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(Continued … )

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Life on earth :

Life began on earth 3.5 billion years ago. The Sun is gradually getting hotter. Eventually it will be hot enough to evaporate all Earth's oceans, and cause a runaway greenhouse effect that sends temperatures soaring upwards. This process is estimated to begin in about 1 billion years from now, and will wipe-out all but the most resistant microorganisms.

It is unlikely that human beings could continue to survive on earth more than 1.5 billion years from now.

Life Span of human beings on planet earth :

As it seems that human and chimpanzees’ genes split about 13 million years ago, the maximum life span of humans on planet earth can be estimated at roughly 1.5 billion years.

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For a book about how the world is actually getting better, try Factfulness, by Hans Rosling and one or two others.

Dear Not_Now.Soon,

«From what I know of the world we are still a barbaric creature.»

In one sense, yes, our body-minds are barbaric creatures and the world is a barbaric place.

It is only natural that the world is and will remain (to somewhat varying degrees) a barbaric place, but you are not your body-mind, hence YOU are not a barbaric creature, nor do you need to continue assuming a barbaric creature as your vehicle for interacting with the world and with others.

You seem to expect the world to one day rise above nature, but this will not happen. Rather, YOU can, and eventually will, rise above nature, then the state of the world will no longer bother you.

«...robs me of any conclusion of people advancing through multiple lives or that people are evolving and becoming something different then what we use to be.»

Yes, people will remain people and do not evolve (in a spiritual sense) - it is your soul that evolves and once you realise God, you will no longer associate yourself with people.

«That our world gets more populated instead of less populated»

It does not: there are other species and elements, other stars, other galaxies and even other universes. Despite numbering in the billions, human birth is still extremely rare.

«please give me an example in the world that can be used as a means to validate the explanation.»

There are reports of people who know [some of] their past lives, but validation requires extreme measures:

Patanjali claims in his Yoga Sutras:

“When one is steadfast in non-possessiveness there arises knowledge of the why and wherefore of past and future incarnations.”
http://breatheyogaandwellness.com/aparigraha-the-things-we-cling-to-cause-us-to-suffer/

In other words, validation requires that you cease to cling to things, both what you already own and what you still desire to own. It's a tall order and I am not yet anywhere up to it myself.

To Yuyutsu. Thank you for answering my question on validating reincarnation. I've heard of reports people remembering something of a past life. However these reports are so rare I don't know any one who says that they have a memory of a past life. Either way it is a consideration for reincarnation. A counter point though are reports of near death experiences. Some which report to go to an afterlife of some kind, others that report seeing or meeting a family member that had died a long time ago. A third theory of what happens after we die goes into the subject matter of ghosts, and souls or spirits lingering on in certian places. Reports of ghost stories are also a consideration.

However what I really want to thank you for is the means you explained to gain the knowledge of past lives. Letting go of all attachments. I wasn't aware that this was a method of finding your past self. Instead I was under the impression this was a means to reach Narvana, or to become a sage while still alive. (Or something of that nature).

This gives me a behavior that if anyone claims they do, can be used as a measure to justify or judge reincarnation. I know people who have their own ghost stories, and I can judge their merit based on both the person when they say what they say, as well as judge it by the experiences that are described. I also know people who say they've had a near death experience, and can justify or judge those in the same way as I can ghost stories. But I haven't ever met anyone who says they have past life memories, nor do I know what attributes to look for to help find that kind of person. What you've given me is something to keep in the back of my mind in case an oppurtunity arises that I meet someone as you've described. Past lives seem to be a phenomon that is largely either accepted without validation, or regected without justification. So thank you again.

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Dear Not_Now.Soon,

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You wrote :

« The difference here though is that God has no beginnings, but instead is eternal »
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The OED defines eternal as :

« Lasting or existing forever; without end »

In other words, to be eternal, something which exists must be “without an end” – not “without a beginning”.

If something never began to exist, it does not exist – and cannot be eternal ! A race that has not begun is not a race. A child that has not been conceived is not a child.

Jesus of Nazareth, whom I imagine you believe is the son of God and therefore eternal, had his “beginnings” (to use your expression) when he was purportedly conceived by the Holy Ghost and Mary (though she was already "betrothed" to Joseph at the time).

What makes you think that your God – whom you claim (at the end of your post) to have “found” – has no beginnings ?

I must confess that makes no sense to me. Like Runner, wherever I look around at nature, I see “design”, “order” and “logic”. Everything seems perfectly “rational”. How do you explain that a God could possibly exist even though he has not yet begun to do so ?

Is that Church dogma or is it just your personal belief ?

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Dear Not_Now.Soon,

Please keep away from ghosts and the like: this is a pathological condition where one's subtle-energy/emotional body lingers and fails to dissipate as it should soon after the physical body's death. Playing with this can be catastrophic and the bible too clearly warns against having anything to do with it.

«However these reports are so rare I don't know any one who says that they have a memory of a past life.»

Neither do I, but I know someone who knew and verified the evidence of someone else who remembered their past life (this obviously rests on the reliability of the person, whom I know and won't name).

«I was under the impression this was a means to reach Narvana, or to become a sage while still alive.»

This is correct, but Patanjali warns us in his Yoga Sutras that when someone gets very close and nearly perfects the purity of their spiritual observances, but not quite, there come the last temptations of supernatural powers, including the knowledge of past and future lives. One is warned to avoid indulging in such temptations lest they divert us of the real and final goal - God! This, I think, is similar to Jesus' last temptations in Luke 4:1-13 and Matthew 4:1-11.