Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Past Lives: The Meaning of Life, Part II.

I'm having second thoughts about my assessment that karma doesn't exist, and that the purpose of life is to feel.

You see, I still believe that past, present and future all happen simultaneously, and that the brain somehow creates our perception of time. However, even if we know this to be true, we cannot somehow escape the effects of time on this earthly plane; we are still bound to it, just as we are bound to the laws of gravity. Therefore, perhaps we can experience the cause and effect of karma, as at least this life is lived in a linear succession of events.

The other idea I'm questioning is that we are here only to experience things which cannot be experienced on the other side, e.g. pain, difficulty, unhappiness, hatred, etc. The whole world is geared toward suffering: nature's red in tooth and claw. The lowest common denominator of life is pain, as it preserves survival on this plane; on the other side, all existence is unfathomable joy, love and happiness. Our lives on earth are a counterbalance to endless (and presumably, after many thousands of years, boring) beauty and peace. How else to explain that our world is the complete opposite of theirs, and that bad things happen to everyone and everything?

But what if suffering and hatred were the building blocks of something bigger: love. What if -- like T4, selenium and iodine are necessary to make the T3 your body runs on -- we actually need bad emotions to create good, or to make the good more meaningful? Now the first problem I can see with this idea is, Why does a trilobite need love? Love is an emotion that only certain animals feel, and not even the vast majority of animals do feel it -- only a small percentage.

Photo by Kevinzim on Flickr.

But if everything happens according to a plan, maybe that plan called for a slow development of species, or vehicles in which to house our souls. What if the plan called for trilobites to build up their emotions and experiences slowly, making their way up to more complicated life forms capable of molding those unhappy emotions into something greater?

I do not in any way believe humans are better than animals. Everything has a right to life. We are not the pinnacle of all existence. But what if our appearance on the scene, after many millions of years of dinosaurs, horseshoe crabs and worms, was planned? For a purpose? To create love, perhaps. To make something meaningful out of adversity. To learn the lessons Karma teaches. To feel, yes; but in the more complex animals, to feel love and compassion instead of the mindless fear of insects and invertebrates.

These are all thoughts off the top of my head, thoughts which I'm sure will change tomorrow yet again, and I'll be back to believing in a life without lessons or Karma. As always, I reserve the right to change my mind!

If you want to recall a past life as a trilobite (well, not really, but it would be interesting if you could!), please see my instructions for remembering a past life.

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