Do you believe in reincarnation? If so, explain. If not, why not? How does karma and other things play a role?

I'm a Reincarnationist for many reasons. First, I was born with memories of a past life, which I started talking about as soon as I had the ability to talk. I knew my name and specific details about my life. This is not an uncommon experience, most children have some kind of past-life memory, but in western countries such recollections are discouraged, or dismissed as childish fantasy. http://www.childpastlives.org/ has much more information on the subject.

Carl Sagan of "Cosmos" fame - one of the most brilliant scientific minds of our time (as well as an avid debunker of all things paranormal) - believed that there is enough evidence on the subject to indicate that reincarnation could be real. In his book "Demon Haunted World," Sagan wrote: "At the time of writing there are three claims in the ESP field which, in my opinion, deserve serious study: ... (3) that young children sometimes report the details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any way other than reincarnation. I pick these claims ... as examples of contentions that might be true."

Reincarnation has been embraced by many religions including, at one time, Christianity. Jesus, who followed the Essene calender as shown by his observance of the Essene Passover shortly before his death, was an Essene Jew. Essenes were one of several sects of Judaism which taught resurrection in the form of reincarnation, a literal rebirth of the spirit into a new body (a concept grossly misunderstood by later (Greco-Roman) Christians who assigned a bizarre, mystical meaning to the idea of being "born again"). Among Jesus and his followers, as well as many other Jews of the time, reincarnation was taken for granted as true. This is evident in numerous ways, such as this question asked of Jesus: "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?"

Karma was taught by Jesus too, which is obvious by certain NT passages. "Cast your bread upon the waters and after many days you will find it" is symbolic of karma. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy" refers to karmic balance. In fact, the "golden rule" itself is karmic law. People think of "do unto others" as a commandment that *should be* followed, but actually it's a statement of the balance of life -- that what you do to others *will be* done to you.

The soul is eternal, with no beginning and no end, as a fragment of the Cosmos ("God"). And each individual soul has free will with which to experience life. We learn through the choices we make, through the natural laws of consequence and balance. Not every challenge we face in life is karmic, because everybody else has free will too, and sometimes their free will interferes with what we want to accomplish. Life is about learning that we are all individuals connected to each other, and karma teaches us that. Karma is never "punishment", however. "God" (as Cosmic law) doesn't punish anyone; "God" (as Cosmic law) teaches. Karma teaches us what we want or need to learn.

Your real self is not your body - the real YOU is your spirit, sort of like your guardian angel or higher self, or your direct connection to "God"/the Cosmos. It's the You you are when you are between lifetimes.

Life is a wonderful, forever adventure of learning and loving.

The first poster is correct ... there's no well karma or dangerous karma, there may be simply karma. Karma is solely the precept of reaping what you sow ... reason and outcome. When you repay your karmic money owed, you get to leap off the cycle of samsara ... you now not ought to come again and take a look at to get matters correct. Some proponents of reincarnation suppose that you simply simplest come again as a human, as soon as you may have made it that some distance. Other ideals say you'll be able to be reborn right into a slash realm of life, adding the animal realm. Still others say being reborn into the ones nation-states is only metaphorical. But to reply your query to the fine of my advantage ... an ant might don't have any self-attention, but it surely might nonetheless endure thus of beyond karmic deeds while it existed as a greater being. A child might deplete the ant below a magnifying glass, its anthill might get squashed by means of anyone's tires, or it might grow to be an anteater's breakfast. Stuff like that. You repay the ones money owed after which paintings your long ago up the reincarnation meals chain, in an effort to talk. I do not suppose in any of this, however I realize a bit approximately it from having studied Hinduism and (most of the time) Buddhism.

Well sure, believe in reincarnation if you wish, but to be honest, there's been no compelling proof, otherwise we'd all believe it, just a load of second-hand stories and a few smoke-and-mirror demonstrations.

Karma doesn't really play any role in this interpretation. Karma is just an idea appropriated from Eastern philosophy made popular in the 60s by hippies. It's just an idea to make people do nice things and to try and make other people feel guilty for not giving them money. It's vague enough not to be testable, you can probably fleece money from those people that believe in it.

Just keep it all vague and you'll be fine.

Good luck, hope you convince some gullible souls.

i think of reincarnation not as a literal rebirth into a new body, but as a metaphorical constant rebirth as you grow spiritually.

No I believe that when you die if your saved you go to Heaven. If your not you go to hell.