M_also_lonely
Well-known member
It is very difficult to talk about reincarnation. Especially when a lot of insights from the past has been distorted. And this was bound to happen. When one's insight passes as information to someone who never had that insight, distortion begins. Context changes.
Even the simplest things said by the people in the past have been misinterpreted. So I wouldn't be surprised if current understanding of this might be different from what was meant to be said.
Either believing that it is real, or rejecting it as it doesn't seem to exist, both sound similar. Concluding something that is not known. For one, the other seems ignorant, and vice versa.
Regarding heaven and hell, those ideas are mostly talked about in Abrahamic ideologies. In the East however, the concept of heaven and hell doesn't exist (in a way). The eastern ones consider every process in the existence as cyclical. Only our ability to perceive those cycles is the limit.
There does exist the idea of Swarg and Nark. Similar to heaven and hell. But both are not described as somewhere you go. But what you become. Or something that happens to you.
If you read a Sanskrit text, this appears to be the insight. However, if you read the translation in English, the entire meaning and context seems to change.
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> The reason why we ask this question about reincarnation is because deep down, we know that this life doesn't seem to be fulfilling. We know that certain things about us cannot be changed. And we have not found peace with that. Another is that we want life to be ideal, we want to undo or the mistakes we did in the past. And changing the past doesn't seem to be a possibility.
Does that mean reincarnation is not real?
No.
Truth is, whether it is real or not, is beyond our ability to control it. Things do not change for us if it is real because we are not controlling it.
Even some of the atheist scholars and thinkers from the East have described reincarnation as real and have spoken in depth about it. It makes me wonder what they are trying to convey.
If you look at the human body, it is basically just the materials gathered from the earth. Slowly and gradually, building up to form the body.
But materials can only build the objects.
What about the tendency of all of them coming together to not only keep the body intact, but also to replicate?
What is that tendency? What is the source of that tendency?
When death arrives, it is the death of the body. The physical. Atleast. Basically, that tendency we talked about, is no more, and the materials are sent back from where they were borrowed temporarily. The earth. But it can't be that simple.
So you try to look inside, you dissect it. You reach to its atoms, then subatoms, and so on. Ultimately, you find no material.
If you try to break down, everything seems to be a chemical reaction. If you break down 4, it appears to be 2 + 2. But when you observe 2 and 2 that are put together, it seems to be something more than 4.
Even the simplest things said by the people in the past have been misinterpreted. So I wouldn't be surprised if current understanding of this might be different from what was meant to be said.
Either believing that it is real, or rejecting it as it doesn't seem to exist, both sound similar. Concluding something that is not known. For one, the other seems ignorant, and vice versa.
Regarding heaven and hell, those ideas are mostly talked about in Abrahamic ideologies. In the East however, the concept of heaven and hell doesn't exist (in a way). The eastern ones consider every process in the existence as cyclical. Only our ability to perceive those cycles is the limit.
There does exist the idea of Swarg and Nark. Similar to heaven and hell. But both are not described as somewhere you go. But what you become. Or something that happens to you.
If you read a Sanskrit text, this appears to be the insight. However, if you read the translation in English, the entire meaning and context seems to change.
-------
> The reason why we ask this question about reincarnation is because deep down, we know that this life doesn't seem to be fulfilling. We know that certain things about us cannot be changed. And we have not found peace with that. Another is that we want life to be ideal, we want to undo or the mistakes we did in the past. And changing the past doesn't seem to be a possibility.
Does that mean reincarnation is not real?
No.
Truth is, whether it is real or not, is beyond our ability to control it. Things do not change for us if it is real because we are not controlling it.
Even some of the atheist scholars and thinkers from the East have described reincarnation as real and have spoken in depth about it. It makes me wonder what they are trying to convey.
If you look at the human body, it is basically just the materials gathered from the earth. Slowly and gradually, building up to form the body.
But materials can only build the objects.
What about the tendency of all of them coming together to not only keep the body intact, but also to replicate?
What is that tendency? What is the source of that tendency?
When death arrives, it is the death of the body. The physical. Atleast. Basically, that tendency we talked about, is no more, and the materials are sent back from where they were borrowed temporarily. The earth. But it can't be that simple.
So you try to look inside, you dissect it. You reach to its atoms, then subatoms, and so on. Ultimately, you find no material.
If you try to break down, everything seems to be a chemical reaction. If you break down 4, it appears to be 2 + 2. But when you observe 2 and 2 that are put together, it seems to be something more than 4.
