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"Is there life after death?" Discussion related to reincarnation.

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  • "Is there life after death?" Discussion related to reincarnation.

    There has been some interesting dialog the last few months on a number of different topics. I was wondering if there was room for a conversation related to reincarnation -- that is, in terms of what it means from different perspectives; perhaps your individual one to others founded more in religion -- and, well, lets say, some discussion on the possibility or value of such a phenomenon in our lives?

    What did the Buddha teach? Wasn't it the existence of the ten realms of being? So, does that mean that your mother could be a frog and your father a cow? Really?

    Did Jesus understand or acknowledge the possibility of reincarnation?

    What is it called when one attempts to view his or her past lives? Is this a common exercise?

    Have you ever seen a past life?

    g
    ZhongwenMovies.com

  • #2
    i've seen parts of past lives, on the history channel.

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    • #3
      I had a teacher once who believed that if you have a strong connection to a certain period in history, it was because you once lived during that time. My brother has been fascinated with early egyptian history since he was a little boy.


      Energy changes but does not end. I think that life energy comes from and returns to all other energy - so perhaps you came not from one cow and one flower, but from wherever the surplus energy was available to fuel you at the time you placed a draw on the reserve.

      I believe this is our one shot. When we die our consciousness ceaces to exist completely - that our 'souls' are merely something we devised because we crave individual identity and we need reasons for our existence. We are vessels within vessels - once our vessels fail the contents return to the universe's natural energy pool, and the energy that filled our innermost vessel gets spread out across the universe and is absorbed and used where necessary.

      I do not believe in the spirit realm. I am a scientific pragmatist, a nature loving athiest, a skeptic. That said, I stood next to my father as he passed away. Something was gone from him - I felt the difference under my hands as I touched his face. I am certain that life energy is palpable force.

      I'm also sure that my father did not return in a lion or a pine tree, but in all lions and all pine trees, and plankton, and magnetic storms, and viruses... everything.
      Whatever doesn't kill me had better be able to run damn fast.

      "You are one of the most self-deluded immature idiots I've come across here for a time..." —Blooming T. Lotus

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      • #4
        thanks zach


        I wasn't sayin I had a jolt of life affirming wonderment at the moment he passed...static electricity is also a palpable force. I'm just sayin that our existence isn't a bunch of hoopajoo mystery, that's all.
        Whatever doesn't kill me had better be able to run damn fast.

        "You are one of the most self-deluded immature idiots I've come across here for a time..." —Blooming T. Lotus

        Comment


        • #5
          What did the Buddha teach?

          The historical Buddha taught one thing and one thing only, suffering and its end. That's it, everything else was created by others after, sometimes it was meant as tool to end suffering; and, sometimes it was meant to philosophize which is not very good for true genuine understanding.
          "For some reason I'm in a good mood today. I haven't left the house yet, though. "

          "fa hui, you make buddhism sexy." -Zachsan

          "Friends don't let friends do Taekwondo." -Nancy Reagan

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          • #6
            Plum, well spoken.

            To whomsoever started this thread, I have only one thing to say, you'll find out when you get there.

            Fretting over that which you can't possibly know isn't going to help any situation.
            Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by plumflower_pm
              I had a teacher once who believed that if you have a strong connection to a certain period in history, it was because you once lived during that time. My brother has been fascinated with early egyptian history since he was a little boy.


              Energy changes but does not end. I think that life energy comes from and returns to all other energy - so perhaps you came not from one cow and one flower, but from wherever the surplus energy was available to fuel you at the time you placed a draw on the reserve.

              I believe this is our one shot. When we die our consciousness ceaces to exist completely - that our 'souls' are merely something we devised because we crave individual identity and we need reasons for our existence. We are vessels within vessels - once our vessels fail the contents return to the universe's natural energy pool, and the energy that filled our innermost vessel gets spread out across the universe and is absorbed and used where necessary.

              I do not believe in the spirit realm. I am a scientific pragmatist, a nature loving athiest, a skeptic. That said, I stood next to my father as he passed away. Something was gone from him - I felt the difference under my hands as I touched his face. I am certain that life energy is palpable force.

              I'm also sure that my father did not return in a lion or a pine tree, but in all lions and all pine trees, and plankton, and magnetic storms, and viruses... everything.


              and this energy comes from??? so matter cannot be created nor destroyed, then why does it exist? its not as simple as it seems. i felt the same way last month, yet i cannot abandon spirituality, without it i am nothing. to me, i feel that god is the great harmonizer. or is it just coincidence that all things are in sympathy? one can be content in atheism. but not complete.spirituality is a concept similar to love, you can abandon it, or you can embrace it, as far as reincarnation, its possible. the life energy from you when you die will eventually be born again. in some shape or form. AAAAA!!!! TOO COMPLICATED I HAVE A HEADACHE,SCREW THIS!
              "Life is a run. In attack we run, in defense we run. When you can no longer run, time to die" - Shichiroji "Seven samurai"

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              • #8
                well, i have yet to meet a person who's "complete". i tend to think that if i were "complete", i wouldn't have much of a use for staying alive.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Rob1357
                  and this energy comes from??? so matter cannot be created nor destroyed, then why does it exist?
                  I didn't say matter, I said energy. viva la difference.


                  Originally posted by Rob1357
                  i cannot abandon spirituality, without it i am nothing.
                  hmm. Without it, I just am. I take my spiritual communion from nature.

                  There's not so much joy in completeness. don't forget the chinese curse, "may you achieve all your goals."


                  Originally posted by Rob1357
                  the life energy from you when you die will eventually be born again. in some shape or form.
                  yes indeedy, but don't limit it to some shape... any and all shapes.
                  Whatever doesn't kill me had better be able to run damn fast.

                  "You are one of the most self-deluded immature idiots I've come across here for a time..." —Blooming T. Lotus

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Energy cannot be created or destroyed. Everyting is a cycle. We have a water cycle, an orbital cycle, life cycle... it makes sense there be a death cycle. Death, is only part of the life cycle, after all. I dislike the thought of an external heaven or hell-- there are many things that don't quite do it for me. Instead, I prefer to think of heaven and hell a state of mind. A digression, of course, but don't want to double post PF_PM
                    Becoming what I've dreamed about.

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                    • #11
                      Fretting over that which you can't possibly know isn't going to help any situation.
                      Very true. Perhaps the thread started had something else in mind.

                      g
                      ZhongwenMovies.com

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        okay, so where did this "energy" come from?so without spirituality "you just are?" yet your spirituality is with nature? i must point out the contradictions in your thinking. nature is part of the world, the world is part of the universe, we are products of nature, nature is a product of the universe(the grand design) therefore we are entwined, as all things are. to be complete is to be content with what you are, to be rich is to be content with what you have. to exist is to live, to live is to accomplish your dreams..
                        ueshiba speaks of "embracing the void" this void is the nothingness that you speak of, the end point of all things, and also the beginning. god exists, yet we will never understand god,
                        the closest we will come to that is understanding ourselves.
                        "Life is a run. In attack we run, in defense we run. When you can no longer run, time to die" - Shichiroji "Seven samurai"

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          we have theories as to how energy, matter and the universe started out, but as to where it all "came from", nobody knows, nor could possibly know. and honestly, academic fascination aside, who cares? all that we know is that we can't know, so any amount of guessing will be by definition an exercise in futility. and if you look at history, that exact exercise has had some pretty nasty side effects.

                          all PM is saying (i think) is that she derives her sense of spirituality from nature, without needing to make it seem like more than it is. i don't see any contradiction there. myself, i don't feel much of a need for a sense of spirituality in the first place. to each his own.

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                          • #14
                            The universe is infinite and I had a beer with lunch so ..."What Zach Said."

                            I am entwined with nature, I evolved from it's very inception on this planet, as did you. We humans are a happy accident of water, sunlight, and time. A lot of the right elements came together at the right time and the whole thing just as easily might never have happened. Science is funny like that.


                            There is a galaxy in deep space that I have a picture of on my desktop, it contains 65 billion suns, scores of potential planets. That's 65 billion chances for another planet with life, and that's just in that one, insignificant, distant galaxy. The practical world is wonderous enough for me, I don't need to attribute it to a higher power.
                            Whatever doesn't kill me had better be able to run damn fast.

                            "You are one of the most self-deluded immature idiots I've come across here for a time..." —Blooming T. Lotus

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                            • #15
                              oops how do I delete a message?
                              Last edited by plumflower_pm; 04-19-2005, 07:05 PM. Reason: because I'm lame and double posted.
                              Whatever doesn't kill me had better be able to run damn fast.

                              "You are one of the most self-deluded immature idiots I've come across here for a time..." —Blooming T. Lotus

                              Comment

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