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The doctrine of reincarnation, the ceaselessround of rebirths, is not, as many people imagine, confined to Buddhism and Hinduism. It is found in some form or another in many religions (including Gnostic Christianity) and philosophical systems and in many parts of the world.
(quoted from Francis Story's article, The Light of the Dhamma, 1960, Vol. VII, No. 2 ) and available online from the following link: buddhism.ndirect.co.uk
What do you think of this? Personal experiences, ideas and discussions, and also constructive criticism from non-believers are welcome! Thanks!
American Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives by Ian Stevenson, M.D.
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 1983, 171 (12) p742-748
In this paper data of 79 American children are analyzed and compared with data from a larger number of cases in India. Few American children of these cases make verifiable stetements, and those who do nearly always speak about the lives of deceased members of their own families. In this feature, American cases differ from Indian ones, in which the children usually speak of the lives of deceased persons in another family and often in another community. Indian children also frequently make verifiable statements about the lives of such persons.
Some American cases of this type occur in families already believing in reincarnation, but many others do not. In these families the child's statements about a previous life are often puzzling and even alarming to his or her parents. The child is sometimes in conflict over the apparent memories with members of his or her family. In turn, the family members immediately involved often fear that other members of the family or other persons in the community will consider the child abnormal.
Many American cases are first reported years after the child's first speaking about a previous life; and it seems probable that many other cases are never reported. One purpose of this paperis to alert psychiatrists and pediatricians to the occurence of such cases and to encourage their reporting them for further study.
Any scientific explanation based upon evidence of this phenomena from non-believers ?
Reincarnation is essentially refuted as the global population is not static. It is growing so "new souls" are required as the population obviously increases.
When dealing with the make believe realm, there are no rules so pretty much anyone states as "fact" is really only a belief.
Science deals with reality not myths. Souls do not exist. Your sentience (self awareness) is what folk attribute to the soul and assume it is somehow immortal.
Life is so much simpler when you accept your mortality and stop hoping (or fearing) for a hereafter. You had no sentience before you were born and neither will you after you die.
Reincarnation is essentially refuted as the global population is not static. It is growing so "new souls" are required as the population obviously increases.
I may be wrong here but my understanding of reincarnation was that you do not necessarily return as a human but could return as any other form of life (dog, bird, fish, etc) and also any form of life could return as a human. Therefore the global population increasing would only mean there are less of some other life forms...
Assuming that we do reincarnate, why would you choose to come back to this earthly existance, why not choose to experience other worlds. We are only bound to this planet due to our physical existance and the spirit has no bounds. Some will say it is to attone for karma, but what is karma if you fail to learn your lesson due to not remembering why you here in the first, second or third place, it becomes an excerise in futility.
As for me. I do believe that we are spirit and as I stated above we are not restricted as to where we choose go or what we choose to experience. There is no God telling you what your going to do and where your going to go, the choice is left up to you.
I may be wrong here but my understanding of reincarnation was that you do not necessarily return as a human but could return as any other form of life (dog, bird, fish, etc) and also any form of life could return as a human. Therefore the global population increasing would only mean there are less of some other life forms...
It wouldn't make any difference. The growth rate of animals, including humans, continues to rise. So where do all the extra souls come from. If reincarnation was true, then the overall population of everything would be steady, and souls with just swap bodies. But there's more to it than just that. Buddhism also believes you'll eventually reach the state of eternal bliss and simply cease to exist with no further reincarnation. That would indicate even less souls to go around to occupy the increasing rate of population. The concept of reincarnation just doesn't work with the numbers.
Assuming that we do reincarnate, why would you choose to come back to this earthly existance, why not choose to experience other worlds. We are only bound to this planet due to our physical existance and the spirit has no bounds. Some will say it is to attone for karma, but what is karma if you fail to learn your lesson due to not remembering why you here in the first, second or third place, it becomes an excerise in futility.
As for me. I do believe that we are spirit and as I stated above we are not restricted as to where we choose go or what we choose to experience. There is no God telling you what your going to do and where your going to go, the choice is left up to you.
What if there is no God telling you what you are going to be as you've mentioned, but also if you can't choose either? Will you still believe in reincarnation?
The term rebirth is used in Buddhist literature as they believe there is no eternal soul but a continuity of thoughts which is always changing and need a body to exsist. So, it may go on living either as an animal or a human or a spirit and will continue living unless one opted willfully and exterminate the causes of rebirths. Is this philosophy acceptable to atheists?
It wouldn't make any difference. The growth rate of animals, including humans, continues to rise. So where do all the extra souls come from. If reincarnation was true, then the overall population of everything would be steady, and souls with just swap bodies. But there's more to it than just that. Buddhism also believes you'll eventually reach the state of eternal bliss and simply cease to exist with no further reincarnation. That would indicate even less souls to go around to occupy the increasing rate of population. The concept of reincarnation just doesn't work with the numbers.
I believe you are attempting a merciful God of the Buddhists. The mercy is asked for by individuals but I cannot for the life of me believe that Mercy is existent as a choice. Essentially Buddha Himself can't answer what choices were to be made for the results that were Just. He new justice as obviously somewhat something which could change on the course of Time.
Assuming that we do reincarnate, why would you choose to come back to this earthly existance, why not choose to experience other worlds. We are only bound to this planet due to our physical existance and the spirit has no bounds. Some will say it is to attone for karma, but what is karma if you fail to learn your lesson due to not remembering why you here in the first, second or third place, it becomes an excerise in futility.
As for me. I do believe that we are spirit and as I stated above we are not restricted as to where we choose go or what we choose to experience. There is no God telling you what your going to do and where your going to go, the choice is left up to you.
I believe that we have the option to return but that we are bound by the vibration of the DNA. This is why people cannot come back as chickens, etc., and that we can only advance or return to relive our existence at the same level. The DNA "dials" us in (much like a radio signal). This is how I understand Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, they simply did not have a strong vibratory attachment to the DNA of the body and so the bond was lost.
Now, if the other entities that surely exist in the universe have a similar DNA pattern or vibration, I can see that it would be possible to reincarnate into that population, but obviously, we don't know if that opportunity exists, for certain.
It wouldn't make any difference. The growth rate of animals, including humans, continues to rise. So where do all the extra souls come from. If reincarnation was true, then the overall population of everything would be steady, and souls with just swap bodies. But there's more to it than just that. Buddhism also believes you'll eventually reach the state of eternal bliss and simply cease to exist with no further reincarnation. That would indicate even less souls to go around to occupy the increasing rate of population. The concept of reincarnation just doesn't work with the numbers.
Good question! Let us suppose the population of humans and animals is growing and we have an issue of the source. Some religion mentions that there are spirit worlds both terrestial and extra-terrestial. This may be a source but may still not be enough to fill the population gap.
The other possible source is the world of insects. Population of human and animals may be ascertained using counts and census, but nobody can determine how many insects, large or small with any certainity. This is a huge source that would not replinish easily.
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