The thought of divine justice never sits right with me.
Like I understand people want to believe that bad people are punished and good people are rewarded. But the nature of “good” and “bad” aren’t ever based on fear of reprisal. Bad people may not fear justice, and even if they do, that doesn’t make them good.
Making good decisions ought to matter as much as the reason you make your decisions.
Any religious civilization invariably falls into the power trap where the leaders and the wealthy modify the rules to suit their whims. A peasant living in an unjust theocracy might feel better believing that their rulers will be reincarnated into a worm, but what good does that do? A worm doesn’t lament it’s pitiful and brief existence any more than the downtrodden lament the sins of their past lives.
Even if it were absolute truth, it doesn’t prevent the bad people making bad decisions, and it doesn’t help the good people being abused by bad people. A good person reincarnated as a king is likely to become a tyrant in their next life, because they remember nothing of their past lives and power corrupts.
Of course, there’s the Buddhist version where the goal is not to be good, but to transcend earthly experience. But the same questions apply. An old ascetic monk might come back as an eagle or an alcoholic or a backup dancer for Katy Perry. They believe they will continue to ascend, but they are taught very few ever reach nirvana, and there are far more people who are not bodhisattva.
So why does reincarnation matter at all? What difference does it make if you face oblivion or a mind-wipe and reboot as someone entirely new?
The thought of divine justice never sits right with me.
Like I understand people want to believe that bad people are punished and good people are rewarded. But the nature of “good” and “bad” aren’t ever based on fear of reprisal. Bad people may not fear justice, and even if they do, that doesn’t make them good.
Making good decisions ought to matter as much as the reason you make your decisions.
Any religious civilization invariably falls into the power trap where the leaders and the wealthy modify the rules to suit their whims. A peasant living in an unjust theocracy might feel better believing that their rulers will be reincarnated into a worm, but what good does that do? A worm doesn’t lament it’s pitiful and brief existence any more than the downtrodden lament the sins of their past lives.
Even if it were absolute truth, it doesn’t prevent the bad people making bad decisions, and it doesn’t help the good people being abused by bad people. A good person reincarnated as a king is likely to become a tyrant in their next life, because they remember nothing of their past lives and power corrupts.
Of course, there’s the Buddhist version where the goal is not to be good, but to transcend earthly experience. But the same questions apply. An old ascetic monk might come back as an eagle or an alcoholic or a backup dancer for Katy Perry. They believe they will continue to ascend, but they are taught very few ever reach nirvana, and there are far more people who are not bodhisattva.
So why does reincarnation matter at all? What difference does it make if you face oblivion or a mind-wipe and reboot as someone entirely new?