Alluveal wrote:
I'm working on a novel as we speak about science being able to prove the existence of souls. They also prove reincarnation and can tell who is popping up where. It centers around the prison system where people have to serve consecutive life sentences. So, they die, they've served one sentence. They're reborn and they immediately begin serving the next (from infancy on,) even though the "second incarnation" has no idea what the first has done.
Back in the day I used to have a subscription to Analog, and there were a few stories along those lines that were pretty interesting. I don't ever recall seeing one with a "consecutive life sentences" kind of twist. If I were to weigh in on such a thing I'd have to say that death settles all accounts.
Another brain-bending idea could be rooted in reincarnation: In literature, death is sometimes held to transcend time and space, right? So, what if there is really only one "soul?" And what if it is fated to experience the life of every aware being in the entire universe? Upon death in one life, it moves on to another, even if that life is lived in an overlapping time frame. Again, and again, over and over and over for all the billions or trillions or quadrillions or whatever ridiculously huge number of lifetimes of aware beings that have ever been or ever will be lived. Meaning that every evil great or small, every act of malice, every act of kindness, or compassion is really that one soul interacting with itself? It surely would be the ultimate form of karma.
That's interesting Riggen. It gives me an idea. Say you have serial reincarnation which is freed from the bonds of time. Either you are born in different random times, with the possibility of overlap. Or take it a bit farther. The protagonist's soul is stuck in a loop. He/she is always born on the same date. So multiple versions of the protagonist, all the exact same age are walking around the world at the same time. There could be dozens, even hundreds, etc. A later good generation falls in conflict with an earlier bad/evil generation.
Lots of places you could take something like that.
--The bad one is murdering all the other souls trying to accomplish some evil goal. (echoes of highlander in there)
--The good one must redeem the bad one as the final act that frees the soul and allows it to progress to nirvana/heaven/Valhalla/whatever.
"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not." - Ronald Reagan 1987
If there is one thing we can be certain of, it's that we will die. What does it mean to die, and how does society deal with it?
The irony of man's condition is that the deepest need is to be free of the anxiety of death and annihilation; but it is life itself which awakens it, and so we must shrink from being fully alive.
Just wanted to share my thoughts on this topic, even if it's over a year ago since the last post.
I think death would be the dissolution of all of man's "walls", "static", and principles/ideas/philosophy on life and existence, and the moment they will see that the truth has been there along for the taking. Could be a relief or a regret when that moment comes.
