Nothing is ever created or destroyed. Things just are, and they are in a state of perennial flux.
Our interpretations, which depend on our perceptions, in turn depend heavily on a relativistic model of the world-view. What appears to be a point from one frame of reference might indeed be a line in another dimension. What appears to be a line might indeed turn out to be a square when the plane of vision is rotated laterally.
All (wo)man-made measuring systems are extremely limited, in the sense that there is nothing absolute about them. For example, the spatial distance between any two given points is never absolute, but is relative to their plane of observation. Time is a purely conceptual and relativistic measuring convention, since time cannot be measured independent of space. It is an illusion that we have conjured up for our convenience.
Obviously then, the changes one observes around oneself are only relative to some original frame of reference where one may be observing from, and also to the angle or dimension in which one may perceive them. As long as the original frame does not change, ones perception will seem to be consistent, thereby giving one the pseudo-confidence that what one sees is the absolute reality. A different frame, angle or dimension would offer a dissimilar perception, and would bring one to a different conclusion.
However, when all relativistic views are dropped and a holistic model applied, things begin to get simpler as well as clearer.
I am a strong believer in Destiny; I was destined to be. How could one not believe a blatant truth? Moreover, had I even chosen not to believe it, it would work anyway! Owing to this, I am expected also to believe in concepts like rebirth. I would say that the two topics are independent of each other, and strong faith in one need not translate to an unflinching conviction about the other.
Traditional ideas about rebirth heavily rely on the extremely relativistic model of life discussed above. Birth and death are relativistic concepts. Nothing is created or destroyed; things just are, distributed into varied forms of energy.
At a lower cognitive level, things are in a constant state of flux, of change, evolution. But at the holistic level, such change or flux is hardly evident. Whether we look at the subatomic level, or at the cosmic level, all things are one. They are neither born, nor die. They simply exist. They change from one form to another; they vibrate; they evolve. Owing to the fact that time is a relativistic measuring system (a grand illusion, as I have clarified in yet another monologue) the question of past, present or future hardly arises. Therefore, Karma is also an illusory concept.
Hence, everything is permanent, existing in one form or another। It is our awareness that tells us that we are. Remove awareness, and we will not know that we are. But we still will be. It must be understood here that detaching awareness does not lead to liberation, at least not in the traditional sense of the term. All those unconscious people in the hospital are not liberated souls. Salvation is not lack of awareness, but is simply a state of extremely refined awareness; call it super-consciousness if you will. It is this refined awareness, which saves us from painful bondage.
It is our intellect that questions about our being, or about our being again. It is our double-edged sword of logic that severs things and concepts in a futile attempt to understand the secrets, the mysteries of our existence. The more we sever, the farther away we move from the truth. Intellect is a general mental capability that involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn.
However, one must understand here that there are several concepts in the cosmos that one cannot comprehend by the aid of the intellect alone. While some ideas may be too complex for our intellect to handle by itself, some others are so simple that our intellect cannot work with them.
For example, when we look for "Intelligent Life" elsewhere in our universe, do we even know what signs we are looking for? We land up looking for symptoms of life as we know it, using our limited reason and logic to decide and judge. What makes us so sure that all life must be limited to show the symptoms as we know them? Why do we believe that there cannot be life outside the perimeters of our understanding? There could be "intelligent life" out there, which our intellect may not even recognize as "life".
They say that people could be born again as people at various levels, or as animals at various levels, depending on something they call Karma. I have not heard anybody talk about people being reborn as an inanimate object - like pen stands, cars, the fire in the volcanoes, the water in the oceans, the grains of sand in the deserts, the mountains, the asteroids, the galaxies... Nor have I heard of people being reborn as something intangible - like an idea, an emotion, heat, sound, or any other subtler forms of energy. Wonder why not!
We are neither born, nor do we die. We simply are. In one form or another, regardless of what it might be. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are one with the cosmos, because we are of the same elements as everything else around us. Names and forms might vary, but we have been, are, and will be.
