The idea of this page is to plant seeds of ideas and thoughts and see what happens. I may expand on any or none of these in the future. If you'd like to expand on any of them yourself or comment please feel free. I do warn both of us to heed the following though...
"If you think you know what's going on you're probably full of shite." - RAW
Well, this throws up lots of questions, doesn't it? It's the age old question. Why are we here? What is the point of life? Is it predesigned? It is my understanding that these questions serve only to keep hidden the real questions. Who is the "we" we speak of? Who is asking the question?
Ramana Maharshi called it Self enquiry. It is the process of questioning the questioner. Asking always "Who am I?" It's the question the ego constantly avoids and, therefore, the question one must work the hardest to discover the answer to.
Reincarnation
The basic premise of reincarnation is that we are something more than our body and this survives the death of the shell. I'm still not sure where I stand on this issue. My gut feeling is that reincarnation is a metaphor - a construct of the little mind. Perhaps a misinterpretation of something deeper? Why do I think this? My personal experience added to the wisdom of the enlightened Sages throughout history leads me to understand the personality as ego. Ego, in this case, simply meaning everything that we think we are – our thoughts, ideations, memories, etc. If this was who we are how could we watch it and be aware of it? Anyone who’s meditated for any length of time will be aware that there is a thought and there is the one who is aware of the thought. If the thought is part of the ego how can it be us? If it is not us how can it be the “we” that survives?
"Reality is simply the loss of ego. Destroy the ego by seeking its identity. Because the ego is no entity it will automatically vanish and reality will shine forth by itself." - Ramana Maharshi