by soft+gentle 30 Replies latest jw friends
reincarnation the belief that the soul, upon death of the body, comes back to earth in another body or form
I think this is true in one respect but I believe the person remains the same. There are no second chances. One God, one person, otherwise it wouldn't make sense would it? I think John was Elijah in that they had the same purpose and John was finishing what Elijah had started.
Just a suggestion (I adhere to no particular belief - intersted in all theories): Dr Brian Weiss has written some fascinating books on his experiences in practice - "Through Time Into Healing", and "Many Lives, Many Masters".
thanks flossycat - sounds interesting
prodgal son, n.drew thanks for your thoughts on re-incarnation. I agree prodigal son that the belief of re-incarnation is very universal and that certain scriptures can be read that way.
death, in ancient writings is beginning to sound like a positive transition rather than a deadend.
tec - I agree regarding n.drew's comment - "from life to life". It opens up huge possibilities. I'm really glad she commmented on my thread.
Regarding spiritual death - I hadn't thought of it as a transition but now I see that it is an important aspect that would need digging into.
As an artist I can take yellow water color and blue water color and mix them on a nice white sheet of paper.
The overlap is Green.
The fancy name for it is Tertiary (or third) color.
Now, when we just see Green all by itself we think of it as a Primary, but, it isn't.
When I had my own etching studio in California I had to mix ink colors to match a specific color an artist had selected.
I had to train my artist's eye to see colors---not as a "primary" but as a "result" of the mixing of other colors.
I'm old enough now to "see" other things the same way, too!
There is the "color" of our Father's smile and our Mother's tenderness in our own tinture of Green.
We are a result.
Our vibrancy is there and it is ours but we echo all who have gone before us down the marble halls of humanity.
It isn't so much that we vanish. Rather, we grow less and less and less into the infinitesimal interstices.
If we are still "there" it is beyond seeing or hearing.....but...not remembering the tertiary aftershock of our being.
What I did in life defines who I was.
Interesting. I'd say that what one does in life is just a series of actions; it doesn't define who you are but what you did. What you are cannot just be an accumulation of events, which is only a chronical of activites performed and experienced. Prior to any action one still exists, which then begs the question: Who/what am I really?
Our vibrancy is there and it is ours but we echo all who have gone before us down the marble halls of humanity.
It isn't so much that we vanish. Rather, we grow less and less and less into the infinitesimal interstices.
If we are still "there" it is beyond seeing or hearing.....but...not remembering the tertiary aftershock of our being.
Beautiful.
No, it's the end of the road.
Terry - thanks. I also have toyed with viewing life through the eyes of an artist. the varying intensities of colour suggestive of life's ebbs and flows. This kinda ties in with what another poster said on this thread - make your death light
edit: okay it was n.drew and here it is in full
Death IS an end. A wise man once said "pick up your cross" . He was the fellow that died on a cross or tree but who cares and why? It means your death will come, do not fear it, but pick it up. Now if someone should pick it up (it is rare) and carry it, they would be wise to make it light. |
thanks didgderidoo - hey I agree to an extent. I think it is important to see death as the end of the road if it impels us to live our present life to the full. But on the other hand what if there are enormous changes we want to see made in the world around us but we ourselves are heavily restricted? what then?
... from the "conscious" to the "unconscious state", perhaps ? ! ? (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
