If 'Reincarnation' exists, then.....?

A perhaps relatively simple question that certainly can't be answered in a simple way.

If reincarnation/s exist then why doe we not remember previous lives or beings?

Something I have been pondering for a while and was wondering what others thoughts on the subject may be?


MR

My culture believes in reincarnation but they say you remember your previous life in only the first year you're born.

Well there are looooads of stories of people remembering bits and bobs in flashes and has actually helped to solve unknown parts in history.

Maybe the transfer of a soul may block it or something?

I dont know, if reincarnation is real, maybe the brain/soul is like a hard drive, where the brain/soul can be wiped clean from previous, unimportant memory?

reply to post by Marlborough Red


I have often thought about this. My spin is that if you remember your previous lives you are apt to repeat the same mistakes again and again. On the other hand, what is the point of being reincarnated if you can not remember? If you have no memory, I think that you have died anyway as you will be a completely different person.

Does that make sense?

Originally posted by TheLoneArcher
reply to post by Marlborough Red

 

I have often thought about this. My spin is that if you remember your previous lives you are apt to repeat the same mistakes again and again. On the other hand, what is the point of being reincarnated if you can not remember? If you have no memory, I think that you have died anyway as you will be a completely different person.

Does that make sense?

Oh I completely agree!

reply to post by Marlborough Red


There are a number of theories on this.
Many years ago (so I cannot give a link) there was a docco on reincarnation where every case the experts examined regarding a previous life was connected to something connected to their childhood like a picture, photo or book.
Other theories suggest that our memories are wiped clean like a hard drive. Many people recall their 'past life flashing before them' or a 'light at the end of the tunnel' when having a 'near death experience' which may be synonymous with this theory.
There have been a number of instances in my early life when I would think to myself "I've been here (or done this) before" but I never gave any credence to them.
I don't know about reincarnation but I would certainly like to go back and wake up in my teens and correct all those mistakes I made and be a better person.

Was writing this whilst you were posting 'Daaskapital' - great minds think alike mate!

Its part of the game, that you dont remember the past, that you start again, free from the conscious memories of the past (they are in your unconscious).
The soul must be tested, and it must learn to make the right actions and decisions, not knowing all the answers (consciously).

Originally posted by OzTiger
reply to post by Marlborough Red

 

Was writing this whilst you were posting 'Daaskapital' - great minds think alike mate!

edit on 12-10-2011 by OzTiger because: (no reason given)

Exactly right mate!

My thoughts on the subject (in no particular order) are this:

We are all energy and create energy of varying forms. Energy can never be destroyed it is simply transferred; kinetic => heat or potential to kinetic etc etc.

I think people recounting past lives is possibly them recounting things from their deep subconscious imagination, dream state if you like.

We may not be reincarnated as human.

We can be reincarnated anywhere in the universe as anything. This opens up infinate possibilities especially if you believe in the possibility of parallel worlds, universes and some of the ideas of quantum physics.


MR

reply to post by Marlborough Red

If reincarnation/s exist then why doe we not remember previous lives or beings?

Perhaps we don't have certain memories,but the general idea of a past life.
Have you considered that certain phobias or likes and dislikes might come from past lives?Especially those that start when you a child and with no particular reason.
For example i have an irrational fear for the sea.I am a very good swimmer,but i prefer pools over the open sea.
Or the first time i visited Germany,Frankfurt,it seemed that i knew every street and every alley,like i've been there before.
Or since i was a kid i had this love for Germany and although i insisted on learning German,my parents wouldn't let me.

What i'm trying to say is that,some things that are part of our character and our personality might not come from this life.Dreams,Dejavu,knowledge that was not obtained by the conventional ways,fears etc could be an indication of a past life.

A good book to read is"Journeys of the soul" by Michael Newton.

becuase your memories die with your body!

All memories are is brain cells and nurons, so when you die all this infomation such as personality and memories and experiences just rot in to the earth with the rest of out body assuming you being burried and not burnt. its the spirit that lives on

Originally posted by Marlborough Red
A perhaps relatively simple question that certainly can't be answered in a simple way.

If reincarnation/s exist then why doe we not remember previous lives or beings?

Something I have been pondering for a while and was wondering what others thoughts on the subject may be?


MR

Because memory isn't part of the deal.

That part of us is in our brain is it not? Your intelligence and memory do not get re-incarnated, only your soul (or spirit, whichever you prefer to call it). The things that go on in your brain are, for the most part, genetic. Intelligence, social skills, habits, even your memory skills.... are passed down to you from your parents. If both your parents were nerds, guess what you're going to be?

Whether or not you are basically a good person or not is something that is in your soul (maybe that's the whole of your soul?) and that is what needs to be "tweaked" on from life to passing life so you will one day be "worthy" of ascending to the next plane of existence. The plane which does not require a human body.

The same soul is passed on from generation to generation, body to body, until it simply cannot get any "better." Whatever that may be. Ever hear someone say about someone else- "he's an old soul" ? Perhaps there's a truth to those old sayings that we don't know of quite yet.

All just my opinion of course, but it's a theory that makes sense to me and helps me sleep at night.

What determines where a soul goes in terms of a new boby or to the next plane, I don't have a workable theory on just yet. There would have to be some sort of a method to that I would imagine. Otherwise, I could spend my entire life doing my best to do the right thing every second of every day, only to die and be born on the streets of Calcutta without a fighting cahance for survival after my first day of my new existence. Maybe it has something to do with electrical currents or vibrations?........

reply to post by Phantom traveller


I've always wondered about phobias myself. I have a fear of being on bridges high above running water. Small creeks and such are no big deal. But the Mississippi River?

Terrifying. The only way I'll go back east is to fly.

There is no rational explanation as to why I have this fear either. As far back as I can remember, which is about 4 years of age, there was nothing that happened to me that would make me have this fear. It is an emotion though. Are emotions such as this learned?

Our memories are stored in braincells, destroy them and they are gone.

Generally, I tend to think all parts of out consciousness come from physical parts in our brain(as in without a soul), but when someone defines a soul, they have to define how much comes from it and how much from the brain we already know is there and functioning.

So, easiest route I'd say would be to not include memories what parts the soul contributes to consciousness.

~
Or, in traditional Buddhist and other beliefs, it's not a soul, it's life energy, and it returns to a giant pool of it, and new life comes from the pool, basically coming from parts that came from many different living things.

Different kind of reincarnation, but it still goes back to the first thing. The 'Life Energy' doesn't carry memories, so they die with the body.

~
Or, you could come up with any other form of explanation. Really, coming up with an explanation doesn't make the explanation true, or the original idea more correct. For example, I believe Scientologists believe we get sent to Venus and get refined, basically our soul(Theatans) losses it's memories as part of the refinement process. That doesn't make their story more plausible that they have an explanation, now they have to justify assuming said explanation too. Unless there's evidence behind an explanation, better to just take it as an unknown. If a shoe fits, don't wear it, because fitting alone doesn't prove it's yours.

This is one of the very complex topic to answer. I believe In Re-Incarnation. It is said that we take birth based to our previous life's Karma. I am wondering what karma did I do to take my first birth?

Does the above question make sense to anyone? or Am I going Mad?

reply to post by Marlborough Red


If you remember you past life, you can not live this life peacefully.There might be chance that a soul's past life mother shall be wife now. If that is the case if a person came to know that will he be happy?

I tried to explain in better way..but ..

Can't remember because of the shock of re-entry?

Like a comet coming through the atmosphere,
pieces on the outside fall away and burn (maybe the previous bad bits).
Then the remaining small kernel of the spirit (and it's memories),
lands into a new body, and lights up the soul again

just an idea.

Maybe we don't remember because we would go completely insane if we remembered every past life and the deeds we've done in them. Or we are living all of our lives now, at once...maybe its not as linear as we think.

I have memories of my past life. I came here knowing how to read and also kept a ton of information. I could have gotten my GED in the 3rd grade. I know who I was in my past life and he was not a popular person. I am here this time to not have power nor to lead anyone. I would love to finish what I started back in the 30's, but for some reason no one will listen to me or take anything I have to say serious. They did before, well, after I was trained on how to make crowds follow me and all. But now I am ignored.

That is my punishment. Given the ability to lead and solve world problems. But no one will listen. So instead I live a life of drudgery and sloth. I worked night and day before, now I work very little.

I have no memories of past family or loves. That would make things impossible. You can't embrace a new life if you're holding on to the old one. That is why the mind is wiped. I had everything wiped except my factual knowledge.

We keep coming back until we learn what we're here to learn. Even if that takes 10,000 years.

reply to post by Marlborough Red


I don't believe in reincarnation, or any other afterlife for that matter, but let's say for sake of argument reincarnation is real. The best explanation I've heard for why you wouldn't remember is because you're put into an infant's body (if you come back as a human being) and thus you brain isn't developed enough to hold your full personality and memories. So most of your past life memories would get dumped I guess. I don't know, reincarnation doesn't make much sense to me.

Where did these souls that are being endlessly recycled come from? Did a god make them? Did they evolve within the first single-celled life forms? Did they always exist forever and ever even before the Big Bang? It's all very confusing but then how often do supernatural beliefs make sense?