Very well said s_lone. Life itself, just by it's existence, is intelligent. The energy that animates life and everything in the Universe is, to me, the source of intelligence and consciousness. We are but protons attached to a floating fleck of dust in the Universe. To think we are the ultimate success in self awareness is rather egotistic, to say the least.
The Power of Positive Thinking to Reverse Aging!
- Thread starter Spade
- Start date
there is great energy and intelligence in the universe,
through all the living beings, wherever they might be, and
that mighty energy is what we pass into our children, when they are born,and lives with them, and they
pass it to their children, and on and on, through genetics. the energy and intelligence is only in the living, there is
no need to pass it on after death, it is not needed anywhere, it has done it's job, and the life is over, we
shouldn't try to overstay our welcome by thinking we are
so important that we have to butt into a new humans life,
and take over, that is arrogant and cowardice, let it go
folks, our turn is over.
It is amazing to me that many cannot face the fact and
accept, that we actually die, guess it's too hard to
think about for many.
Any way, I'm feeling mighty positive tonight, and I am
younger than I was yesterday, so I've had a very good day,
and I'll have another one tomorrow, just to stay on topic.
Reincarnation has commonly understood meaning, countryboy. That is that after the body is dead, the soul takes the form of another body, comes back as another human being, an animal etc.
If you define reincarnation another way, then the word becomes meaningless, it can mean anything anybody wants it to mean. Thus somebody (Cliffy?) said that since after death the soul goes to Heaven or Hell, that means that Christians and Muslims believe in reincarnation (since soul lives after death).
If one changes the commonly held meaning of the word, anything is possible. As the Caterpillar said to Alice “The question my dear, is, who is the master? When I use a word, it means precisely what I want it to mean.”
So if you define reincarnation some other way, what you say may be true. But reincarnation has commonly understood meaning and within that meaning, Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation.
That is all very well (and I agree with that part myself), but what does it have to do with reincarnation or afterlife?
That is your correction, TenPenny and I don't accept that. The commonly accepted definition of reincarnation is transmigration of the soul, the soul taking on different bodies. Buddhism does not believe in that.
re[FONT="]⋅[/FONT]in[FONT="]⋅[/FONT]car[FONT="]⋅[/FONT]na[FONT="]⋅[/FONT]tion
[FONT="] [/FONT] Spelled Pronunciation [ree-in-kahr-ney-shuh –noun
1.
the belief that the soul, upon death of the body, comes back to earth in another body or form.
2.
rebirth of the soul in a new body.
3.
a new incarnation or embodiment, as of a person.
Reincarnation | Definition of Reincarnation at Dictionary.com:
Now, you may be able to find an uncommon meaning, but Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation, as it is commonly understood. If you change the meaning of the word (like the Caterpillar) then of course, anything is possible.
[FONT="] [/FONT] Spelled Pronunciation [ree-in-kahr-ney-shuh –noun
1.
the belief that the soul, upon death of the body, comes back to earth in another body or form.
2.
rebirth of the soul in a new body.
3.
a new incarnation or embodiment, as of a person.
Reincarnation | Definition of Reincarnation at Dictionary.com:
Now, you may be able to find an uncommon meaning, but Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation, as it is commonly understood. If you change the meaning of the word (like the Caterpillar) then of course, anything is possible.
Quoting SirJosephPorter
Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation as I commonly understand the word. This is what it says about Buddhism:
And anyway, what does ‘I commonly understand’ mean? Either I understand or I don’t, but to say that ‘I commonly understand’ is nonsense. It makes sense to talk about ‘commonly understood meaning’ of a word, that would mean that most people agree with that meaning. But to say ‘I commonly understand’? What does that mean?
Buddhists do not believe in reincarnation as I commonly understand the word. This is what it says about Buddhism:
And anyway, what does ‘I commonly understand’ mean? Either I understand or I don’t, but to say that ‘I commonly understand’ is nonsense. It makes sense to talk about ‘commonly understood meaning’ of a word, that would mean that most people agree with that meaning. But to say ‘I commonly understand’? What does that mean?
In this case, 'I commonly understand' means: "I, Sir Joseph Porter, deem the true, the one, the only meaning of this word to be whatever I determine it to be, and I reserve the right to change it as I see fit. Furthermore, I stipulate that I am the one, the only, the true source for the beliefs of all world religions, despite what the learned sources of those religions may say."
Because you have appointed yourself as the only true source of information on Buddhism, despite what other sources have quoted from Buddhist educational sites.
Go forth, but please do not multiply; the world needs no other fountains of all knowledge with your esteemed presence.
Because you have appointed yourself as the only true source of information on Buddhism, despite what other sources have quoted from Buddhist educational sites.
Go forth, but please do not multiply; the world needs no other fountains of all knowledge with your esteemed presence.
Belief and faith engenders inquiry which of course allows the circumvention of the absence of hard evidence. This human quality forms the basis of all science and discovery. So following that, the facts are usless without the faith to engage them in an exercise to extend the mind into the unknown. I have heard countless people express their lack of faith and their scorn in mere belief. They are mistaken I think.
So you can't disprove it and I can't prove it, so we're even. I don't think it was ever intended that we know our destiny after we're done with this incarnation. Proving that the likes of Sylvia Browne are frauds has absolutely nothing to do with the validity of an after life. Anyway S.J. I have several anecdotes that do prove it but you don't accept anecdotes, so as far as I'm concerned this discussion is finished.
That doesn't take rocket science to understand- I commonly understand his hesitation to visit relatives, but in this case his favourite aunt was going to be there whom he had looked forward to seeing for months......................savvy? :smile:
Yep, it sure as Hell does for some they are finally being useful as worm food. (Except their soul of course):smile:
This is what I ended my last post with...
''A human death to me is simply like a raindrop falling back into the ocean. It lives on but is necessarily dissolved in the unity of things.''
The raindrop thingy is only an image of course. This is pure speculation but perhaps the very core of our consciousness lives on, it's just that none of our individual and earthly consciousness does. Keep in mind I'm insisting on the fact that consciousness is an inherent potentiality of the universe before any individual ''conscious'' beings exist.
In Eastern spirituality, you often find this concept that in the end, we are all just channels of the same consciousness. The core of consciousness in you is the exact same core of consciousness in me in the same way that 2 videocameras can lead to the same computer. And what is this core of consciousness? What is this great central computer to which all cameras are attached? It's the pure awareness that lives through us all. You can say ''I am'' but so can I. We are both an ''I''... And this ''I'' is exactly the same in every single living thing. It is the subjective nature of reality, which is more real than anything else you can imagine.
Of course, the ''I'', the subjective reality of a human, is more complex than the subjective reality of a unicellular organism. It's also true objectively. Our bodies and brains are more complex than the ''body'' of a unicellular. What I am trying to get at is that while the subjective aspect of reality takes on many different forms (like matter), it is very much as real as the objective part. They are just 2 sides of the same coin and the existence of one reality is lies in the existence of the other and vice versa. Subjective nature is the ''inside'' and objective nature is the ''outside''. You can't have one without both. It is a perfectly unified duality.
Take a human brain for example. This brain is consciousness viewed from the outside. It is its objective manifestation. And consciousness is the brain from the inside. It is its subjective manifestation.
Once you view the world in this fashion (you certainly don't have to and I respect that), the possibility of some form of afterlife isn't that hard to imagine because death just becomes a transfer of energy, a bit like a river flowing into an ocean.
Last edited:
The commonly held opinion about reincarnation in North America is the Hindu version (or more correctly, a watered down Hindu version). It is not the only one. Just because we believe that it is what they believe doesn't necessarily make it so. Ask ten Hindus what they believe and you will probably get ten different answers. Generally reincarnation is the transmutation of the soul into another form. It does not necessarily mean on this plain of existence in the 3rd dimension. The definition of reincarnation is open to the interpretation of the believer, not the non-believer. Nothing ever is written in stone.