I try to follow the old saying "arguing on the internet is like winning the special Olympics...even if you win you're still retarded" but what the hey. I enjoy a good philosophical debate...plus need some reason to procrastinate from doing my homework.



I respect your opinion...no matter how much I disagree with it at the moment, and am just stating some of my opinions whether you care about them or not...



First of all, I would hardly call anything on Wikipedia "proof".



Second, although I haven't read "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation" I will in fact judge a book by its cover. Two key words in the title. The first being "Twenty", the second word being "Suggestive". Out of six billion people there are only twenty cases in this book? The word "suggestive" is far from any form or proof. With such a title, I'm not even going to give the book a chance by reading it.



I myself have had experiences of seeing myself from above. I fainted once, and while I was completely unaware of anything while unconscious, I have a vivid memory of seeing myself from above and all the people who were standing around me...proof that we in fact have a soul...not to me. I choose to believe that when the mind is unconscious, it has no coping ability to account for the unconsciousness, so it implants the memory of an "out of body experience" in our minds. The same with the white light people see when they pass out or clinically die. If one believes they are going to see a white light, then they will in fact have a memory of seeing a white light. Even if one doesn't believe, most of society is conditioned to believe and even though they consciously choose to not believe, subconsciously they have been conditioned by society to believe. Hence someone with no belief in heaven (or hell) being a born again Christian (or whatever) after having a near death experience and seeing the white light (or fire and demons in some cases I have heard)



As far as believing children’s stories of reincarnation...:laugh:



I can vividly remember my friend as a child who was a slimy green creature that lived behind the walls of my home. By your logic, that must mean he was real...:laugh:



I believe that reincarnation is pseudoscience, and there is absolutely no proof...evidence is not proof. I have heard of many stories of out of body experiences and reincarnation that seemed very convincing...who knows, maybe they are all true, but not in my opinion. People will have memories of a past life if they either consciously or subconsciously believe in that sort of thing, but what people have memories of, and what is a scientific fact are two completely different things. My feelings towards anything such as reincarnation or any form of afterlife is that they are mere human creations because as such self-important beings, we must refuse to believe that we are nothing more than am insignificant life form in a vast universe. Believing in eternal life after death, or in being reborn gives our other wise drab existence meaning…a completely false meaning in my opinion, that probably why I am so damned depressed all the time:laugh:



You have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. Maybe your beliefs are true...who am I to really say they are not. But even if they are true, you have no proof. Again, evidence is not proof. I would just like you to remember that next time you claim you have proof.