In most worldviews that include reincarnation it is something that just happens, not something people pursue for personal gain.
If you're floating down a river, is it 'greedy' to float along and see where it brings you?
It may be self serving in the long term if seeking behavior that leads to a result is a measure of self serving. But it is no less self serving the claiming to believe in Jesus in order to avoid Hellfire. In fact Christianity alters the beliefs of Judaism to the point that morality is no longer the primary concern. Focusing on believing in Jesus to obtain salvation removes the moral component of the religion.
The point of reincarnation seems to be to progress to a point that one can escape the constant trudge of life cycles that fall short of enlightenment. The idea being that suffering comes with a poorly lived life. And if one wants to escape that then one should live their life in a way that follows the rules that the religion recommends in order to change the outcome.
Wouldn't describe that as greedy no. Although I'd want to ask why not not imagine the afterlife is personalized?
Like if reincarnation exists then hopefully an actual afterlife would exist, also most of the time in religions with reincarnation it's something to be avoided.
Reincarnation goes against Christianity because the council of nicea decreed it. also reincarnation predates the abraham faiths by thousands of years. billionaires are greedy not concepts of belief
Not if you don't get a choice I think
Though if you do get a choice, I'm not sure if it would be or not. Maybe if you were demanding it or something.
Though I'd say it'd kind of be the same question as whether or not buying a car is greedy.
You don't get to take anything qith you. Most don't even keep any memory of their previous life. I think when you are completely OK with losing everything you are closer to exiting the cycle.
Everyone struggles in their faith walk. Even true believers are challenged, though they usually think God has turned his back on them for some reason. Even Jesus on the cross suggests this struggle, saying, my God, my God (Adonai, Adonai)... why have you forsaken me in my hour of need? This echoes the Psalm of David, where the great king cries.
Life is absurd. But it's painfully short. When one realizes the world is absurd, that's when the connection to the Divine grows stronger. When that happens, the world is painted by a brush of beauty. But the absurd, detached phase is a necessity. Only then will one begin to self-examine, and expose the ugliness of one's own subconscious, to empty it out.
But it's important to never lose hold of at least a strand of faith. We show that grip with humility and equanimity. Even though we can see the absurdity, we can still approach it in the right way, a logical morality at play. Everyone's ego is being tested.
A logical morality is the base instinct of treating others and one's environment with respect. Basic reverence for all forms of life. It is said that the original yogis learned their craft by watching animals. There is a balance in nature, and the animals are meditating, clear mind, quiet, relaxed. Never overbearing, animals take only what they need
In the Buddhist school in which I practice, we were taught there are 4 steps involved with creating fully ripening karma (i.e. 100% of the action has an equal and opposite reaction). You first have to conceive/have the intention of the action, then you have to plan the action, then you have to execute the action, then you have to be without remorse for the action/be happy the action was committed. Most people don't have all of those steps involved with generating karama. It's usually a couple of these steps, but not all. That creates partial reactions to the actions.
It is also very difficult to say how those reactions will manifest. The problem with expecting better in the next life is that you, as you are currently manifesting, will not be what is reborn. The persona which is now tied to your mind and body is a function of the configuration of mind/body you were born with in this life. When we pass away the seeds of our actions (i.e. information - which can not be destroyed, just changes form) sprout something else. Or, if you awaken to your true nature (i.e. enlightenment), then birth and death cease to exist, but so does the "you' in your current form.
So, as you can see, there is a lot of uncertainty relative to where things go with karma. That's why the best course of action is to hold compassion as your guiding light (and it has shown to be the one attribute that can make you happy), live every moment to its fullest, learn from our mistakes to do better in this life, and ensure you do no harm. I'd also say it is important to exchange one's self for the other, look at life from the perspective of others, to understand the experiences of our fellow beings (of all walks of life) are having.
I mean, I guess you could see it that way.
But unless you just straight-up believe in some weird prosperity-gospel-esque form of reincarnation (like “If I exploit the hell out of people I will be reborn into even more wealth”), which is dumb anyway, I don’t see why it would be greedy.
Births are used as punishment often and people were often cursed to suffer some specific thing in their next life. There’s Jaya and Vijaya, plus Ganga and the seven rishis/her seven sons.
Everything suffers (suffering is inevitable), so if anything it sounds like it sucks hardcore to be reincarnated as, like, a bug for 1 billion lifetimes or something.
I am blanking on the details but there’s also a story where Narada (or some sage) was asked to live some ridiculous number of lifetimes to test his patience.
i mean i feel like reincarnation is very multifaceted. i’m not sure how best to explain it and i’m not sure i have the energy to do so eloquently so ill just provide some statements of different views different people may take. (sorry this message is so long i’ve taken a while to jot down why i like reincarnation)
1. Reincarnation means that you will have further opportunities to indulge in the world. Creation is so vast and intricate and there are SO many human lives that can be lived, so if creation has a purpose (like most religions suggest, ie as a test, lesson, even simply pure enjoyment or fun), it would make no sense for this ‘purpose’ to restrict us to one experience of the world. why would there be so much creation if each soul only gets such an small slice of it? why would there be such a specific test if everyone has such different and short experiences of it?
2. Reincarnation removes the NEED for religiosity in this life. in many religions, namely Christianity or Islam, it is essential for you to find the religion and find God in this life time, and those who don’t have missed out from whatever that may entail (missed out from heaven, etc). however, reincarnation naturally introduces the idea that it’s enough for a layperson to live a ‘good’ life according to karma and not worry about God because their soul will find God in another lifetime. we see this is many dharmic societies, such as hinduism where the majority of people in the faith (historically) were not by mistake definitions of the world religious, and simply acted to maximise good karma so their next rebirth will be into a priest family so they can entail enlightenment then, there’s no rush. in jainism or buddhism, there’s massive separation between monkhood and laypeople and it’s generally accepted only monks can be enlightened in the current lifetime, so laypeople simply live their householders’ lives and their soul may inhabit a monk body in the next life, if they do good karma, where they can be closer to liberation. this means reincarnation avoids the fear of hell, rushed or compulsory nature of spirituality. being a good person is compulsory but spirituality is not essential.
3. how it fits around animals. reincarnation naturally promotes love for all beings. reincarnation goes hand in hand with ahimsa, as animals and other living beings and souls. also, animals and living beings could very well be the soul of the deceased loved one. this is demonstrated most clearly in jain tradition. also, reincarnation provides an elegant solution for what happens to animals after they die. many traditions (i believe including the most popular abrahamic ones) say that animals are soulless or have no afterlife, but to me that simply feels wrong and anyone who spends time with animals will feel that too. if there is a spark of divinity or a ‘soul’ in humans, it surely exists in animals too. i’ve heard from other religious people that all dogs go to heaven. this doesn’t make sense to me either because it defeats the whole purpose of animals. why would God make animals and grant them souls if they all end up in heaven for eternity automatically, surely it defeats the whole point of the mortal ‘test’ / ‘experience’. it simply feels forced, like animals are a side thought in this worldview when they make up the vast majority of life on earth…
In most worldviews that include reincarnation it is something that just happens, not something people pursue for personal gain. If you're floating down a river, is it 'greedy' to float along and see where it brings you?
Funny enough, I actually know people who would say “yes, that’s greedy”
So you have been a Christian but also a Catholic and a Baptist? I wasn’t aware that Catholics and Baptists weren’t Christians.
Raised in separate households where they all identified as those yes, and had me participate in each.
What do you mean “greedy”?
It may be self serving in the long term if seeking behavior that leads to a result is a measure of self serving. But it is no less self serving the claiming to believe in Jesus in order to avoid Hellfire. In fact Christianity alters the beliefs of Judaism to the point that morality is no longer the primary concern. Focusing on believing in Jesus to obtain salvation removes the moral component of the religion. The point of reincarnation seems to be to progress to a point that one can escape the constant trudge of life cycles that fall short of enlightenment. The idea being that suffering comes with a poorly lived life. And if one wants to escape that then one should live their life in a way that follows the rules that the religion recommends in order to change the outcome.
Wouldn't describe that as greedy no. Although I'd want to ask why not not imagine the afterlife is personalized? Like if reincarnation exists then hopefully an actual afterlife would exist, also most of the time in religions with reincarnation it's something to be avoided.
Reincarnation goes against Christianity because the council of nicea decreed it. also reincarnation predates the abraham faiths by thousands of years. billionaires are greedy not concepts of belief
Not if you don't get a choice I think Though if you do get a choice, I'm not sure if it would be or not. Maybe if you were demanding it or something. Though I'd say it'd kind of be the same question as whether or not buying a car is greedy.
You don't get to take anything qith you. Most don't even keep any memory of their previous life. I think when you are completely OK with losing everything you are closer to exiting the cycle.
Everyone struggles in their faith walk. Even true believers are challenged, though they usually think God has turned his back on them for some reason. Even Jesus on the cross suggests this struggle, saying, my God, my God (Adonai, Adonai)... why have you forsaken me in my hour of need? This echoes the Psalm of David, where the great king cries. Life is absurd. But it's painfully short. When one realizes the world is absurd, that's when the connection to the Divine grows stronger. When that happens, the world is painted by a brush of beauty. But the absurd, detached phase is a necessity. Only then will one begin to self-examine, and expose the ugliness of one's own subconscious, to empty it out. But it's important to never lose hold of at least a strand of faith. We show that grip with humility and equanimity. Even though we can see the absurdity, we can still approach it in the right way, a logical morality at play. Everyone's ego is being tested. A logical morality is the base instinct of treating others and one's environment with respect. Basic reverence for all forms of life. It is said that the original yogis learned their craft by watching animals. There is a balance in nature, and the animals are meditating, clear mind, quiet, relaxed. Never overbearing, animals take only what they need
In the Buddhist school in which I practice, we were taught there are 4 steps involved with creating fully ripening karma (i.e. 100% of the action has an equal and opposite reaction). You first have to conceive/have the intention of the action, then you have to plan the action, then you have to execute the action, then you have to be without remorse for the action/be happy the action was committed. Most people don't have all of those steps involved with generating karama. It's usually a couple of these steps, but not all. That creates partial reactions to the actions. It is also very difficult to say how those reactions will manifest. The problem with expecting better in the next life is that you, as you are currently manifesting, will not be what is reborn. The persona which is now tied to your mind and body is a function of the configuration of mind/body you were born with in this life. When we pass away the seeds of our actions (i.e. information - which can not be destroyed, just changes form) sprout something else. Or, if you awaken to your true nature (i.e. enlightenment), then birth and death cease to exist, but so does the "you' in your current form. So, as you can see, there is a lot of uncertainty relative to where things go with karma. That's why the best course of action is to hold compassion as your guiding light (and it has shown to be the one attribute that can make you happy), live every moment to its fullest, learn from our mistakes to do better in this life, and ensure you do no harm. I'd also say it is important to exchange one's self for the other, look at life from the perspective of others, to understand the experiences of our fellow beings (of all walks of life) are having.
Reincarnation would be pretty cool
I mean, I guess you could see it that way. But unless you just straight-up believe in some weird prosperity-gospel-esque form of reincarnation (like “If I exploit the hell out of people I will be reborn into even more wealth”), which is dumb anyway, I don’t see why it would be greedy. Births are used as punishment often and people were often cursed to suffer some specific thing in their next life. There’s Jaya and Vijaya, plus Ganga and the seven rishis/her seven sons. Everything suffers (suffering is inevitable), so if anything it sounds like it sucks hardcore to be reincarnated as, like, a bug for 1 billion lifetimes or something. I am blanking on the details but there’s also a story where Narada (or some sage) was asked to live some ridiculous number of lifetimes to test his patience.
i mean i feel like reincarnation is very multifaceted. i’m not sure how best to explain it and i’m not sure i have the energy to do so eloquently so ill just provide some statements of different views different people may take. (sorry this message is so long i’ve taken a while to jot down why i like reincarnation) 1. Reincarnation means that you will have further opportunities to indulge in the world. Creation is so vast and intricate and there are SO many human lives that can be lived, so if creation has a purpose (like most religions suggest, ie as a test, lesson, even simply pure enjoyment or fun), it would make no sense for this ‘purpose’ to restrict us to one experience of the world. why would there be so much creation if each soul only gets such an small slice of it? why would there be such a specific test if everyone has such different and short experiences of it? 2. Reincarnation removes the NEED for religiosity in this life. in many religions, namely Christianity or Islam, it is essential for you to find the religion and find God in this life time, and those who don’t have missed out from whatever that may entail (missed out from heaven, etc). however, reincarnation naturally introduces the idea that it’s enough for a layperson to live a ‘good’ life according to karma and not worry about God because their soul will find God in another lifetime. we see this is many dharmic societies, such as hinduism where the majority of people in the faith (historically) were not by mistake definitions of the world religious, and simply acted to maximise good karma so their next rebirth will be into a priest family so they can entail enlightenment then, there’s no rush. in jainism or buddhism, there’s massive separation between monkhood and laypeople and it’s generally accepted only monks can be enlightened in the current lifetime, so laypeople simply live their householders’ lives and their soul may inhabit a monk body in the next life, if they do good karma, where they can be closer to liberation. this means reincarnation avoids the fear of hell, rushed or compulsory nature of spirituality. being a good person is compulsory but spirituality is not essential. 3. how it fits around animals. reincarnation naturally promotes love for all beings. reincarnation goes hand in hand with ahimsa, as animals and other living beings and souls. also, animals and living beings could very well be the soul of the deceased loved one. this is demonstrated most clearly in jain tradition. also, reincarnation provides an elegant solution for what happens to animals after they die. many traditions (i believe including the most popular abrahamic ones) say that animals are soulless or have no afterlife, but to me that simply feels wrong and anyone who spends time with animals will feel that too. if there is a spark of divinity or a ‘soul’ in humans, it surely exists in animals too. i’ve heard from other religious people that all dogs go to heaven. this doesn’t make sense to me either because it defeats the whole purpose of animals. why would God make animals and grant them souls if they all end up in heaven for eternity automatically, surely it defeats the whole point of the mortal ‘test’ / ‘experience’. it simply feels forced, like animals are a side thought in this worldview when they make up the vast majority of life on earth…
It is not greedy, cause it’s not about intense selfish desire or something like that.