Hi everyone. Do you believe in reincarnation? Being reborn in another body? Do you believe in having a wide range of "earlier lives" before your current one? I do, eventhough there are a lot of contradictions within the term reincarnation. I.e. if everyone is reincarnated, what are "ghosts"? No flaming allowed, please play by the rules. ;) (Rules; be NICE. Common sense, nothing else.)

[quote]Hi everyone. Do you believe in reincarnation? Being reborn in another body? Do you believe in having a wide range of "earlier lives" before your current one? I do, eventhough there are a lot of contradictions within the term reincarnation. I.e. if everyone is reincarnated, what are "ghosts"? No flaming allowed, please play by the rules. ;) (Rules; be NICE. Common sense, nothing else.)[/quote] Heh, you expect common sense here. However some form of reincarnation makes sense to me, everything goes somewhere.

[quote]Heh, you expect common sense here.[/quote] Hmm? What do you mean? [quote]However some form of reincarnation makes sense to me, everything goes somewhere.[/quote] What form of reincarnation makes sense to you?

I believe in God and heaven, but sometimes I think about reincarnation just b/c it's interesting to think about. I would personally hate it if it were true though, but you would never really know if it were true. the thought of going in an endless cycle, sometimes being a person i would hate to become, or never being with the ppl I'm with now... it's depressing.

I don't have any beliefs. This stuff is very real from my experience. Ghosts are people who don't know they're dead. Once they figure it out, they cross over and prepare for another life. Most people just die and cross over with a knowingness. Then they're born into a human body without remembering anything of their past. Hey, if they knew about their past lives automatically and remembered everything about 'heaven', what would be the point to life? Everyone would be so 'perfect' that they wouldn't learn anything. Plus, a new body equals a new brain. That's why there're skeptical people, caused by the lack of memory. It's necessary. Those of us who remember past lives and have a ton of psychic abilities hammering them are probably on their last life or close to it. I already know I'm done after this life, and I'm going to live well beyond my 110's. How I know that, I just do. Reincarnation is just a cycle of bodies. One body wears down and dies, and you replace it with a new one. You still have your soul, it will never go away. Think about this. Why is death so peaceful among the dying? Whereas everyone living suffers over it? Is it possibly because the dying know where they're going even before they leave their bodies? Yes. Consciousness doesn't go away. If you can't ever remember falling asleep, and yet somehow it's instantly a new day, that proves it as well. Falling asleep, going unconscious, and waking up an instant later. You can't imagine not existing. If you did, you would imagine black - imagining something proves it. I have a direct memory before I was born - completely separate from a dream or astral traveling. I was flying through a white something like a vent, visiting my mother's side of the family and my grandpa. Yes, I said toilet. There was one in there, it's vague as to whether I saw the toilet or went through the vent first. I remember certain objects like a little red fuzzy teddy bear magnet with the wiggly eyes. I was flying, and I remember my grandpa's plaid blanket on the bed. He was sitting on the corner of it. I remember what the room looked like, everything. He had the tv on with the curtains closed. It was a very small room, kind of cobalt-ish. I remember one past life of mine, where during a meditation, I explicitly asked for my past life. In an instant, I heard a loud, booming voice utter, "MORGAN." I received a flash image of a black haired farm girl with a yellow dress, sitting in a wheat or grass field with a boyfriend. It was likely from the 1800's going by the overalls the young man was wearing. I also have feelings of being in a certain time, not necessarily directly remembering like I did with 'Morgan', but I do remember feelings of having been to this time before. Ancient Greece stands out when I hear of it, as well as Atlantis. Sometimes I cry for no reason when the two ancient places come to mind, all I know is I want to go back there. I mean, I bawl spontaneously. Do I get emotional with Ancient Egypt? No. Anceint China? No. Greece, Atlantis - oh boy, non stop crying fest for hours. That's about as much common sense as I can dig up.

[quote]I believe in God and heaven, but sometimes I think about reincarnation just b/c it's interesting to think about. I would personally hate it if it were true though, but you would never really know if it were true. the thought of going in an endless cycle, sometimes being a person i would hate to become, or never being with the ppl I'm with now... it's depressing.[/quote] Why would you hate it? Who says you'll be separated from those you care about in your next life? And who says you'll change overly much form the person you were in your passed lives? Who knows? I believe that once you've connected and gotten to now someone in your current life, that person will come in contact with you in your next life as well, because.. you're connected and have a relationship of sorts to work on during the coming life. That way, I don't believe your family will ever leave you. They will always be there, and when they die, you'll meet them again in your next life. But that's just my thoughts on the subject. And since your soul never dies and lives on and on, I think it saves up all the kindness and positive thoughts/actions you've achieved/done, so I don't think your personality will be that much different either. As I've said before; your soul never dies, and it's within the soul that your personality lies, not in your brain or left arm, which dies at the end of your life. But then again, those are just my own theories, and no one can prove anything. Though I think it's a very interesting discussion, ne?

[quote]I don't have any beliefs. This stuff is very real from my experience. Ghosts are people who don't know they're dead. Once they figure it out, they cross over and prepare for another life. Most people just die and cross over with a knowingness. Then they're born into a human body without remembering anything of their past. Hey, if they knew about their past lives automatically and remembered everything about 'heaven', what would be the point to life? Everyone would be so 'perfect' that they wouldn't learn anything. Plus, a new body equals a new brain. That's why there're skeptical people, caused by the lack of memory. It's necessary. Those of us who remember past lives and have a ton of psychic abilities hammering them are probably on their last life or close to it. I already know I'm done after this life, and I'm going to live well beyond my 110's. How I know that, I just do. Reincarnation is just a cycle of bodies. One body wears down and dies, and you replace it with a new one. You still have your soul, it will never go away. Think about this. Why is death so peaceful among the dying? Whereas everyone living suffers over it? Is it possibly because the dying know where they're going even before they leave their bodies? Yes. Consciousness doesn't go away. If you can't ever remember falling asleep, and yet somehow it's instantly a new day, that proves it as well. Falling asleep, going unconscious, and waking up an instant later. You can't imagine not existing. If you did, you would imagine black - imagining something proves it. I have a direct memory before I was born - completely separate from a dream or astral traveling. I was flying through a white something like a vent, visiting my mother's side of the family and my grandpa. Yes, I said toilet. There was one in there, it's vague as to whether I saw the toilet or went through the vent first. I remember certain objects like a little red fuzzy teddy bear magnet with the wiggly eyes. I was flying, and I remember my grandpa's plaid blanket on the bed. He was sitting on the corner of it. I remember what the room looked like, everything. He had the tv on with the curtains closed. It was a very small room, kind of cobalt-ish. I remember one past life of mine, where during a meditation, I explicitly asked for my past life. In an instant, I heard a loud, booming voice utter, "MORGAN." I received a flash image of a black haired farm girl with a yellow dress, sitting in a wheat or grass field with a boyfriend. It was likely from the 1800's going by the overalls the young man was wearing. I also have feelings of being in a certain time, not necessarily directly remembering like I did with 'Morgan', but I do remember feelings of having been to this time before. Ancient Greece stands out when I hear of it, as well as Atlantis. Sometimes I cry for no reason when the two ancient places come to mind, all I know is I want to go back there. I mean, I bawl spontaneously. Do I get emotional with Ancient Egypt? No. Anceint China? No. Greece, Atlantis - oh boy, non stop crying fest for hours. That's about as much common sense as I can dig up.[/quote] Exactly. Where would all those memories of passed lives come from, if you never had any other lives than your current one? It doesn't make sense. I've read about other people doing trips back in time within their minds to gain knowledge of their passed lives and I think it's purely fascinating. ...why am I not alerted when someone responds to me in the forums? XD; Something's weird.. XD

[quote]Exactly. Where would all those memories of passed lives come from, if you never had any other lives than your current one? It doesn't make sense. I've read about other people doing trips back in time within their minds to gain knowledge of their passed lives and I think it's purely fascinating. ...why am I not alerted when someone responds to me in the forums? XD; Something's weird.. XD[/quote] Talk about psychic, huh?

[quote]Talk about psychic, huh?[/quote] Mhmmm. :]

[quote]Why would you hate it? Who says you'll be separated from those you care about in your next life? And who says you'll change overly much form the person you were in your passed lives? Who knows? I believe that once you've connected and gotten to now someone in your current life, that person will come in contact with you in your next life as well, because.. you're connected and have a relationship of sorts to work on during the coming life. That way, I don't believe your family will ever leave you. They will always be there, and when they die, you'll meet them again in your next life. But that's just my thoughts on the subject. And since your soul never dies and lives on and on, I think it saves up all the kindness and positive thoughts/actions you've achieved/done, so I don't think your personality will be that much different either. As I've said before; your soul never dies, and it's within the soul that your personality lies, not in your brain or left arm, which dies at the end of your life. But then again, those are just my own theories, and no one can prove anything. Though I think it's a very interesting discussion, ne?[/quote] hm... yes I never really thought about it like that. but i think if i knew it was an endless cycle, it would probably get old fast, lol. like being immortal. I like to think heaven has got some amazing entertainment in store for us if we're to live on for eternity. X3

[quote]hm... yes I never really thought about it like that. but i think if i knew it was an endless cycle, it would probably get old fast, lol. like being immortal. I like to think heaven has got some amazing entertainment in store for us if we're to live on for eternity. X3[/quote] Haha, yeah, who knows really?

[quote]hm... yes I never really thought about it like that. but i think if i knew it was an endless cycle, it would probably get old fast, lol. like being immortal. I like to think heaven has got some amazing entertainment in store for us if we're to live on for eternity. X3[/quote] Man eternity would get BORING. I mean even if you can do everything you can think of you'd run out of things you wanna do!

[quote]Man eternity would get BORING. I mean even if you can do everything you can think of you'd run out of things you wanna do![/quote] lol yeah, but an eternity of boredom beats and eternity of suffering i think. if the laws of physics don't apply in heaven, maybe they've got a whole new range of extreme sports or something. although it can't be too extreme if you're already dead. :S hm..

[quote]Man eternity would get BORING. I mean even if you can do everything you can think of you'd run out of things you wanna do![/quote] It'd get boring if you were to live for eternity in a body. It's different out of body.

The thing is, the idea of "boredom" is attached to your physical mind. The way your mind thinks in this life is part of the experience of living, and is something the soul on its own would not possess. Some people believe that we choose the lives we get to live each time, as a way of saying "now I want to obtain this kind of knowledge..." or "I would like to experience this sort of pain to learn from it..." kind of thing. Remember that in our bodies, our minds are still very immature, but our soul had been through a lot more than we can remember in the physical body. That's an important aspect of the process, because if we could remember everything then we would not have a pure experience in our current lives - our souls, in effect, could just read a book then. :> The idea of karma-influenced reincarnation is the same kind of idea, only it has consequences for if you fail to progress or if you do wrong. I find it a little less "fluffy" than the idea that we keep coming back as people. As for ghosts, well the idea that their existence excludes the possibility of reincarnation is based on a lot of assumptions. Most prominant is that they exist at all, and that they are the souls of dead human beings. It's just as likely, if we're getting into spirits now, that they are entirely other entities that have "mapped" a human and are left floating when the human dies. And who says reincarnation has to be instantaneous? In the life of a soul, even haunting the earth for 100 years isn't a lot of time. And of course as SaberFirestar said above, they could just be people who don't know they're dead yet. S/he states this as "fact", and I respect that s/he believes it is, but remember that everything is based on perception and reality is only "fact" because the majority of people's perceptions happen to agree on it :) On another note: The entire universe goes through this same karmic cycle, constantly being destroyed and reborn. So does it go on forever? Kind of, but not really. It's not the same thing for all eternity, obviously, since like our own souls' lives, each universal life has ample opportunity for change. You can imagine the drastic ways in which an entire universe can change. So do I believe in reincarnation? I suppose. I'm wary of the comfort the idea brings though, since nature has a habit of being cruel and uncaring, and I don't see why death would make that any different.

Reincarnation? Yes. I guess I do believe in it. I have always been the one to think negative. I've always wanted to go to Hell because it would be better than what I am living in now. I've never beent he one to believe in God or Heaven. Things have turned that belief down... But the thought of reincarnating is painful but at the same time it feels as though we might get a second chance in life. Imagine this. You're living a happy life. You've got everything you want. Even immortality. Would you choose imortality? I for one wouldn't. If you were to live forever to never die, you'd live a lonely life. You wouldn't have your friends for they'd be mortals and they would've died before you. Maybe you lived a depressing life (I'd be one to know) and you've also been granted the [i]gift[/i] of immortality. But then all that would happen id you'd be living an even more lonely life. You'd be going through pain and sorrow for many years. And just because you're not able to die, you'd have to see the other suffer as well. But if you were reincarnated, you wouldn't be lonely. Even if your precious ones have died, you wouldn't know because you'd have no memory what-so-ever of what happened to you before this life. Your loved ones may be reborn again just like you and you'd be having the time of your life jus tby talking to them. When you reincarnate you are brought back to the world you were born in. You are there to fix your previous mistakes weather you know it or not. You'd be able to see and feel the things that you need to. Even if you think that this is what's supposed to happen to everyone, your soul, the only thing that knows true pain and pleasure becaus eyou have lived so long, will know that you have gained a gift. A gift that will always be brought back to memory. Weather it's good, or weather it's bad. You will always remember what has happened in your life. Reincarnation is something that everyone mus tbelieve. If you don't, it's likeing thinking that you'll never get anyhting in your life. I don't care if you people never do get anything in your life, there are people out there that'd kill themself just to be born again.

Karma can be a bunch of bull. But whatever.

[quote]Reincarnation? Yes. I guess I do believe in it. I have always been the one to think negative. I've always wanted to go to Hell because it would be better than what I am living in now. I've never beent he one to believe in God or Heaven. Things have turned that belief down... But the thought of reincarnating is painful but at the same time it feels as though we might get a second chance in life. Imagine this. You're living a happy life. You've got everything you want. Even immortality. Would you choose imortality? I for one wouldn't. If you were to live forever to never die, you'd live a lonely life. You wouldn't have your friends for they'd be mortals and they would've died before you. Maybe you lived a depressing life (I'd be one to know) and you've also been granted the [i]gift[/i] of immortality. But then all that would happen id you'd be living an even more lonely life. You'd be going through pain and sorrow for many years. And just because you're not able to die, you'd have to see the other suffer as well. But if you were reincarnated, you wouldn't be lonely. Even if your precious ones have died, you wouldn't know because you'd have no memory what-so-ever of what happened to you before this life. Your loved ones may be reborn again just like you and you'd be having the time of your life jus tby talking to them. When you reincarnate you are brought back to the world you were born in. You are there to fix your previous mistakes weather you know it or not. You'd be able to see and feel the things that you need to. Even if you think that this is what's supposed to happen to everyone, your soul, the only thing that knows true pain and pleasure becaus eyou have lived so long, will know that you have gained a gift. A gift that will always be brought back to memory. Weather it's good, or weather it's bad. You will always remember what has happened in your life. Reincarnation is something that everyone mus tbelieve. If you don't, it's likeing thinking that you'll never get anyhting in your life. I don't care if you people never do get anything in your life, there are people out there that'd kill themself just to be born again.[/quote] LOL you're ten years old.

I definately agree with the majority of what SaberFirestar had to say about ghosts, but I would like to add one more thing. I feel in some cases people become ghosts through the simple fact that they become too attached to the physical plain to let go. As for reincarnation, it is definately something I believe whole-heartedly because I remember several of my own. I met a Druid/Shaman from Ireland around Decemeber 2006. Very nice man, we talked for hours, especially about reincarnation. He brought something to my attention that normally I wouldn't have given an entirely large amount of thought to. Souls are made up of energy/matter like everything else. He asked me, "What is your hand made of," I said,"Atoms," and he said, "right". He then proceeded to question what everything else in the room was made-up of. We can't see atoms with our naked eye, but they are all around us and make-up everything around us. Additionally if we were to go off the idea that a soul is made up of energy/matter and we know that matter cannot be destroyed, who is to say, just because you can't feel or see it doesn't mean its not there. Then again I laregly have my foot in the paranormal, acult, and so forth.

Neither reincarnation nor ghosts are real. The human mind has a great ability to fool itself into a great number of things. We can never really trust these symbiotic organisms inside our skull - they have their own agendas.