LIFE IS A MYSTERY

Ian Stevenson (Wikipedia) who studied reincarnation

Life is a mystery.

"Several years ago, when my daughter was just over three years old, my husband and I were watching a TV show about 9/11...

"My daughter, who was coloring nearby, looked up when the screen showed a plane hitting one of the World Trade Center buildings.

"She said to us, 'I died there.'

"Then she just went back to coloring like she hadn't said a word.

"We had never talked to her about the concept of death, and had never discussed 9/11 with her.

"Since then she has not said anything else about it, but now if something comes on TV about 9/11, she says, 'I don't want to watch this.'" (I Died on 9/11)



Is it possible to explain the existence of evil?

In Taoism, the idea is that if an object has a 'front' it must also have a 'back'.

In a created world there are opposites, yin and yang, which are actually part of a whole.

Waves cannot exist without troughs.

In order for 'compassion' to exist, there must be 'suffering'.

In Taoism, yin and yang (+1 -1) arise together from an initial peacefulness or emptiness (0), and continue in existence until peacefulness is reached again.

Imagine a stone thrown onto peaceful water, creating temporary waves and troughs.

Buddhists believe that you cannot have 'nirvana' without its opposite 'samsara'.

'Samasara' is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

'Nirvana' is a blissful state where one has ceased to exist as an individual, and where one is free from delusion and suffering.

Budhists do not believe in the 'old man in the sky' type of God.

Buddhists believe that we are responsible for what happens, be it 'good' or 'evil'.

Buddhists concentrate on learning ways to end suffering, escape from samsara and enter nirvana.

For some Hindus, human souls have always existed and were thus not created by God at some time in history.

Human souls are responsible for their 'level of enlightenment'.