't real higher (or otherwise) lifeforms out there, but that the vast majourity of past gods are thoughtforms.

I'm so glad you hear you assert this. Now please give the criteria by which we know which of the gods are "real" and which of the gods are "not" according to your claims.  

[Fiddlers Green]

xd
Uppity Little Gods are sure pains in my keister to deal with, for being glorified rogue whims.
On the same thought...
Why bother with external entities, when one could make their own super-thought-form-God! whee

Oh, and on an aside, in Christianity, the whole judgement thing, there is a very strong arguement for it being done and done with.
All sins are paid for all ready, judgement has been passed, guilt was asserted, and all fines and penalties already paid.
Not every Christian ascribes to Universal Salvation doctrines...
However, Xian (so used {in my case, others use it as they care} due to the twin evils of obvious illiteracy in such people, and the habit of taking the actual teachings of Christ out of Christianty, replacing it with a big angry X ) tendancies to run their religion based on laws which were either explicitly or implicitly overturned by their professed Messiah should not be given much credit in that their take on judgement, diefic interest, and historical relation of the faith, are... how shall I put this...
Skewed...
At least from my point of view.  

[Poisen_Lotus]

I believe in rencarnation but I haven't had many vivid regresions. I went to a half-a** workshop once and saw my self as a 13teen year old girl on a horse ranch in the 80's. It was rather dissapointing. I don't even like horses that much. Or the south. I've had I phycic tell me that something bad had happened to me in a past life that made me very gaurded against my emotions. But she didn't tell me what and it king of ticked me off. Meh. I didn't think she was that good of a phycic anyhow. But then again unless your Silvia Brown I tend to be unimpressed. How did I get so off topic? Anyhow reincarnation. Power to it.  

[TeaDidikai]

Kikyokagome89

and saw my self as a 13teen year old girl on a horse ranch in the 80's. It was rather dissapointing. I don't even like horses that much.

Wasn't aware that incarnation made you automatically like previous experiences.

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But then again unless your Silvia Brown I tend to be unimpressed.

Interesting. Silvia Brown impresses me less (and in some cases outright offends me) far more that any other would be psychic I have ever seen or heard of.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

Kikyokagome89

I went to a half-a** workshop once and saw my self as a 13teen year old girl on a horse ranch in the 80's. It was rather dissapointing. I don't even like horses that much. Or the south. I've had I phycic tell me that something bad had happened to me in a past life that made me very gaurded against my emotions. But she didn't tell me what and it king of ticked me off.

How old are you? It was probably your untimely death, given those numbers. xp


This has inspired me to ask:

For those who do hold with reincarnation, do you reincarnate immediately after your death or is there some kind of holding period? Such as, would it be possible to have one life after another in direct succession, or if you were incarnate now your last life was in the 1500s?

Do you only incarnate as human or other animals as well?

What is the purpose of reincarnation or lack thereof?  

[TeaDidikai]

TheDisreputableDog

For those who do hold with reincarnation, do you reincarnate immediately after your death or is there some kind of holding period?

Tradition says it takes a set number of years (measured in the hundreds) before one reincarnates. Myself, I haven't seen evidence to the contrary, nor support that shows such must be the case.

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Do you only incarnate as human or other animals as well?

One incarnates as both from what I have experienced through those I trust.

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What is the purpose of reincarnation or lack thereof?

Corporeal reality is fun? No seriously- it is fun to experience physical sensation.  

[Pelta]

TheDisreputableDog

For those who do hold with reincarnation, do you reincarnate immediately after your death or is there some kind of holding period?

I've heard tell of people who wait hundreds of years, others who get born immediately after. Not that it can be proven. I remember roughly one life per century, so I guess there may be some sort of waiting time. Or I just don't remember the ones inbetween. Or I made up the ones I remember.

TeaDidikai

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What is the purpose of reincarnation or lack thereof?

Corporeal reality is fun? No seriously- it is fun to experience physical sensation.

Actually, I thought of it the other way around. Spirit reality is fun. Physical reality is the chore we have to go through to get to full completion where we don't have to reincarnate any more. Personally, I'm bloody sick of the cycle. I just want to get it over with and never come back again. Which isn't going to happen any time soon...  

[TeaDidikai]

missmagpie

Actually, I thought of it the other way around. Spirit reality is fun. Physical reality is the chore we have to go through to get to full completion where we don't have to reincarnate any more.

Not for me.

For me, the Otherworlds are nothing but work work work.

That's the joy of incarnation. Sure, you have to meet physical needs, but at the end of your day- you get a break.

But then, I've always found the "Corporeal Reality = Samsara" thing to be a bit silly. Good thing I'm not a Buddhist or any other anti-physical-gratification/pleasure-centric theology.

Life can suck at times- but the whole "Wheel of Suffering" thing doesn't fly with me.  

[Pelta]

TeaDidikai

missmagpie

Actually, I thought of it the other way around. Spirit reality is fun. Physical reality is the chore we have to go through to get to full completion where we don't have to reincarnate any more.

Not for me.

Fair enough. biggrin

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For me, the Otherworlds are nothing but work work work.

See, I quite enjoy the Otherworlds that have accepted me. I like being there. That's partially why I travel so much. Although I recognise the dangers of getting too comfortable out there and not wanting to come back, I prefer the freedom of being non-corporeal. Physical life is really exhausting.

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That's the joy of incarnation. Sure, you have to meet physical needs, but at the end of your day- you get a break.

I think you have a totally opposite view on this than I do. Life is wonderful, but life is also a burden. Life means responsibilities and experiences. These can be extremely rewarding and wonderful, which is kinda the whole point, but sometimes I just wish all the work would be over with so I wouldn't have to deal with the cycle any more. I get tired.

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But then, I've always found the "Corporeal Reality = Samsara" thing to be a bit silly. Good thing I'm not a Buddhist or any other anti-physical-gratification/pleasure-centric theology.

Life can suck at times- but the whole "Wheel of Suffering" thing doesn't fly with me.

I'm not buddhist. But I like to think all the reincarnation is going somewhere. It seems rather pointless to keep doing it without a reason.  

[Electrocuute]

Mm, since I was three I've been having past life regression dreams. Or, that's what I believe they are any way. I can remember coming to my mom when I had the first dream and explaining to her that she was not my mommy and that my mommy and three sisters had lived in africa and died because they were hungry.

At that point I don't think I even knew where Africa was but...

-shrug-  

[Fiddlers Green]

Heh, well, we've got something similar to reincarnation in my faith...
Okay, not that similar... but...
The idea is, when you die, 4 days later (barring any external issues or unfinished business) your spiritual stuff has seperated from teh terrestrial physicallity...
That spiritual portion gets thrown into what might be considered a cosmic mulching mower, where it is returned to whence it came, and becomes the raw material from which new spiritual components are fashioned.
Then Ahnur (possibly Ahriman, the answers I get are dodgy in whether Ahriman gets dibs in the Celestial soup, the prevalent school of thought says no, but a few dissenting opinions argue yes) dips into that pool and pours out new raw material to be shaped.

Sorta like grinding pottery down to make new clay, or melting broken metal down to eb re-cast.  

[TeaDidikai]

missmagpie

Physical life is really exhausting.

See, to me, while hard work can make the body tired, I would rather be able to relax in a corporeal form than have to worry about stepping on something that wants to be under my feet but hates being stepped on.

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I think you have a totally opposite view on this than I do. Life is wonderful, but life is also a burden. Life means responsibilities and experiences. These can be extremely rewarding and wonderful, which is kinda the whole point, but sometimes I just wish all the work would be over with so I wouldn't have to deal with the cycle any more. I get tired.

I think this might be a function of "Grass is always greener".

See, there is always work to be done in the Otherworlds. That's why you go there- because you need something in order to fix other things.

Being non-corporeal doesn't make the work end either. It just means the job is different. As a result, being corporeal is a nice thing for me. But hey- I can't say you're put to task the way I am (or maybe they are just buttering you up wink )

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I'm not buddhist. But I like to think all the reincarnation is going somewhere. It seems rather pointless to keep doing it without a reason.

Buddhism doesn't believe in reincarnation.

That said- "pointless" is very subjective. Myself- I think a yummy cup of tea is "point" enough when it is the only thing in the universe you want.  

[Pelta]

TeaDidikai

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I think you have a totally opposite view on this than I do. Life is wonderful, but life is also a burden. Life means responsibilities and experiences. These can be extremely rewarding and wonderful, which is kinda the whole point, but sometimes I just wish all the work would be over with so I wouldn't have to deal with the cycle any more. I get tired.

I think this might be a function of "Grass is always greener".

That's very true. I might not really like it that much if I was there all the time. And it would depend where I end up too. My path so far is a bit wobbly on where exactly I go after death.

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See, there is always work to be done in the Otherworlds. That's why you go there- because you need something in order to fix other things.

Bah. You said it. So much work, always having to go fix stuff, work never being over, stupid spirits I entered contracts with being unable to do things themselves... it's a bit like school actually.

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Being non-corporeal doesn't make the work end either. It just means the job is different. As a result, being corporeal is a nice thing for me. But hey- I can't say you're put to task the way I am (or maybe they are just buttering you up wink )

Maybe they are. But if both worlds are just as much work in different ways, you can't really argue either except by personal preference. And it would also depend where I end up. If I end up in some of the Otherworlds I've visited there would definately be a lot of work to be done. But if I melt down and join some vague spiritual ether before being reincarnated I wouldn't see the problem really. Changing state doesn't mean it's a bad place to be...

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I'm not buddhist. But I like to think all the reincarnation is going somewhere. It seems rather pointless to keep doing it without a reason.

Buddhism doesn't believe in reincarnation.

Ah. Thanks. I never really got much further than Siddhartha and the Bhagavad Gita in my Eastern studies. I realised rather quick that it wasn't for me.

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That said- "pointless" is very subjective. Myself- I think a yummy cup of tea is "point" enough when it is the only thing in the universe you want.

Fair enough. That's a very nice way of looking at it. But suppose what you truly want is unattainable in corporeal reality? Wouldn't that make the reincarnation poinless?  

[Boadicia]

I wish I could do a past life regression, but I've never yet found anyone capable of helping me in that point. How much time passes between lives, I believe, probably varies depending on when the soul is ready to incarnate. Why rush?

My ex and his "friend," who introduced me to paganism, believe it or not, had this whole thing where they shared past lives. For a while I bought into it, but alarms started going off when she claimed to have been a slew of princesses in Asia and Europe, and he had been her bodyguard, husband, or pet tiger. Their stories grew less and less credible until I decided everything they said was bull. She was a real drama queen begging for attention, and when she didn't get it, she would conveniently drift into a past life regression, and he would "act out a past life" just to humor her. I thought they were both insane.  

[Fiddlers Green]

Boadicia

My ex and his "friend," who introduced me to paganism, believe it or not, had this whole thing where they shared past lives. For a while I bought into it, but alarms started going off when she claimed to have been a slew of princesses in Asia and Europe, and he had been her bodyguard, husband, or pet tiger. Their stories grew less and less credible until I decided everything they said was bull. She was a real drama queen begging for attention, and when she didn't get it, she would conveniently drift into a past life regression, and he would "act out a past life" just to humor her. I thought they were both insane.

eek
You knew The Dork Lord?
Vlad Tepid?

Sorry, we had a local Mr. Dark who pulled that stunt with all of his "Dark Mistresses"... He would pull out random relations for some of his proclaimed past lives. xd

On an aside...
Even if someone is a fairly solid reincarnation of someone past... novelty aside, isn't it something of a squanderance of the current life, to hold too much grudery or ambition from a past one?