Reincarnation & Souls

[honey-lilac]

Recently I checked out an interesting photo book about the evolution of mankind. It got me thinking of how old our roots are, and how "humanity" is relatively recent.

I don't think I believe in reincarnation, but the topic interests me. For those people who do believe in reincarnation and focus on humans (as in we can't come back as ants or birds or snakes but rather go human to human) how far back do "souls" go?

Also, for those people who don't necessarily believe in reincarnation but do believe that people have souls but animals don't, and don't believe in a strict creation story (like Adam and Eve) - when did humans start to have souls? I had one professor tell me that Adam and Eve is metaphorical for when people moved from hunting and gathering tribes to settle down and get civilized, that that's when they started having "souls" and that's when they started wearing clothes and having "knowledge" of themselves, self-reflection and all that. i.e. when they evolved far enough to be self-aware, that's where the soul came from. I kind of liked that theory but I wasn't aware that it was wide-spread. Thoughts?

[ursusarctos]

Originally Posted by Kaleanani

I had one professor tell me that Adam and Eve is metaphorical for when people moved from hunting and gathering tribes to settle down and get civilized, that that's when they started having "souls" and that's when they started wearing clothes and having "knowledge" of themselves, self-reflection and all that. i.e. when they evolved far enough to be self-aware, that's where the soul came from. I kind of liked that theory but I wasn't aware that it was wide-spread. Thoughts?

Hmm, I would have an issue with that theory just because there are still existing hunter-gatherer peoples who are highly self-aware and self-reflective and spiritual, and some of which do wear clothes (i.e. the Inuit). And the archeological evidence says that we've been full, modern humans (biologically and presumably mentally since we had the same kinds of brains) for many tens of thousands of years, during the majority of which (up to the last 12,000 years or so) *everybody* was a hunter-gatherer.

As for reincarnation, I might believe in it but not with the concept of "souls" involved. More like, the universe is composed of energy and that energy takes different shapes over time. I don't think "I" will ever be reincarnated because the unique energy-form that is me and has had my experiences will never exist again. But "my" energy might shift and/or combine with other energy and take on another shape. So it would definitely not exclude animal existences.

[Theia]

I believe that reincarnation is likely. I like the belief that everything is energy and since energy can never be created or destroyed that it has all always existed in some form.

I do believe that life forms have different soul experiences. A consideration that was explained to me was that most species that are not human have something called group souls. Many beings will make up a group soul. I am comfortable with the thought of beings moving up and down the chain as fitting for their most previous lifetime experience. I do believe that it's much more complicated than we can understand though. I can't speculate at this moment on how long ago that humans might have began to have souls because even if they didn't have individual souls, in my mind they at least had to be a part of a group soul. And when that group soul reached a certain point, it would become one or more human souls.

I don't expect anyone to agree with this, and I'm certainly not attempting to persuade, I'm just going to give my thoughts.... In my own life I've had many troubles with healthy partner/love type relationships. I believe it is likely (based on lifetime experience this time and other beliefs congruent with reincarnation) that these things are lessons that I didn't accept or receive before. So now I am learning them. I do think that abusive relationships and reincarnation are similar, in if you deeply hurt someone else's soul, then maybe next time the 2 souls meet the placements of power would be reversed and the abused might become the victim. And I mean deeply hurting as a true wound, not a slight by a potential partner. I do think that reincarnation is likely, and I do think that lives cycle through lifetimes just as we see in our own physical lifetimes. I also think that every action is connected, if we are deeply hurtful, unfair or dismissing to someone this time around, that next time we might experience the same thing from the other perspective. The only way to break the negatives in the cycle is through acceptance and love. Love and accept yourself, and let everyone else be. You can offer them the opportunity to follow a path that is parallel to yours, but anything more is counterproductive.

If you think of the phrase, "As above, so below", then you can see how the larger picture, the one that spans generations is containing the cycle of our single lifetime. It really gives pause for consideration of the likeliness of reincarnation, at least in my mind.

[doubledutch]

i believe the spiritual world predates life on earth. i don't believe there has ever been a person (or animal) without a spirit - the spirit is the breath of life, or breath of god. it leaves the body upon death. if that person (spirit) has more work to do on this earth, then i believe they will be reincarnated.

[Theia]

Originally Posted by doubledutch

i believe the spiritual world predates life on earth. i don't believe there has ever been a person (or animal) without a spirit - the spirit is the breath of life, or breath of god. it leaves the body upon death. if that person (spirit) has more work to do on this earth, then i believe they will be reincarnated.

I agree with that. Thanks for bringing up that point.

[Bluegoat]

Hmm, I also think all living things have souls - it's what makes them alive rather than non-living. The nn-living equivalent is a form. A form or soul is like the pattern or blueprint that makes something what it is. Without one, there isn't anything.

[ThomasL]

My belief is it not necessarly that we have souls but rather we are soul and have been alive forever and will always. We simply change forms or rather bodies from life to life but our soul selves are eternal and are a part of god existing like a drop of water in an infinite ocean of life.

[JElaineB]

Originally Posted by ThomasL

My belief is it not necessarly that we have souls but rather we are soul and have been alive forever and will always. We simply change forms or rather bodies from life to life but our soul selves are eternal and are a part of god existing like a drop of water in an infinite ocean of life.

Very beautiful, thank you.

If you want to read a book in keeping with this idea that we are eternal souls, I recommend Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives by Michael Newton.

[zoebird]

for me, there is only one "soul" and it permeates everything. Emptiness is Form; Form is Emptiness (buddhist). The divine aspect--spirit or soul--is "emptiness"--which is really No-Thing-Ness, or Universal Being or whatever one might call it--and form is the body that the emptiness chooses to create and inhabit.

if that makes any sense.