{"id":1099,"date":"2012-07-21T20:22:59","date_gmt":"2012-07-22T00:22:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lemasney.com\/?p=519"},"modified":"2020-07-11T15:43:40","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T19:43:40","slug":"on-the-ideas-of-eternal-life-and-reincarnation-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2012\/07\/21\/on-the-ideas-of-eternal-life-and-reincarnation-11\/","title":{"rendered":"On the ideas of eternal life and reincarnation."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

In the interest of mental health to match my bodily health<\/em>, I have been meditating<\/a>. In talking to others about meditation, which need not be religious, many of my conversations have turned to religion, and in particular, the Buddhist idea of reincarnation<\/a>, and inevitably, my formerly Catholic<\/a> training in eternal life.<\/p>\n

I refer to myself as a naturalist<\/em><\/strong>. I believe and trust, spiritually speaking, in what I find in nature. Morality, life, death, recovery, and spiritual inspiration all come from nature for me, and nature provides answers to my questions through observation, experiment, and evidence. My church is a park, and my sabbath is daily, and my prayers are small, kind acts for improvement of natural, observable life. But that is another post.<\/p>\n

I only know what I can sense<\/em>, and I can not now sense reincarnation in the same way that I can sense a tree, aside from the literal reincarnation through the reuse of elements, like carbon, iron, calcium, when they change from making up one object to making up another.<\/p>\n

In this, reincarnation exists.\u00a0<\/strong>But I disperse, in my everyday life, the literal electricity of my thought, which is recordable evidence of my mental activity. Thoughts exist\u00a0only in the brain’s bio-electrical function of storage, retrieval, and experiential record. When the brain ceases to exist, I believe I will not exist as a thinking, acting entity.<\/p>\n

The same way that carbon in my former body is the same carbon\u00a0in a tree, but not a functioning part of ‘me’ any longer, the electricity and impulse of thought that was formerly a part of ‘me’ and is now electricity in the air, water, and so on is no longer me, but simply air, water and so on.<\/p>\n

My skin dies off, as will my brain, and so my thoughts, and I will no longer exist but in the memories of others and evidence of products. Hence, I choose to focus on what I can do to create good products and memories of me in others now, such as my boys, and perhaps you. I can live on in the minds and thoughts and inspired acts of others.<\/p>\n

In this, one’s life exists posthumously.\u00a0<\/strong>I wonder what your thoughts are on these ideas? I’m open to discussion, as none of us knows what we all know separately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the interest of mental health to match my bodily health, I have been meditating. In talking to others about meditation, which need not be religious, many of my conversations have turned to religion, and in particular, the Buddhist idea of reincarnation, and inevitably, my formerly Catholic training in eternal life. I refer to myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3653,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-insights","7":"category-photography","8":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3h6y2-hJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1162,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2012\/09\/05\/on-the-convenience-and-simplicity-of-retail-shopping\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":0},"title":"On the convenience and simplicity of retail shopping","author":"lemsy","date":"2012-09-05","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 So in this video, Brian and I talk about a few important topics, including customer service, retail operations and service, and caring about your work environment. What does this have to do with health and calories? Everything. Talking about physical health so often excludes mental health, and having a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "insights"","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/fEemhzmrzKg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1092,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2012\/07\/02\/a-pair-of-milestones-and-some-insights-into-how-i-am-becoming-fit-and-losing-weight\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":1},"title":"A pair of milestones, and some insights into how I am becoming fit and losing weight.","author":"lemsy","date":"2012-07-02","format":false,"excerpt":"So, I've reached two almost simultaneous milestones I wanted to tell you about. The first milestone is that I reached 250 pounds. That means that I have 50 more to go, and I have lost about 45 pounds since paying close attention to my health and nutrition again. It has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "insights"","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1174,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/01\/08\/20130108-on-maintenance-fitness-nutrition-health\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":2},"title":"On maintenance #fitness #nutrition #health by lemasney","author":"lemsy","date":"2013-01-08","format":false,"excerpt":"If you like this post, or if you feel like it might help someone, please share it. Thanks! How do I feel today; What did I do today? I've been rather depressed lately. It's mostly chemical-based, but there are a few stressors and other triggers that have been bringing it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "insights"","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Procrastination Basic program by lemasney","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/20111112.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/20111112.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/20111112.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/20111112.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1172,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/01\/02\/20130102-starting-the-year-at-goal-fitness-nutrition-health\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":3},"title":"20130102: Starting the year at goal #fitness #nutrition #health","author":"lemsy","date":"2013-01-02","format":false,"excerpt":"Feeling: I'm feeling pretty good. It's the new year, and I reached my weight goal on Christmas. I met my goal of 200 pounds, set in April 2012, when I was 295 pounds. I was a much different person at the time, and many things have changed. At this precise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "insights"","block_context":{"text":"insights","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/insights\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo on 2013-01-02 at 11.06","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/photo-on-2013-01-02-at-11-06.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5816,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2010\/11\/27\/336-of-365-is-your-moral-compass-inkscape-youcalledmewhatnow\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":4},"title":"A moral compass: You’re somewhere in the middle by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #design #venn #diagram","author":"lemsy","date":"2010-11-27","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a Venn diagram that shows what most of us are doing, morally speaking. I believe that we all have all the ability of all the best and all the worst of humanity within us, and that aside from our cumulative experiences and resulting mental health, the only deciding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "portfolio"","block_context":{"text":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/portfolio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A moral compass: You're somewhere in the middle by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #design #venn #diagram","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/20101127contextualmap.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/20101127contextualmap.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/20101127contextualmap.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/20101127contextualmap.png?fit=809%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4972,"url":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/2013\/11\/11\/on-identity-and-shopping-carts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1099,"position":5},"title":"On identity and shopping carts","author":"lemsy","date":"2013-11-11","format":false,"excerpt":"Who are you? So many ways exist to answer this question, but I suggest that one interesting way might be to look in your shopping cart. There are thousands of choices waiting in the aisles of Super Fresh, Giant, Stop and Shop, and Walgreens that it becomes inevitable that we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "brand"","block_context":{"text":"brand","link":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/category\/consulting\/brand\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A shopping cart filled with bagged groceries l...","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/83\/Shopping_cart.jpg\/300px-Shopping_cart.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1099"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45911,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1099\/revisions\/45911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lemasney.com\/consulting\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}