What do you believe now and how did you come to that conclusion?
I've been reading a lot about reincarnation and find it intriguing. Not really sure yet what I believe.

Dudeism. Just take'er easy and abide, makes life a whole less complicated.

I believe that humans are getting better with each generation (minus a setback here or there). As to religion/spirituality, agnostic atheist, but willing to change my mind if I find a good enough reason to do so.

I may have believed in reincarnation in a previous life, but not in this one.

donbagley Wrote:
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> I may have believed in reincarnation in a previous
> life, but not in this one.

I did not believe in reincarnation in my immediately previous life...but I do in this one.

;) ;) ;)

P.S. I have a pretty good handle on the Dutch housewife and mother I was as New Year's dawned in 1940...and I'm almost positive that the person I was then would have been immensely puzzled by the very concept of reincarnation.

I don't know if you're being facetious or not, but if not, how did you know what your previous life was? Sometimes I feel almost a sense of nostalgia when looking at pictures of the late 1800s, or reading/watching shows about the Renaissance period. I've also always had a fascination with the Asian and Greek cultures. I'm sure a lot of it is just plain old "hey I like that stuff!" But I wonder how much of it is influenced by having lived during those times.

I love the idea of reincarnation. I've discovered I'm sort of agnostic, leaning towards deist. I think I've just read too much to where I'm not really sure I could be christian again. It just seems so constricting and such an all or nothing type of belief system. It doesn't leave a lot of room for fun stuff like reincarnation or even just believing a little bit of everything.

siflbiscuit Wrote:
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> I don't know if you're being facetious or not, but
> if not, how did you know what your previous life
> was? Sometimes I feel almost a sense of nostalgia
> when looking at pictures of the late 1800s, or
> reading/watching shows about the Renaissance
> period. I've also always had a fascination with
> the Asian and Greek cultures. I'm sure a lot of it
> is just plain old "hey I like that stuff!" But I
> wonder how much of it is influenced by having
> lived during those times.

Three regressions in all...the second two regressions to clear up confusions between what I remembered and what I thought were facts, or were presented as facts in materials I consulted for verification. In one case, there were two particular things that I was SURE that what I was remembering was in conflict with the historical facts, but when I then checked (one of them was really difficult to find---I finally located a Russian-published book in an obscure academic library), my memories turned out to be correct.

If you are fortunate enough to have the feelings you have about particular historical periods and cultures, it MIGHT be an indication of real personal memory. (Kids have these memories more often than adults are aware of, but in our culture any references to them are quickly silenced by adults, and kids learn they are NOT to talk about them. Eventually, and as those kids grow up, they "forget," consciously, their earlier memories, but often---if they have the right circumstances---are later able to tap into them through a trip to that area, or a regression, or whatever.)

I've told this before here on RfM, but when my sister was regressed, she went back to a lifetime in ancient Greece that was one of the most fascinating things I (and the woman who was regressing her) have ever heard in our lives. My sister had been a soldier in ancient Sparta, and she was able to answer any question about what that was like---and those answers were confirmed by later historical research. [You need to know: my sister, in this life, is not in the least historically oriented, and when Kathleen and I tried to explain to her how extraordinary her regression had been, my sister just could not understand our interest and enthusiasm. She definitely remembered what she had said during her regression, but to her, it was of NO particular interest to her in THIS life (though she found the fact that she was a male in Sparta kind of interesting and unexpected), and during the lifetime she had recounted, it was just ordinary life to her, to the point of her being bored and tired of it and happy when that life was over.]

Regressions (when YOU are the person who is relating what YOU are remembering) often (though not always) bring up things that conflict with what you already "know" to be the historical facts. So, if the subject is researchable, you then research to find out what the facts actually are.

Frequently, you find that what you "remembered" or "relived" during your regression IS historically accurate, but sometimes in a way that you hadn't anticipated.

For instance: why there were no automobiles in AMSTERDAM (!!!) during the same time period when automobiles were fairly common throughout most of the United States...and the historically factual answer to this turned out to be: we lived in a historical part of the city and automobiles were not allowed in our neighborhood (we had a canal house, thanks to the generosity of our parents) because the streets were too narrow, and there was real concern that automobiles would destroy their structural integrity. (So the fact that there weren't any automobiles on the streets in OUR neighborhood didn't indicate that there were not, at that same moment in time, automobiles in the metropolitan area, or in other parts of the Netherlands.) So regressed memories of what had initially seemed to be historically improbable, turned out to be factually true to that time and that particular area.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2015 11:39AM by tevai.

I must bear my testimony: Ian Stevenson has discovered the real truth about what happens to human beings when they die.

I am convinced, reincarnation is the only theory with any credible evidence to support it and the only one that makes any sense.

I too have been greatly influenced by the writings of Ian Stevenson.

By my screen name I am a Spiritist and believe in a God/Source, after life/between lives, spirit guides, soul groups, etc. ----- based on my many experiences with 'spirit' also experiences with my subconscious. Am I still a little skeptical ---- Yes so I continue to attempt new and different experiences.

I believe in reincarnation of the 'soul' but will not explain that ------ cannot do it justice and would get more 'woo woo' than we are now.

Below is a 31 minute meditation that is suppose to identify glimpse of 3 past lives in your 'soul' and subconscious. You may not agree these are past lives and I can't prove they are either.

My three past lives per the meditation were a child and grownup in Europe and lived in the mountains as father worked in saw mill, a native American (had both access to buffalo and deer), and a shop keeper not sure where but not much information.

If you do it please return and report ----- just so I can get an idea if it works in bringing up lives (real or manufactured).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgFDSLSv-Po



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2015 11:22PM by spiritist.

I can't say that I currently 'believe' anything. I have a lot of unknowns, but I don't have any specific beliefs when it comes to supernatural things.

Fascinating isn't it, that we can believe anything that suits our fancy and change our mind and still might be correct! :-)
I am convinced that there is some kind of energy that survives earthly death. Have no idea what or how that works, however.
It's comforting though.

I don't believe. I lack belief with regards to spirituality and the supernatural. However, I do believe I should have rinsed the salt from my margarita out of the bowl before making pico de gallo.

If you embrace evidence as the basis of knowledge, it's pretty hard to be anything other than agnostic.

I cannot have faith without hard evidence, which is another way of saying I cannot have faith. Deity may exist, and She could prove Her existence at any time, but unless that happens, I see no compelling basis for assumptions... and if She does prove Her existence, funny hats, fancy buildings, fanciful stories, fantastic promises, but where's the beef? ("Where's the beef?" is a registered trademark of The Wendy's Company. All rites reversed. This instance of usage lacks license from The Wendy's Company and/or Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, CBC, CTV,TSN, ESPN, or any of their other television or radio affiliates, and is being transmitted across the Internet without the express written consent of any of the above mentioned parties (or the NFL, for that matter), and this instance of noncompliance will probably result in prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. O noes!)

I believe that love is the answer. It's the beginning, the end and everything in between. It's the hidden jewel we hold in the palms of our hands.

It's the reason we come to RfM. That and RfM is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. You're a better class of highly evolved monkeys and any feces throwing is quickly forgotten.

Welcome to heartlight! Luv, Luv, Luuuuuv!

Let it flow, let it flow, let it flow...

Rugby. Good food. Good music. Good personal relationships. Good ideas. Good stories.

Thumbs up to the above, Tal. (Except I can't say I'm much into rugby, or most other sorts of team sports. Blasphemy, I know. ;-D)

I used to be a Christian many years ago (belonged to a very liberal denomination, no fundy crap), but after a while, the absurdity of Christian dogma began to get to me, and I realized I just couldn't really swallow that stuff anymore. I guess I just sort of drifted into apatheism.

I'm with The Dude. Ain't got time to worry about believing in anything as it pertains to a deity...just not important.

RB

I have also been reading about reincarnation, and I think it is a possibility. The nice thing about not having dogma shoved down your throat is that you can look into different ideas. There is a lot of evidence supporting reincarnation, so I am open to the idea.

I like the idea of reincarnation and have not rejected it. In a fantasy novel I was reading, a main character knew he had lived many lives and was explaining that immortals would go insane if they lived as one being for eternity. It was only by becoming a new person with no memory of the past that they could live and keep their sanity. Just fiction, but I thought that might be true. When people talk about eternity, I don't think they (myself included) have ANY idea what that reallly means.

I find this life quite complex and fascinating, why would I want to chase fairy tales of past lives?

Wiccan. And, yes, I believe in reincarnation.

I believe that after we die, other people are born and they're all you. We're all part of this grand, cosmic ocean and each person is like a wave of that ocean.

So I believe in a blend of american zen buddhism(like watts and kornfield) with a good chunk of dudeism thrown in there. I'm taken er' easy for the whole world.

I like this idea as well. I have often thought of it as being many nerve endings connected to a single entity. Each nerve ending experiences different things and sends it's message to the One.

But not long ago someone (you?) linked to a youtube video of a woman who was given a narcotic - just before narcotics became a big thing - and they filmed her reaction and asked her questions about what she was experiencing. She was describing her surroundings similarly to how you have described it - that everything was sort of flowing together. I think she said something like there was no you or me, but we were all flowing together. Yes, it was drug induced, but it WAS interesting.

I gave up "belief," and decided to reach conclusions based on facts and evidence instead.

When there aren't facts or evidence to allow me to reach a conclusion, I admit I don't know, and don't bother with considering outrageous, unsupportable claims "possible." I'll give them consideration when there IS evidence to support them, not before. Which means no belief in "souls," "spirits," anything supernatural, reincarnation, alien abductions, psychics, mediums, etc. etc. etc. etc. When there's evidence to support such claims, I'll consider them.

So, yes -- atheist. Rationalist. Skeptic.

Few people realize that God is real, and has chosen to be among us. He wears glasses, and has a sense of humor, too. He even slips up at times, and has an open mind, unlike too many of us.

I'm thinking that one of His wives whipped Him into shape and showed Him that being anal for eternity sucked, bigtime.

He is now...very cool.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mr+deity+on+leaving+mormonism

‘Plausible deniability’ is turning out to be a prerequisite of paranormal experiences. Plausible deniability guarantees paranormal experiences are kept unique and entirely personal to each individual who is exposed to them. I’m not talking about any ‘god’ here, just odd paranormal experiences that hint at the fluidity of objective reality. These experiences are exactly meant to be personal, and aren’t meant to be proven or even necessarily shared with other people’s consciousnesses. They’re a purely subjective experience, one intended to nudge an individual consciousness further along their journey, without necessarily affecting others around them; thus the ‘plausible deniability’ guaranteed by the subjective nature of the experience.

Some people never have paranormal experiences. That’s ok, that’s just part of their journey. Some people have a lot of them, and that’s no big deal either. These experiences are not intended to be ‘proven’ to other people. To outsiders, no amount of proof will suffice. To people who’ve experienced truly bizarre paranormal synchronicities or events, no proof is required, because they are the one’s who’ve had the experience; they simply know what they saw or experienced. Plausible deniability surrounding the paranormal is turning out to be a requirement of consciousness evolution. It allows for individual growth, while allowing others to remain in whatever state they require for their own growth too. Deal with it; it’s just the way it seems to work.

Don’t try too hard to convince others if reality shows its fluidity to you. And others, you’re never going to get your published proof. Well, except for maybe the double slit experiment. However, the double slit experiment is just a glimpse, albeit a pretty profound one.

The above was just an opinion, remember. After all, what do I know? Not much. All I really know about is me.

Very well put!!!

I have experienced frustration in not being able to control what I experience more, but what you said makes me feel a lot better.

I need to just enjoy what I get and don't get and 'chill out' about worrying about proving anything to others.

Totally agree that whether one experiences this stuff or not it is ok and just part of the individual's unique life plan.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2015 12:14PM by spiritist.

Have you watched those lectures by that physicist (Tom Campbell) that I linked you to yet? The guy who wrote ‘My Big TOE.’ (Referring to the ‘theory of everything.’) It wasn’t new information, but he does do a fascinating job of trying to reconcile metaphysics with physics, and ties it all together quite interestingly in a fascinating way. It really is worth a person like you watching at least the first few lectures. I know they are long, but they are pretty fascinating. I think you would find them very interesting spiritist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1vYHOPFgcg&index=1&list=PLEB923BB17E5849A3


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Well said, torturednevermo!!!

:)

A good family, good friends and fine craft beer trump everything else.

RB

There's no proof for reincarnation that I know of... so no

I don't believe in it.

But that sounds too succinct so let me add that I believe in

life and living it to the fullest and enjoying everything..

Its been good. Its been sad and tragic and sometimes bad. Its

been wonderful and exciting and filled with love and passion

and beauty and music and most of all LOVE.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2015 01:05PM by saucie.

I 'believe' little. I like to 'know' about things that can be proven, replicated, presented, proven to experts, and make sense.

I'm happy with anchoring myself in facts and evidence and keeping open to new ones. The land of make believe is fun to read about now and then in a well written novel - I can open the book and close it when I am through and go back to reality.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/22/2015 12:54PM by presleynfactsrock.