So, having decided that a person is a bit of spirit housed in a physical body, I can flesh out this concept, heh, in a number of ways. The first thing I assume is that the spirit is pinched off from a continuum, a spirit river, that is as infinite as the physical universe.
Being a mathematician, I'm comfortable with concepts such as continuum and degrees of infinity: the infinity of the integers, the infinity of the rationals, the infinity of the reals, the infinity of curves that can be drawn through the reals, and so on. And I believe the universe of spirit is to the physical as the infinity of reals is to the integers: far greater.
I also assume there's nothing to stop a spirit from manifesting in a body again and again, whenever the spirit yearns for the physical senses and feels ready to try again. So I've come around to a belief in reincarnation-- or at least to considering it as a possibility, because I don't think it's possible to ever know these things.
Because I conceive of the spirit world as an infinite continuum, arguments against reincarnation based on finite numbers are laughable. Oh yeah? Well how do you explain the fact that there are more people on the planet now than there were a thousand years ago? Please.
I disagree with the New Age idea that we have to keep reincarnating again and again until we "get it right". I also disagree with the New Age theory that we subconsciously control every aspect of our lives; that when bad stuff happens to us, we cause it to happen to teach ourselves something, to get us a little closer to the goal of no longer having to come back and slog through another lifetime.
I believe instead that we choose to come back, again and again. To feel the sun on our faces and a cool breeze on a hot day, to rake leaves and shovel snow, to watch the sunset, to listen to the wind in the trees, to smell coffee, to spread butter thickly on crusty bread, to curl up on the sofa with a blanket and stare into the fireplace, to stand on the beach and smell the surf, to drink beer with friends.
Maybe sometimes we come back to comfort others.
But we can't control everything that happens, and sometimes bad stuff happens and it all goes wrong and gets spoiled and becomes too hard. It's a risk we take every time.
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