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daWhat's the word "soul" mean to you? What associations does it bring up? Is the word fraught with baggage... smelling partly of brimstone? Does it have deep connection for you? Is it ineffable and abstract? Is it like a Platonic ideal of a thing, not to be pinned down? Is it boring? Is it a handy fiction?
I'd love to have a conversation about that, to the extent we can in an online journal. Anonymous comments are fine. My hope is to have common referents to continue in another post.
I invite you to make your first comment here, that is to say without reading the previous comments before-hand. Of course feel free to read other comments too, and discuss with others, but after your first comment. :) Thanks!
[Edit to add:
I can say: the breadth of peoples' responses is pretty darn cool.
So, I suggested a dialogue. What now?
It would be one thing if we were in the same room, and could look at each other and be clear that we're going to treat this with the respect it deserved. In that situation, I would say we could just ask each other open, honest questions; questions that don't try to convince the other of our own understanding; but help the other person to articulate their truth for us. And take it from there.
We could try something like that. I'd participate. Why don't we try that?
It might go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: you're welcome to not reply to someone's question, or to reply telling them you won't reply (and that's final; challenges are not OK).
]
I'd love to have a conversation about that, to the extent we can in an online journal. Anonymous comments are fine. My hope is to have common referents to continue in another post.
I invite you to make your first comment here, that is to say without reading the previous comments before-hand. Of course feel free to read other comments too, and discuss with others, but after your first comment. :) Thanks!
[Edit to add:
I can say: the breadth of peoples' responses is pretty darn cool.
So, I suggested a dialogue. What now?
It would be one thing if we were in the same room, and could look at each other and be clear that we're going to treat this with the respect it deserved. In that situation, I would say we could just ask each other open, honest questions; questions that don't try to convince the other of our own understanding; but help the other person to articulate their truth for us. And take it from there.
We could try something like that. I'd participate. Why don't we try that?
It might go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: you're welcome to not reply to someone's question, or to reply telling them you won't reply (and that's final; challenges are not OK).
]
no subject
Date: Friday, 23 July 2010 04:56 pm (UTC)Without those presumptions, population poses no particular difficulty... it just means there are more souls incarnated as humans now than there were a thousand years ago, either because they are young, or because they were previously incarnated as non-humans.
For example, there are a number of New Age reincarnation believers who consider themselves spiritually extraterrestrial -- that is, who believe their souls originate elsewhere in the universe and have only recently chosen to incarnate on Earth.
And as I understand it, the traditional Hindu beliefs around reincarnation involve the same supply of souls being shared among humans and other animals.