Enda80

In one of those Anarctic Press Dictators of the 20th century comics, it was stated that circa 1300-1450 the entire population of the world was about 450 million. There are now six billion people today. In addition, the amount of livestock on Earth has also gone up.

So, this got me thinking. When do new souls show up? If you believe in reincarnation, you could only say 450 million people alive today could have existed in a previous incarnation in the 1400's (and of course, presumably some people born in the 1400's are bugs today).

Paraprakrti

The grand total number of souls is inconceivable to us. We can say that there is an innumerable quantity of souls. Souls are constantly falling into and being liberated from the material universe. Also, you are assuming that earth is the only planet with life in this universe.

crocodile deathroll

How do you know your soul is not the only one?

Paraprakrti

What are you implying? That I am the only living entity? Or that there is one soul pervading all life?

the shadow

Many of us ponder both things. What are your comments on both concepts?

DougP

This looks like it has the potential to be split off into philosophy if it continnues this way, I will leave it here for now and see how it goes.

-Doug

Magic Primate

It seems to me that the ideas of reincarnation and rebirth could be seen as allegories for the more difficult idea that there are essentially no separate selves, just different perspectives on the same universe.

Holly

I once believed in reincarnation. My response to this question was that new souls are created as the population increases. In other words, all the souls that exist today have not always existed but new ones are continually being created.

Genghis_Khan

I brought this question up yesterday..and noone answered. [thread=creation of the soul]

I also wondered where all these new souls were coming from. Are we, as mere humans, capable of creating a soul just through sex => conception? Or is there a finite quantity of souls just hanging out somewhere getting put into each new human there is? Interesting thing to think about.

I personally don't think that we could create a new soul; i don't think we're THAT powerful, plus theres no kind of soul producing organ/chemical/blah in our bodies. Thusly, IMO, i think theres some finite quantity of souls chillin somewhere, or theyre being manufactured by some unknown force somewhere.

???????? :huh:

Paraprakrti

The whole idea that I am the only living entity and all others are perhaps figments of my imagination is, for a lack of a better word, stupid. I don't entertain such nonsense. I accept that everyone else is just as legit in their existence, if not more, than myself.

The monistic idea that there is one soul and that individuality is an illusion appears to make sense as long as we keep it vague. My question is, if the Soul is one then why does it divide into many and fall into ignorance? I do not believe that individuality is false. I believe that the relative, material world is a somewhat distorted reflection of the absolute, spiritual world. This same monistic brand of philosophy tries to reason that the spiritual world is devoid of form and variegatedness. That is simply a blind speculation. Just like if someone were to witness a green bird fly into a green tree off in the distance. It may appear to this person that the bird just merged homogenously with the tree, but if he is to go up near the tree he will see that both the bird and the tree remain distinct individuals. The mental speculators, out of negation, reason that the spiritual world is likened to the green bird entering the green tree. The confidential information of the constitutional individuality of the soul is given or at least implied in various major religious scriptures. And even if one has trouble accepting the authority of Scripture, the question still remains, why/how has the One God/Soul divided into many and fallen into ignorance?