Reincarnation: An irreligious approach
...e summed up in one word: Experience. "Carpe Diem"; I used to wear a ring with these foreign words carved into them, but it took years before I fully understood their meaning. I don't know if I told you this, but after I finished university, I traveled around Europe and Egypt for nine months. This was a goal I had set for myself when I was 20, and neither anything nor anybody was going to stop me. While I was away, I carried a philosophy close to my heart: "The only way you can find out who you are is to find out who you are not." Separating myself from my culture, meeting new and exotic ways of life helps me define who I am. I have now lived in four different countries, traveled through more than twenty, and understand what it means to be me - a Canadian; a Caucasian male; an Ontarian; etc. This is a simple example rooted deep in our current existence. This philosophy, however, also has a spiritual angle and explains all of human existence. God is all there is; He is the eternal "I AM" about which we spoke earlier. The one mind and spirit from which we all spring and to which we will all return. We are at one with God and you may use your analogy of choice: a drop in the ocean, a flame in the fire, a grain of sand on the beach, a brush stroke in the masterpiece, a voice in the collective consciousness. However, 'knowing' that we are one with God is pointless until we can experience this 'oneness'. Experiencing that we are one with God can best be done by experiencing the opposite. We must know what it is like NOT to be one with God. How can you truly KNOW happiness if you have never been sad? How can you feel love if you have never been alone? I firmly believe that we are on this Earth to step away from the infinite love, compassion, and knowledge of the eternal "I AM". We are here to experience it all: Love, strife, satisfaction, desire, contentment, and turmoil. This combined experience is then carried with us, through us, to God. We are all made in God's image. We all reflect the desire to create and the need to experience. We are the flame to the fire, burning steadily together in the collective blaze. I prefer this analogy to the others, because as is our relation to God, you cannot break down the fire into smaller elements. This system of life, this corporeal existence, is so designed to make us feel separate from each other. We experience our own individuality, but it is only an illusion. An illusion designed to allow us to experience that which we are not. This is why the Buddhist attempts to destroy the notion of self. There is no self. "ME" does not exist! Perhaps it was the novelty and mystery of it, or how it went against my catholic heritage, but when I first started searching, I was really drawn to the idea of reincarnation. The idea that we're on this earth, living different lives, and experiencing different things fascinated me. Personally, I didn't agree with the thought that I have up to 80 or 90 years to make or break my chance to spend eternity in heaven. Reincarnation gave another possibility. The problem with reincarnation, or at least the 'popular' view of it, is that it is too simple. Unfortunately, like most spiritual thought, reincarnation has been simplified to appeal to the masses. I am a firm believer that while there is a certain order and harmony to the universe, it is still a very elaborate and complex place. We must be careful not to over simplify. The universe is simple in its complexity and complex in its simplicity. This is MY Great Duality! The popular view of reincarnation is that we live, die, and then come back again. As time unfolds, we lead a string of lives, sometimes running into the same people, but essentially carry with us a unique piece of spirit from one life to the next. Here I use the analogy of the man steadily looking for work. At one point he is a shoe salesman, later he is a barber, and after that he sells hotdogs on the street, but he is always HIMSELF. This thought leads one to think that the spirit is an individual entity trying on a new body during each lifetime. Not only is he separate from us all in this existence, but also his soul is separate from the eternal spirit, because he carries this individual spirit from one life to the next. It is this popular view that I strongly disagree with. Let us remember that both time and space are a part of this illusory existence. God does not exist in space, nor does He exist in time. These four dimensions are necessary for our experience as individuals, but they are not any more real than the experience itself. The popular view of reincarnation, though, implies that time passes through the spiritual world as is does here on earth. Thus, we have the term "past life." First, I was a Celtic Druid, and then I died and returned as a great Greek philosopher. After that li...