@Harry Kemp - Yes that's what I think too I'm a Londoner by birth with strong Irish connections But have a strong pull to the North of England and mining !! Intellect is all very well Harry, but 'intuition' is far more important, as long as you heed it - ignore at your peril I say I believe we are here for a reason and to learn - to take with us when we shed this outer body
Hi Patsy, I was born in Hillingdon, but before it was London. It was absorbed much to my mum's annoyance later. I think I have some Irish ancestors, but have never chased it up, not wanting to find the inevitable black sheep in the family. I agree I think we have to live as though we are learning a lesson, but have doubts about it. What about the people who suffer through those who don't learn their lesson. Hitler must be the dumbest soul to ever come to earth!
Some people 'never' learn Harry - I would hope 'Hitler' and his like, would be back here quick smart and he would suffer at the hands of a bigot - racist
Hopefully with no clout at all and a shedload of suffering, but then what of the people who would suffer under a Hitler? How would it help their learning?
@Harry Kemp Ah well - what have we done in a previous life ...............? Through my own suffering, I have never asked why - but it has made me a very compassionate person I hate to see anyone hurting, physically or emotionally and I certainly was not brought up to feel emotion Its all down to 'learning' .............
Ah well, it seems strange to me not that I'm completely unfamiliar with the concept. If we do have past lives, we are only left with the tendencies and not the memories. Perhaps it is a case of something simple developing into something complex
@Harry Kemp I think the memories are there in the subconscious - I was always asking the question to myself, about things Did a lot of thinking Its amazing to me that people 'look' at a situation and that's it - no more thought to it I see this on 'Judge Judy a lot - she gives a very good summary of the persons actions before her, suggests where they're heading to which they nod in agreement, when they leave the court, out spews all the idiotic nonsense they were accused of and disregarding all that had been said ! They looked - they nodded - and learnt not a thing .............
@Patsy Faye, that's what makes me dubious about a learning process. The changes for some people would take many lifetimes. As I don't believe in magic, anything like this would be restricted to natural laws. Nature is very profligate and slow in its actions, but that seems very wasteful even for nature. I think the laws of conservation of mass and energy do back some sort of survival of death though.
Still seems very messy to me, which makes me think, if the idea of something creating the universe has any justification, it wouldn't be some supreme being, but something that was evolving to a more perfect state and probably would be part of all life, maybe everything. Also what lessons would be here to learn? Imagine a man who bursts into a room and violently murders another because he has irrefutable evidence the man has committed terrible crimes ... Would he be 'advanced' because he had stopped the second man from committing more crimes or 'held back' because he too had done a heinous act?
@Harry Kemp - I don't know I'll have to think more on it I would be understanding though and see in his favour
"The unexamined life is not worth living", as one of the Greek philosophers said. I used to love Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. He talked about controlling negative emotions in order to be a better person. Strangely - possibly influenced by Democritus - he did not believe in an after life. Also it seems bizarre for a man caught up in violent wars to write on being a better, more civilized person.