Past Lives

[Candy]

So, does one get a used soul at conception or at birth?

Or maybe they get it later?

Does everyone get a soul?

If I commit a crime, can I blame it on my soul if it previously possessed a criminal?

Does the soul get to choose what person to inhabit next? If so, when does it get to make the choice?

I don't get this kind of stuff, either. Really, I don't, but it was mystifying for the first 4 years of my life. My siblings and parents rushed it out of my life by humor. Well, they made fun of me, and they still do when I’m around them. I don’t wish for this behavior. I’ve since distanced myself from those beings. I still remember the weird dreams, though.

[Мастер]

Actually, for the last decade or so, I've always thought I was supposed to come back and tell the 'family' that I was okay. I've yet to identify 'me', so I have no idea of how to identify and contact the 'family'. Does this make sense? :?

Without commenting on the validity of the original suppostion, I'm going to say that, should you identify a candidate former you, and should that person still have surviving close relatives, they may not see things your way, and may find the result of any communication from you to this effect to be the opposite of comforting...

[Candy]

Actually, for the last decade or so, I've always thought I was supposed to come back and tell the 'family' that I was okay. I've yet to identify 'me', so I have no idea of how to identify and contact the 'family'. Does this make sense? :?

Without commenting on the validity of the original suppostion, I'm going to say that, should you identify a candidate former you, and should that person still have surviving close relatives, they may not see things your way, and may find the result of any communication from you to this effect to be the opposite of comforting...

I've tried to get the manifest to the flight that I believe 'me' to have parrished in, but I can't. I work for the company that I need the information from, and I can't get it due to legal reasons. I've tried!

[Candy]

I work with a man, 'Bill', who boarded the folks of the airplane in question. I've not told 'Bill' that 'I' was a person that ceased in the incident.

'Bill' knows something is fishy with me and my knowledge...

[Candy]

I scare Bill!

[Lance]

I scare Bill!

You scare lots of people. Why should Bill be any different?

[Candy]

I scare Bill!

You scare lots of people. Why should Bill be any different?

I freak everyone out with my knowledge of everything. I don't mean, too. I'm surprised I still have a job with this company. :)

[Candy]

We are closing our Ft Wayne reservation office in 8 months from now. Sad.

[umop ap!sdn]

So, does one get a used soul at conception or at birth?

I don't see any reason why they'd wait until birth. Some people claim that they remember "falling" or "spiralling" or "getting sucked" into their fetal selves, so maybe it happens somewhere in between.

Whereas if you want my personal stance on the pro-life vs. pro-choice issue, that's another thread entirely. ;) I've seen the topic get dragged off in that direction before.

Or maybe they get it later?

Does everyone get a soul?

As I understand it, the idea of a soul is an attempt to explain 2 things: consciousness, and the difference between an animate person (or other lifeform) and an inanimate corpse. If souls are for real, then it's reasonable to assume that a person could not function without one and would not be alive.

If I commit a crime, can I blame it on my soul if it previously possessed a criminal?

Why should that change the sentence? If your soul committed a crime, then it should serve whatever sentence the judge hands out. If there is an entity that we each have that is the agent of consciousness, then that is the entity that will be suffering be it in prison or by means of loss of property, etc.

In other words, your soul, if souls exist, is you. In fact, I would venture to say, with a slightly looser definition of what a soul is, that we all definitely have them - we just don't know whether they survive death. We all have neuroelectrical activity in our brains that animate our bodies - maybe that's all a soul is. Maybe that in itself somehow explains consciousness, without the need for a so called "supernatural" entity that is outside of materialism, outside of a deterministic universe.

Does the soul get to choose what person to inhabit next? If so, when does it get to make the choice?

Some say it does. Many who claim to remember before they came to Earthly existence, having the chance to choose between several possible lives. Some only claim to remember hanging around their parents for a while before conception or before birth.

[MM_Dandy]

If I commit a crime, can I blame it on my soul if it previously possessed a criminal?

I am sure it has been tried as a defence somewhere :D I am not sure it will go over very well, though. I do believe there was a case once in Illinois where the claim that God had commanded the defendant to kill someone was not accepted as a valid defence...

I wouldn't be surprised, either. IIRC, the "God made me do it" defense didn't work on Law & Order, either.

I'll admit, though, that a good description by the new inhabitant of the old inhabitant which could be verified and yet not be known to the new inhabitant by any other reasonable means would help the defendant considerably.

On the other hand, I can't help but think that this has the "clairvoyant cold reading" feel to it. I.e: In a past life, I think I may have been a dentist (one of my first memories is of the dentist's office), what's more, I have strong feelings associated with dentists (to this day, I am still unreasonably afraid of them). So, after a little digging, ask the right questions, and viola!, I found a mean-spirited dentist who died ~9 months before I showed up on the scene.

Not to keep raining on the parade, but people (especially children) have creative ways of dealing with bad situations. I have no idea of what life was like for you as a small child, Candy, but I gather that it generally wasn't good. Sometimes, when we can't physically escape, we escape with our imaginations.

Despite me and my curmudgeon ways, though, I hope you do find answers to your questions. I don't know how the family might respond, but you'll never know unless you try.

[MM_Dandy]

I don't see any reason why they'd wait until birth. Some people claim that they remember "falling" or "spiralling" or "getting sucked" into their fetal selves, so maybe it happens somewhere in between.

Whereas if you want my personal stance on the pro-life vs. pro-choice issue, that's another thread entirely. ;) I've seen the topic get dragged off in that direction before.

Conception it is, then. I have no problem with that.

As I understand it, the idea of a soul is an attempt to explain 2 things: consciousness, and the difference between an animate person (or other lifeform) and an inanimate corpse. If souls are for real, then it's reasonable to assume that a person could not function without one and would not be alive.

I agree with that. I've never heard of a religion that considers entities which are neither animated nor self-aware as also having soul. We'll say that everyone has a soul, then.

Do all souls get reincarnated? If not, what happens to them if they are not reincarnated?

Why should that change the sentence? If your soul committed a crime, then it should serve whatever sentence the judge hands out. If there is an entity that we each have that is the agent of consciousness, then that is the entity that will be suffering be it in prison or by means of loss of property, etc.

In other words, your soul, if souls exist, is you. In fact, I would venture to say, with a slightly looser definition of what a soul is, that we all definitely have them - we just don't know whether they survive death. We all have neuroelectrical activity in our brains that animate our bodies - maybe that's all a soul is. Maybe that in itself somehow explains consciousness, without the need for a so called "supernatural" entity that is outside of materialism, outside of a deterministic universe.

It shouldn't change the sentence in my opinion. I'm just asking if it's reasonable to defend yourself by saying that you can't be held responsible for your actions because some criminal soul decided to inhabit your body. It's sort of like saying that I can't be held responsible for my genetic makeup.

We could say that it is the soul which is punished, but then we have another problem. Let's say that a past life incarnation of my soul committed a crime for which the statute of limitations has not yet expired, but died before it could be charged. Let's further say that the offending incarnation was never charged. In addition, we'll also say that it can be determined that it is indeed the same soul which is now me. Should I be charged with the crime?

So, we get to the business of whether or not the soul can survive beyond the death of the body. There are accounts of people having out-of-body experiences while clinically dead.

In my opinion, if a soul is only the neuroelectrical activity of a person, then it really isn't a soul, and this discussion is mute. Or, at the very least, we should be exploring more physical means by which your memories (the actual brain matter which constitutes them, anyway) are transferred.

Some say it does. Many who claim to remember before they came to Earthly existence, having the chance to choose between several possible lives. Some only claim to remember hanging around their parents for a while before conception or before birth.

Ewww...sorry, I really don't like the idea of hanging around my parents before my conception. There's a chance that I may actually witness my conception.

Other than that, I guess I'll have to ask: What do they do in the meantime?

[Мастер]

We could say that it is the soul which is punished, but then we have another problem. Let's say that a past life incarnation of my soul committed a crime for which the statute of limitations has not yet expired, but died before it could be charged. Let's further say that the offending incarnation was never charged. In addition, we'll also say that it can be determined that it is indeed the same soul which is now me. Should I be charged with the crime?

Well, this certainly changes the situation with respect to people who receive multiple death sentences. Now, after the first one is implemented, they have to be hunted down and refried...

[umop ap!sdn]

We could say that it is the soul which is punished, but then we have another problem. Let's say that a past life incarnation of my soul committed a crime for which the statute of limitations has not yet expired, but died before it could be charged. Let's further say that the offending incarnation was never charged. In addition, we'll also say that it can be determined that it is indeed the same soul which is now me. Should I be charged with the crime?

That's a good question. I guess it could work that way.

Ewww...sorry, I really don't like the idea of hanging around my parents before my conception. There's a chance that I may actually witness my conception.

Perfectly understandable. :P

Other than that, I guess I'll have to ask: What do they do in the meantime?

Depends on who you ask. :D Some claim that there is a whole nonphysical realm full of institutes of higher learning - not book learning like we have in the physical world but spiritual learning or something... many people say that time is unimportant or has no meaning in between lives, and that decades or even centuries can pass by in what seems like a short while. Personally, I would imagine that, if such a "discarnate" realm exists, it doesn't necessarily have to be part of space-time nor bound by its rules; an observer there may or may not be aware of space-time. Sounds woo-woo-ish, I know. :D

Well, this certainly changes the situation with respect to people who receive multiple death sentences.

Not to mention multiple life sentences...

[MM_Dandy]

Let's say that a past life incarnation of my soul committed a crime for which the statute of limitations has not yet expired, but died before it could be charged. Let's further say that the offending incarnation was never charged.

I forgot to do something here...

[Lance]

It was asked earlier where the extra souls come from as the Earth's population expands...

Let's marry this to another "far out" idea. Perhaps souls are not "Earth-bound". Perhaps there is another civilization somewhere that is in decline, many millennia past it's hay day and now stuck on a dying planet. That "system" would have an excess of souls to shed.

If you buy into the "life is common" idea, then the concept of civilizations in decline is almost certainly true somewhere.

[MM_Dandy]

... many people say that time is unimportant or has no meaning in between lives, and that decades or even centuries can pass by in what seems like a short while. Personally, I would imagine that, if such a "discarnate" realm exists, it doesn't necessarily have to be part of space-time nor bound by its rules; an observer there may or may not be aware of space-time. Sounds woo-woo-ish, I know. :D

Actually, to me, this doens't sound all that woo-wooish. Very much how I tend to think of the afterlife. I would even suppose that there are those out there that believe that their souls were previously incarnate in the future. Still, you'd think that this would be a more common occurance. You'd also think that of those that predict the future, they'd be a little more accurate. This also messes up the whole transfer between someone who died and someone who is concieved shortly thereafter. In other words, my immediately previous past life of a dentist may have happened fifty years ago, or maybe a hundred years in the future.

I don't know, maybe they have rules they've got to follow. Like one must re-enter 'time' at a point very soon after one leaves it. But then rules suggest that there is some oversight to this.

Let's marry this to another "far out" idea. Perhaps souls are not "Earth-bound". Perhaps there is another civilization somewhere that is in decline, many millennia past it's hay day and now stuck on a dying planet. That "system" would have an excess of souls to shed.

If you buy into the "life is common" idea, then the concept of civilizations in decline is almost certainly true somewhere.

Ok :D !

Are the souls the other race, or did they inhabit the coporeal forms of the other race?

I wonder if we could find someone who was a Vetan in a former life and get them to shed a little light on the whole Planet X/Pole Shift thing.

This would make it absolutely impossible (at least until our technology improves) to confirm or deny. One thing about history, it's pretty much set in stone (at least modern history is), and past life memories can be tested against actual observations. This goes for future events, too. At some point, the future becomes the past, and we can compare the memories to the actual events. Introducing galactic or even universal sharing opens the doors wide open to just about everything.

ooooooo, I just realized that we're heading for a "collective consciousness" discussion. :wink:

[Lance]

ooooooo, I just realized that we're heading for a "collective consciousness" discussion. :wink:

Personally, I find the "collective consciousness" to be a quite useful tool when I need to know something that I currently don't. But that's a story for another day/thread...

[MM_Dandy]

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The Extraordinary Posts have been moved to here.
Have a nice day! :)
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[Lance]

You moved the posts?

You have NO SOUL!!!

Not really, just trying to get this thread back on track too.

Thanks, for spotting that and handling it.

[MM_Dandy]

You moved the posts?

You have NO SOUL!!!

ummm....prove it. :D

Not really, just trying to get this thread back on track too.

Thanks, for spotting that and handling it.

You're welcome. Judging by the response so far, I think it was merited. If you (or anybody else) thinks that it belongs in some other area, go ahead and move it or let Lance or a moderator know.

As far as this topic goes, I really can't think of much to add to it right now.

Anyone else?

[umop ap!sdn]

Anyone else?

Not unless our OP takes me up on my offer. *shrug* :)

[umop ap!sdn]

It's the day after Halloween and we have ourselves a zombie thread. I'm having a hard time not believing in past lives right now. My "past life" went to college in 1978 to study filmmaking and/or television productions - also music, since the popular music of that era is now and was then so important to me.

http://www.collegeprofiles.com/images/ritpic.jpg
http://www.collegeprofiles.com/images/ritpic2.jpg
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/WebPageGif ... PROUD2.JPG

Someone from another board posted a link to something on an entirely different subject and the page it had that last picture on it - I swear this is the place! It's in Rochester, NY. Their site says they started their filmmaking program in 1976 and their film and television in 1978. I can't believe how much the pics resemble my "memories". There's another picture, it's of a long building with lots of windows but I seem to have lost the link.

You all can call me crazy now. :D

That offer is still good for the songs from 1965, by the way. Y'know, since I want to be scientific about this.

[Superluminal]

Ok, your'e crazy now :P . Still trying to figure out what an "umop ap!sdn" is.

[umop ap!sdn]

Stand on your head and look at the monitor. :P

Edit: I even know what my phone number was. The numbers 4-31043 have always meant something to me, and before when I tried to remember my last name I kept thinking of either Hopkins or Morris or Monroe or some kind of MO- or HO- name. According to this site, HOpkins and MOnroe were exchanges used in Rochester. My phone number was HOpkins-31043 but I kept confusing the exchange codes so I had to remember that my number started with 4, not 6. Hence 4-31043.

This is exactly the kind of partial confirmation that makes it so hard to let go - someday I have to go there and look through the newspaper archives! :D

I'm still not 100% sure what my last name was though.

[Superluminal]

Standing on my head gave me a headache, so I turned my monitor upside down instead.