We are meat sacks. Is there really a God? I used to have such strong faith and then I lost it. I've tried to rekindle it by converting to the religion of my ancestors to no avail. I want to believe, but I can't justify it. How could God allow his chosen people to suffer so much? They made a covenant.....

Why bother? It's not like you had a choice to be born, but here you are. So why waste it pondering, "The meaning of Life". Do what makes you happy. For some it will be living as a selfish douche-bag, and for some, living in sacrifice to the happiness of others. Most find a balance in between.

I disagree with regular.joe on the inevitability of an argument, but strongly agree there is much more to the universe than we could possibly know. I've experienced weird things that defy all logic, things I'll never be able to explain, but I don't dwell on them.
Hey look, a butterfly. ;)

I've had several experiences like the ones Clodfobble described, of knowing or seeing things before they happen.

I am generally a very rational person. I don't fit any formal models of belief, but I do believe in reincarnation. I think your soul goes around a few times, learning different things as you go. When you're here, you usually can't remember your other lives, but when you're there, you can see all of them, like a collection. Sometimes your soul rests, in the elsewhere. Takes a few decades or centuries off. I think new souls come in to being, and also that old souls sometimes get to call it a day and go chill for the rest of eternity. I also think there are kindred spirits that tend to cross paths, like that neighbor you always run into at the grocery store. Sometimes these soul mates end up being a spouse, a family member, a best friend.

I recognize that these beliefs don't make much rational sense, but they give me a sense of peace.

that's pretty much what I think, too, choco.

For what it's worth, belief or faith can only occur in the absence of evidence. If there is evidence, then faith isn't necessary.

I think our sense of being, our self awareness, is greater than these bags of meat we are walking around in. There's a spark there. It seems obvious to me that this is true, and yet there's no scientific test that can prove it.

Sitting in the waiting room at the New Body Bureau, cursing the guys buying condoms and women buying the pill, up on the monitor. :haha:

I'm not making fun of the recycling soul idea, I've heard it many times, and it's certainly possible. That picture of the waiting room just popped into my head when I started thinking about the dropping birthrate and the souls waiting.

My last wife was convinced she was recycled a few times. I was skeptical because each of her past lives was extreme suffering (Trail of Tears, Lobsang Rampa type torture), or royalty (Egyptian, European). Maybe that's why she was such a drama queen. :rolleyes:

Funny how no one ever remembers a past life as a run of the mill peasant. :)

I was just typing that ... :)

I guess my take on it would be that the mind (soul) and the brain are one so no living brain no soul. I don't deny the possibility of a god as the starting point of the universe, but don't imagine any interplay between the watchmaker and the watch. If Tebow throws an interception on fourth down he messed up don't blame Jesus. I find a sense of peace in the end being the end, no making up for being Stalin during the last go around no burdening the next me with my screw-ups this time. Tomorrow I may claim some special knowledge of ultimate reality but today no.

PS I think clod's mind is wicked perceptive in conscious mode, I have no doubt she could unconsciously assemble a reasonable facsimile of Mad's cover art.

As I understand the philosophy, each life is to learn a specific lesson, and if you don't pass the final they keep you back a life to do it over. I don't think you're burdened with past mistakes beyond that.

I've amused myself before with the idea of a soul hospital, where you periodically wake up during critical moments in your life, to see the possibilities set before you and then choose the next part of your story before diving back in with no memory of having chosen. Of course this relies on the premise that suffering is useful and interesting; the same way you would prefer to watch a movie full of drama rather than some dude sitting in a cubicle and leading a mostly happy and boring life.

I remember watching the actor Glen Ford on TV who had underwent hypnotic regression and had documented 5 or 6 previous lives, and one of his past lives was as a victorian teacher in Scotland, he was discussing this on a chat show and they showed him a picture of the grave stone of this teacher who had died in 1840.
Now he was either a fantastic actor but what i remember of that show was how shaken he actually was when the picture was shown to him.
Now whether this proves reincarnation or not I'm buggered if i know but I suppose unless something touches you and you have the "Paranomal experience" for a description of sorts well for me it's not a closed book.

I'd look at not getting off the wheel as pretty burdensome, but not as bad as hell.

I think there's a lot of people with the diametrically opposed view. Cheered by the possibility of more at bats.
Before you took on this thankless job, you've had a pretty good run. Beautiful wife, two great kids, fabulous home, loving goats, and first class dog. :)

Adjusting attitude, now.