Everlasting
Reincarnation may sound like a weird idea. Maybe it’s the idea that one person can be Joan of Arc, a Generation Y teen and a Mormon mother of eight. I get the idea, but then again, maybe what’s weird is not the idea that a soul can take on multiple shells or bodies, but the idea that one white spirit-man with a beard can save us all if we say his name out loud and go to church every Sunday.
Reincarnation is a valid theory. Here’s why: The Higher Powers are not found in outer objects like buildings, temples or synagogues just as who we are is not found in our skin, organs or limbs. This is why I’m baffled by the popular spiritual belief that God(ess) is found in a building and not in directly serving the poor (worthy or not), needy and cast out.
Since this is the case, a lot of the reasoning used to say those with different outer shells (or bodies) are somehow of less worth than those who are male or white or just plain more attractive is just pointless. Here’s an example of how ridiculous that reasoning gets: a mom in one of the commercials in support of Proposition 8 said, “I don’t want my children to grow up in a genderless society.”
So, either she meant that two women who get married will magically produce offspring that do not have reproductive parts, or if we let two men marry then suddenly every human will cease to be clearly male or female. Or it’s possible the Prop 8 supporters just made up lies for the hell of it.
I have to go with the latter.
Still, we can learn from the people who say gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are the ones who fit under the psychiatric definition of bizarre. I’m not saying we should strip people of their private parts, but we could benefit by removing the stigma that creates the hell on earth that comes from judging people on their outward appearances.
A body can be burned, mutilated, amputated, be-headed and hurt or destroyed in a lot of other ways. A soul is lasting and its value lies in feelings, thoughts and actions. For example, a gorgeous woman eventually turns into a shriveled old lady, but her knowledge and kind acts for others never dies.
It makes sense that if we are to achieve Nirvana with the higher powers, then we need to learn from our mistakes. This is never truer than with the philosophy of reincarnation, which brings a definition to the idea that the rich will be the poor. The sexual predator will be the sexual victim. The solider who tortures will be a tortured war slave. The anti-gay Legislator will be the gay man with limited rights.
So those who have ignored the pleas of their own shadows will remain in a constant flux of body-jumping and will take longer to get to heaven, whether that is a place with a bunch of dead white guys, a perpetual Mardi Gras or the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory.
Over time, large houses will fall. Cars will rust. Temples will collapse. Bodies will turn to dust. Souls who rise will do so in love and harmony together, having full compassion and understanding for one another. Thank Goddess we will then live in a genderless society where the walls that separate us will die.
Bodies will evaporate, making us truly naked together! Hey, it’ll just be another Woodstock without the wood. I’m there.