Reincarnation

The religious conceptions of reincarnation I have seen have the following characteristics:

1. There is a (very large) group of 'souls'.
2. A biological body of some animal can possess a soul.
3. When a body dies, it's soul is released, after which it has two options:
4a. It can gain a special attribute which spares it reincarnation (nirvana-y, world-soulish ideas), or:
4b. It becomes the possession of a newly produced body (reincarnation).

Now, it is evident that the total availability of bodies tends to increase from generation to generation (with the exception of a few mass extinctions it has done this all through the history of the earth). Now 1 and 4a indicate that the availability of souls is decreasing, or at the very best fixed (if very little enlightenment is happening). What happens to all of the soulless bodies that are bound to result at some point? Or is there another attribute of the reincarnation scheme to deal with this?

Originally posted by royalchicken
The religious conceptions of reincarnation I have seen have the following characteristics:

1. There is a (very large) group of 'souls'.
2. A biological body of some animal can possess a soul.
3. When a body dies, it's soul is released, after which it has two options:
4a. It can gain a special attribute which spares it reincarnation (nirvana-y, ...[text shortened]... ult at some point? Or is there another attribute of the reincarnation scheme to deal with this?

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
You assume that the souls can't travel faster than light? Thus limiting the exchange and/or puffery to a single planet in good old sol system?

Originally posted by royalchicken
What happens to all of the soulless bodies that are bound to result at some point?

Originally posted by royalchicken
The religious conceptions of reincarnation I have seen have the following characteristics:

1. There is a (very large) group of 'souls'.
2. A biological body of some animal can possess a soul.
3. When a body dies, it's soul is released, after which it has two options:
4a. It can gain a special attribute which spares it reincarnation (nirvana-y, ...[text shortened]... ult at some point? Or is there another attribute of the reincarnation scheme to deal with this?

Originally posted by pradtf
why can't there be a

4c where the soul hangs in limbo till it finds the body it wants?

in friendship,
prad

Originally posted by royalchicken
Ok, sure. That still doesn't solve the problem of soul availability. I believe most religions that do the reincarnation thing are explicit on the point that no new souls are generated.

And bbarr, I believe my employer has a monopoly on the soulless...

Originally posted by royalchicken
The religious conceptions of reincarnation I have seen have the following characteristics:

1. There is a (very large) group of 'souls'.
2. A biological body of some animal can possess a soul.
3. When a body dies, it's soul is released, after which it has two options:
4a. It can gain a special attribute which spares it reincarnation (nirvana-y, ...[text shortened]... ult at some point? Or is there another attribute of the reincarnation scheme to deal with this?

What happens to all of the soulless bodies that are bound to result at some point?

Here is the Buddhist view on re-incarnation.

Our mind is a formless continuum. It is formless, meaning it has no physical properties at all, and it is a continuum, in this case implying it does not have a start or an end. When we are wide awake, we have awareness of the objects around us, we see chairs, cars, money, we hear and smell objects and so on. When we are asleep, our mind is more subtle than this and is far less aware of the senses, and we experience dreams and so on, and we think that the objects that appeared to us in the waking world do not exist while we dream. We think the dream objects are real while we dream, but when we wake, we realise it was all in our mind. Buddha said it is no different to when we are awake. Our mind is just less subtle, and that is why we remember more of the waking world than the dreaming world.

Anyway, continuuing on; I have explained the gross awareness mind, and the subtle mind. When we are in deep sleep, we experience a very vast peace, but our mind is so subtle we remember nothing of it. It is similar to the state of our mind when we die. When we die, our mind experiences a great peace, but it is so subtle we do not remember this peace. After a mind is no longer supported by the body, it goes into a state called "bardo". This is the state at which the mind is not supported by a body, but "waiting" to be placed in one. It is karma that determines the type of being you will be reborn as, and you can remain in bardo for up to 7 weeks (as an approximation).

Can we remember being born or being at a very young age? No, our mind was very subtle at that point.

However, there are many different worlds we can be reborn in, and many different life forms we can take rebirth as. The increase in humans on Earth could be related to the extinction of another species on another planet, even in another universe. Buddha said there are countless worlds. Our mind is formless, and hence, even after separating from a body in Earth, it is not limited by the speed of light to then be placed into a body on the other side of the universe, or in a different one entirely.

Many people ask why a plant is considered mindless, even Venus Fly Traps. Well, it is true that a plant's leaves always face a sun, and that a Venus Fly Trap closes when you touch three of it's hairs, but these are chemical reactions, not actions caused by mind. It does it, it doesn't decide to do it, it just does it. Bacteria doesn't decide to duplicate, it just does. I am not sure about amoeba's and so forth, it doesn't really interest me what life has minds and what doesn't.

So to conclude, our mind is a formless continuum that enters and leaves many bodies, like a traveller stays in many homes.

Originally posted by fjord
-how do you explain the seize of the universe if it all started at point alpha? if nothing can transcend the speedlimit our universe seems too big.

Originally posted by bbarr
They do contract work at Microsoft.

Originally posted by Poison Godmachine
What if I learned to play the blues?

Originally posted by Simonm
The solution to this is of course is that the universe is rather old, it's had a long time to expand....and it's actually moving rather quickly too despite being limited to a fraction of the speed of light....

Gravity does not have a speed limt, nor does it have any speed, it's a force not an object....

Originally posted by bbarr
I guess they'd have to hire you full-time. Then you'd get to use the special bathrooms, the ones with concierges, where you dry your hands on the backs of poor people.