Imagine for just a moment that we don’t die. How would that affect the way we live? It’s true that it can breed an incredible poverty inducing complacency. The belief that a person is born the way they are because of karma.

On the other hand it could give rise to an incredible sense of invulnerability. How would we live if we felt invulnerable that whatever happened? We might start making fearless choices, taking more risks.

Imgagine realising that you’ve had other senses of self that were completely different from the one you have now, that though some part of you have survived your ego hasn’t. How seriously would you take yourself then?

Reincarnation is an important doctrine in Buddhism, yet in our own personal experience it is, for most people anyway, unverified.

So why aren’t we aware of previous incarnations. Is it that we need to give each other a second chance, a fresh opportunity? Would the sense of guilt or shame as we look back be too overwhelming? Do we need to develop a profound level of compassion towards ourselves as well as towards others to be able to cope with the memories? Is compassion, like karma, a law of the universe?

If you’re interested there are some other interesting videos to watch in YouTube.