First, mathematically, It’s sort of a moot concern. Reincarnation comes with the framework that lives are the universe experiencing itself. So There’s no “loss” in going between species as “you” will actually incarnate as everything and everyone once in non-linear time on the backend making “time” immaterial. I am you and you are me. We are all one existence. So you have time.
Second, that reincarnation frameworks usually also include a structure where it’s not random what you reincarnate as next time around. Karma doesn’t usually boot people back down to bacterium right after human. It’s usually more of a leveling up in order to experience deeper and more meaningful lifetimes. But YMMV.
Second, that reincarnation frameworks usually also include a structure where it’s not random what you reincarnate as next time around. Karma doesn’t usually boot people back down to bacterium right after human. It’s usually more of a leveling up in order to experience deeper and more meaningful lifetimes. But YMMV.
That sounds extraordinarily arbitrary. Who decides what counts as a “level up”? Does that mean if you start as a bacteria you’re stuck like that for a few thousand or million cycles? How would you earn enough karma points to level up from being a bacteria? What counts as “deeper and more meaningful lifetimes” if you are a bacteria?
Well, you do, ultimately. Remember, you’re talking about a system where there is agency between lifetimes as well. I’m not familiar enough with non-human karmic mechanics to definitively tell you, but in most systems it’s that you a “burning off” the karma of being en evil asshole by being demoted from human to less sentient lifeforms. So sending Hitler or Cecil Rhodes or Andrew Jackson would then indeed spend 40,000 lifetimes being killed over and over again before getting back in the running to have a central nervous system.
Exactly and the math doesn’t give this theory a chance really, unless humans create the sentience. Coming back as “anything” would now include the bacteria and whatever else from other planets. Which even doubled, you would have to wait until entire universes recycle.
Two things:
First, mathematically, It’s sort of a moot concern. Reincarnation comes with the framework that lives are the universe experiencing itself. So There’s no “loss” in going between species as “you” will actually incarnate as everything and everyone once in non-linear time on the backend making “time” immaterial. I am you and you are me. We are all one existence. So you have time.
Second, that reincarnation frameworks usually also include a structure where it’s not random what you reincarnate as next time around. Karma doesn’t usually boot people back down to bacterium right after human. It’s usually more of a leveling up in order to experience deeper and more meaningful lifetimes. But YMMV.
That sounds extraordinarily arbitrary. Who decides what counts as a “level up”? Does that mean if you start as a bacteria you’re stuck like that for a few thousand or million cycles? How would you earn enough karma points to level up from being a bacteria? What counts as “deeper and more meaningful lifetimes” if you are a bacteria?
Apologies, I totally missed the most essential part of this all:
Well, you do, ultimately. Remember, you’re talking about a system where there is agency between lifetimes as well. I’m not familiar enough with non-human karmic mechanics to definitively tell you, but in most systems it’s that you a “burning off” the karma of being en evil asshole by being demoted from human to less sentient lifeforms. So sending Hitler or Cecil Rhodes or Andrew Jackson would then indeed spend 40,000 lifetimes being killed over and over again before getting back in the running to have a central nervous system.
Exactly and the math doesn’t give this theory a chance really, unless humans create the sentience. Coming back as “anything” would now include the bacteria and whatever else from other planets. Which even doubled, you would have to wait until entire universes recycle.
Does “waiting” have any meaning in this metaphysics? Arguably not.