The soul

[Liffrea]

I have believed in reincarnation for a while before I became a heathen. I believe that you can be reincarnated into a following generation of your family. But how do we classify the soul? I have heard some say that it is a collective of different parts e.g your ancestral memory. Another thing as well is that human populations have invariaebly increased and declined through out the ages. Does this mean that there is a well of souls? A place where new souls are formed?

[Norsk Blod]

Im have not heard all of the Odin lives brodcasts but Listen to the last one it says its about souls so it may answer some of your questions (scroll down to the last one) http://www.odinlives.org/archives.php

[Loki's Advocate]

One thing I REALLY HATE about cultures which seriously entertain the notion of re-incarnation (or 'a life after this one'), is that they all tend to be extremely fatalistic. "Yeah, anything that happens is OK, because this is just one of my many lives!"

The ancient Greeks had it absolutely right, as they so often do: there MAY BE lives after this one, but none of them compare to this life.

[Hveðrungur Kveldúlfsson]

One thing I REALLY HATE about cultures which seriously entertain the notion of re-incarnation (or 'a life after this one'), is that they all tend to be extremely fatalistic. "Yeah, anything that happens is OK, because this is just one of my many lives!"

The ancient Greeks had it absolutely right, as they so often do: there MAY BE lives after this one, but none of them compare to this life.
I agree that is a BS way to look at life. Personally I dont know what happens after I die thats why I want to do as much as I can with THIS life and let any afterlife or next life happen or not happen.

[Loki's Advocate]

Well, among other things, that's why it was the Buddhist Tamil Tigers who invented suicide bombing, and why the Shi'ite Muslims took so readily to it.

Not that I disagree with a person choosing to sacrifice themselves, when they are in such dire straits that that's the only way they can achieve parity with their enemies, but it also speaks volumes for a person's position among other people when they honestly believe that in blowing themselves up, they can achieve more than they could in the rest of their natural lives*. Pretty sad really.

*: Bear in mind, most suicide bombers are young people.

[texas heathen]

I do not see reincarnation in that light. Mostly because I see it in the Folk soul sense, but just because you are going to live again does not mean that things will be better in the next.
We are all working towards Odin conciesnous ( spelled way wrong) but there are no promises.You must live a good and true life to progress, if you do not nothing changes for you or our Folk. The way I see it any way.
FFF
Clif

[Hengest]

I think there is a problem wit hthe way that most people view reincarnation in that they believe they will have some concious knowledge of it. I doubt that this would be the case.

Whatever is the case for the soul, we know for fact that we live in our descendants as every one of them will carry our DNA as we carry that of our ancestors. They will also carry something that I don't think can be sufficiently explained with words. We know that we carry it. Some call it folk soul.

[Loki's Advocate]

I think there is a problem wit hthe way that most people view reincarnation in that they believe they will have some concious knowledge of it. I doubt that this would be the case.

Yeah, I agree.

The only forms of re-incarnation that I believe in (because I know that they exist), as opposed to simply speculating about, is the re-incarnation of the essential elements of the body, and ancestral memory. That's why I want to be burned and buried at sea when I eventually die. That way, when I do eventually return to land, it'll be as a more noble form of life than this one.

(Sorry about the morbidity of this post. I've just learned from a friend that a teacher we both had at high school, a really damn good one, has just died. I'm a bit cut up about it, really, he was a really good guy.)

[Sigurd]

A good response, White Horse.

[Liffrea]

What about past lives? Is it not possible that you may remember something?

Also I don't know if anyone else gets this feeling, its hard to put into words but do you sometimes think, this is not my time? This world does not suit me?

[pinlighter]

Also I don't know if anyone else gets this feeling, its hard to put into words but do you sometimes think, this is not my time? This world does not suit me?

Yes but - damn it - I think I woke **too early** ;)

I have that feeling that we are right at the beginning of things.

[Loki's Advocate]

It's not that I wish to diss other people for believing in past lives. But honestly, just look at what such beliefs DO to people! Have you seriously listened to a few people lately who are convinced beyond a doubt that they have had past lives, that are accessible to them by memory? Perfectly sensible and decent people, talking like they should be strait-jacketed and thrown into a padded cell. Take Scientology for example.

Yeah, I know what you mean, sometimes this world we live in just seems... fundamentally wrong. But like the song says, if the future don't suit ya, you're better off dead. While I'm alive, it is MY world, no-one is going to ruin my life (including me!), and I'll do what I can to make it that little bit better for me and for everyone else I care about. And if someone doesn't like it, they know what they can do.

[Liffrea]

Its more that this world seems well dull. The human species has lost all sense of endeavour. Apart from people like us most people are more bothered about such junk as "celebrities" and the latest fashions.

[pinlighter]

It's not that I wish to diss other people for believing in past lives. But honestly, just look at what such beliefs DO to people!


I hear you!!! I think whatever any one may believe about reincarnation this life is to be lived 100%




Yeah, I know what you mean, sometimes this world we live in just seems... fundamentally wrong. But like the song says, if the future don't suit ya, you're better off dead.

I'm a sad, sorry, little man, but the fact of the matter is that I wanna ride a starship, and if I can't do it in this life I'l cherish the hope of doing it in the next :rofl: :)

.

[Liffrea]

I'm a sad, sorry, little man, but the fact of the matter is that I wanna ride a starship, and if I can't do it in this life I'l cherish the hope of doing it in the next :rofl:

I hear you Bro. To boldly go thats living. :)

[Lee]

For me, I don’t like the concept of a “soul”. But this is probably because it has been too tainted by New Age nonsense and Christian claptrap.

Everyone is an individual. We are all unique, none of us are the same and some of us are better than others. Our personality, our characteristics and the way we choose to live our lives are utterly our own and different from every other living being that surrounds us. From a scientific point of view, this notion is proven in DNA.

So, for want of a better word, our “soul” is who we are and we should cherish that individuality. Where most people go wrong with the concept of “soul” is in believing that we have no control over it. If you believe that your soul only exists to go onto another plane of existence once you die, then you are rather rudely denying and ignoring what makes you special in this plane of life. And after all, we only know for sure that we exist on this mortal coil and any notion of an afterlife is hedging your bets at best!

So my outlook has always been to revel in your “soul”, you individuality, your life, whilst you are living in a real, tangible, existence. There may be some form of reincarnation going on, but I agree with White Horse when he says that the chances are you wouldn’t know about it.

So live your live in the present, do what the Vikings did, make your name known in this life so that you, and your soul if you want to call it that, will live on for eternity and you have no need to worry about whether you will get some second chance in some theoretical second lifetime.

[Lonnie]

I would suggest reading Gronbech's "Culture of the Teutons" (http://gamall-steinn.org/text/cot-index.htm) Chapters 3, 7, 9 & 10 all have to do with the soul...

[Liffrea]

I believe something of us must live on. It just seems pointless otherwise. Consider everything that a man is capable of doing in his lifetime. If we accept that in the natural world the sole aim of any generation of animal is to breed the next generation of animal, then mankind has a lot of talents that are, well pointless to this endevour. This to me is the gift the gods gave to us intelligence and more important conscience. No other animal sits there and thinks "why".

[Hengest]

This to me is the gift the gods gave to us intelligence and more important conscience. No other animal sits there and thinks "why".

I consider the myth of Odin, Villi and Ve creating man and woman to symbolise that time when our ancestors first asked "why?". Actually that is a bit of a simplification but I am sure you see the point.