The concept of reincarnation, with one's essence/energy/soul carried from one corporeal state to the next, does seem to imply some level of administration (if nothing else) to be performed by (what would easily be identified in our mode of envisioning the universe) a deity. It seems a bit too complex a system to operate without some bit of oversight.
One might wonder: Why would this deity set up a system whereby beings keep running the same race (so to speak) over and over? However, the more confounding query, it seems to me, would be: Why would this deity only give us one chance to run this race? The only way to grow, to advance, to develop is through repetition, through practice; a single lifetime only allows so many opportunities for growing as a being.
Obviously the tricky bit about the concept is that we seem to come into the world with the proverbial tabula rasa; what was the point of gaining the experience from previous lifetimes if we just forget it when we start over? And there I think the knowledge comes back to us slowly, in gradual ways, and often not in ways we consciously grasp.
Yes, that is a convenient explanation, but it's no more convenient than any other philosophy, is it?
"...what was the point of gaining the experience from previous lifetimes if we just forget it when we start over? And there I think the knowledge comes back to us slowly, in gradual ways, and often not in ways we consciously grasp."
ReplyDeleteThe hedonistic syndrome. Wait a minute -- I think I said that before. The Sisyphus syndrome? [G]
Ray