Reincarnation

[kybearfuzz]

Last week, someone posted the following on Facebook:

Being raised as a Baptist, I was taught that this doesn't happen. I was told that when we die, we go to Heaven if we haven't danced, drank, swore, had sex outside of marriage, taken the Lord's name in vain, honored our parents no matter what they do, etc. Only good Baptists go to Heaven. I've met "good" Baptists and quite frankly they are not the folks I'd want to spend eternity with. As an adult, I've come to the conclusion that Heaven is for good people, not just "good" Baptists.

The idea of reincarnation is actually intriguing to me. While the pic is somewhat in jest, what if it were the truth? Would it make living this life more tolerable if you knew that the next life would or could be a reset button of sorts? And I haven't even addressed the idea that being good in this life would reward you in the next, an idea that seems common in most religions regardless of whether you believe in reincarnation.

I have seen psychics over the years at Renaissance fairs and most recent in Salem. Each of them have mentioned that I am an "old soul," telling me that this life was not my first go around. My mother has told me the same thing, that I always acted more mature than my age in some situations, even when I was little. I don't put a lot of stock into psychics as it's not like there is a training program for them, but I find it strange that I exhibit certain behaviors so the psychics can make the statements.

Pushing the idea a bit further, what if a past life influences your present one? Does it explain your likes and dislikes? I am very enamored with the early 1970's -- the culture, the clothes, etc. Being born in 1973, does that mean I was around just before that? I can't imagine I would have been so intrigued with this era if I had been an older person, so I must have been younger. If I was younger, what happened? A fall (explaining my fear of heights)? A snake bite (my dislike of snakes)?

Not that I really believe in this but I certainly don't discount the possibility. It is fun to think about though. I hope in my next life I'll be taller, with muscles, and a trust fund. :)

Comments

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

I hear you on this; I've been told I'm an old soul, as well.

I just know I've been on this Earth several times before.

I hope this is the final go around, and that I get to go to Heaven and stay there.

I get the message! You're born, you go to school, (Which I hated!) get bullied, then bad things plague you all throughout your life, you love someone with all your heart, and then you watch them die.

I get the point!

Yes there are good things, but you always end up getting sick, getting operations, and having to go to the dentist, bleh, LOL!

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Who knows? Maybe surviving as a gay man is the last step on the merry-go-round. :)

[barak.livejournal.com]

You'd probably enjoy the theory of Hindu karma, then. In their belief: you're born, you live, then you die, only to be reborn. There is no afterlife, hell, or heaven. The cycle can be endless, and often shifts from the human to animal (or plant, even). The effects of one life will often have an effect the soul's next life.

Its a fascinating theory, for sure.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

It's a fascinating theory, true. I'm not sure how it would feel to go around so many times. Granted you probably would never know.

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

I hope I'm a gay male for my next go - and every turn thereafter. With the qualities you mention...

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL... as I posted above, maybe being the gay man is one of the last go-arounds. If you can handle that, you're ready to move on. :)

[changeling72.livejournal.com]

I hope not, but I do find the thought of going directly from one life incarnation to the next rather unsettling. At least give me some time out!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

It certainly is intriguing. I like the idea that this life isn't it; I'd like to think that my parents have had some kind of afterlife. May you come back with those extra muscles and a trust fund! :)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

LOL! Thanks! I'd enjoy that trust fund :)

[dendren.livejournal.com]

that cartoon is soooooo funny. I love it!

I honestly don't know what I believe anymore. I think if I had to get right down to it, I think I sort of believe in everything. All realities are true. How could any one single religion in a planet of billions be the one true one? Maybe they are all true, in the hearts of their believers.

as far as reincarnation goes, I'm open to the possibility but not totally sold. I do know I've had several instances in my life where I've had people, including complete strangers, tell me I'm an old soul with a very long line of the past behind me. *IF* I believe in this, there are some things that lead me to think my past lives have been a line of oppression, a black slave woman who ultimately was hanged in the south, a peasant in feudal England etc, and my ultimate "goal" is to get past that oppression. If that is the case... I'm thinking I may be done after this awesome life I've had this time around LOL

Buuuuut... I really don't know what to believe. OH! I believe I will have another drink!!! :)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be cool to suddenly know all the past lives? Imagine how they would impact your thinking. It would be this sudden burst of maturity and knowledge all at once.

And I had another drink myself last night. I slept well :)

[dendren.livejournal.com]

when I was a kid, I frequently had the slave woman and English peasant dreams. the slave ones in particular, they were scary... usually running through the woods and trying to get away but sometimes they went all the way to guys in masks putting a noose around my neck under a tree. Very weird and scary dreams for a little kid :P

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

I too, have been called an old soul....a friend I grew up with told me a few years ago that as a child, I was "10 going on 40". LOL

I'm enamored of the 40's. Not sure why........mebbe it's because my folks where in that era. I don't know. Interesting.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I had a cousin who married a woman 20 years his senior. I figured my mom would have freaked, but she very calmly said that he had always seemed smart and mature and this was probably just the right kind of woman for him. She said it wouldn't surprise her if I ended up with an older woman too. Little did she know how wrong THAT was.

Maybe early maturity is a sign of the old soul.

And the 40's was a very interesting, almost romantic era.

[mort-83.livejournal.com]

Most of friends throughout my life have been older than me. Sometime a few years, sometimes a decade or two. Harry is 7 years older than me. I think it's partly cuz my family was substantially older than me when I was little.

[trulygrateful.livejournal.com]

As you may already know, from a purely scientific point of view, matter is neither created nor destroyed but simply changes form (ashes to ashes, dust to dust, etc.). While I don't believe necessarily in recincarnation, I don't NOT believe in it as well. Or, perhaps a better way to say this is that I *want* to believe that we get multiple chances of life.

Perhaps it's why we experience deja vu? Have you?