What about reincarnation?
Reincarnation is simply spiritual recycling. It is an aspect of Eternal Verity #2:
Nothing in the universe is ever wasted
This applies to consciousness as well as anything else, so you can relax and let go of that morbid fear that one day you'll just "cease to be". Forget it; you're not getting out of it that easily. The first thing you should know is that this concept has an inseparable companion concept called karma.
It's odd that more people adopt the idea of karma into their personal belief systems than that of reincarnation, when each is inextricably bound up with the other. Maybe reincarnation seems a bit too complex or implausible to these people, compared with the relatively simple idea of retribution. But if you believe in retribution as an independent principle, existing in and above the realm of mankind, then reincarnation is the most logical extension of that initial assumption.
I mean think about it: how could every single thing that anyone has ever done come back to them in just one lifetime? What about the scads of international criminals, politicians, industrialists, televangelists, who are all having wonderful lives--where's the payback for these guys? Perhaps there's a nice, filthy hut on the banks of some malaria-infested swamp somewhere that, even now, is being made ready as the site of their next incarnation?
The first thing that impressed me about reincarnation was that it answered that old question:
If there's a God, how could he allow so much suffering to go on in the world?
The doctrine of reincarnation states that God has nothing to do with such things. The suffering of the individual is due directly to his or her own past actions and is purely in the hands of said individual. The interference of God or any other spiritual entity in the individual's karma would be to the ultimate detriment of that individual's evolutionary progress. And after all, evolution is what it's all about.
This kind of talk usually brings up another question, namely why, if we do in fact reincarnate, do we have no recollection of our previous lives? This one used to frustrate me because I always felt that to be able to remember who you were before would be so interesting, so revealing, such a trip!
And therein lies the answer: it would be a trip. A big ego trip. And that would tend to totally distract you from the work you need to be doing on yourself, which includes getting a handle on your ego. You see? It would be more of a hindrance than a help.
This is not to say that you'll never know of past incarnations. When you've evolved sufficiently to be able to handle such knowledge, it will become available to you.
While we can't remember our past lives, we do see their effects in this life. Take for example fear. The doctrine of reincarnation offers a wonderfully simple explanation for the phenomenon of irrational fears or phobias.
A certain percentage of all patients exhibiting phobias can be linked to some childhood trauma, but in the majority of cases psychologists are at a loss to determine a justification for, let's say, acrophobia, the fear of heights.
How about this? You've died that way. Perhaps you fell out a window last time around, that would tend to make you a little queasy looking down from 25 or 30 stories up, eh?
You could apply this theory to any sort of phobia: agoraphobia (fear of crowds)? You were killed by an angry mob, or perhaps simply trampled to death. Hydrophobia (fear of water)? You drowned. Claustrophobia (fear of enclosed places)? You suffocated or were buried alive.
Looked at in this way, phobias are simply understandable aversions to unpleasant past experiences.
Reincarnation also answers questions like:
How come that guy plays guitar so well after only six months and I've been struggling for years and I'm still no good?
The mystery of seemingly innate talent disappears if you figure in that one person may have been working on a given skill longer, that is to say over a course of more lifetimes, than another. This would also account for why talent isn't hereditary. (I mean, look at Julian Lennon.)
The question of why awesome talent is not always accompanied by a corresponding elevation of character is likewise explained. Wagner and Mozart were reputed to be total pricks. How could they have created such sublime music? Because they probably devoted whole lifetimes to their craft, but little else beyond that, like maybe learning how to be a decent person.
And then there's the question of the addictive personality. Now here's something that we see everyday, a problem with which each of us has had some experience, either by having to deal with it in ourselves, or in our friends, loved ones, co-workers, etc. I'm sure everyone has wondered why it is that some people can take or leave drugs and alcohol, while for others it seems a neverending snare and delusion.
Again, it's all about what you've been doing with yourself the last few times around. The expression "acquired taste" comes to mind, because that's exactly what alcoholism is.
There are two kinds of people who don't drink: Those who don't drink because they don't like it, and those who don't drink because they don't dare drink. Between each of these two there is a chasm of understanding. The first can't understand the second's proclivity to overindulge, and the second can't understand the first's total indifference to the stuff. To what can we attribute these two opposing viewpoints?
One might answer, "It's obviously conditioning--dysfunctional family, and that". But let's say they're brothers. Such a case is far from unusual. So now you have two very different behavioral types originating from the same conditions.
I put it to you that the non-drinker has either never embarked on the Path of Bacchus, or has walked its length and left it behind. And the other? I'm afraid he's in mid-air above one of the higher hurdles of the human race. As long as he abstains, he shall float ever closer to the ground on the other side and be able to take up the course of his destiny. But if he should falter and slip back into his old ways, who can say how many lifetimes more he'll have to spend until he finally clears the obstacle?