I am a firm beleiver in the idea that our souls are born and reborn into different bodies for the specific purpose to learn the lessons that we have failed to learn in previous lives.  Then, when all your lessons are learned, NIRVANA . . .\n\nDo you have an opinion?  Share it below . . .
203215
As a Hindu, yes I believe in reincarnation. The atman sheds one body just as we change clothes, to take on a new body. With each incarnation we have the chance to advance spiritually and eventually achieve moksha. Some can do this is one lifetime, some need several lifetimes. Moksha is a lot like the Buddhist concept of nirvana. Moksha means "liberation" and "union". The Atman is liberated from the cycle of samsara and finds union in Brahman (the word Brahman comes for two Sanskrit words Brih Manah which translates as Great Consciousness or Expanding Consciousness, although it is usually translated into English as Cosmic Consciousness). In many of the Upanishads the message is quite clear that everything is Brahman, everything manifested out of Brahman. The atman is Brahman. Tat tvam asi. Thou art that.
658344
I believe it is all planned ahead of time by God. If you study the Christian Bible, it really opens your eyes. It's kinda neat in a way to think about, becuase sometimes I think about how I could have been born ANYWHERE. In a poverish country, to a wealthy or poor family, with disabilities, etc. but I was chose to be born in New Jersey and 100% healthy. I'm a Christian like the person you spoke to, and would say that YES things such as our gender, where we are born, are fated. However, God also allows us to make our own decisions. So if a person commits a crime and goes to jail, or a person does something negative, I feel that it was their mistake that they chose to do and that things like that aren't fated.
295256
I think so.  I know of other Wiccans who don't believe in reincarnation.  I personally do, because it make sense to me that the soul would need more than one go around before it's considered good enough to stay somewhere so nice (think of Adolf Hitler's soul, for goodness sake, and how many times it would have to do the go around!).  I see reincarnation as the ultimate consequence for not accepting the consequences of our behavior in this life.\n\nThis is an answered question on about.com: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/whatiswicca/f/afterlife.htm  I'm not sure if it is saying that you HAVE to believe in reincarnation or that it is strongly believed throughout most of the religious community.  I will seek further.\n\nHere is a site that give a pretty good overview of Wicca, and it briefly mentions the Summerland: http://www.souldevice.org/wicca.html\n\nThe only site I could find that even remotely supports the Summerland without reincarnation is this one: http://www.wicca.com/celtic/wicca/faq.htm  Even here, though, it's ambiguous.\n\nFinally, a site that seems to be more in tune with you, although a Wiccan probably didn't write it.  Still, it's usually not a bad site for information on religion: http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_beli.htm\n\nOkay, I have to revise what I was saying earlier, I suppose.  It seems that reincarnation is, according to most Wiccans, central to Wiccan beliefs because it is considered part of the cycle of life, death and rebirth that we believe, through obsveration, that all living things go through.  The Summerland is less of a "paradise" than a nice, comfy place to await the next life, maybe get a little rested and refreshed before starting it all over again.  I thought it was a little more open to interpretation, and maybe you could continue practicing that way if you want to without too much comment.\n\nPerhaps you could examine what it is about reincarnation that you are unable to believe in.  If you find that you can't reconcile your beliefs about reincarnation with Wiccan teachings, perhaps it would be better for your spiritual growth to follow another pagan path.  There are many, after all, although I think that reincarnation is a pretty big theme among alot of them.
396768
It is true-everything happens for a reason; however, the reason is not always apparent to us.  Some things we understand right away, other much later, and some issues remain beyond our understanding forever.  For example, the oaths you ate gave you nourishment which was not only physical in nature. Our mind and spirit also get  nourishment from the food we eat thus when you eat food you love, you nourish your feelings of love. The food you ate nourished your spirit also. I believe even your spelling mistakes came for a reason.  Have a look please at the misspelled words and ask yourself why your spirit did not accept some words your mind dictated and your hand wrote? By the way I am not a liberal and I do believe in science not b.s. As you know there are many types of energy in the food you eat.  Why not the spiritual energies?
610677
Birth and death are not in our hands.Where one would born, which country, in which city or village, at what time, and in which family , whether with a silver spoon in the mouth or poor,either as black, or white.alone or as twins,as a boy , or girl, or a mixture of both, with any bodily defects or without, affected by AIDS like diseases or otherwise are all in not in anybodys hands.One soul may take birth as an animal, or bird, etc too.\n\nSame way no one know when death is going to strike one, at which age, at which place, at what time, in an air cash, or by drowning, or in battle field,etc are also neither known to us in advance nor is in our hands.\n\nWhat is certain is that all those who are born in this world have to die one day.We also know that some thing which was inside our physical body ,what we call as LIFE(SOUL), due to which all our organs were functioning , has vanished from the body due to which the person is declared DEAD.What is it .No one knows.\nWhere from it came , when, into our body when it was in ours mother womb , and where it has now gone after our death is also not known to us.\n\nThe HINDU philosophers say that only the human being is bestowed with this power of reasoning to think over what life is, what soul is , and that it is the ultimate goal of every human being to contemplate on this WHO AM I and get the answer for himself.\n\nIt is the HINDUs belief that the SOUL is a spin off from the LORD and ultimately it goes back to the LORD.And that the spin off takes place for some reason best known to the LORD and  once it takes place, to go back too is at the mercy of LORD but it does goes back. In the intervening period it gets into one or more bodies and enjoys or suffers and this process continues to once again become perfect to join back to LORD.\nNow the question arises having taken a birth as a human soul \nwhat do we do.Look at Nature and learn. No animal or bird want to die. They want to live .The young ones fresh from egg eagerly awaits the mother bird to bring food to its mouth.As soon as it develops wings and able to search for its foods it gets away from the mother and makes its own nest and search for its partner and mixes with other friends and lives happily eating, sleeping and again procreating and also with its melodious voice keep people happy and with its beautiful coloured wings fly in the air and keep on lookers happy.I am told that the doves once they become old start collecting small small grains like stones and keep them stored at the tree tops nest and when no more able to fly swallow the stones and drop dead.\n\nAs a human being we see this beautyful world, air is free, sun, moon , light, plants, fruits, all are in abundance in this world. \nMost of us are born defect free . We can run, shout, sing, dance\nand talk and mix with friends and make merry.We learn about the \nlaws of nature. We invent and discover things to keep our minds active , to make our life more easy and one discovery leads to another.Sometimes we do not complete the task and leave it to others to do further research.\n\nThe entire universe is in this cycle we are not alone.The Sun, the Moon the Earth are all in constant motion, They cant even take leave for a nano second. Once it started to rotate the momentum keeps it going.\n\nSo do we. We there fore live for ourselves , for our fellow human beings, for posterity, for all other beings in the environment, and \nhave a sense of achievements and be proud and live in such wonderful thoughts and  die a natural death welcoming it as a\nnatural event , a pleasnt feeling of FINAL release to an ETERNAL PEACE .
564580
No one really knows about re-incarnation.  There are alot of people out there who look quite a bit alike yet thre is no relation.\n\nHere is what I believe:  \nWe are made of energy (fact).  When we die, that energy remains (fact).  So who is to say it DOESN'T go from your body to another's?  For all you know you can be a re-incarnated person and you wouldn't know it.  I mean...you won't remember anything of your previous life...it isn't the memory that passes along..it is your energy.  You could be the same energy of someone else.  \nEnergy cannot be created nor destroyed.  FACT.\n\nBelieve what you want...just have your faith.
28644
Life is about learning lessons in order to be prepared for our soul's journey to the spiritual realm. Each life we live (& we all have lived many) is about learning the necessary lessons in order to spiritually evolve & be enlightened & full of love. When our spiritual development is complete on earth, we move on to the next dimension.
266810
This is true,  When we die our mental self goes to some astral planes..to work out our subtle desires.  Some souls go into deep slumber in astral plane and are conscious only when they take new birth.\n\nSome souls are awakened on astral planes and enjoy/suffer experiences there..and when it is time to get their physical desires fullfilled and time to learn new lessons...they take birth in new environments\n\nReincarnation is a truth and if a book denies it, does not have any affect on the truth.\n\nAfter all Sun did not start to circle the earth, becoz a book/a relgions says that
672190
I have to disagree with a previous respondent who said, "What do you remember before you were born? Well that is exactly what it will be like after you die."  Has he been dead already?  How does he know?  I THINK -- although no one can know for sure -- that we will certainly know when we're dead.  When you ask about experiencing the world around us, you're automatically asking about the afterlife, with some interplay with religious beliefs -- there's no separating one from the other.  Because I believe there's an afterlife, I also believe that we will experience the world around us, but on another plane.  Certainly we'll be able to interact after death, but primarily and most directly with those who have already died as well.
479411
Buddhist talk about rebirth and not reincarnation.There are many realms of existence...human,animal,deva,peta,etc...Beings from one realm can be reborn into another realm!So,you see,there are trillions of possibilities!Buddha says:to be born a human the chances is very minute!So human we must count our blessing!
92968
That's an interesting thought.  All actions cause a reaction.  Karma doesn't quite work that way but I see what you're getting at.  Actually, karma is just energy - and opportunity to use it for benefit or not.  Going with your theme, if a person was cruel to homosexuals in a previous incarnation, then he may choose to undergo what he put those people through - or not.  For those of us born with a karmic debt to pay (I am one) it is obvious to ourselves and sometimes others that something is not quite right with the way the world treats us.  We must admit that we feel as though we've done something wrong before, and that we know we must not do it again - even preach against it.  When we pass the tests on this earth, I suppose we will choose some other classroom to further our spiritual education.
49976
I like to think that you can still interact with other souls in the afterlife, if there is one... but I also wonder if our souls are just energy, and we just dissipate into nothingness when we die... but that can't be true, right? Otherwise this life would make no sense.
74200
Yes I believe so.  Actually having nothing to do with the brain, our souls are released from our bodies.  You can go anywhere and see anything.  It's how you will interpret things that will change.
230494
There are two possibilities.\n\n1. The reincarnation is a fact because nobody, any pastor, any catholic roman father or anybody can explain why there are so strong differences between the human beings.\n\nWe are living always in a process to have the perfection in our soul, and our soul need live many experiences because through our experiences we can learn. And one life is so short for it. We must have other chances to take good choices. Definetly, the reincarnation is VERY AND A HALF POSSIBLE, but the question is...Why Jesus did not tell us about it? MAy be we was not ready to know something like that? MAy be soon the true will be discovered.\n\n2. The other option is that we only have one life. and this life happens because there are a big Machine of souls that is sending us here to have experiences like humans giving us the chance to go to the Heaven forever or to the Hell. and this chance is for us but the world was gave to the humans like God says in Genesis. And we are the resposible about what will happen with our brothers when are borning here and are sick or poor or something. But this option is very complicated because in some places in the world we dont have control to care our brothers and gave them the life that we know all humans being could deserve. And now it is complicated. The reincarnation is simply 150% possible and a half.
96188
We need to distinguish between Mind and Soul.  The mind is indeed a function of the brain, and the Soul is mostly indistinguishable from it while the brain is functioning.  We therefore leave open the question of whether the Soul is something quite apart, which can exist without the physical "housing" of the brain.  I personally think it is something different, and does exist apart from any physical structure, but my reasons are all spiritual/religious, and not in the least scientific.  The most scientific analogy is an idea or a concept, perhaps an archetype.  They clearly exist outside of any physical structure, and I believe the soul does, too.  My real question is whether it is an individual soul, and therefore there are billions of them, or whether we share souls at a higher dimension/level than we normally perceive.  The jury is still out on that one.
638032
I think we all learn things from our experiences.  That's the wisdom that comes with age.  When a soul is old, they have much of that wisdom even when they're young.  You can tell when you talk to them.  If they're aware of who they are, their place in the world- they have a calmness, a centeredness about themselves- it's a look in their eyes, an all-knowing look.\n\nAnyway, that's what I believe.  I believe a really old soul will have all those qualities when they're a child.  I'm striving to get there, and feel I'm close- but I'm over 50 now.  I guess that's at a pretty normal pace- making me what a mediumly aged soul?  I do think there are some who never get there in this lifetime, that makes them young souls.  They're superficial and shallow people- right up until the day they die.\n\nAnyway, I believe we come back to finish what we didn't in this life.  I'll be back a few more times, I'm sure.  Some people will be back a lot more times then that.
244849
I believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation is basically a system like weather. When plants die in the fall/winter they are renewed, or reborn in the spring/summer. Many people (including me) believe in karma, and that it affects what your future life will be like... For example, if you were a murderer in this life, in the next life you may not be as happy. If you were like Ghandi in this life, you would be very rich in spirit in the next life. It's complicated, but there is evidence for it. Google it.