Is Reincarnation a Possibility?

Reincarnation has been considered by many. Numerous philosophers and mystics have discussed it and it is a central tenet to a surprising number of diverse spiritual traditions including Early Christianity, Judaic mysticism, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

I personally still do not know whether I should believe in it or not, but there are several supporting arguments. In this post, rather than discussing cases of remembrance of previous lives, providence, karma, or the difficulty by many in reaching spiritual enlightenment, I want to consider reincarnation from a more scientific angle.

Most of us would agree that when a living creature dies his energy fades away dispersed back into the universe. Science tells us that energy and mass are conserved quantities that cannot be created nor destroyed, but only converted from one form into another (gravitational, electric, heat, etc.) Therefore the total energy of the universe is a constant value that can never change. But then how does a newborn come about? Where is that energy coming from? Believers in reincarnation would answer by saying that since souls are deathless, seemingly they also must be birthless. Thus energy has always been there and it is only materializing into a physical body when a new organism is born!

In general, the word energy can be defined as "the potential for causing changes" and therefore energy is the cause of all change. The most common definition of energy is the activity that a certain force (gravitational, electromagnetic, etc) can generate. It is the ability to do work. Due to a variety of forces in existence, energy has many different forms that can be grouped into two major categories: kinetic energy and potential energy. The question is whether potential energy can create life, and therefore whether energy can naturally change non-living substances into living creatures, something that science has yet to observe.

The mechanisms by which non-life became life are still elusive. According to scientists at the beginning of time on Earth non-living chemical entities such as water (H2O), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen (H2) were electrically stimulated into forming the various precursors to life, such as hydrogen cyanide, amino acids, simple sugars, etc. These, in time, would have theoretically formed RNA and DNA the building blocks of life.

The presence of immortal souls could perhaps go hand-in-hand with the theories of evolution and would solve the mystery of life creation because 'life' is already an attribute of the soul and souls get attached to all organisms (animals, plants, fungi, micro-organisms) giving them life.

While it would be great to have an eternal soul that seeks perfection to ultimately be fit to remain in the spiritual world, I still have some problems with reincarnation, which hopefully will be answered in the years to come.

1. Eternity. What was Birth before Life on Earth? Who/what was living, dying, and going through rebirth to ultimately find enlightenment?
   
   Earth is the only planet in the universe known to harbour life. Given the relatively young age of Earth when compared to other parts of the universe, it would be reasonable to say that if other life forms existed, some of them would probably be several millions of years ahead of us. Their technology should be even more advanced than we imagine it in sci-fi movies, so why have not they made contact?
   
   How will rebirth be possible when Earth will come to an end? What will be of all the souls waiting to be reborn?
   
   
2. Enlightenment. It seems to me that all creatures, other than man, live as if they JUST ARE. They appear to always live in a meditative state because they do not think but only experience and therefore apparently are in a perennial state of ZEN. How could their souls become more pure than what they already are? Being reborn into a human body would appear to me as a downgrading.
   
   
3. Perhaps the big difference between an Enlightened human being and any other type of living organism is consciousness of that state. But if that is the case, then how can plants or even animals reach the new spiritual heights required for the soul to return in a human body?