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Reincarnation - Some Thoughts

sophia8

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sophia8
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Oct 28, 2003
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The thread on survival after death made me remember that I had made a blog posting on the subject of reincarnation some time ago. I thought it might produce some discussion here.
It's in the form of an internal dialogue (i.e I was mentally talking to myself, which happens quite a lot when I'm thinking about something deep), and had been inspired originally by reading about long-term continent drift and Earth changes:
“Maybe I’ll be reincarnated a couple of million years in the future and see Mount Everest sticking above the stratosphere.”
“There’s no such thing as reincarnation. And anyway, humans won’t be around that long.”
“But who’s to say there won’t be some kind of sentient being around then?”
“What is sentience?”
“Isn’t it self-awareness, that feeling of Me-ness?”
“So what is this feeling of Me-ness, what does it consist of?”
“Umm….”
“It’s not memories, memories are a construct, a layer upon the essential Self. Same with feelings, thoughts, emotions. All are constructed.”
“It’s just… ME. That’s all it is.”
“And everybody has it.”
“Yet it’s unique to everyone.”
“Maybe that’s what get’s reincarnated. Not memories, thoughts or anything. Just this feeling of Me-ness. It gets reincarnated with every birth of every sentient being. ‘Cos every sentient being possesses it. And without memories or any of that other baggage, it’s exactly the same Me-ness every time.”
“So, if there’s anything sentient around on Earth and looking at Mount Everest two million years in the future - it will have this exact same sense of Me-ness that you now possess. And you, along with everybody else, WILL be reincarnated to look upon the future Mount Everest!”
“‘Course, I, as I exist now, won’t know anything about it. But it will be the exact same Me. ‘Cos Me-ness is always exactly the same.”

And there it ended.
Click to expand...

Discuss.
 
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sophia8 said:
The thread on survival after death made me remember that I had made a blog posting on the subject of reincarnation some time ago. I thought it might produce some discussion here.
It's in the form of an internal dialogue (i.e I was mentally talking to myself, which happens quite a lot when I'm thinking about something deep), and had been inspired originally by reading about long-term continent drift and Earth changes:


Discuss.
Click to expand...

Apparently, it sucks being Me.
 
The only part that makes any sense is "Umm...."
 
sophia8 said:
The thread on survival after death made me remember that I had made a blog posting on the subject of reincarnation some time ago. I thought it might produce some discussion here.
It's in the form of an internal dialogue (i.e I was mentally talking to myself, which happens quite a lot when I'm thinking about something deep), and had been inspired originally by reading about long-term continent drift and Earth changes:


Discuss.
Click to expand...
It seems that Shirley MacLaine channeling Hunk Rah the ur warrior is a tectonic mind warp.

DR
 
The buddha adressed this with the following:

A lamp is lit and then extinguished. The lamp is then relit.

Is the flame the same?
Is the light the same?
Is the room the same?
 
“It’s not memories, memories are a construct, a layer upon the essential Self. Same with feelings, thoughts, emotions. All are constructed.”
Click to expand...

I disagree. That "me-ness" is a combination of your memories, thoughts, and emotions. I don't know how one could consider them separately.
 
sophia8 said:
The thread on survival after death made me remember that I had made a blog posting on the subject of reincarnation some time ago. I thought it might produce some discussion here.
It's in the form of an internal dialogue (i.e I was mentally talking to myself, which happens quite a lot when I'm thinking about something deep), and had been inspired originally by reading about long-term continent drift and Earth changes:

Discuss.
Click to expand...
It sounds as if your internal voice's definition of reincarnation is exactly the same as the definition of "sentient".

The "everything is different, but it's really still the same" makes no sense to me. The essential "me" is the summation of my thoughts, emotions and experiences. If none of those survive, then whatever it is that feels its own "me-ness" is not the same because it doesn't contain a bit of the essential "me" that I would recognize.
 
How does a believer in reincarnation explain that thoughts, memories, and emotions can all be altered by blunt force trauma to that roundish thing on top of the neck?
 
I'm not saying that I believe in reincarnation, but in answer to your question; when a person experiences blunt force trauma to the brain, and as a result has those emotions, memories, etc, affected, isn't it fair to say the persons ability to access those components have been altered? Not necessarily the components themselves? My sentence structure sucks here, but I think you get my drift. It would be interesting to get a professional medical opinion on this matter. Is it the memories that are affected by the trauma, or just our ability to access them. hmmm. What do you think?
 
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Oxymoron said:
I'm not saying that I believe in reincarnation, but in answer to your question; when a person experiences blunt force trauma to the brain, and as a result has those emotions, memories, etc, affected, isn't it fair to say the persons ability to access those components have been altered? Not necessarily the components themselves? My sentence structure sucks here, but I think you get my drift. It would be interesting to get a professional medical opinion on this matter. Is it the memories that are affected by the trauma, or just our ability to access them. hmmm. What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think you are comparing the brain to a TV antenna. Damaging the brain distorts an otherworldly signal?

I would apply Occam's Razor. The supernatural view makes an additional assumption that the naturalist point of view does not...that there is something undectable "out there" somewhere. In the case of a TV antenna, we can detect EM waves through other means. Heck, we CREATE the signal in the first place. No such parallel exists in the brain.

The lack of evidence for a soul doesn't help either.
 
KingMerv00 said:
I disagree. That "me-ness" is a combination of your memories, thoughts, and emotions. I don't know how one could consider them separately.
Click to expand...

Not only that, but also mundane things such as arms and legs, things that dualists think are far removed from the cosmic mind. Most amputees find that their sense of "self" is permanently altered by the loss of a limb.

(Read Oliver Sack's "A Leg to Stand On" for more insight on this)
 
I'm not sure I understand your comparism.:blush: I'm not saying the idea of self is coming from some "otherworldly" signal, of course it isn't. I agree more closely with the line of thinking that yes, our sense of self or me-ness is a result of the memories, emotions etc., that have been created by our own experiences through life. :) I'm just thinking out loud here, and questioning whether or not those memories or sense of self would be destroyed upon trauma to the brain, or just our ability to access them. Perhaps this is where I'm comparing our brain function to that of a T.V. antenna? Maybe you could elaborate your perspective a bit more? :D
 
aggle-rithm said:
Not only that, but also mundane things such as arms and legs, things that dualists think are far removed from the cosmic mind. Most amputees find that their sense of "self" is permanently altered by the loss of a limb.

(Read Oliver Sack's "A Leg to Stand On" for more insight on this)
Click to expand...

Isn't it true though, that some amputees have reported feeling like the limb is still there? A ghost limb or so I think that is how it is termed. (something to that effect):)
 
Oxymoron said:
Isn't it true though, that some amputees have reported feeling like the limb is still there? A ghost limb or so I think that is how it is termed. (something to that effect):)
Click to expand...

Yep, because the representation of the limb is still in the brain. That's probably why they have such a hard time adjusting.
 
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