Is reincarnation inevitable?
  • Prishon
    984
    Suppose I think the following is the case:

    I am the collection of all the elementary particles constituting, well, me. Including all their mutual interactions, interactions with external particles, and connections to particles in the whole history of the universe (so I carry the history of the big bang, or at least a part). I'm more than particles only off course but for this question that is irrelevant.

    If there appears one big bang after another, then when this universe has finally been ripped apart in the big rip, a new big bang can arise and new kinds of Earth-like planets will emerge. There can be new material processes (and remember, I don't think we are just material but for this question's sake Ido).

    So there will certainly appear one big bang planets like the Earth where a person like me is doing things like me. But in a different language, in a different country (if countries exist) under a different sky. My mum and dad are of course the same.

    So there will never be two of me at the same time. That would be very confusing indeed! Only in time more me's and you's can come to be.

    It is impossible to recreate me in this universe.

    Considering all these possibilities (and impossibility), can we say that reincarnation is inevitable?
    Prishon Options
  • Dante
    52
    Science commonly posits the inevitable end of the universe via an eternal and unchanging heat death. So I doubt the emergence of another Big Bang, abandoning the possibility of the recreation of your being.
    Dante Options
  • Tom Storm
    9.2k
    ↪Prishon
    I don't see any good reason to accept the proposition that reincarnation is a possibility.

    There's a thread all about it already.

    https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/1675/reincarnation/p1
    Tom Storm Options
  • Prishon
    984
    reincarnation — Tom Storm

    It is not only a possibility, it is an inevitability. That is even more to swallow.
    Prishon Options
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    ↪Prishon
    But reincarnation requires a transferance of a metaphysical entity that, oddly, rhymes with sole - a soul - from one dead body to a living fetus. Your scenario makes no mention of souls.
    TheMadFool Options
  • Wayfarer
    22.8k
    ↪TheMadFool
    when an artwork is reproduced, what entity travels from the original to the reproductions?
    Wayfarer Options
  • Dante
    52
    @Wayfarer the essence, in the philosophical sense of the word.
    Dante Options
  • Prishon
    984
    body — TheMadFool

    "and remember, I don't think we are just material but for this question's sake I do"

    There is soullike stuff. I just think it is tied to matter. Non-transferable.
    Prishon Options
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    when an artwork is reproduced, what entity travels from the original to the reproductions? — Wayfarer

    Information - from which shade of color to apply to how my paintbrush should move across the canvas - and so, my best hunch is you think souls are pure information. Did I catch your drift? Hmmm :chin:

    True that information requires some kind of physical medium to hold it, as pattern on it I suppose, but patterns aren't physical per se, they're abstractions of the way matter and energy appear in certain permutations/combinations (arrangements).
    TheMadFool Options
  • Wayfarer
    22.8k
    Everyone says that 'I' must be this concrete entity that has 'an identity'. 'No entity without identity' - right? But what if it is a process, not an entity?

    There's an expression in Mahāyāna Buddhism, namely, Citta Santāna. (It does sound like the band name but I think any resemblance is coincidental.)

    'Citta santāna is a Sanskrit term meaning "mindstream" that is used in Buddhist philosophy. 'Citta' may be translated as “that which is conscious,” “ordinary consciousness” or “the act of mental apprehension”; and santāna may be translated as “a series of events” or “continuum.”

    It is defined as the moment-by-moment continuum of mental thoughts, impressions and occurrences. It is the stream of successive moments of awareness, or movement of the mind. What it provides is a continual and enduring personality in the absence of an enduring substratum or permanently existing self.'

    Technically, this is not reincarnation as there is no self that dies and is re-born. That is the difference between reincarnation and re-birth. It is a process that happens moment to moment but also life to life.
    Wayfarer Options
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    No entity without identity — Wayfarer

    I reckon you actually mean, no identity without entity. Indeed, if the I is a process instead of an entity, it can be copied from one physical medium to an identical physical medium or to another physical medium e.g. flux/flow (mindstream), a process, occurs in molten lava, melted wax, water, alcohol, you get the picture. Had the I been an entity, it would be, rather annoyingly and dully, confined to the substance it's made of. More degrees of freedom is how I'd put it.

    Technically, this is not reincarnation as there is no self that dies and is re-born. That is the difference between reincarnation and re-birth. — Wayfarer

    Indeed, reincarnation is wholly predicated on an entity that allegedly transmigrates from one body to another and, to my knowledge, is a static record/snapshot of usually memories/inclinations. A pitifully impoverished view of what self/I is compared to the Citta Santana view which is the self/I as a dynamic, animated, vibrant video.
    TheMadFool Options
  • Prishon
    984
    Reincarnation means re-entry in the flesh. If the soul is tied to matter it can't transmigrate. But my soul-matter state can apoear again. But not in this universe. A new big bang is needed. There I reapoear again. The moment I die. It takes hundreds of billions of years though...
    Prishon Options
  • 180 Proof
    15.4k
    So this shit again? Another old thread reincarnated ... :confused:
    180 Proof Options
  • javi2541997
    5.9k
    So this shit again? — 180 Proof

    :rofl: :fire:
    javi2541997 Options
  • Nils Loc
    1.4k
    No man steps in the same shit twice. But a person stepping in any shit again is probably inevitable.
    Nils Loc Options
  • 180 Proof
    15.4k
    ↪Nils Loc
    :lol:
    180 Proof Options
  • Prishon
    984
    No man steps in the same shit twice. But a person stepping in any shit again is probably inevitable. — Nils Loc

    Pprobably inevitable? It's inevitable or not. Stepping on shit for the second time is inevitable. But one guy's shit is other's food. So you can eat shit and enjoy it, like I do. The shit of reincarnation, especially when it's inevitable, tastes magically. So eat it or leave it.
    Prishon Options
  • Prishon
    984
    So you can eat shit and enjoy it, like I do. — Prishon

    Whaaat? Are you kidding? What is wrong with you? Are you mentally retarde? :lol:
    Prishon Options
  • deletedmemberrw
    50
    I hope not, no thanks.
    deletedmemberrw Options
  • Philofile
    62
    I hope not, no thanks. — RAW

    Is life that bad for you?
    Philofile Options
  • deletedmemberrw
    50
    ↪Philofile
    It's not just about me, it's about every sentient being on this planet. The suffering is vast, I'm unavoidably exposed to its existence and I don't look forward to having to experience it again, and again...
    deletedmemberrw Options
  • Philofile
    62
    The suffering is vast — RAW

    Who says it will be the same next time?
    Philofile Options
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