Reincarnation is something that I came to from a religious and ethical slant. I wasn't that church-going as a child, but I did get a firm moral package from my upbringing. I could never though, reconcile my belief in a loving god and the idea that it would send us to Hell for life-choices we had no control over.
That I personally, who came from a loving mid-class family with plenty of breaks in life would go to Heaven while a child born into a broken poor family who ends up in a gang young and then prison for the things they had to do to survive in that life, would go to hell.
I came to the conclusion that each life, the good and the bad, are just lessons on a path to true enlightenment of what it means to be human. So the murderer is just as blessed as the saint. Doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be better though.
What's the quote? If god allows evil when they could stop it, they are a sadist. If they can't stop evil, then they aren't omnipotent. I think evil is a feature of the system, not a bug. You can't understand being human without understanding the evilest things we do.
Once you accept that reincarnation happens you have to decide just how it works. Some say only humans reincarnate and then only as humans, but that didn't make any sense to me. Too many animals display "human" feelings and characteristics.
And it didn't make sense that if all life reincarnated, then there was some special class (the gods) that stood out from that. So since we would want someone to help us make sense of our lessons from each life, each time we died, and that the spirits and gods seemed the logical choice for that, then wouldn't they too have had the experiences?
I'm loosely pagan in that I believe in multiple gods, but I'm leaning toward not considering them "gods". I still though, visit and comment on multiple pagan and heathen groups and a recurring comment from people who have intimate encounters with the spirits is that one person may find that their god likes chocolate as an offering, while another person finds theirs doesn't. Both are the same deity. I've come to the conclusion that who they are dealing with are minor aspects of that "god" and since we have a working example of such collectives here, in the form of corporations, I think spirits have the same.
Now it may be that each collective is led by an old and learned CEO, who may be an ancestral spirit but for my practical experiences I doubt I'll end up ever meeting it.
I do think that there is a plane or state of existence above what the spirits and gods inhabit, and at that place/point, there is an Omni-godhood we will all end up at. Perhaps at that point, our essence will just get recycled back into the Wheel of Life to restart the process all over.
Re: Time May Work Both Ways
That I personally, who came from a loving mid-class family with plenty of breaks in life would go to Heaven while a child born into a broken poor family who ends up in a gang young and then prison for the things they had to do to survive in that life, would go to hell.
I came to the conclusion that each life, the good and the bad, are just lessons on a path to true enlightenment of what it means to be human. So the murderer is just as blessed as the saint. Doesn't mean we shouldn't strive to be better though.
What's the quote? If god allows evil when they could stop it, they are a sadist. If they can't stop evil, then they aren't omnipotent. I think evil is a feature of the system, not a bug. You can't understand being human without understanding the evilest things we do.
Once you accept that reincarnation happens you have to decide just how it works. Some say only humans reincarnate and then only as humans, but that didn't make any sense to me. Too many animals display "human" feelings and characteristics.
And it didn't make sense that if all life reincarnated, then there was some special class (the gods) that stood out from that. So since we would want someone to help us make sense of our lessons from each life, each time we died, and that the spirits and gods seemed the logical choice for that, then wouldn't they too have had the experiences?
I'm loosely pagan in that I believe in multiple gods, but I'm leaning toward not considering them "gods". I still though, visit and comment on multiple pagan and heathen groups and a recurring comment from people who have intimate encounters with the spirits is that one person may find that their god likes chocolate as an offering, while another person finds theirs doesn't. Both are the same deity. I've come to the conclusion that who they are dealing with are minor aspects of that "god" and since we have a working example of such collectives here, in the form of corporations, I think spirits have the same.
Now it may be that each collective is led by an old and learned CEO, who may be an ancestral spirit but for my practical experiences I doubt I'll end up ever meeting it.
I do think that there is a plane or state of existence above what the spirits and gods inhabit, and at that place/point, there is an Omni-godhood we will all end up at. Perhaps at that point, our essence will just get recycled back into the Wheel of Life to restart the process all over.