Do you believe in reincarnation?

[OnionPatch]

Poll question: Do you believe in reincarnation?

I've always been interested in the idea of reincarnation. I've always had the feeling that I might have been around before somehow. I'm not ready to say I wholeheartedly believe in it but I would say it's probable and makes a lot of sense. I know a few people who insist they've been here before. I know a lot of people who say, no way.

I'm curious, what what do you all think about it?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I have to say "other"

because here's the Sufi view:

Each soul comes from the Source much like a ray of the sun. The souls come down to this plane going through several other planes, the most notable being the angelic plane and the jinn plane. As souls return to the Source, they travel back the same way. There is an exchange of experiences, talents, etc, as souls travelling back give to those traveling to earth.

This is why some people have past life memories.

[Ranec]

2. Reincarnation doesn't feel right to me.

Though I suppose there is a sense in which people are formed from the general matter that had formed people in the past, but I don't believe that a single spirit/soul/energy passes from one incarnation into another.

[LWolf]

3. Yes.

I believe that I am. That my spirit can choose to incarnate physically at any point, or at multiple points.

[Maat]

5. Gosh. All interesting ideas here.

Our faith (Church of Religious Science) leaves it open as to where your energy/uniqueness goes after death. So, I guess I believe that we go on to another life, actually one after another, but I'm not sure as to the details, or as to whether or not you get a choice to do something else for awhile.

[LWolf]

6. I like leaving it open.

When it is open, my understanding can grow and evolve.

:hi:

[Maat]

8. I've left it open too - since my church does not hem me in.

Although, my pastor always has a 'Ask the Pastor Questions' session every couple of months - and we all like to be wisenheimers and ask her what happens after death - it is really amusing. She just teases us back - 'cause she knows we are really playing 'Stump the Pastor' (always good for laughs).

I guess I like to believe that we have some choices after we die - hopefully fun ones. I'm coming back next time as a Maat-Family cat. You can be a total slacker your entire life - which is what I really want to be when I grow up (I'm 46, by the way).

[LWolf]

11. I've thought about the cat.

Nap in the sun, stretch, get scratched, get fed, wander outside to explore, back in to nap again....who wouldn't take at least one turn as a cat? ;-)

Even more than a cat, I've thought I'd like a turn as a tree. Any tree would do, but if I could choose, it would be a Sequoia. I could spread out roots and branches and contemplate whole millennia!

[Maat]

23. Great ideas, LWolf!

Take care!

[AlienGirl]

4. Yes

I've read enough cases reported by Dr. Ian Stevenson, and later by Carol Bowman, that I think the evidence supports some form of reincarnation. On an intuitive level I believe there is something that survives death and reincarnates (rather than the more minimal explanation that "somehow, memory transfer occurs.").

Tucker

[musette_sf]

7. Yes, I do

even though the faith I consider the closest to my heart-felt beliefs, Religious Science, does not.

[Maat]

9. I'm a Religious Scientist too!

My pastor told me that the church does not have a definitive position on it. So, I guess we can use our imagination!

On edit:
I'm going to do some research on this. I've been told that some Religious Science churches tend towards the 'derived from Christianity' and still others tend to have a 'Buddhist' flavor. My congregation is very ecletic, depite being in a conservative area. And we even just had a speaker that covered how Holmes (the founder) had studied Emerson (there we get our UU connection), Thoreau, and the World's religions, and had gleened many principles from Hinduism. I just bought a great Hindu God statute from our bookstore. He represents the Elephant God that clears obstacles out of one's path. I love the idea anyway.

Take Care!

Ma'at

[elshiva]

17. The Elephant God is Ganesh

and he is lovely. Blessings on the Bar exam, Maat!

[Maat]

10. Researched it.

I guess that Holmes did not take a stand one way or another on reincarnation. And neither does Religious Science. Holmes believed in eternal life, but did not specifically believe or insist upon an individual reincarnating on this earthly plane more than one. Holmes believed in an unlimited universe, and in an unlimited number of ways of incarnating.

On edit: from:
http://www.rsiftl.com/ourteaching/faq.htm#Do%20you%20believe%20in%20reincarnation?
Religious Science - Fort Laud.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?

Religious Science neither endorses nor rejects any particular theory or concept of reincarnation. Since life is eternal, there are an unlimited number of possibilities for its evolvement after the experience of physical death. In Religious Science, we accept the on-goingness of life and we deal with what is before us in the present moment."

[everythingsxen]

12. I believe in "heaven" "hell" and reincarnation too.

DOOM!

[davidinalameda]

13. probably

there's a lot of circumstantial evidence for it

whether that evidence is true or not, that's another thread

I would like to think that our life forces come back

and I do agree with the cat--I could handle that life easily

[smirkymonkey]

14. God, I hope not. I want off this Karmic Hell Wheel.

Once I go, I most certainly do not want to come back - not to this world, anyway.

[Maat]

24. Are you sure you don't want to come back as ...

a ... Smirkymonkey?

[lady lib]

15. Yes. Absolutely. No doubt whatsoever.

And I'm none too happy about having to come back for another couple of hundred lifetimes so my soul can mature. I want to hurry up and be done! (Probably a sign of immaturity.) Oh well.

[wildflower]

16. I'm just not sure...

In my various readings, I've seen evidence that strongly suggests it exists. But sometimes when I conceive of spiritual matters it doesn't fit in. If that makes sense.

-wildflower

[elshiva]

18. I have not considered it.

I am Christian and Jewish educated so I know reincarnation is not an official part of these belief system. Although, I am a Jewish-Christian I don't know really. I would NEVER call it "just a myth." There's something compelling about it.

[Desertrose]

19. yes...I remember some other existences

I agree with LWolf ...especially about multiple lifetimes...sort of has to do with linear time only existing while we are in a physical body, therefore "past" & "future" do not necessarily follow our idea of a linear timeframe.

As a very tiny child I remember being so frustrated that I didn't have my grown up body and not being able to speak and was so sure that I would suddenly just wake up from the whole thing & be an adult again.

I came in with certain physical marks that correspond with memories that I have of other lives & deaths.

FWIW -I was raised in UCC ....always knew there was reincarnation even though it was never mentioned in my sunday school lessons, quit all formal relgion in my late teens, went to UU for a few years when my kids were little , but have found I do better on my own and do not really miss the ritual of the church. Not to say I don't enjoy an occasional N Am pipe ceremony or something from another tradition....

[BeFree]

20. Jesus said:

"Before David, was I"

What's all this about eternal life, being born again, and a life of living hell, if there is no re-incarnation?

I believe Jesus was a soul who, thru many reincarnations, finally 'Got It Right' and being born again used that life attempting to tell everyone else the secrets to getting it right.

[elshiva]

21. That is about Jesus' pre-existence.

He is God (in the Christian viewpoint), so he always existed. However, this does NOT rule out reincarnation at all!

Matthew Fox, the theologian, talked of re-Incarnation, that we can all incarnate God. Does anyone here believe in re-Incarnation?

[WildClarySage]

22. I have certain memories

of two distinct past lives. I'm getting the opportunity soon to go to someone who can help me remember more about past lives I've had, and I'm very interested in what we'll discover.

My son is an old soul. When he was eighteen months, we were going to a new shop that had been added to our local mall. As we approached the door, he said very clearly "Watch Your Step, Mommy" and sure enough, stenciled on the door were the words, "Watch Your Step." At two, he pointed out something I couldn't see and said "You can't see it where you're sitting but I can see it from back here." Much as I'd like to believe my child is a genius, though he is very smart, it's easier to believe that he was drawing upon skills developed in a past life.

[murray hill farm]

25. I totally believe

completely believe..one of those things u feel u just know to be true. But, aside from my belief...i love the chinese belief that you return for 9 seperate lives..and this is based on numerology..and this is how u figure which life you are on..based on the chinese numerology. you add together the numbers of your birthdate..mine is january 20, 1941...so i add 1+2+0+1+9+4+1=18...and then you add the two of those numbers together to get 1+8=9. so i am on my 9th life...or the last incarnation. Try it ..it is fun. if your birthdate numbers add up to more than 9 when added together....such as 2+8=10, then u subtract rather than add to get 8-2=6 and tht would be 6th life that you are presently living.

[Stop_the_War]

28. That is interesting, then I would be on my 7th life?

LOL cool.

[Domitan]

26. Has anyone read Dr. Ian Stevenson's research?

Very interesting and thought-provoking. He has researched young children from all over the world and their "past-life" memories. He believes that the links to past lives, if any, lie in these children's recollections and the birthmarks. For example, a child had a "slicing" birthmark on a certain part of the body. He "recollected" the life of another man, who was later discovered to be murdered a bit of time before this boy's birth. The knifewound on the man's body coincided with the boy's birthmark.

http://www.childpastlives.org/stevenson.htm

[Stop_the_War]

27. Personally I don't believe in re-incarnation because

I'm an atheist. BUT I have had two interesting "memories":

* My first memory was a dream in which I was a Roman man named Tacitus. When I woke up the next morning I used a search engine to see who Tacitus was and surprisingly there was a Roman man named Tacitus who was a historian.

* My other memory is of a native american tribe meeting...the chief was trying to contact the spirits to find out what to do about the coming of the white men to the americas. I think I might've been a member of that tribe.

But I don't believe in reincarnation. I believe that when we die, we die and that is the end. These are just two dreams I have had, they could be legitimate memories or they could just be what they are...dreams.

[0007]

29. You've been here countless of times in all different shape way

and form. The idea is not to figure out who you were in the past when you don't know WHO you are now. The lesson to understand is that that everything is growing and evolving and that we are part of that process. The problem is the ego. And it dies with the body.

That YOU are and that YOU always will be. And that never dies!