If YOUR life were a ride at Disneyland that lasted 80 years, would you hop back in the long...line for another ride?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WEpaxI4ZSk

This is a deep and complex question because it involves a number of different levels of reality and/or possibility.

In a lot of ways, my life HAS been "a ride at Disneyland that lasted 80 years," but I would not want to relive THIS life that I am still living through. I have been the recipient of many real gifts during this lifetime, including the "gift" of nearly always having the option(s) of "making lemonade out of lemons." I didn't have to accept the sour acid, because I could either get around it, or I was able to overcome it, through alternatives and options that frequently did not make sense at the time they occurred, often because they were disguised in ways I could not then recognize, but then (years or decades later) they made INCREDIBLE sense!

Looking backwards, there is intelligent optioning going on ALL OF THE TIME, even though, in that moment, I was bewildered, hurt (some of those hurts still hurt, and are still bewildering), where I was seemingly marooned without resources--but in the end, it did all make sense.

(Repeatedly throughout my life: If "this" had not happened exactly the way it did, I would not have taken "that" path, and if I had not taken THAT path, I never would have gotten to whatever-it-was that has been so incredibly important to me, and to my development as a human being.)

These insights are available to me in hindsight, but I never would have been able to figure them out, even as the remotest of possibilities, as they actually occurred. Many of them were the results of other people's decisions (my aunt, my parents, my grandparents), decisions I had no active part in (and in important particular cases, before I was even conceived).

Somehow, as these things happened (or as I became aware of them, because many of them existed before my birth) I did the best I could with whatever options or advantages were available at that time....and somehow, many decades later, it all came out not only "right," but INCREDIBLY (literally!, as in: unbelievably) right.

Fairy tale right, so far as I am concerned.

Enough of the kids I went to school with (elementary school through high school) have now died to prompt me into thinking about what I would, if I had my druthers, like to have as my next life.

If I get to choose, I have figured out certain things I would like to have, or to have available to me (like the college education I was always PROMISED by my parents, but which then was taken away when I was in high school), and many things/geographical areas/groups of people I proactively do NOT want to be part of my next life.

This lifetime I won one of the available, and very real (because I have lived this life) jackpots.

Next lifetime I would like to "fill in the holes," in a geographical area, and in a family and a cultural milieu, where this is possible.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2019 05:35PM by Tevai.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/expelled-in-1956-black-woman-gets-doctorate-at-u-of-alabama/ar-AAATOyx?ocid=spartanntp

Reading a book as the world sleeps is the best education one may acquire.

https://www.ted.com/talks/frank_warren_half_a_million_secrets#t-7675

In my case, the problem never was education, it was credentials and connections.

Thanks to the inordinately positive, and hugely intellectually enriched, geographical area I grew up in, and so far as education goes, one of the immense positives in my life has been that I have always had access to world-class knowledge, and to accomplished role models who (inadvertently) taught me necessary skills like self-discipline and diligence, and practical skills such as how to evaluate situations to achieve optimum results, and Big Picture/simultaneous Small Picture analysis.

Knowledge (most emphatically especially for a female growing up when I was growing up in the 1950s) does not effectively substitute for credentials and connections.

According to my resumě, being human is the only job I've ever had. Doesn't mean I'm any good at it...

But I'm sort of partial to the Saucie benefits.

Since I am still human, this is kind of a difficult question to answer.

Yes.

But if there’s anything to reincarnation, I’m coming back as a house cat. They know how to live!

Yes, as long as I could have the same parents.

I came back, but not sure 'enjoy' is the right word.

I have seen 3 glimpses of 'past lives' as humans on this planet, and they were tougher without a lot of the luxuries we enjoy today (cars, tv, sewers, medicine, etc. etc.).

I seen glimpses of one life as a Native American and if there were 'luxuries' in that life I did not see any 'hints' of what they were. However, the purpose of those 'glimpses' was to show me how 'soul groups' reincarnate together and how roles change.

Well, heck, Spiritist, now you're just stating the obvious!!

I've never had any inklings of a connection to a past life or past lives. I'm not curious about the matter, but I don't mind playing games with the notion.

I wonder if I've ever been White?

If it is a merry-go-round and you just change horses, who is in charge and can a rationale be stated for the round-and-round? I can't buy the getting to Nirvana scenario.

I am pretty sure you have been black, white, green, and possibly many other colors. I am talking of the 'universe' now and different life forms.

Of course you don't have to 'believe' any of this --- this knowledge is not important to living your life.

There is a huge 'staff' in the 'in-between life' to help soul groups/souls learn from past reincarnation and plan the next one. I have no idea how so many 'souls' can be satisfied with the decisions made but it could be different there with a lot more 'knowledge'.

As always 'reincarnation' is 'optional' however, from what I understand a very high percentage, if not all take that option over others to supposedly 'progress'.

I am not sure of the 'finale' ---- hopefully, I know in the 'in-between life' when we are making all these decisions.

I guess I'm somewhat on your wavelength, with my 'preference' for what happens at death. I've stated that I would like to 'wake up' in a big Hiring Hall where employers make offers to the souls therein. It's a silly notion, I know, and not at all likely because AI units could be purpose-built for the employers' needs. For me, my little pie-in-the-sky reverie is akin to mentally whistling a vaguely remembered melody.

Which raises a question to you: Why are we spirit beings of any value to whoever is in charge, given that programming robots would be more efficient. Is it just for old-times sake?

We are 'eternal' --- spirit and energy are 'eternal' ---- flesh and blood or other 'materials' are not.

My overall understanding is we are part of God/Source (also spirit/energy) and all are 'creating' and 'learning/experiencing' ---- together.

God/Source is a creator and interested in acquiring 'knowledge' and 'experience' --- that is why he created different 'souls' and possibly multiple universes. I think 'diversity' is considered valuable here ---- we can incarnate in an single celled animal and 'experience and learn' from that or incarnate into a 'genius' on the most 'tech superior planet' and learn from that. I am not sure which one would be valued the most as both have experiences that would be unique and 'valued' by someone that is very 'curious' in experiencing things.

FYI I really don't understand this but this is the way I see it right now. Good luck on whatever you want to consider.

I don’t have a problem with matter not being eternal, but how about a 'template' of the 'matter me' that I can use when it suits me...or to suit me?

Would you settle for just a suit?

Or would you settle a suit?

We do use 'human's, etc.' as 'suits', the purpose of their creation (for us) ---- just like clothes and when they wear out we throw them away and leave.

We do not look the same 'every incarnation', I didn't see myself but others, I did recognize from my current life. They did not look similar ---- in 2-3 cases I was shown both how they looked in a past life and then how they look in their current life.

I had this answered in a dream. There are many, many universes and worlds without end.

We all must have had a reason for picking this one.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had this answered in a dream. There are many,
> many universes and worlds without end.
>
> We all must have had a reason for picking this
> one.

Or are we here by random throw of the dice?

That's what the Deists would say.

God does not play dice.

We definitely had a 'choice' but I have never been shown the choices or been told the 'why'. Other than we chose this life, with all the quirks like Mormonism, for 'learning and experiences'. Yes we 'chose' Mormonism, but not necessarily for our whole incarnation.

I do not think a conscious "choice" [means: the "time" and the ability to consider options and then select one] is necessarily universal.

In my last life, I was shot in the head and died instantly....I "floated" in this wonderful, SAFE!!, incredibly intense darkness [there was no light at all--it was like "light" never had existed throughout eternity] for awhile, and it was really nice: I was warm, I was not hungry or thirsty, I KNEW I was totally safe, and it was kind of interesting to just "float around" and "exist," and "be".

The "next instant" (I have no idea how long I was "floating") I opened my eyes (in hindsight, I had never blinked my eyes when I was "floating"), I was lying inside a crib (which I initially, and reflexively, thought were some kind of jail bars), there was a window in the room with before-noon sunshine flooding through it, and a strange woman came into the room and started speaking to me in what I thought was really horrible "Dutch," and I couldn't understand what she was saying.

I later began to realize that I really was, in fact, safe where I was, that this strange woman was my mother (I got used to her), and the conscious memories of what had previously been my earlier "life" began to mist away.

The thing that didn't make sense is that when this happened I was NOT a newborn infant--the body I was so suddenly "in" was at least several weeks old.

I had a great time with my new Mom, who could be a really funny and adventuresome person, often in unexpected ways, and everything in my life at that time (from my personal perspective) was interesting and fun--until my father came home from the war (he had served in the US Navy), and then things in our nuclear family got not-so-fun. But for two or three years after I found myself in this new body, I had a GREAT World War II. (I'm not at all sure it was so great for my Mom. She worked night shifts every night (I'm not sure she ever got a "day off"), there was a high school girl who babysat for me during the night, until my Mom came home after dawn, EVERYTHING was rationed, and my Mom must have felt excruciatingly alone (even though her parents lived just a few blocks away).

From MY perspective, life was really fine (and I made my show business debut, dancing the hula, in a stage production at the Shrine Auditorium (later: the home of the Academy Award ceremonies). I was either two or three years old when I was in that stage production (judging from the photos).

It was wartime, and people took their entertainment where they could get it. :)

About three decades later I chose to be regressed (I wanted to know the answers to certain things in my life, like why I was so scared of plumbing drains and knives, and why I was claustrophobic).

When I told my Mom what I remembered during the regression, and how one split-second I was "there," and then, after the wonderful darkness, I woke up in my crib, and she had come into the room....she looked really shocked, and said: "So THAT'S what happened!" She said that when *I* was born, she knew from the first moments of *my* life that "the baby hated her," and this feeling/observation never changed until I was approaching my first birthday, and then one day, out of "nowhere," "the baby didn't hate me anymore."

She said she had been puzzling about this ever since, and now it all made sense. (At some point, Gina Cerminara, who was a "name" author and researcher in this field at that time, gave a reading to my Mom, and during this reading G.C. told my Mom that I was the second person in this body, and that the person who was actually born into this body was an ancient enemy of my Mom's, and had come into this life to kill my Mom in retribution for some unknown reason, but then that person had second thoughts about the wisdom of doing this and wanted out, and I replaced her in this body--which made perfect sense to my Mom, who said I was an entirely different person than the baby she gave birth to.)

My point is: during this "switching" process, I had no consciousness that I had any kind of option, it was just: one split-second I was "there" (in that incredibly safe, and warm, and wonderful darkness), and the next split-second I was "here," in that small house on Santa Barbara Avenue--which was JUST FINE with me, given what I had just left during my prior life in Europe.

Take this for what it's worth.

These are my memories (of two different "lives," plus the interim period between them), my mother's experiences and reactions (according to her own, quite deeply felt, memories of her own life), and the words of psychic/author/lecturer Gina Cerminara.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2019 06:00PM by Tevai.

That’s so cool

Really cool experience, I have never heard of anything like that before.

I realize few have been able to visit the 'in-between life' and remember it. I persisted and 'believe' I did get to visit twice actually. One time, I was shown a place where 'next lives' were 'selected'. It was like a movie theater with a screen and you would tell them the person you wanted to view and they would show scenes from that future life ---- way cool. I didn't see that much but can remember seeing me as a small child, first born before I could walk and remember feeling the love of my parents ---- somehow these movies projected 'feelings' also. I seen other places where 'soul groups' met, etc..

However, I saw a very limited amount of things so who knows if there are exceptions, etc.. I know people who have been regressed to the 'in-between life' on some studies indicate various 'choices' as to next life also. (Ref: Newton's work).

Do you think, Spiritist, it is possible to be born in a future time and then born in an earlier time on the continuum line of past/present/future?

Physicists believe it is only possible to time travel to the future, never the past.

I would think for reincarnation the same would apply unless our spirits were travelers to another dimension altogether from this planet to somewhere else in the cosmos through the light tunnel.

I have heard that theory by a number of people with NDEs.

I have a hard time with it as I 'believe' it is difficult to 'learn' things and then reincarnate if you are already living in the future. How to you apply your 'learning'?? However, 'anything' may be possible.

I have had 'dreams' of living other lives when 'asking' about 'multiple universes' and ---- yes I seem to have many similar circumstances living lives in different universes.

At this point it is important to understand the difference between 'our' incarnation here and our 'souls' ability to exist in multiple universes. Unfortunately, I don't so will stop at that.

Some of the multiple universe experiences indicated some with a little different 'technology' but I have not seen anything I consider 'superior technology' in a 'future life' either on earth or another planet.

Physicists are also theorizing now there may be clones of ourselves living in multi-verses or parallel universes to ours.

That idea is kind of freaky. Although they think we aren't living mirror lives of each other. Just shadow lives of ourselves.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2019 09:10AM by Amyjo.

In one my 'dream trips' to multiU me's, I was at work with him and we were doing basically the same job. We were in a meeting and they (people who I didn't recognize) were talking 'shop talk' that I could have easily talked when working. They brought up an issue and I had the answer and tried to 'express it' and I woke up.

The other me's certainly seem that they were doing similar jobs as I did.

Weird stuff!

At this point I feel like life is kind of like the Twilight Zone show, "Stopover in a Quiet Town."

I feel like I've been dropped here on Earth with no escape and no explanation. There are no answers to my questions. Why keep wandering around in this bizarre space aquarium? It's not that I don't appreciate that it was an amazing thing to be able to exist at all.

The more I see of humans, the less impressed I am with them.

I think old age prepares you for "having had enough" of life in a way. At least, that's the way I choose to think of it because it helps me come to terms with death.

From the TZ episode:

"Be careful with your pets, dear--your father brought them all the way from Earth." At her mother's bidding, the little girl drops the couple back into the town, which is now revealed to be a model village with a miniature railway running around it.

in time and other people couldn't see them or hear them. The only way they could get back on the right time line was for someone to die and they had to be in the right place at the right time. There are times I've actually felt that way in life. The movie Inception about did my brain in. I leaned over to my ex and said, "You mean others feel this way."

No, I would NOT want to do it again--go back to the end of the line and start over. NEVER. I wouldn't mind living the good moments, but I'm tired. I am only hanging around for my kids and, in reality, I'm too chicken to end it all or I would have left a long time ago. I'm sure I would have found a way if not for my kids. I owed it to them to stick around and still do.

Ahh yes. I remember that episode too.

I can relate to your comments.

I guess every generation of older folks thinks the world is going to hell in a handbasket. The next generation does just fine and never seems to care about what no longer exists for them. The thing is, I'm not sure older people who fear for the planet and future are wrong.

I would check out the other rides.

I mean there ARE moments that are quite nice.

Enjoying beautiful weather, hiking on a mountain trail and passing by a gorgeous green meadow full of beautiful, fragrant wildflowers, quenching your thirst with some very satisfying cold mineral water and physically feeling invigorated and good. No headache, no significant discomfort. The walking and the scenery is exhilarating.

For that moment, it's pretty great! (An hour later you may find yourself caught in a thunderstorm, after badly twisting your ankle and falling face first into a pile of deer sh*t in the middle of a patch of poison ivy.)

I hear people talking about "intelligent design" and I can see a plausible case being made for it. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be as intelligent as one would expect from an omnipotent, omniscient intelligence.

There's a lot about the human condition that could have been tweaked in a direction that would make it a much more enjoyable and less problematic form of being.

Longer, healthier lifespans, combined with slower reproductive cycles (to avoid overpopulation) would be a step in the right direction.

Higher IQs to keep from falling for the same scams generation after generation. That would be nice. Psychopathy being precluded by human biology (the "hard-wiring" of the human temperament) would be a good thing.

Living in a world where each creature can sustain itself through renewable resources (e.g. sunlight and water) that does not need to be killed would be great. Currently, we live in a world where living creatures must constantly rely on the death of other living creatures in order to keep living.

The whole sexual reproductive scheme needs to be upgraded from the dysfunctional mess that it is. Sure the hormonal drugs get the job done in terms of motivating mating, but there are so many nasty side effects caused by those drug effects.

So, I'll put in a very qualified "maybe" as my answer. I liked some aspects of being human, but if I ever get a choice again, I think I'll try to see if there are any better options out there or, if we are currently on Human 2.5 or Human 3.0, I'll wait until Human 15.5 comes out (after checking the specs to see if the improvements would make it worthwhile to have another go at it.)

“I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank Piña Coladas. At sunset we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over...”

“I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is just an employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.”

― Jessie B. Rittenhouse

(Actually, many spiritual traditions see their teachings reflected in it, and director Harold Ramis was well aware of this.)

It also embodies the principles of Adlerian (social integration) and gestalt psychotherapy. And the ways people can continue to grow after their formal education ends.

Phil has to learn that although he says he'd prefer his Caribbean vacation life and his Punxsutawney assignment was perhaps his worst day, something within him actually did choose the distasteful one--or rather the frictions in his outer life mirror the frictions within his own nature and need to be seen through and worked out.

Before the inevitable objector comes back with, "You mean Holocaust victims chose their fates?" or "children chose to be abducted and murdered?", let's be clear that this is not a rational choice but may reflect beliefs about themselves and guilts for past actions--often highly emotional and extreme reactions--in relation to past deeds or their effects on others. Whether warranted or not, I think at a deep level people have a Hammurabi-like code of expiations built into them. The sufferings we dramatize in this life as coming at others' hands are preconscious beliefs about what we have done to others in the past.

Newborns are no younger than you; we all have ancient histories as psychic baggage. Think about it: what kind of incarnation might a former Nazi henchman, gangster, or war criminal feel impelled to undertake, and would you try to interfere with that?

Wally Prince, you are a brilliant man.

Or a damn good imitation.

“Living in a world where each creature can sustain itself through renewable resources (e.g. sunlight and water) that does not need to be killed would be great.”

You could be born a mushroom.

Please be edible, please be edible, please be edible!!!

Delicious soup is a very important part of the plan of salivation.

I was born into Mormonism and like any growing mushroom, I was kept in the dark and fed a lot of bullsh*t.

I guess I was a pseudo-mushroom. But now I'm a psychoactive mushroom.

Did I like being a human compared to being what? A giraffe?

a mushroom, a fish, a flower? Not having been any of those things

I can't really make an informed decision.

I don't like being a human. Can I be a unicorn ?

My life has been a mixture of good and bad, so it's a tough call. But I'm not sure I'd want to be a baby today, because children are being brainwashed and taught pseudo-scientific nonsense by schools and the mass media. Social media is also poisoning young people's minds with ideas which get them to injure themselves physically, mentally and socially - sometimes even by starving themselves to death.

Jordan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But I'm not sure I'd want to be
> a baby today, because children are being
> brainwashed

Regardless of the particular society, children are always "being brainwashed"--this is what societies do to create adults who will continue and support their own cultures. It is a universal phenomenon, and has been since the beginnings of our species (and most other species as well).

> ...and taught pseudo-scientific nonsense
> by schools and the mass media.

Science (in Western cultures) is an always-in-motion process. Even "proven" science often succumbs to later knowledge and experience, and whatever is "scientifically known" now always includes the possibility that, down the line, it will be proven otherwise.

> Social media is also poisoning young people's minds with
> ideas which get them to injure themselves physically,
> mentally and socially - sometimes even by starving
> themselves to death.

Anorexia is largely a product of mass media, not of social media.

I am not a great fan of the way social media has evolved, but it is simply a further evolution of mass media, and a "personalized"/"targeted" kind of economics and marketing, which actually began somewhere in the late 1800s (the Sear's catalog). Social media is just the latest iteration of that economic process.

I am not defending the harm that social media can do, but the problem is not so much social media itself (which is, at base, simply another vehicle of communication ), but the underlying, constantly evolving, economics underneath.

"Anorexia is largely a product of mass media, not of social media."

It's a product of both. I am old enough to remember life before social media, and anorexia was very much with us then. However, social media has been grist to the mill - it's not so much the pro-ana sites doing it, as Instagram, Snapchat and the image based ones. A girl was sitting in front of me in the bus recently, doing that stupid trout pout and taking photos of herself on her phone.... she had obviously spent a lot of time on her eyelashes and makeup...

But you also continually get young people taking pictures of themselves to put on social media that show off their physique. I think many young people are taken in by that. It just adds to all the brainwashing about their bodies they're getting off mass media and advertizing.

Amazing how a Yes/No answered question can elicit so much in its qualifications.

The chances that any large number of people will vote a simple "yes" or "no" as an evaluation of something as complex as human existence and their individual experiences thereof seem pretty slim. I would assume that the OP is really wanting to start a conversation rather than looking for a tally of upvotes and downvotes on human existence. But I may be mistaken. I guess the OP can yell at us if we got it wrong. ;o)

Have I stopped torturing kittens?

If I respond yes then I have, no I'm still doing it. What is the option for never have?

Could I give the same answer for the question of this post?

Now there is something to think about.

doesn't work.

The "have you stopped beating your wife?" example is an example of a worst-case scenario where demanding only a "yes" or "no" is manipulative and intended to force someone into giving an answer that is not an accurate response for them either way.

In that case, demanding only a "yes" or "no" forces a person, based on the wording of the question, to appear to admit to something they've never actually done. But that's just one example of the undesirable consequence of an interrogator forcing a false "yes" or "no" dichotomy on the person being questioned, without allowing for qualification or explanation.

On any complex topic--particularly something as broad-ranging as the subjective value of human existence, demanding an unqualified "yes" or "no" response would at best be an exercise in futility for anyone looking for meaningful, accurate responses and insights. At worst, it would be another form of manipulation aimed at setting someone up for a subsequent mischaracterization of their true point of view, based on a forced oversimplification.

I see the posted question every day and it gives me pause. All I can think is:


I liked being human. I liked very, very few of the other ones though. So, to ride again or not? I honestly don't know. I have no patience for waiting in a line. Another brick in a wall. Not a good feeling. I prefer to use my delayed gratification techniques for other purposes. That is getting harder to do on an over-populated planet. The delay now comes with so much crap. I did everything the right way and yet it seems like those who did it wrong did as well or better.

The people I did like though, they pretty much made it worth it. My sweet dogs even more so.

Wow. I relate to your comments. I'm a delayed gratification type to the max and I'm not sure I now want the things I delayed.

Our dogs deserve better. They give so much and ask for so little. My dogs have been one of the joys of life too.

No way. No amusement park would be great forever. I am looking forward to going back to the same nothingness I came from. The idea of "eternal" life sounds fucking horrible. I am enjoying the journey, but when Death comes I will embrace it as a merciful old friend.

HH =)

The essence of wisdom is knowing what not to do. Maybe raging against the dying of the light is more poetic and less wise?

I have seen a good number of people die. Going gentle into that goodnight appears wise and poetic to me.

HH =)

;)

Ask me again after I stop being human.

Hahhahaha! I'm listening to The Killers song "human."

Are we human or our we dancers?

-Dancing Dennis

Dancers. Humans don't like to move as much. I like being a dancer.

I can't be a ride and ride it too.

I don't like Disney, (LDS) fantasy, (most) lines (unless I write them myself) or rides (unless I service them myself). I don't like repetition either.

I'm an originator, inventor, creator, and prefer the natural, spontaneous and wild (over the planned, predictable, and over-produced).

Life is my theme park. I park wherever I want. The theme is living. I rewrite the script each day. That's the way: I play.

At least today-

moremany Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't be a ride and ride it too.

What is masturbation mental or otherwise?