Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Reincarnation Conundrum

This latest Q&A at Dr. Science is priceless. This philosophy student asks a rather observant question about the plausibility of reincarnation. Dr. Science's answer is priceless--especially the first line.

Q: I'm a student of esoteric spiritual philosophy at a community college, and am puzzled by theories of reincarnation. If the population of the world keeps steadily increasing, how can we all be reincarnated from the smaller number of people who lived before? And why do so many people insist that in their former lives they were kings and queens, when obviously royalty were the vast minority?

A: I've got a secret for you, Bob. Most people are really, really stupid. The delusional few insist they are reincarnated versions of Louis the Fourteenth, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc or John Wilkes Booth are probably borderline schizophrenics. The only form of continual re-birth that has been proven is "Reintarnation," which is a common in Arkansas and insures a steady supply of hillbillies.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

very funny - I've thought it odd that so many think they were famous/rich/royalty but never thought about the population numbers ... hmmmm

Bill Petro said...

I laughed so hard I almost gagged!

I believe it was Arthur C. Clarke at the front of his book 2001 who pointed out that half the people who ever lived are alive now. But I may be remembering this from a previous life...