Past lives anyone?

[gingerplum]

Aha, chocolate addiction. If one could overdose on that, that would be my method (and not the long strung out diabetes situation). And DIET dr pepper? Never tried that.

And yeah, could just be bollocks. Pretty sure they didn't have needles back then...or at least not for administering opium. I thought you could only smoke that.

Omg I LOVE Dr. Pepper!

 

[Sargasm]

I'd start with James Randi. For the past 60 (sixty!) years he has offered a million dollar prize to anyone who can demonstrate any type of paranormal activity. He describes himself as a skeptic, as do I.

I try to be consistent, so I don't believe in anything supernatural across the board... no god/gods, ghosts, psychics, magic, monsters, angels, crystal balls or tarot cards. Frankly, it's codswallop, all of it.

Redirect Notice

I love me some Randi. It seems like Penn Jillette will eventually become his spiritual (ha!) successor when it comes to debunking/testing supernatural claims. I am exactly the same as you when it comes to my lack of belief. I like what Carl Sagan said: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Though I do feel a strange kinship with Mark Twain.

Ultimately, I have no idea if any of that stuff is real or not, but without any verifiable proof, I'm not gonna worry about it. Although, if reincarnation is real and guided by karma, my current life would indicate that I've kicked some metaphorical puppies in a past life.

No, I don't actually kick puppies, metaphorical or otherwise. I love my hairy little blanket hog.

 

[LuzurPhagget]

Omg I LOVE Dr. Pepper!

Lol, I know right. It's just got this "sharpness" taste to it that makes it irresistible. Barq's root beer is pretty close to. Definitely my fave root beer. They're terribly not good for you though aha. I'm also really enjoying Iced teas now. I have a weird anxiety-reducing tactic of avoiding making conversations with those at work on lunch time by getting myself a drink at the vending machines. Minimizes contact time lol

 

[Wayfaerer]

Lol, I know right. It's just got this "sharpness" taste to it that makes it irresistible. Barq's root beer is pretty close to. Definitely my fave root beer. They're terribly not good for you though aha. I'm also really enjoying Iced teas now. I have a weird anxiety-reducing tactic of avoiding making conversations with those at work on lunch time by getting myself a drink at the vending machines. Minimizes contact time lol

I quit drinking soda entirely as of two years ago but when I did, Dr. Pepper and Barq's were all that I drank (in terms of soda.)

 

[gingerplum]

I love me some Randi. It seems like Penn Jillette will eventually become his spiritual (ha!) successor when it comes to debunking/testing supernatural claims. I am exactly the same as you when it comes to my lack of belief. I like what Carl Sagan said: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Though I do feel a strange kinship with Mark Twain.

Ultimately, I have no idea if any of that stuff is real or not, but without any verifiable proof, I'm not gonna worry about it. Although, if reincarnation is real and guided by karma, my current life would indicate that I've kicked some metaphorical puppies in a past life.

No, I don't actually kick puppies, metaphorical or otherwise. I love my hairy little blanket hog.

I love Penn Jillette!! I do, I have all his books. I also use that Carl Sagan quote all the time... seriously, I taught it to my kids when they were little. We have all kinds of stuff in common

 

[Sargasm]

I love Penn Jillette!! I do, I have all his books. I also use that Carl Sagan quote all the time... seriously, I taught it to my kids when they were little. We have all kinds of stuff in common

Lol that is awesome. I was a part of a nonprofit freethought group for atheists and agnostics where I used to live. It was our own little community of heathens in a very religious area. We mainly did volunteer stuff for the community, and then meet up at a coffee shop to talk about the usual suspects of the time. Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and of course, James Randi. Got to work with Michael Shermer for a couple hours when we arranged for him to give a presentation at the local college.

Plus we would laugh at Ken Ham and Kirk Cameron. Jerkasses.

 

[gingerplum]

Lol that is awesome. I was a part of a nonprofit freethought group where I used to live for atheists and agnostics. It was our own little community of heathens in a very religious area. We mainly did volunteer stuff for the community, and then meet up at a coffee shop to talk about the usual suspects of the time. Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and of course, James Randi. Got to work with Michael Shermer for a couple hours when we arranged for him to give a presentation at the local college.

Plus we would laugh at Ken Ham and Kirk Cameron. Jerkasses.

That's so cool!! I would love to be active in a community like that.

Omg the crockoduck! I had forgotten about that. Man alive, those guys are some kinda stupid.

 

[Sargasm]

Yup.

 

[IsadoraBeauxdraps]

That's so cool!! I would love to be active in a community like that.

Omg the crockoduck! I had forgotten about that. Man alive, those guys are some kinda stupid.

What's that ?
I found him touching !

 

[gingerplum]

What's that ?
I found him touching !

The crocoduck is a fictitious animal created by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, in their ongoing crusade to prove that evolution is a hoax. They argued that since there were no "transitional" fossils showing, say, the evolution of birds to reptiles, that evolution wasn't possible, much less probable. The result was them clumsily cutting and pasting two fully-formed animals together into creatures like the crocoduck.

What Comfort and Cameron didn't know, however, is that transitional fossils do exist. However, I'm sure they'd never acknowledge such fossils, because science and reality threaten to topple the house of cards that is their religion.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocoduck

 

[Sargasm]

Ray Comfort

Thank you for that correction! I said Ken Hamm in my post above, though Hamm is certainly also on that list of unintentional comedians.

 

[Final Escape]

I wish I was special enough to have had past lives lol! I just sincerely doubt it.

 

[Return2Dust]

Please indulge me. A couple of years ago, I wouldn't have believed in this shit, but now, I dunno.

Ive seen my share of psychics and honestly, I really think there is something else out there. Ive even had discussions of suicide with them and they all reiterate the same bollocks of how it's pretty much a "reset button" and doesn't fix anything and life is precious blah bleh bluh etc. But honestly, I see no other way and just feel I'm going in circles. I'm tired and feel I'm sparing myself a worser fate (homeless? No thanks Jeff).

Anyway, there really is no way of proving this but apparently I was this prick Miguel Ydigoras Fuentes. A president of Guatemala during a civil war. He was also apparently some kind of enforcer to some Hitler-esque dictator lol. A lot of people apparently died under his rule. But I dunno, he seemed to have been a victim of his time and may genuinely have wanted the best for his country even if meant employing brutal tactics. In some ways, I feel I may have inherited his brutal ideology and in some kind of poetic justice, ironic way, I was reincarnated into the type of weak, pathetic sack of shit this dude was trying to eradicate in his country??? Haha. I know I am weak and pathetic and hopeless. People like me are not worth saving and are a drain on society's resources. People like me are black holes and will be the detriment to society by poor, misguided, do-gooder souls trying to help us.

Anyway, that was my rant. Could all be bullshit and in addition to being some depressed, anxious fucktard, I could simply just be a crazy one at that. Lol.

I was actually thinking of going to Guatemala for a vacation and learning more about this dude in the misguided hope of "trying to learn stuff my soul didn't learn in my last life." But now, couldn't care less. Don't give a fuck. Maybe I'm not supposed to learn anything in this life either. Maybe I'm supposed to feel and experience utter despair and hopelessness in this life "for the betterment of my soul." This is something my soul just has to go through? So be it...

I had a similar experience. I was told I was a terrible person in a previous life and I'm working the Karma off in this life. Scares me - if I leave before my Karma is paid, will I have to do this all over again?

 

[IsadoraBeauxdraps]

The crocoduck is a fictitious animal created by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, in their ongoing crusade to prove that evolution is a hoax. They argued that since there were no "transitional" fossils showing, say, the evolution of birds to reptiles, that evolution wasn't possible, much less probable. The result was them clumsily cutting and pasting two fully-formed animals together into creatures like the crocoduck.

What Comfort and Cameron didn't know, however, is that transitional fossils do exist. However, I'm sure they'd never acknowledge such fossils, because science and reality threaten to topple the house of cards that is their religion.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocoduck

Of course these fossils exists ! Like the famous Archaeopteryx.
I'm really surprised that these kind of debates still exist in US. Dogmatic religious people are really depressing.
Poor Darwin.

 

[gingerplum]

Of course these fossils exists ! Like the famous Archaeopteryx.
I'm really surprised that these kind of debate still exists in US. Dogmatic religious people are really depressing.
Poor Darwin.

It's insane. At this point people who disbelieve evolution are like holocaust deniers.

 

[IsadoraBeauxdraps]

It's insane. At this point people who disbelieve evolution are like holocaust deniers.

Surely they are dangerous people.

 

[gingerplum]

Surely they are dangerous people.

Absolutely. They're denying science and reality in favor of magic and superstition. It's detrimental to society.

 

[IsadoraBeauxdraps]

Some people have no other choice but end up being dogmatic or manichean in order to bear the hardness, the strangeness, the absurdity of our world.
Not everyone can face the reality.
Sad.

 

[drake4871]

Reincarnation sounds like hell to me. However, I have experienced paranormal things. I am sure there is an unseen dimension. I think we are just at peace when we die. I think people who dream of or "remember" past lives are probably accessing ancestral memories which is written in our DNA.

Yeah, there are possibly multiple unseen dimensions based on string theory (not the biggest fan of it though). I really like that DNA answer though, never thought of that.

Speaking of past or future lives does any of that matter if you can't remember it? Because in that case you'll never remember this and thus it wouldn't really matter you did or / what happened.

Or maybe you can just enjoy the moment because that's all we know we have lol (Trying not to make it sound too depressing)

 

[TheBlackSwordsman]

Yeah, there are possibly multiple unseen dimensions based on string theory (not the biggest fan of it though). I really like that DNA answer though, never thought of that.

Speaking of past or future lives does any of that matter if you can't remember it? Because in that case you'll never remember this and thus it wouldn't really matter you did or / what happened.

Or maybe you can just enjoy the moment because that's all we know we have lol (Trying not to make it sound too depressing)

From what I have gleaned from my reading is that you don't remember because you will be attached to your past lives, what you failed to accomplish which kind of makes sense since many of us are haunted and stunted by things we've done or didn't do in the past of our current lives.

It's probably worth noting , that many of the early century(1st-4th A.D.) christian church fathers including Origen, Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, and Gregory of Nyssa, according to their writings, expressed support for the doctrines of reincarnation and the pre-existence of souls.

 

[Lethe]

I sometimes have a recurring dream where I'm a Civil War deserter running and hiding throughout the countryside. I've never studied the American Civil War or had any interest in it. Also a more disturbing one where I'm burying a young girl's body in the woods that I had evidently murdered. If these are flashes of past lives, then it's no wonder I'm feeling not-so-hot in this current life, lol.

I don't actually believe in karma though, as I believe morality is a subjective human construct.