The Logic of Reincarnation

Where do all of the extra souls come from? Is there an infinite well out there somewhere, a Strega Nona pot of spirits from which an endless stream of new lives is poured? Or perhaps all of the species we have rendered extinct can be thanked for the sparks in our hearts: Vast flocks of Carolina parakeets reborn as spoiled suburban iPodders, Golden toads brought back to the Earth as indie bands and punk-rock guerrilla knitters? How does a reincarnation theology deal with overpopulation and resource depletion?

Religion has been ignoring public inquiry for far too long, and now the creationists and mujahadeen alike are going to have to look to hydrogen cells and solar energy for their Salvation. Funny, no matter how abstract we want God to be, how untouchable by human hands and well-protected by Book-wielding kneelers in megachurches — he’s always just there, outside, pushing windmills and making the waves crash. We can’t privatize divinity like we can gasoline production, despite our best efforts at encrypting the message and entrusting a select few with the task of distributing it in tiny bite-sized chunks.

Can humans fall in love with ideas, abstractions that might protect and nourish us? Of course we can. It’s just a trick of memory: memories which may have evolved to help us avoid injury and locate sustenance, and which continue to serve us well, even if the food smells like a yellowing photograph and the pain is from telling someone goodbye.

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