Re-incarnation makes a lot sense when one transcends and experiences a non-changing self-state. You don’t practice TM by any chance do you?

No need for any apologies.

I am a philosophically minded person, and was merely taking a religiously-neutral stand. Just to play the devil’s advocate. After all, that’s what philosopher’s do–in light of the truth, to steer oneself clear from the darkness.

Could not agree with you more. On all points, you are quite correct.

I was only concerned because it seems the world we live in is going to hell in a hand-basket.

There are too many extremists/fundamentalists out there, who don’t think like you and I. And that’s a problem.

People who rely solely on faith can sometimes refuse to see the light of reason. And that really concerns me.

Thanks you so much for your kind words. I apologize if I have hurt anyone’s feelings or misinterpreted religious history (which I am very capable of!). On hindsight I understand that I shouldn’t have used Buddhism as an example but kept it religiously neutral. I am just more acquainted with Buddhist concepts than Hinduism so please excuse my ignorance. I am sure that Hindu concepts on reincarnation precede those of any other philosophy.

Yes as you said probably some of my views can be unpopular with some people who are fervent about other religious views but that is clearly not my problem but theirs. We have a choice to attach ourselves blindly and narrowly to a point of view and take offense each time someone expresses a different view… or else we can take life with a pinch of wisdom and leave our heart and mind free.

Thanks for your very interesting comment! I fully understand your dislike with the concept of progression as you describe it. I must admit that the way I went about certain ideas can give the impression that I was expressing evolution and progress in that fashion. But I surely wasn’t.

First and foremost let me be clear that I don’t think or believe that any organism or consciousness that is at a ‘more evolved’ stage than another means that it is superior or better off let alone be justified to subjugate others to its will. At most it has more responsibility but not more rights or cause over the other.

A human has no special privilege over the other creatures or plant kingdom. We are all connected to the same web of life. If only modern man could have learned this from ancient cultures such as the Native Americans!

I see evolution as the process by which a living system constantly self-organizes itself so as to fit better in its environment and handle information from it in more accurate ways in order to perpetuate itself and life in general. So I know you would agree with me that a living system that has evolved to adapt and interact with its environment in smarter ways has progressed relative to itself at a previous stage. As you said, it is better than it was but not necessarily better than others.

Same with spiritual evolution. Older souls are not ‘better’ than younger ones. They are just older. They have the potential to see things deeper and wider because of their implicit ‘experience’. But younger souls still have the same potential to be that or better (depending on how they use their lives). We are fundamentally the same.

Great post, as usual. Thanks.

You are a wise man to bring this up, but you need to look beyond Buddhism.

Hinduism pre-dates Buddhism with regard to theories of re-incarnation. Kindly read up on it. It is worth your time.

I also need a refresher course. As time passes, one tends to forget, it seems.

However, your opinion is not likely to endear you to the majority of people if you live in the Christian West.

You are not likely to be popular anytime soon, and there may be a lot of people out there “concerned” about your stand.

You are brave to rock the boat. Cheers!

The idea of “progressing” from plant to animal to person etc implies to me that one is higher than the other~like a staircase~ which is how colonists justified subjugation of “natives” and capitalists today justify neglect of the environment.

I prefer Darwin’s definition of evolution~ variation not progression.

I really liked your non-mundane post too btw ~:-)