Recycling on a grand scale
Rebirth and reincarnation seem to go hand in hand. Sometimes, there is a tendency attribute the same interpretations to both terms. But, the closer I look, more I see a distinction between the two. So, I have decided to treat the two concepts separately and see how far can go along that path.
When I think of rebirth, I like to treat it as a process that happens now, in this world of ours.
Let us think of ourselves for a moment.
If anyone asks me whether I am the same person I was 20 years ago, I would promptly answer, YES! Otherwise I could end up being categorised under any one of the prevailing anti-social labels.
What is it that I admit to, when I answer "YES!"? It should mean only one thing - The Same Label. It is the label, which we call "NAME", which was assigned to me by my parents when they registered me at birth. Nothing else has remained the same since!
True, the answer will depend on the timescales involved. If the question was asked whether I was same person when I was 21 as I was at 20, the answer would have been quite true. No one changes perceptibly within a year, surely?
Of course there are the fortunate ones who maintain their youth seemingly for ever. Even they, given a sufficient time span, will begin to show some change in their bodies, characters, behaviours etc.
Everyone will agree that you are not the one you were at birth so many years ago. True?
I am different in body. I am different in mind, action, tastes, etc. etc. True the process has been going on for years.
We shed skin all the time, to be supplanted by new cells. Our bone structure gets renewed every so many years... Isn't this process of decay and replenishment a form of Rebirth?
Will a biologist agree with this view? Of course the biologist need to understand the context of the issue we raise here.
I seem to think so. At least it provides me with a comfortable definition for the term Rebirth.
How often are we being reborn? I think the answer will depend on how deep you want to analyse the process of this change mechanism. Cells are replenished quite rapidly, depending what cells they are.
There is no going back, I am afraid. So whatever time unit you chose, you end up being a different person at the end of the chosen time interval.
What happens to matter we shed during this process of replenishment? They are released into Nature. I am not saying that the bits of matter one sheds will find their way back to the same person in another form. But, they will most probably find their way, not in the same form, to others to maintain their processes of Rebirth.Shocking?
Once the matter leaves a body, and breaks down to its constituent chemicals and atoms, they lose all identity of the source. The carbon dioxide I breathe out today, could be absorbed by a vegetable somewhere, and end up on your plate one day.
Is there anything at all that is not subject to Rebirth?
I think there is. The trail of Karma - good and bad - you have accumulated through your life would keep following you as you jump from one instance of you to the next.
Plenty to think about!