# Do you believe in past lives? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 23, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137 "2013-01-23T19:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Steener122](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Steener122](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steener122)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/1 "2013-01-23T19:02:18Z")
I’ve got a crazy fire phobia, but I’ve never been hurt by fire. I’ve had people tell me maybe I got killed in a fire in a past life… So that got me thinking about past lives in general and if they exist. Do YOU think they exist? Why do you think so if you do or why not if you don’t? I’m not quite so sure myself. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/2 "2013-01-23T19:04:37Z")
> [@Steener122](#): > > I’ve got a crazy fire phobia, but I’ve never been hurt by fire. I’ve had people tell me maybe I got killed in a fire in a past life… > > So that got me thinking about past lives in general and if they exist. Do YOU think they exist? Why do you think so if you do or why not if you don’t? I’m not quite so sure myself. No. We don’t have past lives. Because your consciousness is generated by your brain. When your brain turns off and rots, your consciousness ends forever. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/3 "2013-01-23T19:12:34Z")
No evidence for it, so no. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/4 "2013-01-23T19:13:59Z")
No. It’s contradicted by what we know about biology and it makes no sense on any level. Nobody can even tell you how it’s supposed to work: ‘we have souls that aren’t physical and do stuff we can’t distinguish from our brains, and they live in us, but then they keep living without us and go somewhere else somehow and through some other means they sort of remember stuff.’ What? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/5 "2013-01-23T19:39:10Z")
That being said, I assume that somewhere along the line various bits of me were destroyed by fire before I took ownership. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/6 "2013-01-23T19:39:15Z")
No. There’s no evidence for it, nor is there evidence it’s possible. Nor would I really care about it if it was true; I’ll quote myself from an [old thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=511458) I started on the subject of reincarnation: > [@If reincarnation were true, would you care ?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-reincarnation-were-true-would-you-care/490538/1): > > I certainly don’t recall any such lives, and my memories are the most important part of what makes me, me. If you could prove to me that I had a soul with past lives, it would be like proving to me that a particular iron atom in my blood once was part of Alexander the Great; mildly interesting, but that’s all. Reincarnation is functionally equivalent to having no soul at all, in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/7 "2013-01-23T19:42:17Z")
I’m pretty sure people were alive in the past. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/8 "2013-01-23T19:42:26Z")
No reason to believe in reincarnation, and lots of reasons (already put forth) not to. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/9 "2013-01-23T19:43:33Z")
No. I am a bad Hindu in many ways. This is just another. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/10 "2013-01-23T19:50:38Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > That being said, I assume that somewhere along the line various bits of me were destroyed by fire before I took ownership. That being said, you can assume that parts of you came from a treefrog in Tanzania, gravel from Gibraltar, a jackass from Jerusalem and maybe even a knothole from Norway-the world is one big recycling plant, and if past memories depended on where parts of you had been previously insanity would be the order of the day. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/11 "2013-01-23T20:03:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > . . . and if past memories depended on where parts of you had been previously insanity would be the order of the day. Well, that is the strongest argument in favor of reincarnation that I have seen. ---
**Author:** ![Human\_Action](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@Human\_Action](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Human_Action)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/12 "2013-01-23T20:04:28Z")
No, no evidence, no plausible mechanism, no falsifiability. Just woo. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/13 "2013-01-23T20:04:38Z")
No. I try to deal in realities. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/14 "2013-01-23T20:09:28Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > No. I am a bad Hindu in many ways. This is just another. You should totally get a custom title and make it “Bad Hindu” ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Schmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Some\_Schmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Schmo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/15 "2013-01-23T20:11:25Z")
With the divorce rate what it is, I don’t see how anyone could deny the reality of past wives. ---
**Author:** ![R3d\_Anonymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/aeb1de/32.png) [@R3d\_Anonymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R3d_Anonymous)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/16 "2013-01-23T20:13:24Z")
Requesting for a forum change to “IMHO”. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/17 "2013-01-23T20:13:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’m pretty sure people were alive in the past. That’s my take on it, too. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/18 "2013-01-23T20:14:02Z")
> [@Steener122](#): > > I’ve got a crazy fire phobia, but I’ve never been hurt by fire. I’ve had people tell me maybe I got killed in a fire in a past life… > > So that got me thinking about past lives in general and if they exist. Do YOU think they exist? Why do you think so if you do or why not if you don’t? I’m not quite so sure myself. If you have no memories from a past life, then in what way was it “you” living it? Most creatures have an instinctual fear of fire. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/19 "2013-01-23T20:21:45Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > You should totally get a custom title and make it “Bad Hindu” Sounds pretty cool when you put it like that! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137/20 "2013-01-23T20:31:24Z")
> [@Anonymous User](#): > > Requesting for a forum change to “IMHO”. The thread is fine here, I think. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-in-past-lives/648137.md?page=2)