Do you believe in Reincarnation?

[Undertoad]

Two things:

=- The fact that everyone WANTS this to be true is, ironically, the main reason we know it isn't. We share the stories and the dreams and the desires of this world, more than the reality of it.

==- (The good side: we also share the apocalyptic beliefs of this world in a weird attempt to prepare for the end of it. So if you don't believe in reincarnation, you probably also don't believe that the Mayan calendar predicted an end to the world. It saves one a ton of worry!)

=- The universe does not owe you meaning or any explanation out of your existence. So when you say that a rational explanation can't be true because it means life is meaningless, this is like saying your cat can't be orange because it wouldn't match your maroon couch.

==- (The good side: you don't have to look hard to work out meaning if you look for it. I find meaning in trying to improve the lot of mankind. I find meaning in leaving the world a better place than when I arrived.)

The advanced reader is encouraged to read Camus' "The Myth of Sisyphus" or at least the SparkNotes. Or at least this paragraph:

The book ends with a discussion of the myth of Sisyphus, who, according to the Greek myth, was punished for all eternity to roll a rock up a mountain only to have it roll back down to the bottom when he reaches the top. Camus claims that Sisyphus is the ideal absurd hero and that his punishment is representative of the human condition: Sisyphus must struggle perpetually and without hope of success. So long as he accepts that there is nothing more to life than this absurd struggle, then he can find happiness in it, says Camus.