Many are those who believe that we humans live and die with no after-life, just like the insects (which help to feed bird life) or the bees (which aid Nature in feeding mankind). There are other humans who hope that, when they die, they will find everlasting joy in a place they call Heaven. Then there are those like me who believe that we possess an inner self which experiences repeated Earthly lives, with temporary in-between lives in some ethereal environment. All of us may be correct in our respective expectations, in that we deservedly experience what we believe in.
Those who believe in an on-going self (the soul), which takes up a new body on each return to Earth, are usually born into the so-called ‘forest’ religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, etc. of the Indian sub-continent. In the realm of the claimed linkage between one’s year of birth (as in the Chinese belief system) or the month of birth (as in the Western world) and the personality of the individual, a contrary view is that you are not what you are because of when you were born, but rather you were born when you were because of what you are (presumably prospectively). Could it be that where you were born is also determined by what you are (in terms of the significance of Earthly existence)?
I wonder whether the longevity and durability of a faith give it credibility. I also wonder how those people who conceived such a philosophical, indeed spiritual, framework reached their belief?
Is there any evidence to support the belief in reincarnation? But then, why is there any need to produce any evidence for this one belief? Do not cultures everywhere, including the religions within them, hold all manner of belief-claims? Much of these seem to be fanciful, but politically useful.
In a clash of cultures, those who make positive claims regarding a faith are generally challenged to provide evidence, by those who hold negative or opposing beliefs, to support their beliefs. It is, of course, impossible to prove a negative belief or claim. For instance, a number of clever people have attempted to prove that there is no God. I cannot prove that there is no one or nothing called the devil, although I am satisfied that all evil arises within the minds of human beings.
Ultimately, it is a matter of belief vs. belief. What then?
RAJA ARASA RATNAM 