Does the religious group you’re affiliated with profess a belief in reincarnation? Do you personally agree or disagree?
Do you believe that everybody gets reincarnated, or that it only happens in special circumstances? Is the cycle of re-birth indefinate, or does it end at some point?
Is there a specific afterlife in another world, or do people just go straight from one body to another?
What do you think of past-life regression? Does it make any difference in your belief or lack thereof?
Do you think that you, personally, have lived previously?
How important is the concept of reincarnation or non-reincarnation in your life?
Thanks.
If you don’t believe in reincarnation, you can skip questions 2-5, or else you can explain why you disgree with the concepts presented.
I more or less adhere to the belief that everyone gets reincarnated until they reach the level of self-realisation necessary to escape the cycle of life and death.
I don’t know.
Is that like trying to remember your past lives? Then no, I don’t believe in it.
I highly, highly doubt I am a self-realised soul so yes, I must have had past lives.
I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about death but since reincarnation is linked to the concept of karma, it’s of some importance.
I guess by my answers you should be able to tell which religion I belong to.
Reincarnation, like many things in Judaism, is a case of “Three rabbis, three opinions”. The idea of reincarnation (called gilgul in Hebrew) was popularized by the Kabbalists of Tzfat in the sixteenth century. They mapped out an elaborate system of who gets reborn as what, and why, and and what it all means. Their ideas are still popular among Jews of a mystic bent (and I think Hassidim as well). Others don’t really make a big deal about it- I don’t think there are Orthodox rabbis who flatly say it doesn’t exist, but they don’t make a big deal about it, either.
I personally figure that (to paraphrase some famous philosopher) it’s no more unlikely to be born twice than born once. But I don’t go obsessing.
According to the kabbalists, it goes like this: people come to this world to fulfil a specific purpose. If they don’t manage to reach their goal the first time around (most people don’t), they get sent back for another try. There’s an dispute about how many do-overs a person gets (Answers range from “three” to “however many it takes”).
As per the above, the goal is to get into heaven permenantly. Even the people who are due to get reincarnated first get judged, and to some extent punished or rewarded, before they go back to earth.
I personally find past-life therapy intriguing. I know a lot of people doubt its validity, but I think it would be pretty cool if true. Also Ian Stevenson’s work. But even if it were completely disproved tomorrow, it wouldn’t change my opinion about reincarnation in general.
I figure the odds are probable that I’ve been around before. But I have no way to tell. It doesn’t make much of a difference to me either way.
As you can probably tell, it’s not exactly a topic I obsess about every day. My philosophy is that either I’ll get reborn or I won’t, but the important thing is to concentrate on living now.
I remember when I first heard about reincarnation and it struck a chord deep inside of me. My mom, the ex nun, subscribes to it.
It helps me when I am dealing with someone who is completely lacking any moral decency and realizing that they are probably on their first or second do-over and have a way to go.
It also helps me when I think of all the horribly afflicted people in group homes or my own brothers who just never got a fucking break in their lives with good health. Maybe their next lives they will be rewarded with a whole body.
1.) Assemblies of God (with Catholic background): AoG & RCC- No. However, I’m open to the possibility. All other answers therefore are speculative & not solid beliefs.
2.) If it happens, it’s probably due to special circumstances, with a definite goal, such as spiritual maturity or ample opportunity to accept Christ’s salvation.
3.) Yeah, there may be breaks between incarnations in the Afterlife, and there is a final Afterlife/Resurrection to reach.
4.) Regression accounts can be explained in various ways. Anecdotes of children
recounting details of other lives which are later verified are, if legitimate, much more difficult to discount.
5.) Maybe I have. Maybe I haven’t. It’s not that important to me and if God wants me to know, He’ll show me somehow. I’m not supposed to go mucking around to find out. Really though, I doubt I have.
6.) The Afterlife/Resurrection is very important to me. Past lives or lives to come- not so much.
It doesn’t. I believe that there’s no such thing, so I must agree. We only get one shot at things, so we should make the best of it. Reincarnation is at best wishful thinking, and at worse an excuse not to try harder to be a decent person now given you’ve get a “do over” later.
No one is recycled.
I don’t know, is heaven considered “another world”?
It’s neat that some people have such involved fantasy lives. No, it makes no difference.
Given my answers to #1 and #2…no.
It isn’t at all important, though a belief in the afterlife is somewhat important - even then I’m far more concerned with this life than anything that might come after.
1. Does the religious group you’re affiliated with profess a belief in reincarnation? Do you personally agree or disagree?
Methodist (U.S. United Methodist Church). No, my church does not believe in reincarnation and, yes, I agree, meaning, no, I don’t either.
4. What do you think of past-life regression? Does it make any difference in your belief or lack thereof?
It doesn’t make any difference, but I respect a belief in reincarnation as a legitimate religious belief (reserving to myself the right to decide for myself alone its “legitimacy”), whereas I think past-life regressions are complete BS.
6. Do you think that you, personally, have lived previously?
I believe in the Eternal with a capital “E”, from which we all come and to which most of us return, so I suppose that’s a belief in a type of prior life, but it’s nothing like reincarnation.
5. How important is the concept of reincarnation or non-reincarnation in your life?
Raised Catholic - neo-pagan bodhidarmic now - so yes, I suppose reincarnation could happen to some people.
The concept of reincarnation is not as important to me as the idea of enlightenment and becoming the best human being you can become today.
I know I have lived previously, there are things I like that have no basis in present day reality…I love carving anything, from wood to stone to soap…no idea where that comes from. I love the violin, always have…no clue for that one either.