Stone, I will try to address some of your comments with my understanding and experience...not that this is the TRUTH, but it is my truth.
Quote:Reincarnation just does not seem like a logical system. Especially if you have no control as to who or what you reincarnate as because regardless, who you are and who you become is very much affected by this physical world, how you're brought up, your environment, etc
One cannot assess logic without knowledge of all the facts...as incarnate beings on earth we do not have access to all the facts and cannot assess the logic of the system. As characters acting on the stage, we play our parts without necessarily having the big picture...that doesn't keep us from playing our roles. As a soul you have free will...you choose which human body incarnating here you wish to occupy, together with the events, trials and tribulations that particular body will live through, thus giving your soul the experiences it seeks. You do have control...in fact your life as it is right now, was chosen by you through your free will, and, in keeping with Beau's thread...you chose the role of Stone on the stage of earth...right now you are truly "in character". You, as that character, will have all the memories from your role which you will hold for and on behalf of your soul, and which cannot be forgotten by a being, of which you are a part, which is perfect and forgets nothing. As for physical or environmental effects on your role as Stone, these are the twists in the plot or props on stage which force us to make hard decisions and require some level of extemporaneous acting...fun, isn't it?
Quote:We're going to learn very slowly if we have to keep coming back here and refreshing our memories and it takes 20+ years to actually realize you're more than human. Our spirits would do better to evolve in the Afterlife and allow the physical world to work itself out. Otherwise whats even the point of the afterlife if the afterlife is just coming back here every time to be a completely different person created by his or her environment? Its silly
Learning slowly tends not to matter too much if you have forever in which to do it. Linear time, as we know it, plods along second, by minute, by hour, by day, by month and by year. We focus our events in such a linear fashion and it is how we function in this third dimensional world. Where we come from there is no sense of time, so learning and experiencing come as and when desired in the sense of a soul. Time only counts on the stage of earth, as we cannot expect to be the center of attention forever!
The afterlife is "home"...as a soul we come here to experience, to learn and to enjoy. Also, how many times have you read the lesson in the book and thought you knew how to do it only to find when you actually stepped up to the plate to perform you were wondering "what the heck?" A life incarnate, away from home, gives you the chance to test your training, to walk the walk, to learn through a "live fire" exercise, so to speak.
Quote: If reincarnation was real, then what I just proposed is probably true and death is the end of that reality for god and it experiences a new one. Everything just goes out the door, and it pretty much DOES mean we completely lose consciousness in death. Because I don't want to become someone else. I don't want to be god. I want to be me and I want eternal life in a paradise. I want to travel the cosmos with THIS personality and THIS mind. If that disappears, then I disappear. And if I disappear, then death truly is death. Reincarnation is some silly excuse for eternal life. That's eternal life for something inside me, but it isn't eternal life for ME.
I do think reincarnation is real, however I do not agree with your follow-on suppositions. I do not see reincarnation as illogical, nor that it is a pointless series of empty lives and forgotten memories. I do not think death is the end, as the energy, the ego, the role played by Stone on earth, lives on as part of that soul and part of God. After physical death your consciousness develops full knowledge of the truth of it all...no longer simply the truth of Stone acting as a separate entity on the stage of earth. You have and live a life in eternal paradise and will do so with this personality together with the rest of you...this personality, or role is your soul's current foray onto the stage of earth and it cannot wait to finish here to bring backstage all the wonderful experiences, stories, impressions you gained from your life as Stone. You, as Stone, will not disappear, will not be forgotten, will not become unconscious...on the contrary, you will be living in paradise with all the consciousness, memories and experiences as Stone, together with the whole consciousness of every other person, experience, role your soul has ever played before. Your soul is the actor and Stone is the character, or role you play...the actor remembers every part of every role he has ever played, and the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and memories of each role as well...Stone is one of those roles, and your soul can slip into any role he chooses to relive at any time.
Another way to look at it is that you are a portion of your soul...a portion that cannot see the big picture for purposes of playing this role. When your physical Stone dies, the blinders come off and you see your soul in its entirety, you see how you acted, you see why you acted the way you did, you reflect on the matters you would have handled differently and you revel in the wonderful opportunity you just enjoyed.
As for your final posit, my computer will not allow me to quote it here, but in response, I do not agree that the idea of reincarnation is illogical and that death is the end of that body/soul's consciousness for the reasons previously stated. I have provided my perpsective on the points you have raised and I hope that they may help in some way.