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! ;)
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.
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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