[AntonioLao]

is there someone who wants to live forever? That is to be constantly in need of food, shelter, and warm. A life that is without all these needs, can it still be called living?

[Guille]

I think a human mind and body isn't prepeared to live eternally. I would like to live for a long time, maybe around two hundred thousand years or so. But eternity is something over human.

[zeroca]

We are as old as the universe, which comes from eternal past and goes to eternal future, i.e. we live eternally (only change our bodies), and we don’t remember previous and can’t see future lives, but some people do.

A life that is without all mentioned needs is a coming out of the cycle of reincarnation.It can’t be called living.

[Guille]

Originally Posted by zeroca We are as old as the universe, which comes from eternal past and goes to eternal future, i.e. we live eternally (only change our bodies), and we don’t remember previous and can’t see future lives, but some people do. A life that is without all mentioned needs is a coming out of the cycle of reincarnation.It can’t be called living.

First, I hate to be the "bad-guy of the film", but, convince me or prove that we are eternal. It always happens that for all religious beliefs there is something that makes impossible to prove or to un-prove. don't you think it's suspicous?
Your argument is, that we don't remember and we can not see future lives. Tell me first, when you say we, you mean "our souls", am I right? If I am, first prove me that "souls" exist.

Second, you and/or Antonio, deifne what "live" means. It depends in what sense you are talking about living.

[AntonioLao]

Originally Posted by zeroca the cycle of reincarnation

If i'm not mistaken, in Buddhism, the cycle of reincarnation is a cycle of reward and punishment. Let's say that if you lived a poor man but performed good deeds in this cycle then the next cycle you will be a rich man. But if you did bad things then the next cycle you become a beast of burden.

Basing on these cycles of regeneration, the extinctions of lower forms of life can only mean that as a whole or on the average, living things are doing righteous deeds so that most are going toward higher levels of life than lower level of bare minimum of survival and the lowest forms are the virus and the bacteria. So if the virus and bacteria ever become extinct then we can say that nirvana (the highest form of life) is within sight for everyone.

[Guille]

Originally Posted by AntonioLao If i'm not mistaken, in Buddhism, the cycle of reincarnation is a cycle of reward and punishment. Let's say that if you lived a poor man but performed good deeds in this cycle then the next cycle you will be a rich man. But if you did bad things then the next cycle you become a beast of burden. Basing on these cycles of regeneration, the extinctions of lower forms of life can only mean that as a whole or on the average, living things are doing righteous deeds so that most are going toward higher levels of life than lower level of bare minimum of survival and the lowest forms are the virus and the bacteria. So if the virus and bacteria ever become extinct then we can say that nirvana (the highest form of life) is within sight for everyone.

I did know about reincarnation, but I didn't know that the form of life you had was because of your life before bad/good avarage.

From your post I deduce that Hitler might be a virus or something like that.. hehe...

[zeroca]

First, as for a bad guy:
----If there hadn’t been questions, there wouldn’t have been considerations and answers to them.
----Nobody is forcing us to take part in discussions and everybody here is for dialogs; Thanks to Roberd for this opportunity.
Of course, I mean soul, and don’t say “my soul”, because what you call “I” is just the soul, but your body is like a home for soul.
We can’t prove or deny it, but practically
The simple method to prove it - is observing the dying person, or the birth of a baby: first looses, but the second acquires some quality, which can be identified as living quality and this is a soul that leaves or makes home in body.
More simple method is: sit with closed eyes and ask somebody to call you or speak to you, then try with closed eyes to identify, to localize on which part of your body is concentrating his attention, or rather to which part of your body is he applying - You’ll find out that it’s somewhere behind your eyes, than touch your closed eyes with fingers; the eyes aren’t “you”, they are just the parts of your body, then concentrate on your hands with closed eyes: you’ll feel that they as well aren’t you, but are only parts of your body, as well as your legs. ‘You” are just behind the eyes and can look out of them, or make any of your extremities move or act, and “You” are a soul yourself in your body.
It’s maybe trivial but I haven’t any other way to convince.

[zeroca]

Originally Posted by AntonioLao If i'm not mistaken, in Buddhism, the cycle of reincarnation is a cycle of reward and punishment.

I’m not an expert in this field, but as I know, the period of life from the birth up to death is karma, i.e. it’s one live. After the death the soul goes to another body and thus changes karmas in succession. One can get better karma by behaving “well” in previous one or reverse, but the purpose, or utmost goal is considered joining nirvana, or fading away eternally, or coming out of cycle of reincarnation (i.e. so called cycle of Sansara), which’s considered a string of all karmas. In Georgian we’ve got Sufis’ poetry’s perfect translation from Persian, I don’t know if there is its English translations, if yes, read the poetry of Jalal ad-din rumi.
I couldn’t find the poetry in English and tried to translate myself, It’s not perfect, but I tried to preserve the main idea:

I was a pebble, died as pebble - became flower,
Died as flower and found shelter into animal,
Died as animal and turned into tribe of Adam,
I will die there but don’t you think that I’m scared?
I’ll be transforming, new days lighting with hope,
So that to get the wings of angel, lightness to dope,
And ultimately when the turn of angel is coming,
Tell me oh, dear what my ending is set to summing?
Nothingness only will be showing un-faced glare,
Telling that things are ready to form the essence their,
The death is laughing, put an end to useless frenzy,
Didn’t you know in abyss was the source of fancy?
Are ill from dropsy? Connect your wish to wish of lotus,
And putting down roots into the middle of water,
Do drink the water, drink the water, and drink the water…
But please remember, of this life a merciless precept,
Remedy - water, but sometimes the poison is water,
You lost your sweetheart while admiring self, poor liver
And are saying as if were a selfless lover,
Filling your mug with holy water you are shameless,
And are thinking that sun is shining and feel happiness…
Poor out the water, empty your mug, let fall it down…

[AntonioLao]

Even in Christianity, the cycle of reincarnation or materialization of the spirit in human forms has been mentioned in the Old Testaments as well as in the New Testaments.

[kennap]

Who's to say that the soul is separate from the physical world, just because our instruments haven't detected it doesn't mean that we aren't just swimming in a homogenous sea of soul? Evidently it changes form.