You could take refuge in the fact that you were a very good plankton to make it all the way to human.
What if reincarnation is real, but you were probably plankton in your last life, so you don’t remember anything anyway?
Submitted 3 weeks ago by Robyn@lemmy.blahaj.zone to showerthoughts@lemmy.world
Comments
aarch0x40@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
fonix232@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
But human existence is suffering. Buddhism teaches that if you do incredibly well, you'll be reborn as a being with a worry-free life. Being a plankton sounds exactly like that.
IMO human existence, with all its benefits, is waaaaay below plankton.
rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Interesting thought, but I’ll take thought over what’s basically water-grass.
DrFistington@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Homie led the plankton revolt of 1831479QT, and ushered in a golden age of cooperation and peace between the sea Lords and planktonions, so that only the old, sick, recently deceased plankton would fuel the hunger of the overlords
aarch0x40@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Damn, I didn’t realize plankton had it so hard. Makes sense that it would be krill or be krilled.
tungah@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
He was a good christian plancton.
aarch0x40@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Then wouldn’t he have gone to plankton heaven?
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
I wanna be a lobster
PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
The way they die in old age does not appeal to me.
Growing forever, but eventually when they get too large, their shell becomes so difficult to molt that they die of exhaustion before they can complete their molt.
DioramaOfShit@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I remember though. A big whale ate me.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Speedrunning death again? So, how was it? Did you get to top 500?
Hoticeberg@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No, this is Patrick.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I guess it would explain why everyone can fucking eat me.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
Pretty sure that’s because humans are simply at the top of the food chain and can eat pretty much any other animal, including other humans.
Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I use the name Donner to make restaurant reservations just to hear them say, “Donner, Party of four”
rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
The ghost of Jeffery Dahmer has entered the chat.
Perspectivist@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
Even if you were a human your memories would still be in your previous brain. I see no reason to assume you’d remember anything from your previous life unless you believe there’s a “soul” that carries your memories rather than your brain.
PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I assume that belief in reincarnation requires belief in something like a soul to be reincarnated
Perspectivist@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
In the traditional sense yeah but it could also be linked to the idea of the multiverse or quantum immortality. Or maybe our physical brain only acts as some kind of a receiver that tunes onto some greater consciousness.
viking@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
Without a soul, the concept of reincarnation doesn’t exist. Else we are just talking about energy transfer, which absolutely happens after cellular death. Your physical matter is absorbed and becomes part of other organisms.
tanisnikana@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Let’s assume that reincarnation is real for all living things, and that you get reincarnated the moment you die. And you get to do it a lot.
Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mosquito. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Amoeba. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mouse. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. HUMAN!!! Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mosquito. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria.
tanisnikana@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Wait a minute, I fucked up, viruses aren’t technically alive. Too bad, your soul is in it until it gets destroyed cause I’m not changing my original comment. You’ll just have to wait it out, then you can go back to being probably-but-not-always bacteria.
PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I feel like there’d be a lot of ants and insects in there too.
AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Manjushri@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
No, they aren’t. With the number of bacteria that have lived over the course of life on Earth, compared to the number of non-bacterial life forms over that time, I would guess that the vast majority of organisms alive now have never been anything other than a bacteria.
AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I lean in favor of open individualism these days, so yes, I was, am, and will continue to be plankton for as long as plankton continues to exist. And to be extra cliche, I am also you, and you, and you, and you, and I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together.
shawn1122@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Sounds like Advaita Vedanta from Hindusim which itself led to Brahminism’s concept of oneness or the Brahman.
Always fascinating to see Eastern spirituality’s influence on philosophy.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
That’s part of the whole mythology
You have no idea about your previous incarnation, it’s a way to try to manipulate people into being good which (as with all religions) relies on choosing stupid leaps of faith
AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
No mythology, contrivances, or manipulation are necessary. Even from a completely secular perspective, some form of rebirth is arguably more likely than simply non-existence after death. Things like karma are unnecessary. If rebirth is real, even one driven entirely by naturalistic processes, then the state of the world is enough to make us ask what kind of world we want to be born into next. The more suffering there is in the world, the more likely it is you will be reborn as something that will suffer.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Rebirth more likely…?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
It’s not just about manipulating people into being good. It also gives great comfort to everyone who believes because if anything bad happens to someone, it’s because they deserved it.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
Oh yeah, it (again, with all religions) gives people licence to be cunts
rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
So I deserved my back injury and subsequent 7-stich wound? Perhaps I’m just a bad construction worker in this life.
saltesc@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Technically it’s true. There’s a high chance bits and pieces of you have been used in other life several times, though you were more likely parts of plants than other creatures.
And when you die, you’ll be reused again. Nature has always been like that.
loldog191@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
not just “alive” things but “dead” things too. the “dead” multivitamin i took this morning is absorbed into my “living” cells now. the air we breath has been inhaled and exhaled countless times for eons. loose hair and dead skin cells become dust and soil again.
the universe is an ocean, and we are a wave. we’re made of stardust and dinosaur farts.
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
Nothing goes to waste, but god-botherers and smelly hippies want to make something stupid out of it
JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit… When the physical body dies, the mature spirit, enriched by its life on Earth, returns to Gaia, bringing with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow
HubertManne@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Thats an interesting take. Figure between sapient lifetimes there would likely be many on sentient lives and your last sentient life would just be a garble by the time you got a new one. Makes me wonder taking the idea that universe is just sorta sentience rearranged and you could then be rocks or beaches or such to. Its like life is a grade school play.
Aneb@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Nah I get flashbacks of the old west and colonial New York. They mean literally less than nothing but I get glimpse of a past and it feels like déjà vu. Maybe I just have an over active imagination and read too many books
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I’ve been reincarnated from the future and get flashes of what’s to come.
gotta say, it’s not great.
Aneb@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Lol I walked around this winter in the snow and thought, “this won’t be here in 13 years”. Very specific but feels probably true
koshka@koshka.ynh.fr 2 weeks ago
That assumes that people reincarnate as non humans and that they reincarnate into the same world.
Beebabe@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Guess I was a bad plankton :(
Lumidaub@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
Does my previous life have any effect on my current life? Then if I don’t even remember, the fuck do I care?
Kolanaki@pawb.social 3 weeks ago
What if it includes the entire universe and the chances of being a human, on Earth, are just super incredibly slim?
shalafi@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
All these memes about wanting to die: You could have been a chunk of ice orbiting Saturn, but you lucked into the single greatest thing the universe has to offer, sentient life.
AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How do we know sentience is the greatest? It could be peaceful just orbiting.
psoul@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well these days, I’d rather be ice around Saturn. The view must be amazing
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
Even if it’s just Earth, if we assume there is a degree of randomness in species assignment then you’ve got decent odds of reincarnating as an ant:
And of course, massively high odds of being a bacteria. There are probably ~40 trillion bacteria living just in your body right now:
Lucky_777@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Now add the ocean. Yeah, we all spend billions of years coming back as bacteria
DrFistington@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I mean that can explain a lot. I’ve always been a creature of great inertia, more like a tectonic plate than a human being
FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 3 weeks ago
I always admire your name