Do you believe our souls have lived other lives?

JBrainard

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Lisa said:
That is very fascinating. So your wifes dreams come to be reality? Are they focused on highly emotional events or are they, as mine was, just everyday things?

If my memory serves me (we've been married 9 years) they are allways focused on highly emotional events. You could argue that it is just her subconcious telling her things, but she also has the ability to "read" people just by looking at them (no speaking required). Given how accurate ALL of her "reads" on people are, I honestly think that she has some ESP.
 
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Lisa

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JBrainard said:
If my memory serves me (we've been married 9 years) they are allways focused on highly emotional events. You could argue that it is just her subconcious telling her things, but she also has the ability to "read" people just by looking at them (no speaking required). Given how accurate ALL of her "reads" on people are, I honestly think that she has some ESP.

My family calls me "The grim reaper." :(

One more then one occasion I had the overwhelming desire to be at the hospital when a loved one was waiting to pass on. I can't explain it but I just "knew" when they were going to go and I felt drawn to be by their side when they left this world. It was so strong with both my grandparents that I even knew what hour they were going to pass. I know, I know, you all may think I am a bit "out there" but I just can't explain the over powering sensation as if they were calling me to be there and to take care of other family members and let the other family members know that they were okay and at peace.

My husband used to find it creepy. Now he just knows it is part of who I am ;)
 

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Lisa said:
My family calls me "The grim reaper." :(

One more then one occasion I had the overwhelming desire to be at the hospital when a loved one was waiting to pass on. I can't explain it but I just "knew" when they were going to go and I felt drawn to be by their side when they left this world. It was so strong with both my grandparents that I even knew what hour they were going to pass. I know, I know, you all may think I am a bit "out there" but I just can't explain the over powering sensation as if they were calling me to be there and to take care of other family members and let the other family members know that they were okay and at peace.

My husband used to find it creepy. Now he just knows it is part of who I am ;)

I don't think you are "out there" at all, but then I'm biased :)

Oh, yeah. I can relate to your husband :)
 

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Hi Lisa,

I think you can tell your friend that she's ko-koo for Cocoa-Puffs.

I'm not going to get much into the metaphysical/philosophical aspects of reincarnation online, but I will mention that by observing the rejenitive/cycle aspects of nature, it is not completely odd that certain cultures and religions would formulate ideas of reincarnation. And considering that matter has "memory", it is not completely odd that people would have these beliefs today; although the notion of 'past lives' is a giant leap from watching a physical representation of memory in matter, such as the regeneration of muscle tissue for example.

My notion as to your friend being "a kook" mostly comes from the fact that she would use the modern psychoanalytical pseudo-theory of past life regression to try to cure phobias. Although such ideas have gotten attention in pop culture in recent years, most of these methods have been pretty well debunked, leaving no scientific validity to the idea of past lives.

The nominal success in therapy, arguably, could be attributed to the same reasons that psychodynamic therapy works today without the involvement of the notion of "past lives;" the basics steps being... 1. Find the cause of the pathology, with a belief that the phobia comes from repressed unconscious impulse, no matter how valid or arbitrary (blame a phobia on a past life, your mother, a bad experience in adolescents, etc.), 2. come up with a cognitive solution, no matter how valid or arbitrary (recreate a past life experience, call your mom and discuss an issue, or go back to the mountain you almost fell off of when you were 13 [maybe through hypnosis, or roleplaying, or even physically], etc.), 3. Then implement said solution in a convincing enough manner so that you believe the problem is fixed.

Bottom line is that with this therapy (which, conveniently can be time consuming and expensive) you can achieve some success depending on the problem; but this is regardless of how factual the "cause" of the pathology is. The cure involves in changing mindset and behavior to recondition the response; and this is only one of a variety of ways to achieve this.

The thing with phobia's, however, is that there are much easier, more direct ways in curing them. The Psychodynamic perspective tends to be much more drawn out and inefficient when it comes to changing basic behaviors and reactions, such as curing phobias, quiting smoking, etc.

A more direct approach that a non-kook might suggest would be to take a behavioral approach. The exact origin of the phobia is both subjective and incidental; the important thing is that 1. It is irrational, and 2. It is a conditioned response. Using simple, operant conditioning methods can recondition the response in about 60-90 minutes for most phobias. The "exposure method" (gradual, calculated exposure to the phobia in a controlled setting) seems to get the most reliable results.

But, hey, a cure in 60-90 minutes? Naw, that's way too easy. Better to spend therapy session after therapy session at $150 a pop wondering if reincarnation is real... ;)

Paul Janulis
 

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Some ramblings on to ESP, and other craziness for anyone interested....

A Psych prof once told me that many of us are cyborgs. I told him that he better not tell anyone else that, or I will punch him with my bionic arm (lol). He said that no, seriously, it is true.

He then went to make the obvious point that wasn't immediately apparent to me; that many people have prostetic limbs, organ replacements, etc. We aren't far off, either, will we will be able to make replacements that function better then the originals; a factor that we may see in our lifetime.

The thing is, a lot of "weird" phenomenom is a fact of our daily life that we don't even recognize. THink of all the things that would be considered "sci-fi" in the 50's that are facts of life today...

Stuff like ESP, telepathy, and so forth fall into the same category of things that we have and do but don't understand, so we always look to metaphysical reasoning to explain it when sometimes solutions are right in our faces.

Something like ESP.... couldn't it be something that we all have? Most would agree that we all have it to a degree. But what is it? All it is is "extra-sensory" perception. Take out the "ES" and we are left with what it really is....perception. Considering that things like mood, thought, and physical states all release measurable energy, isn't it possible that "ESP" experiences are just a perception of these? Couldn't someone having a particularly intuitive moment percieve things about a persons appearance and behavior that may seem out of our grasps of reality, when really at that moment it came to them as simply as seeing the color of a tee-shirt or feeling the air temperature?

I once worked with an autistic kid who was afraid of thunderstorms, and who always knew when there would be one within 24 hours, without checking the weather report. Didn't matter what the temperature or conditions outside were, he just "knew." Mystical and unexplainable? Or is he just highly perceptive to weather patterns using what he biologically has available?

I think most of this stuff is highly explainable, even if we don't have enough data to explain it yet; but I also think that most people would rather blame it on something superstitious, or deny that these things exist at all...

Paul Janulis
 

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Tulisan said:
Something like ESP.... couldn't it be something that we all have? Most would agree that we all have it to a degree. But what is it? All it is is "extra-sensory" perception. Take out the "ES" and we are left with what it really is....perception. Considering that things like mood, thought, and physical states all release measurable energy, isn't it possible that "ESP" experiences are just a perception of these? Couldn't someone having a particularly intuitive moment percieve things about a persons appearance and behavior that may seem out of our grasps of reality, when really at that moment it came to them as simply as seeing the color of a tee-shirt or feeling the air temperature?

Actually, I completely agree with you. I don't think my wife is "magical" or something stupid like that. There has to be a scientific explanation for it. Like you said, we just don't know what that explanation is yet.
And we may never be able to explain it.
I can't remember what Steven Hawking called it, but he had this theory that there existed an equation that would explain everything in the universe. I believe this is true. But, as Steven pointed out, the human race may not be meant to understand it. For if you fully understand the universe in all of it's complexity, you will know the past and the future, which, as I'm sure you know, is a paradox.
 

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JBrainard said:
Actually, I completely agree with you.

I figured that most people taking part in this discussion would; my critique on those looking for mysterious answers is directed more towards...the others.....out there.... (in plays twilight zone theme) ;)
 
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Lisa

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JBrainard said:
Actually, I completely agree with you. I don't think my wife is "magical" or something stupid like that. There has to be a scientific explanation for it. Like you said, we just don't know what that explanation is yet.
And we may never be able to explain it.
I can't remember what Steven Hawking called it, but he had this theory that there existed an equation that would explain everything in the universe. I believe this is true. But, as Steven pointed out, the human race may not be meant to understand it. For if you fully understand the universe in all of it's complexity, you will know the past and the future, which, as I'm sure you know, is a paradox.

I don't think myself "magical" either. I just think I am more in tune with my senses.

Paul brings up a lot of good points. I believe that we only use approximately 2-3% of our brain power, the other 97% must be capable of something :)
 

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reincarnation is an anomaly.. it does occur though it is not -supposed- to happen which is why sometimes it is accompanied with incredible recall (no NOT Jeanne D'Arc, pffft) and but more often there is NO recall simply because the phenomenon is by accident and not by design.. however that is a matter for your own belief.. WTH do I know.. :)

Be good,
Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna
 
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Lisa

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Jenna said:
reincarnation is an anomaly.. it does occur though it is not -supposed- to happen which is why sometimes it is accompanied with incredible recall (no NOT Jeanne D'Arc, pffft) and but more often there is NO recall simply because the phenomenon is by accident and not by design.. however that is a matter for your own belief.. WTH do I know.. :)

Be good,
Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna

Intersting theory Jeanne D'Arc...I mean...Jenna ;), how have you come to this conclusion that it is by accident. I am intrigued by your statments. :)
 

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Lisa said:
Intersting theory Jeanne D'Arc...I mean...Jenna ;), how have you come to this conclusion that it is by accident. I am intrigued by your statments. :)
Hey Lisa my clever fixer upper :) well now I am thinking should I say to you why I REALLY think these things and make a big fool of myself even more of a fool than I am in peoples eyes anyway?? ahh I think not.. :)

but instead I will give you a little tidbit and say yes of course we have the first law of thermodynamics which shows us that energies can neither be created nor be destroyed but merely transfigured into other forms and but there are new forms and old forms and sometimes an old form is NOT COMPLETELY 100% transfigured into the new form but has residual energies outstanding.. just like when you fire your fancy rifle which I see you doing extremely well.. and so you will understand that NOT all the energy of the cartridge explosive or pressure of the gas or air whatever is used.. not all that propellant energy is transformed into momentum of the projectile.. some naturally is transformed into sound BANG! and some is heat which I am certain you will understand.. and well yes.. same goes for "souls" by whatever name you wish to refer to it.. yes same goes for souls at handover time.. sometimes not ALL the energy is transfigured 100% and that is the anomaly.. it is not sposd to happen that way.. that is the anomaly that is reincarnation ie. the sort of reincarnation where memories are retained.. of course reincarnation per se is what happens all the time but obviously with no recall, ha! now see? how crazy am I anyways? ahh but I am a harm to no one it is just ideas and I am just in one of my little playful moods and looking for someone to play with :D

Be good :)
Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna
 

stickarts

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I don't have one firm belief but there seems to be such a cyclic pattern to so many things in nature and in the world that I wonder if our lives and death don't also follow full cycles which repeat?
Because we only have the 5 senses to perceive the world with and our understanding is still so limited its so hard to know. I guess thats why we resort to faith?
 

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Jenna said:
Hey Lisa my clever fixer upper :) well now I am thinking should I say to you why I REALLY think these things and make a big fool of myself even more of a fool than I am in peoples eyes anyway?? ahh I think not.. :)

but instead I will give you a little tidbit and say yes of course we have the first law of thermodynamics which shows us that energies can neither be created nor be destroyed but merely transfigured into other forms and but there are new forms and old forms and sometimes an old form is NOT COMPLETELY 100% transfigured into the new form but has residual energies outstanding.. just like when you fire your fancy rifle which I see you doing extremely well.. and so you will understand that NOT all the energy of the cartridge explosive or pressure of the gas or air whatever is used.. not all that propellant energy is transformed into momentum of the projectile.. some naturally is transformed into sound BANG! and some is heat which I am certain you will understand.. and well yes.. same goes for "souls" by whatever name you wish to refer to it.. yes same goes for souls at handover time.. sometimes not ALL the energy is transfigured 100% and that is the anomaly.. it is not sposd to happen that way.. that is the anomaly that is reincarnation ie. the sort of reincarnation where memories are retained.. of course reincarnation per se is what happens all the time but obviously with no recall, ha! now see? how crazy am I anyways? ahh but I am a harm to no one it is just ideas and I am just in one of my little playful moods and looking for someone to play with :D

Be good :)
Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna

Given that in some aspects one can consider matter energy and energy matter, how would one explain the increasing population of humans, and the number of souls? As well as why during the "handover" not more is retained?

NOTE: I care not for personal beliefs on this, I am enjoying the philisophical discussion with other crazies, oh I mean, philosphers like me. ;) :D
 

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Rich Parsons said:
Given that in some aspects one can consider matter energy and energy matter, how would one explain the increasing population of humans, and the number of souls? As well as why during the "handover" not more is retained?

NOTE: I care not for personal beliefs on this, I am enjoying the philisophical discussion with other crazies, oh I mean, philosphers like me. ;) :D

See this post, for at least a little foundation in one possible "scientific" explanation, though I am completely against mixing metaphysics with physics, for the time being, anyway-but "new" energy is streaming toward earth all the time, Rich.

Oh, and

Do you believe our souls have lived other lives?

For the most part, yes, and that's all I have to say here on the matter.........
 

Rich Parsons

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elder999 said:
See this post, for at least a little foundation in one possible "scientific" explanation, though I am completely against mixing metaphysics with physics, for the time being, anyway-but "new" energy is streaming toward earth all the time, Rich.

Oh, and



For the most part, yes, and that's all I have to say here on the matter.........


SHHHH, using real facts and scientific methods in a philisophical discussion will only chase peopel away. ;) :D


PS: I did like that other post on Sunlight and the energy of where we all came form. :)
 
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Lisa

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elder999 said:
Oh, and



For the most part, yes, and that's all I have to say here on the matter.........

Oh, elder...I hate answers like these...makes me wonder who your old soul could be. Are there as many Napoleon Bonapart's running around as there are Joan of Arcs? ;)
 

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