Karma (Part 1)
My wife jokes that she
has bad key karma. It is true that she loses her keys a lot. But I
hardly see where she could have done anything seriously wrong to a
key in a past life so that she's having to pay for it now. Now as far
as the idea of reincarnation - I've read many case studies of kids
and people who remember details from past lives that are pretty
convincing. So just maybe there might be something to that whole
reincarnation thing. And all my life, even before I read the Bible or
went to church (I sure didn't get any kind of religious
indoctrination at home and never went to church until my aunt
insisted when I was about twelve years old) I always felt two things
that just seemed to be given without the need of proof or even
questioning. First, I felt that there was a God, and secondly that I
had lived many times before. In fact, I always had the feeling that I
was here on my last go around and wouldn't be coming back here
anymore after this one last time. Even as a five year old child I
felt like an old person – tired of life and ready to get on with
the next thing. Don't ask me where those feelings came from, but I
still have them to this day. So although I may be tempted into
believing in past lives, I'm not so sure about the karma idea. Let's
say that I hit Johnny with a basketball and broke his arm in eighth
grade (I did by the way), so that means in the next life lots of bad
things will happen to me because of that. What would be the point of
that? Its not like I can take back in the current life what I did in
a past one. And where's the lesson I'm supposed to be learning? That
bad things happen when you do bad things? Gee, don't you think your
average run of the mill new soul would have learned that lesson in,
oh I don't know, say the first two minutes after it was first
created? I'm sure that simple lesson doesn't take many lifetimes to
learn. At least I hope not. So okay, maybe that's too simplistic of a
case. Let's say I killed someone in a previous life. So the idea is
that in this one I'm going to live a life full of grief, pain, and
deprivation? Maybe I'm missing something here, but don't we all go
through periods of that kind of stuff anyway? So did we all kill
someone in a past life? And what is the Earth shattering lesson we're
supposed to learn from that...ah, if you kill someone...bad...you
will suffer for it. Duh, that's not exactly rocket science you know?
Are karma advocates saying that souls are basically stupid? And that
it takes them many lifetimes to learn something that most children
already know by the time they're five years old? So, okay, I guess
you get my point by now. I'm not really buying into the whole karma
notion any more than I do to that of predestination or fate. And
before all you religious people out there start jumping on me about
reincarnation have a look at what the Bible hints at on the subject.
Isn't Jesus reincarnated? He was dead. He came back. And apparently
in the flesh, wounds and all, because he let Thomas touch them to
prove that it was him. Okay, technically he wasn't reborn as another
person. So we won't count that one. But wasn't it prophesied that
Elijah would come back which is who the Hebrews thought first John
the Baptist and then Jesus was? And doesn't Revelations hint that
Elijah and Enoch will come back and proclaim loudly on the streets in
Jerusalem the truth about the Antichrist? Which will promptly get
them dead again by the way. I'm just saying that maybe we should keep
an open mind here. And forget about karma. Just do the best you can
with what you have in the here and now. The way I see it, life was
meant to be experienced and enjoyed surrounded by all the love and
happiness you can manage. If that's not how you find it, then maybe
you're just doing it wrong because you're too busy chasing material
things. And in that case, you might have to come back again until you
get it right. For the record, I'm not so sure that I have gotten it
right yet either. I think Linda and I have been doing this tango for
a long, long time and we keep screwing it up. Opposites do often
attract, but they can be mutually destructive in the long run.
Therein lies our challenge. But we're working on it.
Peace. Joy. Love. Hope.
Faith. And above all Love to all of you. And Happy Holidays.
Why reincarnation is not true. 1) No one has ever able to show that human energy equates to a soul with thoughts, personality, and memories. 2) No scientific evidence to support any claim that our thoughts and memories survive our physical death. 3)Near-death experiences have been created in the lad. 4) Reports of reincarnation tend to coincide with the cultural beliefs of the society in which they are reported. 5) No scientific evidence to support any claims of reincarnation. 6) If you take the best evidence for reincarnation that supporters have presented it is still just anecdotal and does not justify any reason to believe.
ReplyDeleteTell all that to your mother, see what she thinks...me like I said here...jury is still out.
DeleteThe jury can't be out because there is not even enough evidence to bring up a decent case.
DeleteYou can argue that point with your mother...I'm not going there anymore.
DeleteYou said, "I always felt two things that just seemed to be given without the need of proof or even questioning. First, I felt that there was a God, and secondly that I had lived many times before." That doesn't sound like an open-minded statement. Another thing, didn't you say that you use to be like me? So, you couldn't have always felt that way.
ReplyDeleteWhether its "open minded" or not, its what I felt and still feel. And yes there were times when I let my brain and what scientists seemed to be telling me override my feelings. Then I learned that scientists start out with built in assumptions and prejudices just like everybody else and my paradigm shifted. I decided it was better to go with my gut on this...for now.
DeleteSeems like you are the one with the built in assumptions and prejudices with regards to science. Feeling something doesn't make it true. Hitler felt like his rise to power and failed attempts on his life was divine providence.
DeleteMy point was that we all have our built in assumptions and prejudices...I had assumed scientists were different until I discovered differently. And as I've said before, it all comes down to choice. You can't prove your case any more than I can prove mine. I made my choice. And I'm comfortable with it. If you're not. I'm sorry.
DeleteScientist are just people. To expect them to be any thing more is just unrealistic. There are many good people working in the scientific community. To assume they are all bad is just wrong. I have always taken the stance that we don't know enough information to make a strong case for anything. That's why I'm a non-believer. The fact that you said you can't prove your case, actually proves my point.
DeleteStating that you are a non-believer sounds like you've taken a stand to me. My point is that I don't need proof to take a stand and make a choice. In the absence of reliable proof, I chose to come down on the side that I want to be true. I never said it was true without a doubt. And finding out that scientists are just people too with prejudices and preconceptions just like the rest of us, for me was like finding out that Santa Clause didn't bring me presents at Christmas. When I found that out at age five, I quit believing in Santa Clause altogether. When I found out about scientists (through what other scientists wrote about them), I stopped believing that everything they say is fact.
DeleteYou're wrong, I am a non-believer because in the absence of reliable proof it would be premature and intellectually irresponsible to make a choice. That is the opposite of taking a stand. Your prejudices and preconceptions are obviously there in your judgments of the scientific community. You are doing the same thing that you are criticizing scientist of doing. Anyway, you said, "I found out about scientists through what other scientists wrote", that means you chose to believe that what those other scientist said was fact. If you stopped believing everything scientist say is fact then you wouldn't believe what these scientist said either. Ultimately, I think we should be skeptical about all the information we are given no matter where it comes from.
ReplyDelete