Is there a question about re-incarnation?

For me, the answer is 'no'. There is no reasonable question there.

You often hear "I don't believe in re-incarnation." Less often we hear "I don't believe in gravity." Who cares whether or not you believe in gravity? Who cares whether you believe in re-incarnation? You experience the results of it all the time. You create the causes of the future all the time. It just is. Your beliefs can't alter the fact that you are paying for past actions every second of your life. That can be an extremely positive payment or an extremely difficult one.

If this were not so, everything has to be random. Various religions have tried to suppress this reality for reasons of, I assume, power and control. But it seems to me that they are all confirming the fact of re-incarnation one way or another. "Christ died on the cross to wash away your sins. You will get your reward in heaven. You will pay for that crime. Do unto others. Be born again in Jesus. Don't worship the golden calf. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The will of God. The will of Allah.'

Does it all come down to the same thing? Everything has a cause and everything has an effect. Karma. Some karma is very old and comes from past lives. Some is much more instantaneous and comes from what? From present actions or from distant action in the past.

So many people get hung up on the words 're-incarnation, karma'. All the great teachers, masters, prophets have taught, are teaching, how to make good karma. Yet, we constantly choose to improvise and alter the teachings. How can anyone who listens to the Hebrew Testament or the New Testament possibly twist "Thou Shall Not Kill" or "Love thy neighbor as thyself" into a reason for the death penalty or making nuclear weapons, or using them, President Truman. What are we thinking? We are thinking that we can escape the results of our actions. We are thinking that our petty and self-interested minds can justify our actions and at the same time, that we are better and more religious than others. Wow.

It is worth the effort to ponder our personal experiences. We might learn something about ourselves and how things work.

I know someone who's seven year old and nine year old sons were in the bathtub for what seemed like a long time. And it was really quiet in the bathroom. After a while Rose took a peek into the bathroom, unseen by the kids. The older boy had an ear syringe and was pumping water into his penis. She made him stop immediately. He got an infection and had to take antibiotics and was very uncomfortable with pain for a day or so. While he was home sick, missing his friends at school and suffering, she could hear him calling out from his bedroom upstairs, "Why me? I don't deserve this! Why me?"

How often are we calling out "Why me?" and not taking the trouble to discover the real causes?