Keep thinking

Most Christians today believe that we are created at conception and that when we die we become eternal. . But eternity cannot be eternal on one end and finite on the other. . If something has a beginning, it must have an end. . If we believe that we will live forever. . It must follow that we have always existed, as the great Christian teacher Origen taught. . If we have always existed. . What have we been doing all this time? . If one incarnation is helpful in our spiritual evolution, why wouldn't two be twice as useful? . And if each life is to learn one or more major lessons then why not millions of lives? . Certainly it would take a vast number of lives to learn all that there is to learn. . What is it that makes us resist the idea of multiple human lives when a majority of the world's religions include a belief in karma and reincarnation? . We are a part of Nature. . We have always existed. . We will always exist. . Our time in eternity is an evolutionary process through which we are learning how to become at one with nature. . The only way this can be achieved is through an enormous series of positive and negative experiences? . This result cannot be achieved in a single lifetime. . If we are part of Nature, our present life is no more than a short class to learn a certain skill. . And there is more than one course in our spiritual curriculum. . There are myriad questions not answered by our traditional theologies or philosophies. . When do we get to use the wisdom we have accumulated in this life? . Where do we get to correct our mistakes? . If we can correct them in heaven, why did we come here in the first place? . Why should any God punish people eternally for temporal sins? . Do we punish our children for the next fifty years for a penny stolen when they are little?    . What happens to mentally challenged people and those who cannot comprehend the laws of life? . How do we account for the vast discrepancies in the lives of people, some living in poverty, some in great wealth? . At what point does Nature even out these unfair distinctions? . This current life is one of many experiences which you have created for yourself. . Just as you are now designing your own future life. . And while you might not buy into all of the above, what do you believe? . You might not want or care to think about these things now, however they are in your subconscious. . And they will get more voluble as you get older. . As you approach old age and death. . And yes this happens to you too, it's not just other people who grow old! . Quite a smart idea really to find out how things truly are before then. . Shame to get to the end of your life and to realise that you wasted it. . There have been some very smart people on this planet. . Smart enough not to leave dangerous things lying around that could be misused. . So where did they leave their ideas to help us? . In what form? . Where? . And leave things they did. . Ever thought about that?