Believe in Reincarnation?

[cheezy89]

Do you believe in reincarnation? or heaven or hell?

I'm not religious and quite cynical as a person, and have been considering it recently, and also considering memory as a part of it.
For example, we cannot remember any past lives, assuming we had them.When we die, do we just become Nothing?
Does anyone know how we store memory? is it a physical area in our brains?

[darklink87]

RE: Believe in Reincarnation?

I believe in none of this anymore since I have become and athiest the past few years. I believe memory is strored in a physical area of the brain. A little google search can answer a lot.

[demented_obscurity]

RE: Believe in Reincarnation?

religions a complicated subject......no matter what people say. In ways reincarnation makes since, like in the fact that some people are gifted in art, math, or science, the fact that they already know it and it was never taught to them.....like some type of sidefects of it. Then theres of course the bible that contridicts it saying it falls under witchcraft and is evil, witchcraft was not made to be evil, it goes under the pagan religion, but because man is not perfect not all witches follow the common rules and use it for evil....in this case there called warlocks(men or women, warlocks are bad, witches are good).
i duno really, like i said it falls under religion, so it becomes complicated and diverse

[cheezy89]

RE: Believe in Reincarnation?

I'm not religious, for me, the theory of evolution and fossils scientists have discovered basically shut me off from the nothion that men are created in god's image. I see religion as a sort of control for people, religion is based on fear, if you sin you go to hell, if you're good you get rewarded by going to heaven. I'm not saying the world would be better without religion, because i know that religious efforts like christianity and others contributed to science and helped lead the world up to the enlightenment, but what I'm really questioning is the role of memory in consideration with the notion of people's souls. IF memory is stored physically in someone's head then wouldnt it be impossible to go to hell? or heaven for that matter? without memory you wouldnt be anything, or you wouldnt know it at least.

[Tasselfoot]

RE: Believe in Reincarnation?

When you die, you have 2 choices. you get stuck in a wood box and shoved into the earth, 6 feet under, to be treated as a snack for all the fun hungry bugs. Or, you can go through a raging inferno, turn into dust, and stuck in a jar on someones mantle.

Also...demented. this is the CT forum. if you are going to post here, you must use correct spelling/grammar. (of course, no one is perfect. we all make mistakes, but 99% of your content needs to be correct as per proper English. Paragraphs also help.)

[Aedak]

I would like to believe in reincarnation. It is a nice idea, but I don't believe in it.

I believe that once your body dies, your consciousness ceases to exist, and you cease to exist. Basically, you don't exist just as you did not exist before you were born. That is, as long as your brain is not brought back to life somehow. If this were possible, then you would exist again...

So... I guess to me, living and existing is only possible while our brain continues to function; the idea that we are our brain.

[Squeek]

After a few years of research, yea. I do believe in reincarnation.

There's psychological studies about it that can more than prove the "theory" to any person. I read a few about them and let's put it this way: it made more sense than a "heaven".

My theory about it is that your brain is a part of your body and thus is extinguished when you are dead. When your consciousness (soul, whatever you want to call it) enters another body, it begins with a new brain.

There are some things that are stored within the consciousness that carry over, but very rarely and usually unimportant.

~Squeek

[cheezy89]

I had read a study earlier this year concerning an experiment to try to cure epilepsy, i think... it consisted of scientists severing the cerebral cortex, the connection between the left and right sides of the brain, the subject experienced episodes of confusion, and was not able to dsitinguish one task using both right and left hands, they would have their left hand fighting their right hand to do a task they were struggling to do, in this manner, it seems as though they had 2 conciousnesses, the left side of their brain and the right side of their brain.
I see your point of view, aedak, that out brains are all that we are, if our brain was to be reanimated without decay and the rest of the body was in good enough condition, (all organs functioning properly) that we'd be able to be brought back to life, and i do think this a valid point, it seems as though it could be true, with no evidence supporting anything further than biologic life.
Sqeek, what studies? i havent specifically looked for any, but which ones do you mean? can you give an expample as to why you believe in a soul? i think of newborns as just an organic human life at the beginning of it's life, i was questioning how it would be possible for any conscious or subconcious thoughts are memories could be carried over to a completely random person, through transfer of one's soul. Do you mean when a child is concieved the soul goes into their body? or at what point in birth? I dont believe in souls as somethin other than a notion that people have to try to explain the epitome of birth, death, and the desire to believe in something before or after, i dont believe in souls because i cant imagine any possible way to study any specific passage of one soul from one body to another. I believe that there is a point where all scientific theories become mere speculation.

[jazzmosis]

Is it possible to have a CT topic that doesn't involve religion? Seriously, these topics always run the risk of getting into the circular argument of religion vs beliefs. It's okay to be spiritual, but that's completely different then religion, and people fail to notice that.

As far as reincarnation goes, I'm at ends. It'd be nice to think of our bodies as becoming something else, which would more or less prove all living creatures have a soul or there is another plane of existence, but I've heard crackpot stories about people being incarnated from rocks and garbage like that. Seems unlikely, but who's to say? Another thing about reincarnation.. if it's true, then that would generally prove there is a static number of living beings on the world...

[demented_obscurity]

lol, sorry i had to leave you guys guessing on those words, i might have been in a

ok right the way i see it, basicly the bible was written to contral man, god was made because man wanted to believe, and as we all know to believe can take you anywhere, thats how it all started began and ended, we all think were right so we all always fail.........eh you all make good points tho....

[emccky]

I believe in after-life, i'm not sure about reincarnation though. I think reincarnation happens AFTER you spend a while in your after-life (heaven or hell)

[Aedak]

lol, sorry i had to leave you guys guessing on those words, i might have been in a

ok right the way i see it, basicly the bible was written to contral man, god was made because man wanted to believe, and as we all know to believe can take you anywhere, thats how it all started began and ended, we all think were right so we all always fail.........eh you all make good points tho....

Very much agreed there, on all points. You sound like you could be one of my atheist disciples.

[cheezy89]

hmm i need to type faster or less, i keep getting logged out in the process of typing =(
I'm no ethnocentrist, and im sure itll sound cruel and possibly offend some people, but i believe santa claus can be related to god in many ways. For example, they are both based upon fear of penalty, and reward for good actions. Santa claus and god are both enigmas, if you're a good child, you get presents, if you're bad, you get a lump of coal. If you live a good, full life you get to go to heaven, if you dont worship god, if you sin or if you disobey any of the ten commandments you go to hell. Children eventually outgrow santa claus and I think that since the enlightenment people have begun to "outgrow" the notion of god.
The only real "proof" people have that god exists is the miracles that are supposedly performed, whereas, scientists are often discovering evidence that god does not exist, and there are people that can argue anything to disprove science in some of it's points, with their own valid reasons and theories, like the Flat Earth Association, composed of people who believe that the earth is round and that the moon landings and copernicus' entire heliocentric theorem are wrong, and they are quite a consideration for some people. I dont believe in the earth being flat and it seems rediculous to many people, but then again, religion seems rediculous to many people as well. To some, the ignorance of religious worshippers is blatant (I am truly sorry if my point of view offends you, or rather the words) to some people but the Flat Eath Association is a widely considered, if not accepted, theory.
Yeah, sorry jazz, but religion is like a rag doll, it has lasted so long that any large historical even can be tied to it.

ah, gotta go for now

[Aedak]

Finally some like-minded people... I also make the same Santa/God analogy for humans... who created santa? Man... Same rules apply..

Though, I don't think any scientists have proved the non-existance of god. I'm not sure you can prove such a thing, however I refuse to believe in such a ridiculous theory... Whoever was worried about bringing religion into everything. Tough luck... religion is always going to come up... especially if you create a thread talking about reincarnation. You can't avoid the afterlife question, and religion is thrown into the conversation at that point.

Personally, I think religion is outdated and a way of the past. The sooner people stop preaching ignorance the sooner our race can move forward as a whole.

[cheezy89]

sorry, i made a typo in my post, i meant that the FEA believed that the earth was flat, it just didnt sound right, anyway.....

I believe for myself that religion is not accurate, to say the least, but it does have its pro's and con's.... for example, religions constrictions do help prevent many atrocities and religion has, in the past, supported education and funded it. Religion is also bad though, in certain ways, for example, the religious wars that ensue over a figh between beliefs, the fight between America and Afganistan was named a religious war by the afganis while america was just retalliating from a terrorist attack, but dont get me wrong, america found a way to mess it up as we always do in situations like this, by persuing Sadam Husein of Iraq by accusing him of housing terrorists and of holding "weapons of mass destruction" George W.'s "strategery" was wrong but then again, people moved to foreign countries like canada at the first notice that he was re-elected, but the topic of reincarnation has nothing to do with us here in the U.S. so ill try to keep on topic, but if anyone wants to discuss it, open up a new thread.

A world without religion would find balance eventually, though I'm not too sure we'd be that much better off in a world without than having to deal with fanatics who may cause some wars... I think i've pretty much covered my point of view by now, and i dont want to start repeating myself, but if anyone else has any arguments bring them up, by all means...

I have also become an atheist and am quite cynical in my beliefs, and though i dont know all the answers, i can speculate to some degree of reasonability.

hah... they logged me out but i copy and pasted lol