Reincarnation

 

What Happens With Reincarnation?

    From an empirical perspective, reincarnation remains an unproven concept. There is no direct scientific evidence—neither active nor passive—that supports its existence. While intriguing anecdotal stories suggest reincarnation might be real, these remain unverified and fall short of scientific validation. Additionally, there's a logical problem: how does reincarnation account for the continuous growth of the human population? Mathematically, the numbers don’t quite add up. Still, perhaps there’s something deeper—or altogether different—behind the idea of reincarnation. I’ll share my own speculative view at the end, one that even attempts to resolve some of these mathematical inconsistencies. But first, let’s take a broader look. Most contemporary interpretations of reincarnation are strongly tied to ethics. In simple terms: if you live a good life, you might be rewarded after death—possibly with a more favorable rebirth, or even with union with a divine presence. Before Christianity, many cultures believed in reincarnation. The wealthy were often buried with their possessions, believing they would need them in a new life. Philosophers like Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Plato also explored reincarnation. Empedocles, for example, warned that eating meat might mean consuming a soul that had been reborn as an animal—perhaps even an ancestor. In religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, reincarnation is central and closely tied to karma. One’s actions in this life influence their next existence. I once came across a story that stuck with me: A landowner was executed in accordance with his culture’s laws. He believed the punishment was unjust. After death, he was reincarnated repeatedly—each time as a different animal on his own family’s farm. In each life, his relatives unknowingly killed him, sometimes even eating him. This cycle continued until all resentment and hatred had left him. Only then did the punishment end, and he was finally free. Among the Indigenous peoples of British Columbia, beliefs in reincarnation also exist, although in their traditions humans and animals do not reincarnate into each other. Interestingly, some people—particularly animal rights advocates—challenge this idea. They believe that how humans treat animals affects the spiritual relationship: treating animals with respect ensures their continued presence; cruelty, however, drives them away. Now, beyond all these varied beliefs, I’d like to share a personal reflection. It’s just a thought—not something I claim to prove, nor something I can stop thinking about. I don’t imagine reincarnation in the traditional sense, where one soul passes from one life to another. Instead, I picture a vast network of human consciousness. Each individual belongs to a specific region of this network. Crucially, the network isn’t made up of isolated, individual souls—it consists of overlapping zones or regions of consciousness. This model could explain why some people feel instinctive connections or differences with others. And it helps resolve the population growth paradox: people don’t reincarnate as single souls jumping from one body to the next. Instead, more (or fewer) people may emerge from various regions of the network at different times, without displacing or replacing one another. These regions don’t intrude upon each other—only physical beings, in their limited understanding, behave as if they're intruding or being intruded upon. In reality, nothing is truly disrupted.

So, what am I saying? That perhaps the only genuinely individual thing we experience is the body. The mind—or soul, if you will—might belong to something larger: a kind of collective or confederation of consciousness. Again, this is just an idea. It doesn’t mean I reject science—in fact, I’m deeply passionate about it. I just like to explore questions that science hasn’t fully answered yet.

Antoni Font 12/05/2022, Aberdeen.