[Anagogy]

Originally Posted by John Freestone

The idea of immortality is so appealing as to be wise to doubt. Anything that feels good to believe is worth checking out very carefully. There is certainly a recycling of matter and energy, but I don't expect there is any reason or evolutionary principle that supports the idea of some kind of conscious individual returning to 'Source', or reincarnation.

Originally Posted by pianoperformer

I agree though, there is no evidence. But it'd be nice to have at least some sort of workable hypothesis, rather than some feel-good rhetoric that really means nothing and doesn't make much sense when broken down, which I think is basically what a lot of the new-age philosophies are, or really any religious or spiritual philosophy.

Have either of you read "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation" by Ian Stevenson? Or "Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy" by the same author? There is more evidence for reincarnation than people would like to think. Dr. Ian Stevenson was Carlson Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Parapsychology, Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry, at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Lots of hard to explain evidence in his books. Or rather, hard to explain if one does not accept reincarnation as a reality.

Or perhaps Brian Weiss' books on reincarnation, or Michael Newton's? Or "Mindsight: Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind" or "Lessons from the Light: What We Can Learn from the Near-death Experience" by Kenneth Ring, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Connecticut and co founder and past president of the International Association for Near Death Studies? There are many others. You might want to check some out. It may be illuminating.

Originally Posted by pianoperformer

Your idea about consciousness is interesting, though. I do wonder what sort of consciousness simpler lifeforms have. What exactly makes up consciousness? What makes an object conscious? Things react to their environment, yes, but so does hydrogen—if there are two hydrogens and an oxygen around, they are probably going to bond, because that's the natural thing to do. But one wouldn't claim that atoms are conscious, would they? It's just electromagnitism acting on them (forgive me if I got the wrong force).

I would argue that all things possess consciousness of many different varieties, complexities, and intensities. But I suppose I don't have any hard evidence to throw at you with regard to that just at this moment.