What do you think about Reincarnation ?

seanne : I think once you're dead, that's it.  *POOF* No more existence.  No afterlife, no new life, no heaven or hell, no reincarnation.

You get one shot.  After that, nothingness.

I do not believe in it. Once you are dead you are dead.

It's that simple.

I thought if you have a bad life, you will be reincarnated or go to hell. Having a good life will lead to afterlife and live in heaven. I'm Buddhist and Catholic, and I believe in reincarnation.

If you are an animal and happen to cross paths with a taxidermists then yes, you will end up as a shoe, bag or coat for some woman to wear.

When you die your spirit goes to heaven or hell no do overs

I think it's possible. I'm not completely closed off to the idea. 

warmaker : "You get one shot."

One shot at what exactly? At life in general? Just curious...

I think it's completely possible. It would be awesome to be reincarnated, but think about it. Completely forgetting what you did in your past lives... Is this really worth it?

But is it true? Maybe. Nobody knows, except those who did die and get reincarnated.

geeogree : One shot as in you get one opportunity to procreate, pass on genes, and then it's over.  I think the goal of life is to continue the species and prep your young to survive and pass on their highly-valuable genes.

One shot.  We live once, we die once.  Before and after are nothingness.  It's scary to think to deep about the void and non-existence but that's what religion is for.

When folks don't know what or why, they make up stories.  Romans and Greeks had their Gods to explain volcanoes, lightning, love, anger, war, et al, and we don't know what happens when we die so we have our own Allahs, Jesuses (Jesi?), and other spiritual leaders.

Me?  Meh.  Religion sets nice principles based on being kind to one another and not hating anyone but the after-death part gets a little screwy.

geeogree : You better lose yourself in the music, the moment, you own it,you better never let it go,you only get one shot,do not miss your chance to blow.

I dont believe in it,which is a pity cus,hey,it'd be fun.
Appart from getting eaten...that might not be so fun.

Yes, I do believe in it. I think that to reach enlightenment there is a series of lessons that you must learn, and that each life is a lesson. You learn it, you move on, you don't and your next lives repeat the lesson until you do. When you learn them all, you reach enlightenment and end the cycle. You don't even have to be human for all of the lives... you could be a blade of grass for all I know, but there is still something to learn there.

Redxsparrow : You do realize that Buddhism is mostly about escaping the never ending cycle of reincarnation?


Elara : I am curious where your reincarnation belief comes from. Is it part of Hinduism or is it something you have come up with on your own? You are the only person here who is going into any amount of detail about reincarnation, thats why I am singling you out haha.

smotpoker86 : It's largely my own, though I did draw from Hindu, Buddhist, and various Neo-Pagan philosophies.

I believe that reincarnation is entirely possible, but not for everyone. I think that if someone lived their life, but there were still many things they had yet to do that they truly wanted to accomplish (i.e. a man wanted a family, but never had one), then I believe they could be reincarnated in order to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish.

Now as for someone who did everything they ever wanted to do, I don't think they need reincarnation.

I believe reincarnation is reserved only for those who feel like they truly missed out on something important in life.

legacyme3 : *points a finger* OBJECTION!
I really do not want to point fingers right now but technically that is a theory. So ya... I do not want to argue. Just wanted to point it out.

I say no, Why? I am a Christian I believe we go to heaven, that is if you are a Christian and if you are not. Sorry your kind of screwed.

No I don't believe in reincarnation. I do believe that once you die your soul either goes to Heaven or Hell after being just by God.

I, myself, believe in Heaven. But I won't say reincarnation is equally as possible. Faith doesn't mean fact, and I know that. So I can't just say reincarnation is impossible. But I am a Christian, but I don't believe you have to be Christian to go to Heaven. I just don't believe that say someone like Gandhi goes to hell for not being Christian, but a lot of Christians I know who are pretty mean (but extremely religious) goes to Heaven for choosing the right religion. If reincarnation is real, it would be pretty cool if you could remember your past lives. Although if you did, you would have no sense of mortality because you know you will just reincarnate.

Loved the taxidermist comment. It would require totally redefining karma though...


I think reincarnation is a very interesting idea. It seems potentially very meaningful (What did I do in a previous life? How has that affected me now? How can I affect my future based on what I do now? Will I read about myself someday--have I done so already?).

It raises some big questions for me though. The biggest is this: Why should I believe in it? I believe things ultimately for philosophical reasons--logic has to get me there (usually, excepting "properly basic" beliefs...), and ideally physical evidence would be available. Direct experimentation is the best, but you just don't get to do that with the big questions (Or you can't be sure you'll be in a good place to analyze the data if you do!)

And what about loved ones? I am getting married next summer. I love my fiancé beyond words, and once I'm married being a good husband is my most important mission in life. The commitment is lifelong, and requires a great willingness to grow (listening skills, empathy, compromise...). What of that UNION in reincarnation? Granted, if I thought there were good reason to believe in reincarnation, I would try harder to come up with a coherent response to this question (so maybe someday I will!).