Kristopher
Senior Registered
to all the skeptics that say having a belief in reincarnation is nothing more than wishful thinking?
As a more specific answer to the above skeptical comment that reincarnation is nothing more than wishful thinking, I would reply (at least mentally) that such a comment by anyone is hardly logical or scientific; and that better health and longer life is also wishful thinking. Yet, there is plenty of scientific and anecdotal evidence that such a wish is attainable—just as it is with reincarnation.Kristopher said:...having a belief in reincarnation is nothing more than wishful thinking?
"Yes, it may be wishful thinking (as I probably wouldn't be drawn into a catalog of the events which prove it to me), but I intend to live and enjoy my life here to the best of my ability with the expectation of a better world and life on the other side...if I'm wrong I had a great time here, but if I'm right I'll be thrilled."Kristopher said:to all the skeptics that say having a belief in reincarnation is nothing more than wishful thinking?
I used to think that people who believed in reincarnation were part of the tin foil hat brigade. I didn't dismiss it as a possibility but I just doubted everyone ( except some childrens experiences ) who had memories. I figured adults with memories were more likely to be delusional but they never bothered me so I left them to it. That was until I gained my own past life memories. I'm a down to earth bloke so I figured I had some credibility with my family. I told them about it like I would tell them about having a cup of coffee. I didn't see it as a big deal, it was just something that was happening to me. I figured they may not believe me ( or my tin foil hat ) but I wasn't expecting just how opposed to the idea they were. In order to get through to them that reincarnation is real I would have to disprove the whole we only have one life thing. That's impossible. Like someone else pointed out, it really does come down to experience. I experienced it, they haven't. There's no point in drawing battle lines so I just leave them to their beliefs nowadays.
This is like the "black swan event".
The phrase "black swan" derives from a Latin expression; its oldest known occurrence is the poet Juvenal's characterization of something being "rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno" ("a rare bird in the lands and very much like a black swan").When the phrase was coined, the black swan was presumed not to exist. The importance of the metaphor lies in its analogy to the fragility of any system of thought. A set of conclusions is potentially undone once any of its fundamental postulates is disproved. In this case, the observation of a single black swan would be the undoing of the logic of any system of thought, as well as any reasoning that followed from that underlying logic.
Juvenal's phrase was a common expression in 16th century London as a statement of impossibility. The London expression derives from the Old World presumption that all swans must be white because all historical records of swans reported that they had white feathers. In that context, a black swan was impossible or at least nonexistent.
However, in 1697, Dutch explorers led by Willem de Vlamingh became the first Europeans to see black swans, in Western Australia. The term subsequently metamorphosed to connote the idea that a perceived impossibility might later be disproved. Taleb notes that in the 19th century, John Stuart Mill used the black swan logical fallacy as a new term to identify falsification.
I have not met yet (thankfully) a person who has not become silent upon hearing:
“How is it wishful thinking? if I’ve remembered things I never heard of that turned out to be real? How can that be passed off as my imagination? Remembering what a girl in the 1900’s wrote in a letter? Events in her life? Her possessions? Her every day life? The name of her pet? How is it that every so called imagination has been proven? Explain to me, why this does not at all make it possible reincarnation exists. And please, do not say reincarnation isn’t real because it “just isn’t”
In my experience, telling a bit of your story always works and and asking why reincarnation is not real and how I’ve remembered things I shouldn’t
One other thing however that has silenced many, is in response to “You just read things and imagine these things”
I say “If my imagination is so strong how come I can read books on anyone else and what I imagine it was like ends up being wrong? It doesn’t match up with photos or accounts? How come”
Logic seems to silence people because those I’ve met can’t think up a logical reason for those things.
I tried that kind of logic on my sister. She is an opened minded artist but by God if she didn't become the most closed off of people when I tried logic. It was actually pretty heartbreaking for me because we are so close. She just kept saying it was coincidence. Numerous coincidences in a row is more than coincidence imo but she has her own firmly held beliefs. I don't talk about it to my family now.