Reincarnation is real but not consciousness. A lot of what we are made of was once part of something else. That makes me feel connected to the universe, and that's about as deep as I get. Until we have some deeper understanding I can't see anyway to justify going beyond it.

Why stop at understanding? Dive in. :)

Nope. Only mine.

Reminds me of the following story:


I knew a zen master. I asked him about life. He said, "Life is empty and meaningless."

I said, "That can't be so!"

He said, "And it doesn't mean anything that it doesn't mean anything."

And I still said, "No!"

Then he said, "And that gives you the freedom to make it up to mean whatever you want it to."

And I said, "Ahh!"

^^^^^^ Reminds me of the lyrics from If I Am by Nine Days

The answers we find are never what we had in mind
So we make it up as we go along

I love this fella. He's quite Zen and funny as f**k. Socrates' equal, up there with the very best:

But reincarnation is predicated on the belief of a soul - that is what is reincarnated, not the matter. So saying a lot of our makeup was once something else isn't really a support of reincarnation (in fact the matter is considered just a vessel for the soul).

Recyclincarnation?

I wasn't aware that reincarnation had to be through a soul/spirit. I was just saying although I'm an athiest I feel a connection to the universe through the kind of psuedo-reincarnation I explained. A connection to something greater, and knowing that what I'm made of has potentially been around for more years than I can fathom and will one day leave me and continue on for eternity as we understand it.

I guess that doesn't make me spiritual like I always say I am, but it's an amazing feeling.

That's what matters!