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In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."
What I also thought was interesting was that a quarter of all Christians surveyed reckoned they’d be reincarnated.
I’ve always thought there was some logic in being reincarnated.
Basically, there are two key variables here. First, whether the number of souls is finite or infinite (demand), and second, whether heaven is finite or infinite (supply).
The normal doctrines that I’ve been across suggest that the supply is finite whereas the demand is infinite. This suggests that at some point, heaven is going to be full and close its gates. However, this also implies that all the souls from the point of closing are basically ‘stuck’ or going to go to some kind of ‘lesser’ heaven – whether they believed or not.
What other options could there be ? Infinite demand, with infinite supply ? That could work – the only problem is that runs counter to the whole urgency / second coming issue. If there is infinite supply, there’s no scarcity and thus no particular urgency for any cause.
What inherently makes a lot more sense is finite demand. It makes the point of whether supply is finite or infinite almost moot. If there are a limited number of souls, then heaven could be a ‘holding’ area until the soul gets reincarnated back into the earth pool. The only problem with that logic is that we’ve got tremendous population growth – so unless we share the same souls as the trees and extinct creatures that we’re decimating, at some point the supply of souls is going to dry up.
Enough about reincarnating ideas. We went to Buller on Sat for our last crack at what has been a pretty good ski season. I’ll quote words from Shirley I never thought I’d hear her say “I think I’m getting sick of skiing”
Things are getting interesting at work. Apart from having had 3 x 16-hour days last week, I seem to be getting myself involved in more and more things here – whether I try to or not. Maybe this spells the end of my consulting career and the start back into corporate river of life ?
Hope you’re having fun wherever you are !
