I'm pretty oblivious to religious beliefs and only go by the conclusions I have reached on my own accord. I am not trying to impose my beliefs on you, I am simply expressing my views on life after taking my Philosophy class. If you choose to read this and wish to argue with me, don't bother because I will not answer and I already warned you beforehand.
I have been to church maybe 6 times in my life, and 4 of those times have been to attend to weddings. My mother is a professor at the catholic university where I am studying. My parents never once forced me to go to church, nor have I ever wanted to go on my own out of curiosity. Now, just because I don't believe in going to church or in the bible doesn't mean I don't believe in God. I believe in a higher power, something, not someone, that animates and binds us in our bodies. I don't really believe in Heaven or Hell, for isn't Hell pretty much here on earth? Purgatory, Hell...it's all the same to me really. The only Hell I would choose to believe in would be in Dante's perceptional one. Not full of fire or little devils making your life quite literally, a living Hell, but everything divided by the level of "sins" you had made in your life.
But like I said before, I believe Hell is being on earth, not being able to reach the state of pure energy that may join the highest energy of all. I do not really see reincarnation as the "Hell" my Philosophy professor presented it. I mean sure, who would really wish to return to this world that is full of pollution, morally corrupted, greed, hypocrisy and so much more problems? I believe that while that is part of the punishment of returning, God can't be that bad or at least he shouldn't be, and that's why you may get the opportunity to meet your loved ones' souls in other lives from the bonds you have made since way before the life you are currently living.
Maybe you'll think I'm childish for not believing that you die and that's that, for holding on to a shred of hope that we don't leave our loved ones behind and they don't leave us. Well maybe I am, but who can prove me wrong? And how can I prove wrong every religion? How can any of us prove what you believe in? We can't, simple as that, we can't prove anything until we actually die. You haven't died yet and I haven't died yet, we could both be wrong. My Philosophy professor, whom I love and adore with all my heart but do not agree with, imposed this scenario:
Let's say we (the people that are currently in the classroom) are the only people on earth and me, being the oldest one, died. Suddenly one of you has a baby, my soul would be reincarnated in him. I can't believe that because then the population on earth would always be the same. Why would anybody wish to return to earth? Not only that, I don’t think that it would be fair that somebody would get a new soul while I’m stuck with the same old one “pagando los platos rotos” of somebody who lived before me. I have a soul, somebody else is going to have it? Is it going to be me or somebody else and why would it be somebody else?
Well professor, I have to say I do not agree with you. Souls need a period of maybe rest and purification (at least from what I have read) and a soul not reincarnate soon after its body has died, as that can cause some major complications in their life and disrupts it. They need time to move on to other spiritual planes, and as my mother imposed, who are we to say that this is the only world in which we reincarnate? Maybe it’s not all about mending your past life’s mistakes, maybe it’s about reuniting with souls you met before, there’s a positive side to everything, you are here to make better choices not to repeat the same bad ones you made before. Yes, somebody else WILL most likely get your soul unless you manage to ascend to that state of pure energy after you die in this life, that “somebody else” will not be the you as you are living right now, as it says it’s some body one that is different from yours. Do souls have an identity of their own? I don’t believe they do, to me they are what makes us live, so why can’t it go move another body that is not mine? There are key moments in past life that you can use to help your current life. They suppress what happened before when they die and then come back. Not only that, there is a theory that you are not supposed to have the same name you had in a past life because that confuses the soul because you are a new person. Hello? That “you” died, you’re a new you that is not you but in some ways conserves something of you- aura, personality maybe? You will never be the same identical person you were before. You’ll be a newer, perhaps better person. (woah…confusing)
I don't know, that sort of sounds better in my mind XD Well whatever, this blog is Where the Bunnies Live (in my brain of course), so it makes sense to me but doesn't have to for you.
We won't know anything until the day we die, and if we die and reincarnate we will not remember though maybe we would, on some occasions. I am a believer of fate, kismet, karma, whatever you wish to call it. I have the feeling that I walked past my own tomb and that happened two years ago,by a twist of fate when I was visiting my cousin and her family in Connecticut, a place where I've always felt...sort of drawn to but not completely...
We went on Route 95 North, which I now realize is the number 5, my destiny number...Anyways, we went on that route normally as we do each year, sometimes wandering off through random Exits. For some really strange abnormal reason on my persona, I begged my parents to let me see and film a random cemetery that caught my attention. It was elevated off the ground and had a normal sized gate that had apparently been locked for a long time. Even though there was a gate, you could climb through the side (which did not have walls or fences) and go in. That meant crawling on the cemetery ground…something which I would never do, but did do at that moment. Now, I was there, but had no idea why (My father went with me) so we’re looking around and there was a big and beautiful tree, my dad walks behind it and says “you’ll never believe what’s behind here!” and I’m just staring at an obelisk and the sky and say “A well, right?” and he blinked surprised and said “yes…how’d you know?” I walk behind the tree and said “Don’t know…maybe it was logical.” Well we kept looking, no tombs caught my attention as they sometimes do, the sky, the tree, the place…I did however take pictures of the obelisk. Well, we were there for about 20 minutes and my dad says let’s go and we take the path in front of the gate (which apparently was opened…-.-) so we’re turning to leave, I’m walking the path and for no real reason, I looked to my left and saw a row of tombs but I felt like I had to stop moving just to look at one in particular. It wasn’t glamorous, it was quite simple…and it was a girl’s tomb, I really do not remember her name well regretfully, nor do I remember the year or the town we were in…I felt a pang in my chest as I read the tombstone, the message engraved left me relatively dead. Apparently she had died at a young age, 20 something years old, was married and I think the husband was buried nearby or in the same tomb. The message was from her husband which said something along the lines of: Death took you too soon from me, our love was beginning but it was strong. I’ll suffer life for the both of us living without you. But our souls will be reunited, if not in this life then in the next.
“I was sick…”
That’s all I said before I shrugged away that weird feeling…The next year I found the person with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life with in the beginning of the year, and in the summer we crossed paths not only in New York at the airport, but also on Route 95 North…we had never been in the same area, much less in the same country. That all has to count for something, there are no coincidences in life. That’s one of the closest sensations of reincarnation I have personally experienced, and possibly the most important one. Others have spawned from horrid visions and feelings of dying because of running out of oxygen, which is why I have a sort of hydrophobia, I say sort of because I don’t fear water completely, I just have a great deal of respect for it and try to be as careful as I can be with it. I will continue with the theory of my name sometime after I post this ridiculously long post and stop boring you to tears ^_^
I remembered I wanted to share yet another point of view of my professor, one which he put in the book we use in class and with this I will finish.
Para ser reencarcionista hay que ser, o masoquista, o tenerle temor a la muerte. Es forma de prolongar la existencia aun despues de la muerte. Por tanto para los reencarcionistas la union del cuerpo y el alma es una union accidental, no esencial o hilemorfica como sostiene Aristoteles.
To be a believer in reincarnation you must either be a masochist or you must fear death. It is a way of prolonging your existence even after dying. Those who believe in reincarnation believe that the union of body and soul is an accidental one, not essential or (I don't know how to translate that word) as Aristotle said.
1) What is so masochistic about believing you reincarnate? Perhaps we are just being realistic, because we're brave enough to believe in returning to a place like this.
2) Fear of death? I don't think so, you still have to go through death. Now if you mean fear about what awaits you AFTER you die, what can be worse than returning here? Ahhh... I don't fear death nor do I embrace it, I take it as a stage we have to go through, if I'm wrong, if we're all wrong and we do not reincarnate then we don't, fine, I intend to fully live and enjoy my life and when death comes let it take me.
3) Maybe it is not accidental, I don't know what others may believe but I for one do not believe that this union is accidental and I for one love living.
4) Aristotle also said that objects fall faster if they are heavier and Galileo proved him wrong -.- also thought that the earth stood still while the sun orbited around it - -;; Don't pull the Aristotle card on me because I will kick your ass.
Much love to everybody, Niimura
Especially to mommy, thank you for giving me your book with the underlined stuff I need to know for the test and footnotes by Nestor, I was too appalled during class to even take them since I was so against them =P
