The True Meaning of Reincarnation

[TheVat]

11 hours ago, RamaRaksha said:

 

And one of the things about Reincarnation that almost EVERYONE brings up is - don't we lose our memories of our past life? Yes we do, so your logic of delaying something for the next life doesn't hold - you are a totally different person - maybe born in the wrong continent, a different gender, who knows maybe a different planet!

 

 

 

If "you" are a totally different person, then in what sense is there reincarnation??  This is what I find incoherent about the concept.

The procrastination comment was meant to address this logical incoherence, sorry if that was not clear.  And I didn't mean delaying in the sense of delaying one's plans to visit Greece or master cribbage,  I meant delaying pursuit of spiritual growth.  

[Peterkin]

16 minutes ago, TheVat said:

If "you" are a totally different person, then in what sense is there reincarnation??  This is what I find incoherent about the concept.

The body is a different person, or different creature. It's the soul that's reincarnated. Whether the brain remembers past lives (in some belief systems, it does, at least subconsciously; hence a dreamscape quite different from one's waking world) is of little importance: it's the spirit that must go through different struggles and trials, shed layers of materialism, in order to become pure.

The soul or spirit concept is internally consistent in the context of each mythology, though it doesn't make sense from a practical or secular POV. 

Thing about folklore and mythology, if you want to understand it, you have to accept its premises; look at it within its own frame of reference.

[TheVat]

Well, I do sort of wonder about the internal consistency of the various transmigration doctrines.  If the memories die with the brain, then how could children have memories (like in Ian Stevenson's research) of a past life in another body which died?  This is part of the incoherence, for me.  Not that one could not come up with complex paranormal mechanisms for that, but most believers just assume there's the occasional leakage from... where?  The aether?  The Akashic Records?

This has come up in my own life, because I am not materialistic and people sometimes call me an "old soul."  I push back on this, pointing out obvious childhood influences that explain those aspects of personality better.  

To a western eye, a soul without memories would just be undifferentiated consciousness.  

[Peterkin]

 

46 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Well, I do sort of wonder about the internal consistency of the various transmigration doctrines.

They're consistent within a belief-system. Religion doesn't usually burden itself with intellectual rigour.

The original people who told the stories were not preoccupied with mechanism or logic: they were telling stories from their collective history, aspiration, hopes, fears, dreams and those spooky personal experiences we all have that we can't explain and are often reluctant to discuss. Brains are complex electro-chemical machines, yes, but also quite unlovely organs, about which the ancients were less canny and curious than we are - they tended to prefer heart and liver.

I don't know much about those children's memories; have no explanation to hand. Maybe some kinds of recycling does take place. I have met a few adults with recurring, vivid dreams of events in a life quite different from their own that are familiar and make sense in the dream world, but not in their waking life. I guess we just have to accept not knowing everything?

I don't subscribe to any spiritual doctrine, and do reject all organized dogma, but I can't lock every door and window on the paranormal.  

[TheVat]

Well, you need the liver to live.  Hence the name. (joke borrowed from Hugh Laurie)

Seriously, I don't close any doors on the paranormal, either.  Or holistic phenomena that science, in its more reductive approaches, may not have looked at.  One need not be religious to speculate that all consciousness may be more connected, more going on at functional levels on the global scale, than is apparent in our mundane affairs.  Biologists like to wander off into the weedy fringes on this -- Lovelock, Margulis, Sheldrake -- and why shouldn't they?  As long as the speculation doesn't itself become a dogma and as long as it yields new paths of genuine exploration.  Sheldrake, in particular, seems to have a door open to the reincarnation concept, with patterns of thought repeating themselves from one life to another.  

[Peterkin]

I can certainly see a number of intriguing - if narrow, winding and thorny - paths to follow! 

But I know for damn sure none of it is about work ethic or looking for a handout.

[dimreepr]

12 hours ago, Peterkin said:

I can certainly see a number of intriguing - if narrow, winding and thorny - paths to follow! 

But I know for damn sure none of it is about work ethic or looking for a handout.

 

12 hours ago, Peterkin said:

I can certainly see a number of intriguing - if narrow, winding and thorny - paths to follow! 

But I know for damn sure none of it is about work ethic or looking for a handout.

Maybe you're my wonderwall???

[mistermack]

On 2/18/2022 at 4:29 AM, RamaRaksha said:

To your question - in Hinduism God is a Parent, a Teacher - Parents, Teachers do not punish - they teach, they encourage

One is born in a lower life form not because they are being punished but because they CHOSE THAT LIFE! 

Life as a human being is harsh, the life that we have now no one GIVES us anything. We have to WORK for a living, PAY for what we eat, where we live, EARN what we desire

This is just made-up babble. Somebody's verbal rambling. Along with the rest of it. Where is the EVIDENCE for any of it? 

If you believe stuff just because you are told it, then you are acting like a five-year-old. 

That's what religious people do, they keep the religious compartment of their brains in a permenant child-like state, just accepting what they are told. 

It's a triumph of wishful thinking. It's so much more cosy and attractive than reality.

[Peterkin]

49 minutes ago, mistermack said:

Where is the EVIDENCE for any of it? 

You are aware that it's in the religion forum? You are aware that religious FAITH is not based on EVIDENCE?

Nevertheless, the structure, intent and content of a dogma, or mythology, world-view or belief system can be discussed within its own frames of reference. Submitting it to the strictures of an alien discipline is entirely unproductive.   

53 minutes ago, mistermack said:

It's so much more cosy and attractive than reality

Why do people insist on saying that? Most religions are scary as Hell and demanding and uncomfortable.

[RamaRaksha]

2 hours ago, mistermack said:

This is just made-up babble. Somebody's verbal rambling. Along with the rest of it. Where is the EVIDENCE for any of it? 

If you believe stuff just because you are told it, then you are acting like a five-year-old. 

That's what religious people do, they keep the religious compartment of their brains in a permenant child-like state, just accepting what they are told. 

It's a triumph of wishful thinking. It's so much more cosy and attractive than reality.

There are rational, down-to-earth explanations to all ideas

Basically there are no Gods - there has never been any evidence of such beings

All ideas of God came from life - Christianity & Islam molded their Gods in the image of their local King/Dictator - get down on our knees, swear loyalty & obedience to this master and this master only, pleased, he will reward us with heaven

Hindus viewed God more as a Parent/a Teacher - the goal is to strive to be more God-like - the ancient Hellenic religion was saying the same thing - it's not Gods walking the earth, but human being being God-like. Which is why the Buddha HAD to be a God, which the Buddhists misunderstood. The Buddha hated magic, miracle - said if one believed in magic or miracle, one cannot be a Buddhist

That is what Hinduism is stressing - there are no magic, miracle Gods, just human beings aspiring to do great things 

We use this term in our daily life - Michael Jordan is a God! Mahomes, Einstein referred to as Gods - these Gods are Hindu Gods

1 hour ago, Peterkin said:

You are aware that it's in the religion forum? You are aware that religious FAITH is not based on EVIDENCE?

Nevertheless, the structure, intent and content of a dogma, or mythology, world-view or belief system can be discussed within its own frames of reference. Submitting it to the strictures of an alien discipline is entirely unproductive.   

Why do people insist on saying that? Most religions are scary as Hell and demanding and uncomfortable.

What I am trying to do is to give a rational down-to-earth explanations to all Gods & beliefs

Amazing that this guy can't see that

On 2/18/2022 at 7:35 PM, TheVat said:

Well, you need the liver to live.  Hence the name. (joke borrowed from Hugh Laurie)

Seriously, I don't close any doors on the paranormal, either.  Or holistic phenomena that science, in its more reductive approaches, may not have looked at.  One need not be religious to speculate that all consciousness may be more connected, more going on at functional levels on the global scale, than is apparent in our mundane affairs.  Biologists like to wander off into the weedy fringes on this -- Lovelock, Margulis, Sheldrake -- and why shouldn't they?  As long as the speculation doesn't itself become a dogma and as long as it yields new paths of genuine exploration.  Sheldrake, in particular, seems to have a door open to the reincarnation concept, with patterns of thought repeating themselves from one life to another.  

Nietzsche also 

But it is not as if Reincarnation really happens - the stress is that we can't run away & hide in fantasy lands in the sky

THIS IS IT! THERE IS ONLY ONE WORLD, THIS ONE! And what Reincarnation is saying is that if you want life, it is only here. Sorry, life is harsh, difficult but this is the only game in town. Many people fall for Death Cults and their happy promises of a wonderful "life" AFTER Death! What Reincarnation is saying is that such worlds do not exist

No Sugar Daddy Gods, not magic realms where billions get to sit about doing nothing

On 2/18/2022 at 11:24 AM, TheVat said:

Well, I do sort of wonder about the internal consistency of the various transmigration doctrines.  If the memories die with the brain, then how could children have memories (like in Ian Stevenson's research) of a past life in another body which died?  This is part of the incoherence, for me.  Not that one could not come up with complex paranormal mechanisms for that, but most believers just assume there's the occasional leakage from... where?  The aether?  The Akashic Records?

This has come up in my own life, because I am not materialistic and people sometimes call me an "old soul."  I push back on this, pointing out obvious childhood influences that explain those aspects of personality better.  

To a western eye, a soul without memories would just be undifferentiated consciousness.  

There is much that we still do not understand about the brain - we know it is working but how do cells create thoughts? Where are these thoughts coming from?

Why do I have this insight now and not a few years ago? 

The one creature that has always intrigued me is the ant - such a small creature with hardly a brain but it builds huge cities, are farmers, tend to "cows", wage wars, capture slaves - where are they getting all this intelligence from?

Another problem is the migration of birds - how does a new born bird know where to go? Yet these paths seem to come inbuilt

On 2/18/2022 at 10:34 AM, TheVat said:

If "you" are a totally different person, then in what sense is there reincarnation??  This is what I find incoherent about the concept.

The procrastination comment was meant to address this logical incoherence, sorry if that was not clear.  And I didn't mean delaying in the sense of delaying one's plans to visit Greece or master cribbage,  I meant delaying pursuit of spiritual growth.  

Life - REAL LIFE - if you want life, this is the only game in town

It is like graduating from one class to another - new year, new school, new subjects, new teachers

Death Cults have created magic Retirement Homes in the sky where billions get to sit about doing nothing. And this idea is clouding our vision

Tons of videos on Heaven on You tube - everything is about, "I saw this, I saw that" but none mention any work

It's all about how we can be sooooo happy and at peace - just don't see any sense in a magic being playing a Nanny Sugar Daddy to billions just laying about, in an idle, lazy, useless and pointless existence for eternity

[Peterkin]

22 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

What I am trying to do is to give a rational down-to-earth explanations to all Gods & beliefs

Been done already. Better.

23 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

It's all about how we can be sooooo happy and at peace - just don't see any sense in a magic being playing a Nanny Sugar Daddy to billions just laying about, in an idle, lazy, useless and pointless existence for eternity

And the dismissive language and facile generalizations don't make this a very strong exposition.

[RamaRaksha]

13 minutes ago, Peterkin said:

Been done already. Better.

And the dismissive language and facile generalizations don't make this a very strong exposition.

One guy called me a 5 year old! Now that's resorting to personal insults, which this forum should not allow

We are not kids here - I am not personally insulting anyone, just dismissing this idea of a Sugar Daddy God in the sky and billions getting to sit around doing nothing all because they joined the right religion - seems crazy to me

Every time i have asked theists - What does one DO in Heaven? And Why would an all-mighty God need anything to get done? And need our help in getting it done?

They run away - EVERY TIME!

If a Madoff comes around making claims, you would be using the same dismissive language as well & that is what all Death Cults do - cheap easy claims of a wonderful "life" AFTER Death. They know and the sad thing is that the followers know as well, that there is zero evidence of such lands

Which is why they stress belief so much

[Peterkin]

15 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

We are not kids here - I am not personally insulting anyone, just dismissing this idea of a Sugar Daddy God in the sky and billions getting to sit around doing nothing all because they joined the right religion - seems crazy to me

Why are you so concerned about the lack of productivity of insubstantial dead people? What would they be doing if they had jobs?

18 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

They run away - EVERY TIME!

Maybe you're just a scary dude?

[beecee]

3 hours ago, mistermack said:

It's a triumph of wishful thinking. It's so much more cosy and attractive than reality.

Bingo! The finality of death scares many people, and they need some magical spaghetti monster to look after things once death occurs, despite there being no evidence for it/them. The other point is that before science evolved, the ancients needed something to explain the wonders of the universe around them. Reincarnation is simply another form of that more cozy, attractive reality.

[mistermack]

2 hours ago, Peterkin said:

You are aware that it's in the religion forum? You are aware that religious FAITH is not based on EVIDENCE?

They don't teach that to the little children, though, do they, when they begin their indoctrination. They teach the doctrine as FACT, that's why it's child abuse. Just because it's a religion forum, that's no reason to treat it with  respect that it doesn't deserve. I don't demand respect for my atheism, and if I posted on a religious forum, I would expect some pretty vigorous reaction.

 

1 hour ago, RamaRaksha said:

That is what Hinduism is stressing - there are no magic, miracle Gods, just human beings aspiring to do great things 

Reincarnation is magic, and miraculous, and totally ludicrous without the god concept. And totally without evidence of any sort. 

[RamaRaksha]

14 minutes ago, Peterkin said:

Why are you so concerned about the lack of productivity of insubstantial dead people? What would they be doing if they had jobs?

Maybe you're just a scary dude?

It's a simple cheap claim - a Sugar Daddy God keeping billions in cozy comfort - does it make any sense? That is why I ask these questions - Can you please describe a DAY - just ONE DAY & the run!

But using this cheap promise they have managed to divide and preach hate & that has in turn led to so many mass killings - we can ask the Mayans or Native Americans about it

Much killings going on in Pakistan today - someone is accused of blasphemy & a mob starts killing. We are not there in this country, thank God, but in stressful times, like if Climate Change comes true, I can see a lot of killing of unbelievers

I always say if the Buddha had been born in Christian or Muslim lands he would have been branded a heretic, an apostate & been lynched to death! His writings burnt, his followers killed - there would be no Buddhism today

Christianity has killed off the largest number of small religions all around the world - you can google it & of course wherever Muslims gain a majority, no other religion is allowed to grow

This shouldn't be happening in the 21st century

As for being a scary dude, lol, I guess i am - ideas are scary, aren't they?

5 minutes ago, mistermack said:

They don't teach that to the little children, though, do they, when they begin their indoctrination. They teach the doctrine as FACT, that's why it's child abuse. Just because it's a religion forum, that's no reason to treat it with  respect that it doesn't deserve. I don't demand respect for my atheism, and if I posted on a religious forum, I would expect some pretty vigorous reaction.

 

Reincarnation is magic, and miraculous, and totally ludicrous without the god concept. And totally without evidence of any sort. 

Hindus don't teach our religion to our children - you can ask a Christian kid about the Bible, he might say a few words from it. A Muslim kid might quote the entire Koran

A Hindu kid would have no idea about the Gita - they know our Gods and some stories because they are exposed to it but not much

As for Reincarnation - i keep stressing this - these are ideas! Heaven is the idea that we can run away from Real Life and hide in a Fantasy

Reincarnation is the idea that there is only one world! This one!

11 minutes ago, beecee said:

Bingo! The finality of death scares many people, and they need some magical spaghetti monster to look after things once death occurs, despite there being no evidence for it/them. The other point is that before science evolved, the ancients needed something to explain the wonders of the universe around them. Reincarnation is simply another form of that more cozy, attractive reality.

This one! That is what Reincarnation is saying

12 minutes ago, beecee said:

Bingo! The finality of death scares many people, and they need some magical spaghetti monster to look after things once death occurs, despite there being no evidence for it/them. The other point is that before science evolved, the ancients needed something to explain the wonders of the universe around them. Reincarnation is simply another form of that more cozy, attractive reality.

"more cozy, attractive reality"??? Really? 

In Heaven no one mentions any work being done. Everybody gets to just sit around doing nothing, while a magic Sugar Daddy Nanny keeps everyone in cozy comfort

No more having to worry about climate change, poverty, discrimination, covid19, job losses, health issues, Dictators like Putin - based on what is going on today, the market might take a big hit tomorrow - drug wars......the list is endless!

Reincarnation says this is where you belong - how exactly do you see a "more cozy, attractive reality"?

[mistermack]

6 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

Reincarnation is the idea that there is only one world! This one!

Really? What exactly is the link from one life to the next? It's not genetic, it's not material, so all you are left with is a spirit of some sort. So you are conjuring up an imaginary spirit that hops from animal to animal. That requires a spirit world of some sort. 

[beecee]

14 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

"more cozy, attractive reality"??? Really? 

In Heaven no one mentions any work being done. Everybody gets to just sit around doing nothing, while a magic Sugar Daddy Nanny keeps everyone in cozy comfort

No more having to worry about climate change, poverty, discrimination, covid19, job losses, health issues, Dictators like Putin - based on what is going on today, the market might take a big hit tomorrow - drug wars......the list is endless!

Reincarnation says this is where you belong - how exactly do you see a "more cozy, attractive reality"?

I'm not really interested in religion of any sort, and the exact nature of any of the myths you descibe, I'll leave that to those that live there lives hoping to achieve all that peace, love and/or whatever in the next life, as mythical as that next life is.

[Peterkin]

49 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

a Sugar Daddy God keeping billions in cozy comfort - does it make any sense?

It certainly did, to the working poor of Rome and the serfs of medieval Europe, who lived in squalour and privation, never knew security or freedom from oppression and fear, toiled all their waking hours, from the age of five till death in their mid-forties, at arduous, painful, badly paid labour, under abusive foremen and were subjected to daily humiliation and harsh punishment for every infraction of a brutal feudal code, that forbade even the final desperate escape under penalty of eternal torment and material as well as social consequences for one's surviving family. That dream kept them going a little while longer.

Ideas don't just pop out of the ether: they have historical and anthropological context.    

[RamaRaksha]

2 hours ago, Peterkin said:

It certainly did, to the working poor of Rome and the serfs of medieval Europe, who lived in squalour and privation, never knew security or freedom from oppression and fear, toiled all their waking hours, from the age of five till death in their mid-forties, at arduous, painful, badly paid labour, under abusive foremen and were subjected to daily humiliation and harsh punishment for every infraction of a brutal feudal code, that forbade even the final desperate escape under penalty of eternal torment and material as well as social consequences for one's surviving family. That dream kept them going a little while longer.

Ideas don't just pop out of the ether: they have historical and anthropological context.    

Any fool can make promises & that means we don't let greed take over and invest with Madoff or vote for a Putin

Life teaches us that nothing is free, no one GIVES us anything, we have to WORK for anything we want & it is those who don't have a stomach for hard work that fall for cheap ponzi-schemes - some steal, some turn to crime & others become prostitutes, gigolos, leeches, parasites - why work for anything when all we have to do is sing some rich guy's praises and tell him we "love him and he will keep us in nice comfort?

And when we ask what people DO in Heaven they tell us that they will be singing God's praises, they "love" him so sooo much

Religion is just exploiting these people - Sugar Daddy lands with easy living simply do not exist

This is it! THIS IS ALL THERE IS!

3 hours ago, mistermack said:

Really? What exactly is the link from one life to the next? It's not genetic, it's not material, so all you are left with is a spirit of some sort. So you are conjuring up an imaginary spirit that hops from animal to animal. That requires a spirit world of some sort. 

Can  you explain the life that you have now? We don't know what consciousness is - we don't know where thoughts are coming from

If life can happen once, why not again?

And again you missed the main point of Reincarnation - it is not saying we move from life to life - it is saying if we want life, THIS IS IT! This is all there is

And is that not what Science says? There is no evidence of any spirit worlds, zero evidence of any Sugar Daddy lands with billions sponging off him & living a life of ease & comfort

[TheVat]

While I can agree that reincarnation is a doctrine that focuses on human life in this world, and posits no realm beyond this world, it does suggest a connection between individual lives that is supernatural.  In Buddhism, there is dharma, the cosmic law which sets up a moral duty to make the best of one's life, to grow spiritually and in harmony with ethical principles of respect for all consciousness and all living things.  To assert the dharma, to assert a moral order to the universe, is to advance a supernatural belief -- something is keeping track of one's actions that has more than just the human five senses and cognition in play.  Something is guiding the process of transmigration.  In eastern religions, this is not construed as a personal god, but as something, a transcendent mechanism perhaps that we cannot access with science or reason.  

So, while there is no afterlife or spirit plane, there is some sort of spiritual infrastructure that lies beyond atoms interacting.  Because transmigration cannot happen in a purely physicalist account of the universe, can it?  

 

[Peterkin]

2 hours ago, RamaRaksha said:

Religion is just exploiting these people

Sure.. So are their kings, generals, bosses, politicians, landlords and money-lenders. 

 

2 hours ago, RamaRaksha said:

Life teaches us that nothing is free, no one GIVES us anything, we have to WORK for anything

Heaven comes as a reward after a life spent working hard. What do you want to exploit ghosts for?

 

In reincarnation, you work through more lives, but the reward at the end of it is still release from the physical grind.

Both ideas are meant as an incentive for poor people with hard, mean lives to look forward to a vacation.

Why do you so begrudge them that illusion?

Edited February 22, 2022 by Peterkin

[RamaRaksha]

1 hour ago, Peterkin said:

Sure.. So are their kings, generals, bosses, politicians, landlords and money-lenders. 

 

Heaven comes as a reward after a life spent working hard. What do you want to exploit ghosts for?

 

In reincarnation, you work through more lives, but the reward at the end of it is still release from the physical grind.

Both ideas are meant as an incentive for poor people with hard, mean lives to look forward to a vacation.

Why do you so begrudge them that illusion?

"Heaven comes as a reward after a life spent working hard" That is so crazy! There is no Sugar Daddy God nicely letting billions just sit around doing nothing for eternity!

An idle, lazy, useless and pointless existence for eternity! How does that make any sense? 

How is it that you can't see a religion simply exploiting people? - you hear Death Cults like Heaven's gate making cheap promises of travelling in alien ships after death and you clearly see it but when it is YOUR OWN religion, do you get blinders?

"reward at the end of it is still release from the physical grind" - er no, first of all Life is a Gift! It is not a trap

second there is no magic Retirement Home in the sky being run by a Nanny God

So basically this release is just Death, Eternal Death & no one would choose Death over life

 

1 hour ago, TheVat said:

While I can agree that reincarnation is a doctrine that focuses on human life in this world, and posits no realm beyond this world, it does suggest a connection between individual lives that is supernatural.  In Buddhism, there is dharma, the cosmic law which sets up a moral duty to make the best of one's life, to grow spiritually and in harmony with ethical principles of respect for all consciousness and all living things.  To assert the dharma, to assert a moral order to the universe, is to advance a supernatural belief -- something is keeping track of one's actions that has more than just the human five senses and cognition in play.  Something is guiding the process of transmigration.  In eastern religions, this is not construed as a personal god, but as something, a transcendent mechanism perhaps that we cannot access with science or reason.  

So, while there is no afterlife or spirit plane, there is some sort of spiritual infrastructure that lies beyond atoms interacting.  Because transmigration cannot happen in a purely physicalist account of the universe, can it?  

 

Reincarnation says there is ONLY ONE WORLD! THIS ONE!

Reincarnation was developed as a counter to the idea of Heaven - ancient Hindus saw it as cowardice, running away from real life, building fantasy castles in the sky - see Peterkin's comment above - a reward for struggling thru life

No such lands exist - there are no magic Nanny Sugar Daddy God keeping billions in cozy comfort

And that is what Reincarnation is stressing - it is life down here or bust

You mentioned Buddhism - and I am sure you are familiar with the Mahayana concept of Bodhisattvas

No one is guiding us, WE are in control of our own destiny - we seek Life because we want to experience life

And Reincarnation also says we can develop as human beings - it does not have to be spiritual development - one can aspire to be the next Einstein, the next Buddha, the next Mozart

[iNow]

32 minutes ago, RamaRaksha said:

Reincarnation also says we can develop as human beings

And Bugs Bunny says what’s up doc. Until you move your fiction into the realm of evidence backed nonfiction, nobody here cares. 

[mistermack]

Rama, your repeated posts seem to be about a totally different idea of reincarnation from the meaning that I was holding. You made me look it up, because I thought maybe I had it wrong. BUT, the wikipedia page has it just as I remembered. This is from the top :               

Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death.^[1][2]                       

Somebody's got it wrong, and it appears to be you. What is a non-physical essence? Obviously, a spirit. What is the notion of a new life, but a comfort blanket to ward off the fear of real death. ( ie, ceasing to exist ). You keep saying that there is only one world. But gloss over countless new lives that the notion of reincarnation promises. We all have that daydream, to live again and do it all so much better next time. That's just human wishful dreaming, being worked up into religious teaching.