Reincarnation

Derek Beres in his article, The Science of Reincarnation, writes:

Reincarnation is an attractive idea. That we only get one pass on this giant Ferris wheel can be cause for depression. Yet time and again, when exploring the numerous modalities of rebirth, from the law of karma to the hope of a better world beyond this one, we stumble into one glaring recurrence: By entertaining such philosophies, we inevitably waste valuable time wishing things here were different. Instead of changing our circumstances (or our attitude towards existence), we project our attention to some future destination.

The idea of rebirth is not new. Grave burials of Homo neanderthalensis date back to 200,000-75,000 BCE; ritual tools suggest reentry after being ‘returned’ to the original womb, the earth. Given that both hunting-gathering and agricultural societies (though, as Colin Tudge has suggested, they were one and the same before the advent of modern agriculture) relied on rebirth for grain and game, it makes sense that our forebears would believe our souls did the same. We plant a seed, it grows, flowers, dies, and the soil again rebirths sustenance during the next cycle. 

Joseph Campbell thought our original ‘birth trauma’—the moment we exit the womb before our lungs begin to work, which results in an intense grasping of air that can cause dizziness and blackout—served as a fitting analogy for what we encounter whenever suffering trauma. Every ‘threshold passage’ we walk through is another metaphorical exit from the womb, which gave rise not only to the idea of being born again in this lifetime, but from lifetime to lifetime as well.

As a metaphor, rebirthing is poetic, and can prove useful in grappling with our lives. Rites of passage and overcoming personal trauma are great examples of how one can be rebirthed. When treated as a ‘science,’ reincarnation is a relic of our primitive past that we cannot seem to evolve beyond. Still, our spiritual traditions cling to this archaic idea by pretending a discipline ill-suited for such topics provides ‘proof’ of transmigration.

What does The Bible say about reincarnation?

The concept of reincarnation is completely without foundation in the Bible, which clearly tells us that we die once and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). The Bible never mentions people having a second chance at life or coming back as different people or animals. Jesus told the criminal on the cross, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43), not "You will have another chance to live a life on this earth." Matthew 25:46 specifically tells us that believers go on to eternal life while unbelievers go onto eternal punishment. Reincarnation has been a popular belief for thousands of years, but it has never been accepted by Christians or followers of Judaism because it is contradictory to Scripture.

The idea of reincarnation first appears in Hindu texts, written about 700 B.C.  The Bhaģavad-Gita, the holy text of the Hindus, says:   

"…as the dweller in the body experiences

childhood, youth, old age, so passes he on,

to another body."

Hinduism and Buddhism share a belief in samsara (the wheel of life) and karma (the idea that future incarnation depends on the way the individual lived in his/her past life). The good are reborn into better lives and those who have not lived moral and charitable lives are reborn into lesser social classes or as animals. Those who achieve the highest state of spiritual development escape samsara, the cycle of birth and rebirth, and enter nirvana.

By the 5th Century B.C.E., many notable Greeks adopted the idea of reincarnation. Pythagoras believed that souls were reincarnated in various bodily shapes.  His ideas, along with the later teachings of Plato formed the Ancient Greek beliefs about reincarnation that souls originated in a celestial world, but through sin became human. Only through the purification of reincarnations could the souls return to their former state of purity.

What I find really curiously interesting is that no mention is made (by these originators of reincarnation) that we would be given a second chance here on earth.  Nirvana is mentioned as this may seem to indicate a spiritual essence of the body…

Well, ya know,

I was just wondering…