by Aphrodite 25 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
right you are , Tetra-
My only conclusion was that I had been a WW2 German Luftwaffe fighter pilot in a previous life and was shot down in the war. Most of us don't have a tradition of believing in reincarnation, but who is to say what is and isn't possible.
I am probably in a similar vein to gaiagirl (based on the brief description she outlined).
I believe in Oneness, that is we are all of the same spirit or energy. So we are all very interconnected (call it a grid, matrix, whatever you want). And just because the material or physical disappears, it doesn't mean the consciousness of the energy disappears. For me the physical is just waves of energy bending or moving in a particular way which gives them density. And as soon as something has form it also has shadow or darkness. So for me anything dark is just not understood or we are not able to see it. Often it just takes a change of perspective or to literally move around an object.
That's why we find it hard to come up with proper explanations for things we cannot see and why we fear them so much. And at best it is usually a guess. The mind tries to make sense of something based on the information it receives, but its' 'reason' is only based on what it takes in - it literally is making a guess on a slice of the bigger picture. So for that reason I believe in reincarnation, but not limited to its lay sense. I also believe enlightenment is a continuing process. Being able to see more and more of the bigger picture. (Interesting book out called The Translucent Revolution which explains how human consciousness is evolving).
I think the more you believe in your ability to do something, the more it becomes a reality. And the more real it becomes for one person, the more it opens up doors to other people to do the same. So if a group of people have the consciousness that reincarnation is truth, they will open up to the consciousness of being linked to other 'souls' or energies. On a much lesser scale, we all can tune into eachother (gut feeling, intuition, first impressions etc). It is just that some people are more evolved or developed in the degree to which they can do it (and that doesn't mean intentionally, a child could have a natural portal or opening in their dna which allows them to tune into one specific energy). Given that time is not linear the whole notion of reincarnation is again very limited to the fact that we still live our lives currently in the notion of past, present and future.
The potential of the human body is unlimited. It is our beliefs that are limited.
I forgot to mention how it is affected by my Witness background.
Reincarnation still is probably hard for me to swallow because of the Witness teachings. But then again, I have had one past life memory. However, I also don't trust the mind. I might have believed it more if I had the memory before I left the Witnesses and before I had read teachings and stories on reincarnation. Mind you, my past life memory was unique : )
Now I really don't care. I just accept that the generally accepted concept of reincarnation is a way of trying to explain a phenomena. I have a much broader understanding of other possible explanations (one consciousness, dna memory etc etc) but I am happy to put it in the "I don't know basket" which means I don't discount it but neither to I fully accept it.
I think since leaving the Witnesses I am quite wary of being too attached to any one belief system. Good in one way because I keep a very open mind, not so good in another because I am constantly checking myself and/or doubting.
The evolution of my thoughts:
1) JW: Absolute belief in life after death (or, even better, everlasting life without death);
2) ex-JW: Absolute belief in life after death (or, even better, everlasting life without death);
3) Philosophical conviction that there must be something more in my future than death;
4) Realization that all speculations about life (or consciousness, or whatever) after death, whatever form they take, are just that--mere speculations.
5) I take each moment of existence as an end in itself.
I don't currently believe that when i die it will be the end. That seems quite crazy.
Was i alive before 1966 when i was born. Dunno about that.
I believe that when we die it will be an "Oh yeah!!!....of course, of course, of course" sort of enlightenment experience.
Whether i am reincarnated into another form is not something i'm clear about, or care about at present.
I believe we are ALL here by choice. Yes even the ones that have really crap lives.
Peace
Lowden
I'm leaning towards belief in reincarnation. Even Carl Sagan was intrigued by accounts of children claiming
to be people in a previous life and thought it deserved more investigation.
If you are deeply trained in biology, you may be shocked by this assertion, but I don't see how genes explain life!
Follow me here...... where's the blueprint for a human or animal? Celera ( human genome folks) clearly said that
it isn't in the genes! If not there, where? You've run out of options!
If one gene produces a thorax in a bug and something else in another creature, there is no blueprint there!
If two people can suffer to be conjoined as twins, in living bodies, then there is no "blueprint" but rather an adaptive
"program" that allowed them life. Genes seem more a chit or ticket given to a hat check girl ( "your coat, sir")
than plans to build anything.
Reincarnation, by default, you see.....
metatron
I think I do now...at least for some people.. I really don't know about all..
metatron,
genomes are not blueprints. they are computer programs. fundamental difference.
if genomes where blueprints, like the one used to build the computer you are working on, every human would be the same. which is to say, there would be no humans, because there would be no mutations, and no mutations means no evolution. and evolution is how we got here in the first place.
that's nature. if we are to inherit anything, like say, another previous human's consciousness, it would be through nurture.
some psychologists claim that they can take patients back through previous lives. their patients have all sorts of extravagant experiences as important people from ancient civilizations. i wonder though, why no one ever reports experiences of being ape men on the savannah 200 000 years ago? or as a tetrapod from the early carboniferous period?
tetra
I am open to both reincarnation and enlightenment, however I have not had any personal experience yet that establishes either one yet. The more I meditate and read, the more I reflect about those subjects. I think that the indoctrination of the JWs blocked a lot of exploration for me at first, but now I am free to let my feelings/sprit/imagination soar. I have not been on my exploration very long, so I am still in the process of sifting through some of my beliefs. Changing, adjusting, accepting, rejecting, establishing, thoughts and beliefs is part of the journey. Most times I am happy to just be on the journey and I am content to wait for the answers. Interesting subject with lots of possibilities though...
exjdub
I don't believe in reincarnation but I DO believe in rebirth (there is a subtle difference). Reincarnation would mean that "you", i.e., your soul, would be passed on from one body to the next, but in rebirth what is passed on is, for want of a better word, an essence of one's previous life, i.e. through karmic influence a "flux" of what was "us" is passed over, i.e. not a soul as such but an "energy" which is as much subject to change as anything else is.
I have studied this subject for many years - including prior to becoming a JW - and picked the subject back up once I left Watchtower. If you ever get chance, read the life story of the Dalai Lama, such as Freedom in Exile - the autobiography of the Dalai Lama of Tibet or In Exile from the Land of the Snows by John F. Avedon or The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. The first two books highlight tests the Dalai Lama underwent as a young boy to prove he was the "reincarnation" of the 13th Dalai Lama (the present Dalai Lama is the 14th). The third books highlights how this life should be viewed as a training ground for our deaths.
It is my confidence in rebirth that keeps my head up when I am battling with the heinous disease I contracted a couple of years back, which is virtually every day!
Complete enlightenment is the ultimate goal of the Buddhist, the aim being to STOP being reborn continuously. Let's face it, life is suffering. Happiness is only ever transient and to be reborn merely puts us back into a position where suffering is sure to touch us. By becoming enlightened we are able to stop the continual cycle of our rebirth and, hence, suffering. Personally, I should like to achieve complete enlightenment but be reborn for the benefit of others, which is why the Dalai Lama and other Boddhisattvas are reborn. We need enlightened ones to show us the way out of this continual cycle of suffering known as Samsara.
The beauty of Buddhism is that one works out one's own salvation. One doesn't depend on an almighty God - and Buddhism does NOT conflict with science (see The Universe in a Single Atom by the Dalai Lama).
Sincere metta (loving kindness),
Ian
