The Increasing Human Population vs Soul Population Debate

[Kelly]

There is a logical problem with trying to figure out reincarnation mathematically in this manner. We do not know enough about the nature of the soul to know how they are formed, or if they ever expire. While reincarnation shows that the soul has a longer lifespan than the physical body, we do not know if it:

• a. is eternal and has no beginning
• b. can be formed newly in a born person and then lasts forever
• c. is formed in a newly born person and lasts for some average period of time and then ceases to be
• d. is formed in ways completely beyond our understanding
• e. goes into some other form of existence after "enough" human incarnations

Thus, we cannot use population growth to prove or disprove reincarnation. We can use the information to logically conclude certain things about the nature of the soul:

• 1. Since the numbers show that there are many people without past lives, souls either are regularly newly created, OR regularly enter the human form for the first time after being in some other form.
• 2. Since population growth clearly stems from physical, cultural, understandable "earthly" causes, it appears that while souls inhabit bodies, they do not control the tendency for new bodies to be created. Specifically, there is no evidence of the species ceasing to reproduce due to paucity of souls, nor of unexplained rampant reproduction due to an overabundance thereof.

These are tiny pieces of a very large puzzle, but we should still take them in to account in our overall understanding of how life works.

Posted by Rod

Alternatively

What if we all come from a group soul, and to use a metaphor, when we’re born our consciousness is like a rain drop condensing from a cloud. When we die, the rain drop hits the ground (splat!), and it evaporates to rejoin the cloud until it falls again as a new raindrop. The current population of the Earth is merely a downpour.

Just a thought…

 

[Kelly]

More Member Opinions

Another possibility: There are other worlds besides earth, and right now more souls (that might have lived elsewhere in the past) are choosing to come here.
Or, how about this: Souls are choosing to live in more than one body at a time (although, why they didn't do this earlier is a further question that gets generated by this particular theory).


There are lots of reasons that could explain why the population is increasing. I don't know if we'll ever know for sure, though.


Posted by Libellule

Originally posted by Libellule
although, why they didn't do this earlier is a further question that gets generated by this particular theory

Because the Earth was very different. In the last one hundred years alone there have been more changes in the world than for thousands of years before. To experience all of those changes, one might choose to live multiple lives at the same time.


Another, and much more prosaic reason: Because there were not enough opportunities. After all, to incarnate as a human you need a man and a woman to give you the chance. As the population of the planet grows, it becomes more possible to be born on this Earth.


When the population of the planet was in millions, there were only millions of opportunities. Suppose there are one hundred million souls in existence (just an arbitrary number, I am not saying that there are that many) and there are ten million people one Earth. Well, only one in ten souls can incarnate at any one time. When the population grows to hundred million, then every soul can live exactly one life, or occasionally some may live two, but then others will have to wait. Now as the population grows, finally many souls may live more than one life. And as it keep growing more and more souls can live multiple lives.


Posted by Rastislav

It seems that everyone is reincarnated over and over again. If this is the case could someone explain to me the constant increase in population.

To my mind, this contradiction will only exist, if we assume that all souls were created at the same moment somewhere in the past. But does this have to be the case? I don't know. What if the process of creating souls isn't finished yet? Given this, there would be "brand new" souls joining us on our journey to perfection on this planet.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

 

[Kelly]

Here's my new hypothetical analogy:


There were 100 people living in Jonesville in 1800. During the next 100 years, 100 people died and 200 people were born there. However, in 1900, there were 400 people living in Jonesville.


What is your conclusion? That birth is mathematically impossible? No, I think you would immediately consider the possibility that some people moved there from somewhere else. Or, in other, words, it would be obvious to you that not everyone living in Jonesville in 1900 must necessarily be a descendant of someone who lived there in 1800.


Applying this to reincarnation, why on earth would you assume that every body in our world today has a soul that must have been incarnated in a body here one century ago?


Here's a shortened excerpt from one of my previous responses to this question:


The issue:


There are more people living on the earth now than everyone who has died before, therefore reincarnation is mathematically impossible.


Supposing, for the sake of argument, that the premise is actually true, in order for the conclusion to necessarily follow, a number of other unstated premises would also have to be true, including the following:

• 1. Every body has a soul;
  
• 2. Every body has only one soul;
  
• 3. Every soul has a body;
  
• 4. Every soul has only one body;
  
• 5. Souls cannot reside anywhere except in bodies on the known physical earth;
  
• 6. There are no incarnated bodies on any other planet of the universe or in any dimension other than ours.
  
• 7. No new souls can ever be created.

Regarding 5: A basic tenet of reincarnation is that souls can and do exist apart from physical bodies, therefore the number of physical bodies at any given time would be irrelevant to the number of souls at any given time.


Simply stated, the conclusion does not logically follow from the premise; The issue is a red herring.

 

[deborah]

Dr. Ian Stevenson looked at the estimated total amount of people who have lived here on earth - ranging from 69 billion to 96 billion.


He figured that each soul/person on the earth which was currently 5 billion when he made this calculation - would have had 15 to 20 past lives. :thumbsup:


{Information obtained from the book The Case for Reincarnation - by Joe Fisher}

 

[ChrisR]

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