IN one of his past lives, Dr. Paul DeBell believes, he was a caveman. The gray-haired Cornell-trained psychiatrist has a gentle, serious manner, and his appearance, together with the generic shrink décor of his office — leather couch, granite-topped coffee table — makes this pronouncement seem particularly jarring.
And it gets stranger from there…
According to data released last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a quarter of Americans now believe in reincarnation. (Women are more likely to believe than men; Democrats more likely than Republicans.)
Fast thought— possibly belief in reincarnation is a stop along the byway from theism to atheism.
Occam
hmmm—- I agree that once you give up one religion for another, you are on your way to giving up all religions (especially if you don’t have to cycle through them all or cycle back to a previous belief)
I don’t know if they consider themselves sort of Christians AND reincarnationists—sort of inclusive—- or if the ‘reincarnation’ is supposed to be non-theistic and ‘science-based’—in the latter case Occam you might be right!
My reasoning was - Theists believe they are going to heaven so wouldn’t have need or desire for reincarnation. Atheists believe there is no afterlife. So, between them a person who has been shifting way from a god and a heaven but may still hate to accept an end to their life may like the reincarnation compromise.
IN one of his past lives, Dr. Paul DeBell believes, he was a caveman. The gray-haired Cornell-trained psychiatrist has a gentle, serious manner, and his appearance, together with the generic shrink décor of his office — leather couch, granite-topped coffee table — makes this pronouncement seem particularly jarring.
And it gets stranger from there…
According to data released last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a quarter of Americans now believe in reincarnation. (Women are more likely to believe than men; Democrats more likely than Republicans.)
...mental virus alert…
Democrats more than Republicans? Assuming more Republicans are religious, does it not follow that they see an eternal “afterlife”.
To me that is a similar (false) concept as “reincarnation”.
“Democrats more than Republicans? Assuming more Republicans are religious, does it not follow that they see an eternal “afterlife”.
To me that is a similar (false) concept as “reincarnation””
To be expected, my personal philosophy is that memes(including religions and paranormal beliefs) mutate to more effectively spread in their host populations. It would be naive to think that anyone group could be immune to the spread for long even if they had rejected older ideas. There is a constant churning going on. The agent of the mutation is the imagination of people. The mechanic of the spread is that religions compete for believers. It is a zero sum game. Something has to win and something has to lose. Therefore, the religion or paranormal beliefs that mutates to spread the most effectively will do so, and the religion that doesn’t will not.
Religions and these ideas are not static entities. If you view them through history they emphasize pieces or change their tone in conjunction with the needs of the present. The collective action of the members conveniently forget about old emphasis and create brand new ones out of thin air as the need arises. The religions that don’t or do so ineffectively simply disappear from the face of the earth.
Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence For Past Lives is a non-fiction book by journalist Tom Shroder. An editor at the Washington Post, Shroder traveled extensively with psychiatrist Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia, who researched past life and reincarnation recollection in Lebanon, India and the American
Here’s the thing I have recalled experiences which seemed to have came from past lives. Problem is these seem as real as any other memory to me.
There are a lot of things I remember happening which I have no evidence for however I knew they happen because I was there. If I start to question any memory which seems to have been a real experience then how can I not question all memories.
Obviously I understand memory is not greatly reliable. However I need to assume some reliability to function.
The other problem is this idea of belief becomes popular and perhaps enters our dreams which lends a sense of realism. However I am convinced I am able to tell what was a dream and what was not.
Not trying to convince anyone of this however just to point out if it seems real how can you not accept it along with everything else which seems real?
It’d be like knowing what you ate for breakfast four days ago and someone coming along and telling you you never actually ate breakfast four days ago it was just a dream and you have no way to prove you actually did.
Not trying to convince anyone of this however just to point out if it seems real how can you not accept it along with everything else which seems real?
That’s exactly what science is for. And science hasn’t found any evidence of any mechanism that allows for reincarnation let alone the recollection of past lives.
Yeah. I hate it.
