Ebbie...I could, as you might imagine..*wry grin*, write several pages of the ways my 'mind' might go in taking on these thoughts....but today & tomorrow are gonna be quite busy...so...briefly....(well, MY idea of 'briefly')

It seems to me that the idea of living forever is totally fascinating to we humans who, alone among species, are aware of mortality and can comtemplate other possibilities. Therefore, reincarnation and 'souls' or 'spirit' which provide a theoretical means for accomplishing reincarnation are obvious and natural creations of those who wish to believe.(read Eric Hoffer) If it can be imagined, it will be....it is too simple an idea NOT to be thought of and believed, over & over....and it has been in every culture we have records of. Only the details of 'how' the soul/body/spirit might continue differ, depending on the society, culture and religion which gave rise to them.

It is SUCH a tempting idea that it is WORK to NOT believe in it. It is SO easy to write fascinating, poetic and ummmmm..'profound' thoughts and stories about souls, heaven, 'meeting on the other side', returning in a 'different' body...etc...etc...etc....that the opposite view.."I think death is simply the end" sounds boring, sad, and unfair!! "How DARE he suggest that the 'pretty' stories are false and that I won't meet my Mother again!"

To put it a bit differently...it is easy to have a belief....it takes a lot of thought and resistance to peer pressure to sort through beliefs and decide whether the evidence presented is compelling.

27 paragraphs of examples, logic, counter-examples and socio-psychological ruminations follow.