Why Reincarnation Is Bullshit
Many people believe that there is a soul which is separate from the body, and this soul is the true identity of a being. The body is an accidental form that that the soul has inhabited. To this soul, some attributes are attached, including some sort of memory and ability to reason, learn, and make decisions. The separation of the soul from the body allows for the soul to reattach to another body. So many people who believe in the disincarnate soul also subscribe to the notion that the soul survives through various incarnations, even across species. The same soul can have lived as a Egyptian pharaoh, a Jewish slave, a tiger, a lamb... a tree, a flatworm, a bacterium?
In 1900, the world's human population was about one billion; in 2000, this had increased to about 6 billion. That means that there are now over 5 billion souls occupying human bodies that were housed in other species at the turn of the previous century. This would work if there were roughly the same number of living organisms, but organisms have increased due to the peculiar way that life turns lifeless materials into organisms. The number of organisms increases until an extinction event such as the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
The current working theory of evolution posits that there was an original unique ancestor cell from which all carbon-based life forms emerged. From this original cell, sprang many trillions of living beings. Of these trillions of organisms, science estimates that 20 billion of these organisms have been Homo sapiens. If this is true and reincarnation is fair, the most human lives that someone could have lived would have been 4 but more likely 3. (20 billion divided by 6 billion is 3.33.) These lives would have been scattered across a million years.
If there are more organisms now than there were at a previous time, where did the new souls come from? Were they waiting in heaven? If there are trillions of souls waiting for bodies, what makes us believe that we will get another chance at being reincarnated before the souls that haven't had a body get their turn? How many souls are there? All I want is rough estimate.
Perhaps the souls come from another planet's extinction? Perhaps we have lived on other planets, in other types of universes? But if evolution is correct, (and I believe it is) there was only ONE first organism. All other posited souls would have to be waiting in the wings. We have no idea how many souls there might be, or why we would get another chance before all the waiting souls have had a chance to occupy an organism at least once.
REINCARNATION'S PAYOFF
Unlike animals with a lesser ability for abstract thinking, humanity's ability to conger up possible worlds introduces all of us to a constant state of worry and fear. What if there is a tiger in the cave? What if another asteroid extinction is on the way? Religion and poetic reasoning are valued for their ability to calm our troubled minds. So I can't do anything about fucked up childhood? I'll pick a better childhood next time. So I can't help do anything about the living conditions of the poor? I'll take care of it in the next life.
Like I've stated before on this blog: I have no problem with lullabies... as lullabies. I just worry when people start making real decisions based on lullabies. Soothe your mind, but allow yourself to ask the valuable and value-giving question: What if this is my only shot at life? What is important to me now? Anything that can be put off for the next life can be put off forever. Deal with things TODAY.
In 1900, the world's human population was about one billion; in 2000, this had increased to about 6 billion. That means that there are now over 5 billion souls occupying human bodies that were housed in other species at the turn of the previous century. This would work if there were roughly the same number of living organisms, but organisms have increased due to the peculiar way that life turns lifeless materials into organisms. The number of organisms increases until an extinction event such as the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
The current working theory of evolution posits that there was an original unique ancestor cell from which all carbon-based life forms emerged. From this original cell, sprang many trillions of living beings. Of these trillions of organisms, science estimates that 20 billion of these organisms have been Homo sapiens. If this is true and reincarnation is fair, the most human lives that someone could have lived would have been 4 but more likely 3. (20 billion divided by 6 billion is 3.33.) These lives would have been scattered across a million years.
If there are more organisms now than there were at a previous time, where did the new souls come from? Were they waiting in heaven? If there are trillions of souls waiting for bodies, what makes us believe that we will get another chance at being reincarnated before the souls that haven't had a body get their turn? How many souls are there? All I want is rough estimate.
Perhaps the souls come from another planet's extinction? Perhaps we have lived on other planets, in other types of universes? But if evolution is correct, (and I believe it is) there was only ONE first organism. All other posited souls would have to be waiting in the wings. We have no idea how many souls there might be, or why we would get another chance before all the waiting souls have had a chance to occupy an organism at least once.
REINCARNATION'S PAYOFF
Unlike animals with a lesser ability for abstract thinking, humanity's ability to conger up possible worlds introduces all of us to a constant state of worry and fear. What if there is a tiger in the cave? What if another asteroid extinction is on the way? Religion and poetic reasoning are valued for their ability to calm our troubled minds. So I can't do anything about fucked up childhood? I'll pick a better childhood next time. So I can't help do anything about the living conditions of the poor? I'll take care of it in the next life.
Like I've stated before on this blog: I have no problem with lullabies... as lullabies. I just worry when people start making real decisions based on lullabies. Soothe your mind, but allow yourself to ask the valuable and value-giving question: What if this is my only shot at life? What is important to me now? Anything that can be put off for the next life can be put off forever. Deal with things TODAY.
posted by Troy Spears at 12:06 PM
5 Comments:
Gravity, levity. It is all gravy somewhere, kittycat.
Loves you, oh yeh.
The intercept of the living on life has not always been a tangent of the intelligent on intellect.
Anonymous should lay off the drugs, and 28x is off his meds.
I guess clear thinking and a good vocabulary suggests a person is taking drugs.
If someone claims to have lived before, ask the question:
How many total (immortal) souls are there in the universe?
How many organisms are there?
Are there more souls than there are organisms?
Suppose human beings remained cave people. What point would there be in reincarnating?
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