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If you believe in reincarnation, do you suppose at some point everyone gets to experience the very best life imaginable? (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Edit: Goddamnit will one of you please comprehend my question and give a relevant response.

I didn't ask whether or not you think souls are real or what you think about Buddha

This is not a creative writing prompt nor a place for you to pontificate your religious ponderings! 🙄

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I know your looking for a straight answer, but questions like this don't really have satisfactory answers due to them not being scientific questions. The definition of "best life" will be fundimentally different for everyone and the actual best life for each person will be consequently unique. You might define your best life as having lots of money or cars, while I define mine as acquiring and sharing knowledge and skills. Neither life is superior, just yours might suck for me and mine might seem tedious to you.

That being said, given hypothetically infinite time, then everyone would logically get to live their defined best life at some point. However, because time has a definitive beginning (at least as we currently understand it) and is therefore not infinite, we would never be able to empirically know if we had reached peak life experience or if one of the infinite possibilities that never happened would have been better.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Seconding this. "Best life" is highly subjective. My dad, for example, was a very simple man (simple in a positive way, for the record). Sure, looking at cool cars were neat and all, but the happiest I ever saw him was when he was sitting on the balcony of the vacation home in the norwegian mountains, as a break from everyday life. His "best life possible" would probably be filled with days like that.

I, on the other hand, would probably want something more. Sure, it was nice and all, but I get bored too easily, to the point where I brought my PC up there in the 90's so I could study Turbo Padcal, and bringing tech back then was pretty much considered sacrilege. I have yet to find out what is considered my "best life possible". I just hope my kids will one day be able to see me as truly happy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

I thinks ultimately a massive waste of time to chase the dragon of a "best life", it's neigh unattainable and you'll never know if you've reached it or not. Instead, focus on finding your own personal Norwegian balcony and fully enjoy those brief moments for what they truly are. Though I'll be the first to admit that the last part can be really fucking hard sometimes.