Reincarnation

Disclaimer - I am no expert on this subject and I won't be going into any sorta nitty-gritties of the same. You could very well find the detailed information regarding it here or in your respective religious books! ;) This post is mostly my thoughts on a beautiful perspective of reincarnation painted in this movie 'Before Sunrise'.


I personally have had extremely cautious views about reincarnation - well, atleast that's what my rational side likes to believe! But over the years, I have learnt, that its fine to entertain certain ideas without actually agreeing with them wholeheartedly. And, reincarnation is one of 'em.

Although, this topic has always fascinated me in some way, I never really took it too seriously or thought about it with much vigor, for obvious reasons. That was, until last weekend that I saw a beautiful movie 'Before Sunrise', in which its protagonist explains his thoughts on reincarnation, albeit in a vague manner. And for some reasons, it made complete sense to me and sounded suchha neat and possible idea! I soo hoped that we had a technology that could somehow put some more light on this concept, if not completely decipher it.

In one particular scene, 'Jesse', played by the charming Ethan Hawke, trying mostly to impress Céline, comes up with this neat perspective on reincarnation. Intially, it sounds a bit vague. But as you ponder over it deeply with some really active imagination, you realise that it is actually a very fresh angle on the subject!

So here it goes -->


Jesse: Um, do you believe in reincarnation?

Céline: Yeah, yeah, its interesting.

Jesse: Most people, you know, a lot of people talk about the past lives, and things like that, you know, and even if they don't believe in it in some specific way, you know, people have some kind of notion of an eternal soul, right?

Céline: Yeah.

Jesse: Okay. Well, this is my thought. Fifty thousand years ago, there are not even a million people on the planet. Ten thousand years ago, there's like two million people on the planet. Now, there's between five and six billion people on the planet, right? Now, if we all have our own, like, individual, unique soul, right, where do they all come from? Are modern souls only a fraction of the original souls?. Because if they are, that represents a five thousand-to-one split of each soul in just the last fifty thousand years, which is like a blip in the earth's time. You know, so, at best, we're like these tiny fractions of people, you know, walking... I mean, is that why we're all so scattered? You know, is that why we're all so specialized?

Céline: Wait a minute, I'm not sure I...I don't....

Jesse: Hang on, I know, I know, its a totally scattered thought, which is kind of why it makes sense.

Céline: Yeah... (unsure, but laughing.) I agree with you.

------------x--------x-------------
My first reaction on his interesting take on 'reincarnation' was: what if we could somehow develop such a technology that would be able to trigger that fraction of our DNA, which we evidently share with an ancestor who lived, say in 1050 A.D, to metaphorically play/experience the events that he experienced in his times! Wouldn't this in someway similar to re-incarnation?

I am not much sure of the consequences and applications of such a technology, if any. But it would indeed be something akin to a time-travel in the past (not in a physical sense but in the consciousness)! And, since the humans won't physically time-travel into the past, they won't be around to screw-up the past-timeline to create any time-travel related paradoxes! ;)

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this topic. 

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Greatness. Nothing official about it.

Disclaimer: This post is a culmination of random thoughts in my brain mostly fed by the stories I have read of truly inspirational figures throughout the history of this planet. 

What is it in some individuals that makes them achieve that elusive greatness in their respective fields? A silver spoon, one might say. Some may say, an urge to be better than others. While some more would say, that the challenge of doing something unattainable acts as a drug that motivates some to go that extra mile to achieve greatness.

If you ask me, I believe, most people who attain that elusive 'eternal' greatness, never actually go looking for it. These people are driven to desperation by the circumstances, defeated by the fate and looked down upon by the fellow humans of their times, only to finally achieve the impossible, by their sheer-will to make a difference that is invariably admired by the future generations to come.

I read somewhere: you become what you continually act as and believe in it. In my opinion, this works well if you are looking at the short term gain - mostly selfish in nature - trying to impress without actually aiming to make any real difference in the lives of others. Most times, in such cases, there is no real motivation, no 'real' reason to sustain that 'act', which makes sure that such individuals fade into oblivion just as millions of their fellow human beings.

I have always wondered, with envy I must add, as to how some prodigies are gifted with all the special ingredients to make it really big, unlike us mere mortals. But then if you observe, the percentage of these prodigies going on to do anything worthwhile, to be remembered by the people - other than their close-knit admirers - is extremely less. At most, they would be hailed by their parents/siblings/friends for their individual achievements. That's about it. What could be the reason for this? The primary reason that comes to my mind is, these prodigies are too content with this appreciation/pamper of their well-wishers (and rightly so!), to actually think of a greater good. This eventually leads to the non-attainment of that ultimate accomplishment, that could have been achieved by their immeasurable talents.

I believe, that the nature plays a wicked game here. On one hand, it gifts some with envious talents with no circumstances to fight against, hence lacking the motivation to use it to its potential. And on the other, it gifts ordinary humans with circumstances that makes them work hard to stretch their limited potential, that is, if they do wish to change these for the betterment of the future generations. In both cases, I feel, the nature likes to taunt us to somehow break the shackles and face something extraordinary with the ordinary gifts or face something ordinary with extraordinary gifts. Nature knows for sure that, very few would be able to stand up to these taunts. And those who do, are the worthy candidates of the greatness that follows their actions.

Ofcourse, there are those rare times when nature screws up and presents an insurmountable, slurpy challenge to the extraordinarily gifted individuals. And in these cases, more often than not - these fortunates march on to create a massive history and a legend for themselves. But, this is a rarity.

To conclude, I believe, 'competition' is very rarely a strong catalyst to achieve the real greatness. It is invariably achieved by the people who find their true calling, overcome the obstacles and work towards the solution for greater good by following their heart rather than following that oft-beaten path undertaken by their past/current generations. And to these great men, we, as a human race, should be perennially indebted.

Do share your thoughts. :)

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