How did the theory evolve ?
"The theory of reincarnation is based on the religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after biological death, begins a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spiritual depending on the moral quality of the previous life's actions "
According to most philosophers and scientists rebirth is not a recent phenomenon, but the theory of rebirth or reincarnation is almost as ancient as thought itself and its origin is unknown. Rebirth is for the modern mind no more than a speculation and a theory since it has never been proved by the methods of modern science or for that matter by any other branch of study conducted so far.
However, most believers would argue that it is the case with most things around us. Many of the things that we accept now as truths are really no more than beliefs. We have all the profoundest unshakable faith that the earth revolves on its own axis, which was what a great French mathematician deducted based on his researches , the fact however has never been proved and today it largely remains only as a theory which accounts well for certain observable facts, nothing more than that. But for all practical purposes it remains a fact on which many other theories and studies have been based. There have been different theories put forth by different religious beliefs on the subject of rebirth and the sum total of all these theories however remains the same. Most theories have been based on memory recall.
According to that theory the person who is born again is able to recall everything related to his previous birth. And even if we are able to verify those facts, the conclusions derived from these facts can also be challenged by others. The skeptic can always say that they are not really the memories of their past lives but they were already known to the person alleging them after having gathered all the relevant information. They may also have been suggested to the person by other people. These are then converted into reincarnate memory. This could have been done either by conscious deception for some gain or the other. It could also have been induced by others by a process of self-deception and self-hallucination just to prove their point.
As it is perceived today
Any theory and news about rebirth and related matters make very interesting reading. Rebirth as a concept is yet to be proven, so one keeps debating back and forth since it is a very interesting topic . Our life and existence itself seems a mystery when we dwell into it.There has been such a lot of debate over the issue of rebirth or reincarnation , also there have been instances where certain people have been able to remember almost all the details about their previous birth. I am skeptical about the whole thing but sometimes one wonders . This is because there are many things which are beyond us and probably 25 years ago one could never imagine that we could have an invention like the internet , web camera and the like.. Similarly, No one has seen god, but, most people believe or draw strength from him/her . However , one can safely say that anything is possible in our universe since we are still discovering things. Most people would say that unless there is concrete evidence it is difficult to believe any of it. Personally I am very confused about the whole thing and my thoughts go round in circles and would like to keep an open mind about it.
No doubt that one can never be sure about anything. I have my own doubts about God and Religion too since it has never been proved by anyone so far. I had a personal experience once which was baffling. I met a lady who is supposed to remember her previous birth and the details were startling . The lady in question has given many details about her previous life and also details about how she died due to illness and many such incidents known only to her family and relatives. It was somehow amazing and the physicists and scientists who had spoken to her were totally perplexed about the whole incident. Many scientists have interviewed her and are still not sure what to make of the case.I am sure that finally they will be able to come to some conclusion or the other , since there are many theories about rebirth and also people claiming it to be a fact, but most of these incidents have been thrown out by the scientists , but as things stand now it is a bit of an unsolved mystery.
Probably ,the very basic reason for such a belief is because we don't want to think that our life would end some day and the theory of rebirth gives us some hope. Hinduism believes in rebirth ( not once but seven times) since our whole religion is based on reincarnation. However, all this has no proof and therefore remains largely in our mind and on paper.The theory of rebirth appeals to us since it gives us hope in something, not making death final. It is like God and Ghost, both of which are being written about and people will go to the extent of fighting wars for the sake of religion even though there is not a shred of proof. Religion does have a part in the theory and concept of rebirth and reincarnation.
Conclusions
When we think of human evolution in scientific terms it is difficult to believe that there is rebirth and reincarnation. But again there are many things on this earth for which scientists have still not found any satisfactory explanation. Life and death itself is a mystery and so also God, which too is not a proven fact.There are many unexplained theories on this earth including rebirth and reincarnation..
Many scientists point out that the modern science does not know anything for sure about the before-life or an after-life of the human soul. Because ultimately that’s what rebirth and reincarnation is all about – the soul finding another dwelling . In fact Science does not know anything at all about the human soul in the first place.
It is also a fact that this cannot be found out using its scientific methods because the modern science stops at the border of human flesh, brain, nerve, the embryo and its formation and development. It concentrates only what is fact and figurative, also physical. The best way to deal with this would be not to take any position, negative or positive. Just remain open to the hypothesis and explore.
