Is reincarnation inevitable?
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?
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?
Comments (21)
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
It is not only a possibility, it is an inevitability. That is even more to swallow.
"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.
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).
There's an expression in Mah?y?na Buddhism, namely, Citta Sant?na. (It does sound like the band name but I think any resemblance is coincidental.)
'Citta sant?na 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 sant?na 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.
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.
Quoting 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.
:rofl: :fire:
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.
Whaaat? Are you kidding? What is wrong with you? Are you mentally retarde? :lol:
Is life that bad for you?
Who says it will be the same next time?