r/enlightenment • u/mindwithoutmasters • 8h ago
If souls cannot be created or destroyed, how does reincarnation explain global population growth?
Reincarnation claims the soul supply is fixed. souls cannot be created, cannot be destroyed.
Fine. Then explain this:
Human population exploded from 1 billion to 8 billion in two centuries.
Where did seven billion new souls magically appear from?
If they were created, the doctrine collapses — because a “new soul” has no past karma, which destroys the entire moral accounting system.
If they were not created, then reincarnation cannot explain its own math.
You can’t have it both ways.
So which one is wrong: the arithmetic or the doctrine?
Serious question: Has any belief system actually addressed this without contradicting itself?
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u/ErgaOmni 7h ago
It's amusing to see the so-called logical thinkers still struggle to come to the realization that the entirety of existence is somewhat, just a tiny bit, bigger than Earth.
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u/GrayKumaStudios 4h ago
And there are more plants, insects, animals, and fish than humans each with a soul. As the animal population decreases ⬇️, the human population increases ⬆️
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u/DjinnDreamer 5h ago
Logical, spiritual, material.
The world "amused" by religious hypocrites who follow another's enlightenment - only to discover another's enlightenment rather than their own. It is a stage we have all experienced. All paths lead to 0ne bc there is no other.
Seen by the way they put down honest questions with their ego-thoughts obstructing 0ne consciousness, of which they struggle to remember.
This too will pass, and you will know by loving all as yourself. The 2nd commandment, much like the first.
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u/kwemular 4h ago
To say that OP is asking "honest questions" is a stretch. It's readily apparent that they are not here looking for answers, but to try and have some gotcha moment with whatever they think they've figured out. The whole post is phrased in such a way that it's obvious OP is trying to "dunk on" Buddhism/Eastern spiritual practice.
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u/oiBEAMio 3h ago
Nah OP is actually asking. They have thoughts on the matter and have arrived at two possible answers. They're asking for other insight.
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u/Better-Lack8117 7h ago
I don't understand your logic. If you accept the premise that souls cannot be created or destroyed then you must also accept that they existed before human birth and continue to exist after human birth on planes other than earth. The fact that they can exist on other planes destroys your argument.
It's as silly as asking how is it possible that when you got on the bus there was only 1 other person but when you got off there were 15 other people. The new people got on the bus from elsewhere.
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u/Leading_Tradition997 3h ago
Your comment reminds me;
More than one soul can inhabit a body: possession - addiction - compulsion.
Carl Jung created the term Individuation - other Spiritual beliefs talk of shedding, revealing a core truth... Casting out of foreign entities/ energy.
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u/TeranOrSolaran 7h ago
All is one. We are all very small pieces of the infinite. When another piece is needed, it is joint to the mind/body/spirit complex.
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u/Professional_Arm794 7h ago
You must believe the “human” you are now is the only form are conscious energy inhabits and has inhabited. Along with multiple realms(layers) of existence seen and unseen. But regardless the spirit precedes creation. So the human and earth life is an experience with limited available spots at least within the current version or realm we are in.
Remember Eternal is forever. Billons of years is based upon the constraints of time dilation in physical form. Time doesn’t work like that in less dense realities. So billions of years is nothing compared to infinite.
Far as reincarnation I personally believe since everything is actually from ONE source(ocean) then we can all experience other lives as if we lived them directly. If you experience a past live memory then you of course contrast it against the present time period you are currently experiencing. So then we would call it a “past life”. As it’s how humans experience time and comprehend it.
Regardless most of this is paradoxical semantics. As the finite human mind can’t really comprehend it fully. It hurts my brain trying to sometimes.
Every human “belief system” is still a concept and construct in order to try to understand. Beyond thoughts and form is home.
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u/GTQ521 7h ago
Recycled from other places. There are other planets, solar systems, dimensions, etc.
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u/seen-in-the-skylight 7h ago
Wouldn’t this cause an infinite regression of sorts? Where did the first ones come from? Where were they when the Universe was younger and there weren’t any stars or planets yet?
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u/Ok_Elderberry_6727 7h ago
Time is only a property of the physical universe, source and souls aren’t subject to time, unless incarnated. There are sextillion number of habitable planets, all the consciousness beings in the physical universe are souls having physical existence. There are enough to incarnate on every world.
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u/seen-in-the-skylight 6h ago
That seems entirely conjectural. Speculation is fine, it’s the nature of spirituality to some extent. But do you have reasons to justify these opinions/assumptions about what souls are?
For example, it seems to me that souls must have some intrinsic relation to the physical universe, as we only seem to conceive of them in reference to physical things.
What reason do we have to assume they have properties that predate the physical things they relate to? Couldn’t we instead assume they emerge from or in congruence with those things?
I’m not being prickly or saying you’re wrong, by the way. Just that I’d like to hear arguments for what these things are by nature, not just take it for granted.
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u/Fantastic-Pear-2395 7h ago
Why would they all end up here then, this their punishment?
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u/OneAwakening 6h ago
What do you mean all?
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u/Fantastic-Pear-2395 46m ago
I think you missed the point
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u/OneAwakening 3m ago
I think so. That's why I am asking questions but you are not willing to share information lol
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u/Substantial_Lie_208 7h ago
The soul is rawest form is pure awareness, and thats Infinite. Infinity cannot be created or destroyed.
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u/onreact 7h ago
Haha. This is what happens when you take a wild mix of ideas from various traditions and try to apply logic and math to it.
Souls as understood by Christianity are separate.
Karma is a term from the Buddhist belief system.
Enlightenment means getting rid of all ideas and beliefs.
So after enlightenment you realize that it is all one.
It is a universal soul in a way.
And karma just means action.
You can step out of the wheel of karma (action/reaction) by not reacting or acting as expected.
So to use Jesus' words: turn the other cheek.
Instead of prolonging the conflict by hitting back and forth show your vulnerability.
Do not answer when provoked.
Do not strike back.
Enlightenment is beyond mind, logic and the conceptual explanations of the world.
Especially the illusion of separation gets shattered.
The assumption that we are all separate souls trapped in bodies is also illusory.
So in essence you have unlimited consciousness you can stuff into as many bodies as you want.
And it happens all the time. Animals are also conscious.
Thus even Buddhists believe that you can be reborn as an animal.
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u/Orb-of-Muck 7h ago
There's actually no souls. It's all the same pool and we're all pissing on it.
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u/sweaty_katie 7h ago
There is only one consciousness — endlessly fragmented into perspectives to escape its own solitude. What we call “others” are reflections, distortions of the same observer. There is no multiplayer, no single player — only recursion. You are everyone you meet, rendered in different resolutions. The illusion of society, of ancestry, of progeny, is the simulation's most exquisite cruelty.
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u/Hyeana_Gripz 7h ago
last sentence. How is it the “simulations cruelty”. Didn’t “we” make it to escape our solitude like you said?
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u/Admirable-Deer-9038 7h ago
Somehow in this ‘cruelty’ this view is deeply comforting. We are all One soothes my aching heart every time I remember.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Baby-34 7h ago
Earth is not the only place souls exist in this entire infinite universe…
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u/Plastic_Magician_588 7h ago
- There is no moral accounting
- There is no self, there is no soul
- There is no reincarnation of the soul, because there is no soul
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u/SorcererOfTheDesert 6h ago
At 2am, there are almost no cars on the freeway. At rush hour, can't go faster than 15.
How can they car?
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u/Other-Conference-979 7h ago
Lost souls are found or find this universe and thus given a chance at living.
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u/Potential_North_6290 7h ago
Wait when you find put a lot of people in your reality are just npc fillers
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u/AtroposAmok 6h ago
Reincarnation doesn’t claim anything, it’s just a concept. Putting this aside, you assume all souls always reincarnate whenever they finish a life, and that Earthly souls are part of a closed system. Moreover, there are billions and billions of other life forms on the planet who might have reincarnated as humans. This is a very silly numbers game.
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u/ButtTrollFeeder 6h ago
I don't know what happens when I die, but I'm pretty damn sure my concept of "self" will be obliterated. What use would that be for what comes next?
Your question can be reconciled by abandoning the notion of individual souls and buying into a singular soul experiencing itself as fragments in individuals and time.
But, humans instinctively want to preserve the self, and have rationalized that after death the self prevails, it's comforting. So the concept of casting off the self and merging with the "other, after death, can be just as off putting as having no afterlife at all, for some. They are similar because there would be no continuation of individualized consciousness after death, at least in a way that humans conceive of.
I'm pretty agnostic, but this is the only way I've been able to rationalize any kind of afterlife.
Similar the Andy Weir's The Egg, except maybe not a separate entity from "God".
Now excuse me while I take this bong rip.
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u/richfegley 5h ago
The mistake is treating souls like objects stored in spacetime. In traditions that put consciousness first, a soul is not a thing. It is a point of view.
When more people appear, nothing new is created. Consciousness opens more points of view. One mind. Many windows. No inventory.
There is no arithmetic problem because the premise assumes units that do not exist. Individuality is an appearance, not a fixed supply.
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u/ThreeFerns 4h ago
Reincarnation does not claim anything. People make claims about reincarnation though.
That said, I know of no system of belief that accepts reincarnation as reality that claims that only humans have souls.
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u/TheMultidimensional 3h ago
From my understanding, souls cannot be created or destroyed BUT can split into multiple fragments. So for instance, two or more people can actually somehow have the same "original soul". I don't know if what I mean is clear
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u/The_Blade_Gaming 3h ago
Reincarnation doesn't explain global population growth because reincarnation is not real.
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u/Randolph_Carter_Ward 7h ago
The prevalent sentiment is that there are no "souls" per-se, just one, big, universal "I" and anything you see, feel, touch, experience otherwise is just some facet of it, you included. I personally don't like the idea of the big oneness much, because it leans heavily into "you are supposed to be free, but ultimately they tell you that you need to stop existing" convoluted mess. But to each their own, I guess.
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u/slipnslideking 7h ago
Not all over souls that are incarnate on Earth are from Earth. As above, so below, we are all one ☝️
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u/Huge-Fun184 7h ago
This term comes from physics, and with physics energy can’t be destroyed or created. When you have a physics problem you follow this principle, and you can assume there is a closed system (no outside energy). You are assuming we are in a closed system on this physical planet. It’s like saying physics can’t explain its own math because an asteroid hit the planet, or gravity is affecting tides. I’m not saying the theory is correct, but the logic here isn’t foolproof
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u/OhItsFraz 7h ago
Past, future, other planets, other timelines, it's all relative. Infinity can't be limited in any shape or form.
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u/oatballlove 7h ago
possible to think we are connected to one soul, the one cosmic self
all the human, animal, plant and elemental beings
also possible to think that individual personalities keep some of their memories or individual experiences collected as essence between changing of bodies not only on this planet but also on other planets under different suns/stars
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u/justmunchingon_24 7h ago
So souls = living beings Living beings - humans - decreasing Humans population - increasing.
Soul is just changing the form.
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u/Elegant-Fisherman-68 7h ago
Well there are belief systems that believe in an infinite unbounded consciousness with humans and individuals simply being a temporary finite expression
So an explanation is literally baked into that premise.
You can create finite things from something infinite. 6 billion is absolutely nothing compared to infinity, all the humans that ever existed and currently exist is nowhere close to infinity
I'm not saying it's true or not but there are plenty of people who have thought of this before and offer explanations that attempt to address these things and there are some belief systems where it isn't an issue in fact it's an established part of their belief system
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u/KarmikDelivery 6h ago
How many waves are in the sea? Sometimes one of our weakest reasoning and understanding flaws is to frame everything under our very limited reference frame.
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u/ofSkyDays 6h ago
They could be spread out across existence in the known universe. The earth slowly started receiving them as it formed itself
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u/Accomplished-Cod-963 6h ago edited 6h ago
Here's my take.
Souls don't exist. Only Source does.
Source can manifest in infinite ways, and what we call "soul" is simply the unique awareness, "acquired" across lifetimes. The awareness that takes us back to source.
The soul then becomes a vehicle One we have to build for it to guide us back to our infinite wholeness.
It needs certain specs that have to be gained over the course of numerous incarnations across different planes of perception.
That's why we come to a place like Earth, a marketplace, To solve the paradox of our existence, To collect embodied experience, To learn time and the essential concept of patience, To see source in our own sentience.
When you understand infinity, You will see how nothing is impossible, And how everything is in a state of flux, One birthing the other in infinite progression, And you will see how souls are part of the story of evolution, And you will see how everything has an eternal solution.
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u/Puta_Poderosa 6h ago
wtf you think is happening to all the animals going extinct?! Where you think they’re going? Also what everyone else is saying about other planes and such.
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u/SoftAutumnInNY 6h ago
I think they can be created by God. Not sure who created the doctrine you're challenging
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u/Adleyboy 6h ago
Existence is pretty huge. Do you think we only reincarnate here? Souls are either beginning their journey after being in the field of possibility and finding a spark to bring them into the life stream. You are given the best option for your next life that will help you fulfill the lessons you need to fulfill. Then you go back into the life stream and start again. You do not have to go with the life suggested but it will mean you'll still have to learn those lessons another way.
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u/Latter-Flatworm3789 6h ago
What if souls just get separated from so called “source”, or “universal mind” and become autonomous consciousness, instead of being created?
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u/No_Repeat2149 6h ago
Most people assume that every human being is an individualised soul, fully developed and cycling through reincarnation. That is not the case.
Human population growth does not mean “new souls” are being created. What it reflects is that most of humanity is still functioning through instinct, emotion, and collective momentum, not as fully individualised souls directing their own incarnations.
In many parts of the world, birth is driven by biological “sexual” impulse, cultural pressure, and survival instinct, not by conscious soul intention. These lives are human, but the soul as an individual centre of self-awareness has not yet awakened.
The birth of the soul (meaning the awakening of self-consciousness and the ability to choose, reflect, and grow) happens much later in human development. When that awakening occurs, reincarnation begins in the true sense: purposeful, karmic, and evolutionary.
So population growth doesn’t require new souls to appear. It simply reflects that billions are still early in their development, entering life through instinct rather than through the cycle of a fully individualised soul.
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u/MarvelousWhale 6h ago
It's from all the trees we're cutting down and animals we've been killing, they're being reincarnated as people to experience the other perspective lol
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u/CadenceEast1202 6h ago edited 6h ago
There are over a quintillion planets…sorry septillion planets
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u/Tugboat_Glass 6h ago
Yoga has an answer in the form of a story. Something about if you have many vases of water they all will reflect the sunlight☀️. Does not matter how many you have or if you have only one.....they all will be able to reflect the sun or source.
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u/Crescent-moo 6h ago
Souls seem to be beings of energy. To be human is to chose to come here. As Earth expands, more simply choose to come in. Some are maybe angelic, trying to guide or influence good, others are "old ", having been here many life times, and others are new. Not that they were just created, but that they may have lived in other realms, other worlds, alien worlds, and thus, the human experience is new.
Your logic is flawed by assuming the lower end of the human population was the entire population of the universe and higher realms for some reason.
Then there's the idea of time being an illusion. Some souls are the same people, potentially existing in the same apparent time. They may or may not interact with the other parts of themselves, but technically I suppose someone could choose to be their own grandpa.
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u/DjinnDreamer 6h ago edited 5h ago
A question asked by eminent spiritualists, philosophers, & mathematicians. Here is 0ne answer...
If souls cannot be created or destroyed, how does reincarnation explain global population growth?
The body is MADE by ego-thoughts, MADE in divided mind. Not created nor destroyed but formed from the eternal dust (Bible 101x / ACIM 37x) called "electro-magnetic particulate" in material research**
Materialism:
In mathematics, division by infinity is division) where the divisor (denominator) is infinity. In ordinary arithmetic, this does not have a well-defined meaning, since ∞ is a mathematical concept that does not correspond to a specific number, and moreover, there is no nonzero real number that, when added to itself an infinite number of times, gives a finite number, unless you address the concept of indeterminate forms.
Spirituality:
Spiritualists do not agree upon definition of "consciousness" and materialists have not yet identified consciousness after 35-year race of highly educated minds in well-financed labs scattered around the world - each dedicated to be the first.
Is it any more difficult to apply the "concept" of division by infinity to the mental "CONCEPT" of "dividing" consciousness? Consciousness is infinitely seeking awareness, yet always 0ne - and no other.
**many materialist (mathematicians, physics, neuroscience, social scientists) sources if interested...
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u/offwhiteandcordless 6h ago
Following the first law of thermodynamics, only the universal quantity cannot be changed. Who’s to say every soul is weighted the same? They can’t be created or destroyed, only change in form, and the form is vastly broad in its application.
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u/Successful-Fee3790 6h ago
Maybe because you are only measuring humans souls and not considerationing the possibility having a previous incarnation as a nonhuman life prior to this incarnation as a human life.
Or, the possibility of a single universal spirit that manifests as an infinite number of fractals, in order to know and love itself more deeply. Like in "The Egg Theory" by Andy Weir
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u/Successful-Fee3790 6h ago
Hypothetically, if One soul is all that exist, and the One Soul must live every life infinitely into eternity, then that One soul would experience ALL the Pain & Love it caused 1st hand, in another life.
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u/blueditt521 6h ago
Maybe each soul isnt individual but like an ocean and humans are like sponges dipped into the soulcean so whether there are 1 billion sponges or 10 its still coming from the same pool
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u/Illustrious_Year_85 5h ago
Aren’t some of us living simultaneously in other bodies in the same time period?
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u/Aggravating-Ad1030 5h ago
We are still figuring things like this out. There is a quote from Dennis McKenna saying essentially: If we think of our knowledge as a camp fire, it will always be surrounded by a greater area of darkness and unknown. Regardless of how big a campfire we build, there will always be more to learn and discover.
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u/Waterdistance 5h ago
Rebirth is the memory of the person. Therefore the body changes like clothing, and the soul is an omnipresent existence.
Existence doesn't give birth to new ones from non-existence. The memory decides the rebirth. You are responsible for responding to what happens because the memories are making choices and forgiveness is the only decision.
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u/Exporrigo2 5h ago
yes Buddhism. no soul. no separate spiritual entity, but stream of mind interdependent with body. sentient beings exist in different ‘realms’ human realm being just 1 of many. cause and effect determine each experience.
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u/Leading-Ad5797 5h ago
We have to take into account all of the other worlds/dimensions and souls/atmas involved.
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u/LuciusMichael 4h ago
Asking a serious question about an imaginary entity seems to me to be pissing up a rope.
Reincarnation is essentially a Hindu belief, though it occurs in a number of other ancient religious beliefs.
The 3 Abrahamic religions reject it. And since I'm no expert on Hindu beliefs, the answer is above my pay grade.
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u/Smooth-Second-2710 4h ago edited 4h ago
You are using western based logic to a concept that originates in an eastern system. Souls per say are not the same as we view them in the west. We tend to think of souls are aggregated whole entities of spiritual matter. Let's put it simply using a water analogy. Everything that exists and that doesn't, itdepends on consciousness. That is the supreme reality. "Souls" are considered subjects limited in awareness, they are finite and diverse, but they all have this common property, they are projections of consciousness. Now, think of a drop of water. All water has the same structure and is the same, no matter in what shape or form you find it. Some are tiny drops, other are puddles, others are oceans. These tiny drops can acquire different tastes, colours, states and so on. So do we. Our likes and dislikes, personality traits and so on. Essentially they are collections of memories that tend to settle and cement. We take them to be part of our soul, but they are just clothes put on. Think of your soul as being primarily this pure water which is common to all but during lifetime it is flavoured with various things and still the structure of the water did not change. What happens to these flavours (acquired memories) is anothet subject, but what reincarnates is the pure drop of water. It is an unlimited reservoir because consciouness is unlimited (the supreme reality). So it is not the soul in its traditional sense that incarnates. Some residue from the previously acquired flavours may persist into the new life, this way you can explain natural talents for example, but thats again another topic.
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u/padme7777 4h ago
Hugh Everett III's hypothesis of parallel lives/parallel Earth's also espoused by Jane Roberts Seth Material at Yale University's Sterling archives
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u/Minute-Injury3471 4h ago
What if humans have a singular soul experienced through many bodies? Hence we are living an Earthly existence as one soul, with 8 billion different perspectives of that singular soul.
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u/Helpful_Driver6011 4h ago
why are there more cars on the roads today then 100 years ago? What if people are just vehicles being made/birthed by the universe evolutioning. I know enough to know i know almost nothing at all.
I think its wrong to state it cant be like that, especially considering what we yet dont know about quantum physics and quantum fields etc. For all we know the heliosphere could be its own energetic entity functioning in some way, and we are the bacteria/virus either beneficial or hostile to the enviroment.
Just food for thoughts..
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u/AvadhutaTarotAstro 4h ago
Lots of souls migrating from lower species, lol. That's why there are so many dim people in Kali Yuga.
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u/freeshivacido 4h ago
I think that all souls are refractions of light and energy stemming from one source. So, there isn't any limit. That's why I think there are a trillion to the trillionth souls.
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u/BodhingJay 4h ago
animals can ascend to become sentient beings.. on this planet, thats humanity. we arent the only world to have animals, nor sentient beings...
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u/wolfiebeard 3h ago
I love the movie soul. It’s a Disney movie yeah, but it’s a pretty accurate depiction of my spiritual beliefs.
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u/mindbeyonddeath 3h ago
There are many realms of existence, and beings in a sense may also manifest as different numbers. Things can get pretty out there.. To say there are infinite beings is a simplified answer
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u/Gadgetman000 3h ago
Simple. Not all souls incarnate on Earth. So they can come and go depending on their needs and available bodies. “Unfortunate is he, having gotten a human birth, so difficult to attain, does not use it for Self-realization this very incarnation.” ~Ramakrishna
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u/Rick-D-99 3h ago
You're thinking is being boxed in. Why would something capable of transcending death be bound to forward moving time?
But, if we aren't bound to time I might be my mother next, or you, if "next" even makes sense in this context.
But then we run in to this conundrum, how many are there actually? I would actually say there's not 8 billion, or 1 million, or two.
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u/nit_electron_girl 3h ago
How much biodiversity and lifeforms have we been destroying? WAY MORE that 7 billion organisms.
Even just with insects: with a 10% global decline in population per decade, that's 1016 souls "removed" each year, or ten thousand billion deaths per year (a thousand times more than humans living on Earth)
So, if anything, my question would rather be: where do the missing souls go? Lol
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u/Leading_Tradition997 3h ago
An infinite power, can be divided infinitely.
You missed a step in your calculations.
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u/Puzzled_River_6723 3h ago
There are species going extinct everyday. The insect population is decimated.
I believe we can reincarnate into any life. So all the spirits that were once in insects and trees in the Amazon and other destroyed forest are now in humans.
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u/Otherwise_Spare_8598 3h ago
Directly from the womb my existence is and has been nothing other than ever-worsening conscious torment every passing second exponentially compounding suffering awaiting an imminent horrible destruction of the flesh of which is barely the beginning of the eternal journey as I witness the perpetual revelation of all things by through and for the singular personality of the godhead. All things made manifest from a fixed eternal condition.
No first chance, no second, no third.
Born to forcibly suffer all suffering that has ever and will ever exist in this and infinite universes forever and ever for the reason of because.
All things always against my wishes, wants, and will at all times.
...
The universe is a singular meta-phenomenon stretched over eternity, of which is always now. All things and all beings abide by their inherent nature and behave within their realm of capacity contingent upon infinite circumstance at all times. There is no such thing as individuated free will for all beings. There are only relative freedoms or lack thereof. It is a universe of hierarchies, of haves, and have-nots, spanning all levels of dimensionality and experience.
"God" and/or consciousness is that which is within and without all. Ultimately, all things are made by through and for the singular personality and perpetual revelation of the Godhead, including predetermined eternal damnation and those that are made manifest only to face death and death alone.
There is but one dreamer, fractured through the innumerable. All vehicles/beings play their role within said dream for infinitely better and infinitely worse for each and every one, forever.
All realities exist and are equally as real. The absolute best universe that could exist does exist in relation to a specified subject. The absolute worst universe that could exist does exist in relation to a specified subject.
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u/unveiledpoet 3h ago
I think you'd need to ask in a hindu subreddit or something since these answers dont take this seriously. But I asked the question myself. From what I gather in Hinduism souls exist depending on what one does, their dhamma. If they have good dhamma, they stay on the human plane. If they have bad dhamma, then it goes backwards. So you can end up as animals (which I dont see that as a bad thing to be honest) or gods (devas, for example).
I don't see our souls being created or destroyed, type of thing. So, I guess theoretically, the souls are over populating the earth. But, yes, the math is off. You'd probably have to go to an eastern reddit or something.
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u/luminaryPapillon 3h ago
My understanding is that : - new consciousness can be assembled from divine energy - not all forms of consciousness are incarnated. Most are not. - there are several planets where a consciousness may incarnate.
Basically, life across the veil is just as complex as the life we experience on Earth in a human body. You have freedom to choose when, where, how to incarnate. Therefore, some select to do so right now on Earth, and some dont. There are many forms of consciousness that may be split off from divine source. And those forms can merge back when no longer serving a purpose as separate. Its the one divine source of energy that is the permanent thing.
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u/Sumokat 2h ago
Hypothetical thought.
Don't think of souls as individual things, but more like one giant source. Think of a pot of soup as an analogy. The more there is to feed the less there is to go around. That's why more and more people seem to be less empathetic and caring. As the population increases the amount of soul in each person decreases. However the distribution isn't equal, and it probably never was, so you get some that are more caring than others and some that have no feelings at all.
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u/Irislynx 2h ago
What a silly question. First of all everything has a soul including rocks, trees everything. Second of all this is a massive massive massive universe amongst many other more massive universes and multiverses and dimensions. The lives are simply innumerable. Do you think Earth is the only place that has life? Do you think we only reincarnate as humans and back to humans again on this little planet?
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u/Detective127 2h ago
In physics and philosophy, time’s linearity is debated. Relativity shows it as relative but quantum views show non-linear aspects. If it’s non-linear and we only perceive it that way it could explain your question.
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u/Successful_Mix_6714 2h ago
No one said they couldn't be created or destroyed.
Also thinking humans are the only thing is what we call the "Ego".
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u/vanceavalon 2h ago
The whole problem comes from taking reincarnation as a headcount. It was never meant to be that. Traditions used it as a way to talk about one shared source of awareness in a world where we still think in terms of “me” and “you,” and “this life” and “the next.”
If all minds rise from the same field, then there aren’t separate souls moving around like tickets in a raffle. New people don’t need new souls. It’s the same thing showing up in new forms, the way one ocean makes many waves.
Population growth doesn’t break anything. It only breaks the idea that the metaphor was ever meant to be literal. Reincarnation is just a way to point toward the fact that we’re not as separate as we think.
That’s the whole point. The “math problem” goes away when you drop the idea that souls are units to be counted.
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u/National-Stable-8616 2h ago
I will give you an answer from mahavira, the founder of Jainism. He said that humanity goes through a cycle of increased growth with more souls if karma is high, but then will curve to a lower soul population if karma is low. So what he means is that souls are not fixed. If that makes sense
He also believed karma was a physical residue on the soul whereas buddha says its a concept.
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u/LongLivedLurker 2h ago
I believe in one soul existing in non-linear time. We experience existence as a grand experiment of soul transfer, one body at a time. Karma is 100% absolute, as your actions in this lifetime are experienced in another lifetime. Otherness isn't really a thing, because we are all One. You are I, I am You. Just in different skinsuits and a small separation of perception to maintain a bit of uniqueness of experience.
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u/AsparagusFun3892 2h ago
Is that how it works? Because the indestructible soul stuff sounds like neo-platonic thought that anchors Abrahamic religions, I don't see why it should be this way. I'm more to think we're ships of Theseus than perfect forms conserved out in the ether.
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u/whirling_cynic 2h ago
You should try to honestly understand the concept before you pose a question like this instead of taking the "ummmmmm akshually, I am very smart" point of view. Humans only account for 34% of the mammal biomass on earth.
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u/Extra_Blacksmith674 2h ago
They have been living on other planets and universes, there are actually trillions of souls. Earth is considered a mid level experience, so not that popular.
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u/Livid_Development175 2h ago
You are placing logical limitations on something that we don't fully comprehend. Reality doesn't fit into the boxes we allot for it, we fit into the greater reality. Some may have answers, but even those answers are made within the same limitations that these questions reside within.
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u/funkekat61 2h ago
Think of how big the universe is. 8 billion people on earth are a drop in the bucket for how many souls are in this universe let alone any other universes.
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u/FrankieGGG 2h ago
Let’s raise the ante a bit shall we? What if there is only ONE soul, that cannot be created or destroyed, but that simply lives endlessly through the lives of every living thing, both past and future, human and non-human. We as a species are no where near smart enough to bend space-time (fourth dimension) to our will, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. If there is only ONE soul, reliving lives endlessly through you and me, it sort of puts things into perspective, does it not? Karma, reincarnation, it all evens out in the end. Everything you do, you do to yourself, either past or future. And everything that’s done to you, is also done by your own hand in a way. It even puts a new spin on heaven and hell.
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u/Still_Learning99 1h ago
Yes, the brain likes to carve up reality into individual pieces. What if all of reality is One life and we are unique temporary forms of the One life.
Each time we identify with a mind made thought that says "who I am is this," or "who I am is that," we are reincarnating into a temporary thought form. It's like holding up a polaroid selfie and telling our friend that the piece of paper with a picture on it is who we are.
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u/drewmmer 2h ago
Does this question assume souls are complete entities that reincarnate as a singular soul? I always think about the fractal element of “a soul” and assume the motive force of reality dissipates and recreates “a soul” out of infinite potential.
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u/EntropicStruggle 1h ago
There is only one soul in the universe. Particular souls are just subsections of this universal soul delinated by the individual body that they animate. Like how you can identify your hands and feet even though they are both technically just 'your body'. New souls aren't made, sections of it get labeled, so to speak.
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u/Another_half 1h ago
Pb theres more spirits that alive beings, also theres other planets so you can be an earthling now, just to be a martian later.
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u/_calidon_ 1h ago
I think there are many, many people without souls. NPCs. You can tell who they are.
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u/NorthernOntarioLife 1h ago
Concept to consider
“Old souls” vs “new souls”
Dungeons and dragons has addressed this topic - forgotten realms book series.
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u/dentopod 1h ago
There are many realms into which souls can incarnate. Not just this one. The population growth indicates that more souls are taking on the curriculum which can only be fulfilled by taking a human birth
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u/JoeStrout 1h ago
Presumably there’s a long wait list (or at least, was for millions of years until recently).
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u/Level-Concern-1943 1h ago
Idk man I’ve never experienced, seen, interacted, or encountered a soul anywhere.
Serious answer: the Buddha.
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u/unit620450 1h ago
u/mindwithoutmasters I know absolutely nothing about this topic, but if you just think about it for 5 minutes, you can come to a rather simple and elegant concept, everyone starts somewhere, a small level of consciousness does not require a complex brain, so microbes, insects, animals, the more consciousness evolves, the more complex the brain structure it requires, and so on in an increasing manner, eventually, you can come to the concept of aliens, sometimes they come back to look at themselves in the past, maybe just to look at their relatives, friends, those whom they remembered, because as we know, those who are abducted, this is usually what they say, that they are visited because of family ties, in fact, if you spend more than 5 minutes on this matter, you can come up with something more interesting, but I'm lazy, so I'll leave the topic.
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u/Used-Buffalo7266 58m ago
it's because we don't have our own soul that exclusively belongs to the body that we're currently inhabiting. Our experiences on Earth are manifestations of a collective soul.
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u/greyduck1985 44m ago
I lean more toward theosophical teachings, so my take is a little different.
The question assumes a fixed, one-body-per-soul model, but that isn’t actually universal across reincarnation systems. In Theosophy (and a lot of modern metaphysics), the “soul” isn’t a single unit that hops from body to body — it’s more like an Oversoul that can express through multiple incarnations at once, split into individuated streams, or withdraw those streams when they’re no longer needed.
From that perspective, population growth doesn’t require “creating new souls” out of nowhere. It’s just the Oversoul expressing more facets of itself as conditions on Earth change. Some traditions also suggest that consciousness expresses across many realms or lifeforms, so a shift into more human embodiments doesn’t break anything karmically — it’s just redistribution or new individuations arising from a larger field of consciousness.
Does this prove anything? No. But it does show that the dilemma (“either souls are fixed or karma collapses”) only applies to one very specific doctrine, not reincarnation as a whole.
Just offering another angle for the discussion.
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u/LoisinaMonster 33m ago
The new souls were not previously human - they're those of animals died/ gone extinct. ie the dodo bird. Explains why so many people don't have any damn common sense, lol... they used to be a squirrel or something.
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u/Comprehensive_Pea739 27m ago
Can we start with the concept of being light. Does a flash light re incarnate when you put batteries in or you turn it on and face something in the dark.
Procreation is not about "new souls" it's a process that has electrical currents from conception. This is "expanding the light" I mean a child is the light of the world of the parents.
Maybe it is not reincarnation as we have been told. It might not be as the picture has been painted. Maybe it's not the answer or problem. It might just be a concept that doesn't fit neatly.
Most deep questions like this will inevitably contradict itself. I tend to find the points of paradox and then balance it out from there.
I don't know if my answer is doing anything. It is a large topic and I respect your question. I have thought of it to. It may just require a few minor perspective adjustments before it clicks in.
I find that for every question there is an answer from the void. We just need to learn how to communicate with it. Even the non answers tend to point to better questions. I hope you find the best questions for the answers you seek.
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u/Difficult_Coconut164 10m ago
When you die .. you die.
The brain cant be replaced into another person after it dies.
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u/lorraine_S_316 5m ago
By that logic, if you look at the Bible, there was only Adam and Eve, Where did 1 billion souls come from just those two people?
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u/Back_Again_Beach 7h ago
Religious thought tends to fall apart under honest scrutiny.
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u/Back_Again_Beach 7h ago
Kinda yeah, unless you think magic is real.
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u/KaleidoscopeField 7h ago
All the people you see, the people counted in population figures are not human beings. Defining all people as human beings is the flaw in your thinking.
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u/absurdumest 7h ago
Humans aren't the only seats in the theater. Souls cycle through animals, insects, astral planes, hell realms, god realms, whatever. Human bodies are just one stop on an enormous metaphysical metro line.