Reincarnation, do you believe in it?

[Janeway]

I am wondering what percent of people believe in reincarnation here.

 

Also, I think I might add a section about not being of a religion that believes in reincarnation. So, if you are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, etc and your religion does not teach that reincarnation exists, then you would go under that catagory.

 

If anyone wants to add comments or even expand on what they believe or anything else, feel free! 

 

PS what does "make votes public? mean on the poll option? I want people to be able to vote anonymously, but also, I want everyone to be able to see the results. So I did not click that one.

 

PPS I did not put this post up for a debate, I just hoped to learn more about it.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Janeway

[regentrude]

Make votes public means that everybody can see how each individual poster voted.

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by regentrude

[MamaBearTeacher]

I'm not sure. I struggle with this question. My beliefs come from myself and what I hear or read but not any one religious teaching in particular. There is a lot of good in this world, human goodness and beauty, evidence of God. But there is also a lot of bad, human selfishness, murder, attrocities of war and also suffering caused by natural disaster and disease. I think there is too much bad. In North America, a lot of people are fairly comfortable so we don't always see much really bad. In parts of of Africa there are huge populations of people who really really suffer. It is also hard to get close to God in our world. I think that this place is a place for the soul to grow maybe. We should do what we can to make this world a better place but then the soul goes onto a better place which has more good and more beauty and is even more real, kind of like in the Narnia book The Last Battle. Kind of.

[Lady Florida.]

Nope. Atheist. I don't believe in an afterlife or another life.

[SparklyUnicorn]

No

 

 

[maize]

Reincarnation, no.

 

Resurrection, yes.

[MaeFlowers]

Maybe.

 

I don't assume to know anything about the afterlife. I have no reason to believe in it. I also have no reason not to.

[Twolittleboys]

I clicked on "Yes" but not sure I shouldn't have chosen "Other". As I am Catholic, my religion does not teach reincarnation and I wouldn't say I really believe in it. I more think of it as a possibility - maybe it is just that I like the idea of having another chance to figure things out. So it definitely is not something I rely on or that informs my decisions/actions but I do kind of like the idea...

[Charlie]

No, and I can't imagine how it would work.

[eternalsummer]

I am not sure.  I see death as sort of a black hole - very little or no information reaches us from the other side of the event horizon (death) so it is difficult to make judgments about what is on the other side.  That said, I do believe both that:

A. there is something in a person that is not the body of the person.  When my Dad was dying, he had been in a coma for weeks and the line (in terms of body function) between alive and dead for him was pretty thin - he was only barely alive for a long time before he died.  But the difference in terms of whether he was there was quite stark - it was just very clear to me that there was something that had been there when he was alive and was there no longer, and it was not his body, as that was still there.

 

B. at least in physical terms, we are reincarnated.  When I die I will turn into worms and flowers and dirt and grass and eventually into hawks and rabbits and cows, etc.  

[Mergath]

Not in the sense that I have some kind of immortal soul that will be reborn into another body. But some of the elements that make up my body could certainly become part of some new living thing at some point over the next however many billion years.

[Guest]

I put Other, because I don't rule out anything of what might happen in the afterlife if there is one. It does seem efficient to me, like recycling. Might as well use this perfectly good soul over again. ;)

[Selkie]

I just read a fascinating book about this topic - Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D., a professor at UVA.

 

I've always been skeptical about reincarnation, but some of the cases described in the book are pretty compelling, especially the ones where the child's memories could be traced back to an actual person who died before the child was born. Very strange stuff! It definitely sparked my interest in reading more about it.

[Crimson Wife]

Not in the sense that I have some kind of immortal soul that will be reborn into another body. But some of the elements that make up my body could certainly become part of some new living thing at some point over the next however many billion years.

 

I definitely believe that people's bodies are part of the natural "circle of life" (does anyone dispute that?)

 

I also believe in immortal souls, but not rebirth of those souls into another human body. When the Bible talks about resurrection of the body at Christ's second coming, I believe that we will get new & better spiritual bodies rather than our flawed human bodies. St. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 15:42-45:

 

"Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies."

 

[Crimson Wife]

I just read a fascinating book about this topic - Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D., a professor at UVA.

 

I've always been skeptical about reincarnation, but some of the cases described in the book are pretty compelling, especially the ones where the child's memories could be traced back to an actual person who died before the child was born. Very strange stuff! It definitely sparked my interest in reading more about it.

 

I studied Carl Jung and the whole "collective unconscious" idea in one of my psychology courses. I think there may be something to it and that people's knowledge of "past lives" may be the result of being able to tap into this collective unconscious.

[LucyStoner]

I do not.

[marbel]

I don't, for two reasons.

 

1. It is the opposite of my own faith.  Like Maize said, no to reincarnation, yes to resurrection.

 

2. I have personally known some people who believed in it.  Every one of them was "off kilter" in multiple ways.  I actually typed another word that was a better descriptor but could have been offensive.   Please note that I am not implying that every person everywhere who believes in reincarnation is "off;" I am relating my own experience only.   

[MercyA]

Nope. "It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27

[Lady Florida.]

Not in the sense that I have some kind of immortal soul that will be reborn into another body. But some of the elements that make up my body could certainly become part of some new living thing at some point over the next however many billion years.

 

This. Sort of. I wouldn't mind having a green burial so my body can decompose and become part of nature. All other living things do. That would be my idea of reincarnation - becoming a part of the earth.

[flyingaway]

Yes. I'm coming back as a red panda.

[emmaluv+2more]

My immediate reaction is that I do not believe in reincarnation.  However, I don't presume to be capable of truly knowing what happens to us after we die.  I believe in possibilities.  So I suppose I believe it could be possible, along with a million other possibilities.  I'm newly agnostic.  Or more accurately, I'm newly accepting my agnosticism.  

[Rosie_0801]

Well, dead relatives in dreams have told me there is such thing as reincarnation.

 

I tend not to consider dead relatives reliable sources, but on the other hand, on topics of life after death, I guess they'd know better than living people. :lol:

 

Conclusion: My subconscious believes in reincarnation.

[eternalsummer]

That idea appeals to me too, Sadie.  I proposed something similar to DH once and said that of course we got to live again - because after the big bang, and the expansion of the universe, it contracts back to a point and then we get a big bang again, and on for eternity.  (I know this is not the current scientific opinion re: the nature of the universe, but it is the model DH prefers).  then, he says, once it expands again in the big bang, why would it be anything other than exactly what happened this time?  the laws of physics will not have changed, so the result must be exactly the same.  So he thinks (I think) we live this life over and over for eternity.

 

I am okay with that as I have so far led a charmed life, but I would also really like to experience the world from another point of view, I think.

 

When I was younger I was pretty convinced, in an unconscious way, that I would live forever.

[Guest]

This is one of those things that I literally have no opinion about, no feeling one way or the other.

[Garga]

I used to fear death when I was young.  Old people would say things like, "I'm ready to go," and I didn't understand At All.  

 

But honestly, this world has been wearing me down so much lately that I don't fear it anymore.  I'm not ready for it, like I might be if I was old or suffering, but I'm not scared.  

 

The idea of coming back to this pain-filled world is not a good one to me.  

Edited January 30, 2017 by Garga

[Reefgazer]

Once my body decomposes, the molecules that make me up would be taken up by other living things, so in the physical sense, yes, that happens. Given infinite time, there's no reason the molecules that make up what is my conscienceness would not recombine in the same way by sheer chance. But like a clone, I don't think that would make an exact copy of me because we are more than just the sum of the molecules that make us up; our experiences mold us.

Edited January 30, 2017 by reefgazer

[DawnM]

No, I do not believe in reincarnation. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

No, Atheist. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

Well, dead relatives in dreams have told me there is such thing as reincarnation.

 

I tend not to consider dead relatives reliable sources, but on the other hand, on topics of life after death, I guess they'd know better than living people. :lol:

 

Conclusion: My subconscious believes in reincarnation.

:lol:  :lol:  :lol: Since I can't like this post, I'll just LOVE IT instead, lol

[Hannah]

I don't think my soul will come back in another body, no.  But I find the idea of epigenetics and cellular memory in our DNA fascinating.  I think the experiences of my forefathers do shape me and my experiences will shape future generations.

[Bluegoat]

I said no, my religion doesn't teach it.

 

If I was thinking about it from a viewpoint apart from having religious teachings, I think I would probably still say no - some kind of afterlife, perhaps, but I can't see any real reason to propose that whatever was left as consciousness might somehow come to be in another material body.  Unless maybe it was a very general kind of way.  Maybe I would be a maybe after all.

[redsquirrel]

nah, one's yer lot

[Tanaqui]

I think any kind of life after death, other than in a painfully nitpicking sense (your body gets eaten by the worms which get eaten by the chickens which poop and nourish the trees which grow the apples your grandchildren eat) is extremely implausible.

[6packofun]

I didn't answer, but I wonder if people technically think that Christianity teaches it?  Hmmm, I'll have to think on that!  I was prepared to say no, and not because my religion doesn't teach it, but then I thought that perhaps others see Christianity's life after death AS reincarnation of a sort.  

[Momling]

No - I don't actually believe in it... but I love the idea!  I *want* it to be true, it just sounds implausible.

[Peaceful Isle]

I don't believe it. I believe.. absent from the body= in the presence of God. Our spirit is ours only and lives eternally after death. This is my belief and conviction.

[Learning fun]

I just read a fascinating book about this topic - Return to Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives by Jim B. Tucker, M.D., a professor at UVA.

 

I've always been skeptical about reincarnation, but some of the cases described in the book are pretty compelling, especially the ones where the child's memories could be traced back to an actual person who died before the child was born. Very strange stuff! It definitely sparked my interest in reading more about it.

I really can't imagine doing this all over again. One life is hard enough! I believe we were guardian angels before we were born and we'll be guardian angels after we die. I like to think that these children were remembering past people who they were called to look after, not past lives.

 

My daughter however does believe in reincarnation. Not really in a past lives sort of way, but since she was tiny she would talk about how after she dies she would be a baby again and then a kid etc. Maybe it was how I explained the circle of life. I actually drew a circle and labeled it birth through old age and then death. Logically a circle goes round and round and doesn't stop, so maybe she drew her conclusion from that. I'm totally fine with her believing what she wants about the afterlife. Who knows, maybe she's right? I'm more concerned about making the most out of the here and now.