Reincarnation, to be honest, because you get a second chance. Heaven/Hell you don't get another chance.

And at least if you screw it up, you're not eternally boned. You just get stuck in a lousy existence for awhile. You make the most of it and the next time you'll be in a better place.

See my post on heaven and hell for that one. Sorry, had to fix it.

if they're reincarnated also, perhaps we do see them after all.  =P


reincarnation is a bit more forgiving, as we are afforded the opportunity to try again, vs being sent to eternal damnation by a smarting, sin-hating invisible thing on our first go.

it's also possible we can choose what happens to us.

And what happens when we first get through life without screwing up? We're sent back to try again, and more than likely we screw up again. Eventually, though, we learn to attain a perfect life more frequently--and what then? If we get to choose what to come back as, I guess this is no problem--you just choose something new and have endless perfect experiences. But suppose you don't get to choose; suppose life forms are in a hierarchy, and you achieve the supreme life form; what then? You live your life in constant fear that you're going to mess up and get sent to be a dung beetle again. It's kind of like in school--once you achieve a straight A status, it's high pressure to keep it that way, and there's no reward for bettering yourself. This sounds like a form of Hell to me. Who knows; perhaps Hell does have a reincarnation section for those who believe that all they have to do in life is work towards being perfect--this would explain why some people seem to have past lives.

The ability to 'chose' what you came back as is false in religions that believe in reincarnation, but it is still a very interesting idea. Besides the fact that Hinduism and Buddhism scripture says that Karma affects what you come back as, we should still pursue the idea of choosing for many reasons. Maybe just for the laughs, or because those religions might be wrong, or possibly because you are sincerely interested in the idea.

My first thought is, how would you get to chose? When you die*, is there a brief period of time where you escape our conscious realm and get to decide there? Possibly, your mind* evaporates into a spirit and you travel the earth, looking for the right time to dive into a sperm and an egg as they meet.  Another thought is that you get to chose when your 'spirit' first comes into existence; you pick a series of animals and live your life as them and in the end, reach nirvana.*

*We now know that dying is a process, and while you might be 'dead', you are still very much alive, or at least revivable.

*Science has shown that our mind is a series of events inside our head, and not a 'spirit', but we will forget about that for now.

*Nirvana is being one with the creator. Total bliss. (If I remember correctly from classes in school. Correct me if I am wrong.)

My next thought is, would we remember our past lives? Many people say that they have memories of 'past lives' that seem vivid and clear to them, although they have never experienced it themselves. The only thing I can think of similar to that is that I once had a vision* of someone pointing a gun to someone else, and that someone else felt a lot like me. It is possible that we have very imaginative minds, or that these "visions" or "memories" actually happened in a past life.

*Use 'vision' lightly. I can't remember if it was a dream, or just a thought I stumbled upon one day, but it felt very real.

Lastly, would we be able to see our future lives. As we chose, would we be able to see what would happen in our life? Would that defeat the purpose of karma, as our life is already plotted out?