Thread: reincarnation

sisavon I feel so unloved it's like you're ignoring me completely. ;__;

Darkmatters, I've read that story before--I just didn't remember until I started reading it again. The system I describe is like that, just not limited to humans. And it doesn't necessarily have any other consciousness.

A major problem I have with systems of reincarnation that are karma-based (in a general sense of the word), is that some people are just born into shit situations, and can't really help the way they turn out. Low-income, abusive families produce children that are often morally lacklustre. It's not fair that each life those in poor nurture/nature are raised in, must use intellect alone (which is shaped by nurture/nature, btw) to overcome their socially unacceptable tendencies, with the alternative being living a worse life. It's just another system where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

I want everyone to get richer. And you can't do that with karma-based reincarnation without having really complicated and esoteric rules and exceptions, which would be dissonant with a reincarnation framework built with Occam's Razor in mind (that is, one that fits into the current system of physics. To expand on this, it's much easier to explain one consciousness flowing through all creatures, than a bunch of consciousnesses (how are they created? are they ever destroyed?) which ascend and descend in 'rank' depending on 'rules,' both of which necessarily exist outside of the system).

Originally Posted by Abra

sisavon I feel so unloved it's like you're ignoring me completely. ;__;

A major problem I have with systems of reincarnation that are karma-based (in a general sense of the word), is that some people are just born into shit situations, and can't really help the way they turn out. Low-income, abusive families produce children that are often morally lacklustre. It's not fair that each life those in poor nurture/nature are raised in, must use intellect alone (which is shaped by nurture/nature, btw) to overcome their socially unacceptable tendencies, with the alternative being living a worse life. It's just another system where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

I want everyone to get richer. And you can't do that with karma-based reincarnation without having really complicated and esoteric rules and exceptions, which would be dissonant with a reincarnation framework built with Occam's Razor in mind (that is, one that fits into the current system of physics. To expand on this, it's much easier to explain one consciousness flowing through all creatures, than a bunch of consciousnesses (how are they created? are they ever destroyed?) which ascend and descend in 'rank' depending on 'rules,' both of which necessarily exist outside of the system).

Ok, here you go, sorry. This is a very valid concern. I personally believe a couple things related to this. First, the consequance of your actions will be weighted by the manner and attitude in which the life was lead. Take killing animals for food. very little serious karma results from this, as it is just a way that people feed themselves. I do not picture a child being punished because his dad taught him to hunt. In fact I do not view the process as punishment at all. I view it as training in order to prefect the spirit. Perhaps a man raised as a hunter, may then lead a few lives as a rabbit, but not out of punishment as much as to help him learn empathy. Then he may still be born into a hunting culture, but will be the kind of good man, who kills quickly for food, and not for fun.
A child born in a culture that abuses woman, has the chance to be some what compassionate or very horrable, despite nurture/nature. If he is at a certain point in his spiritual path, he may not be that bad of a bully. If he loves hurting woman and the culture encourgages him, he may be 'sentanced' to a few life times in the role of his wives, or other abused woman. Not as a punishmeent, but in order to learn empathy for the weaker individuals, born into a bad situation.
Keep in mind, we are talking about infinity. So, being placed in a bad position for even a dozen life times, is a small thing, like having to stay in from a town, while your friends got to go to summer school.
The person born into the socially ethically poor system will still have the influance of past lives to help temper them. they may take part in the cultural system, but the attitude and level of pleasure derived will be different based on past lives. The attitude and motive for bad acts, would have an effect on wether a corrective life time was really in order.

Originally Posted by sivason

The person born into the socially ethically poor system will still have the influance of past lives to help temper them. they may take part in the cultural system, but the attitude and level of pleasure derived will be different based on past lives. The attitude and motive for bad acts, would have an effect on wether a corrective life time was really in order.

What if those past lives were bad, or worse lives? And they temper them toward evil?

Do you think that people actively choose to do evil? Or are most driven to it by circumstance? Or in the case of sociopaths, driven to it by brain chemistry and genetics? How does anyone deserve to be a sociopath, unless all they've been in the past are sociopaths?