(September 8, 2021 at 10:25 am)Ahriman Wrote: Well, God isn't a "sky fairy", but I get what you mean. God can do with your soul, whatever He wishes to do with it. If He wanted you to be reincarnated as a house fly, then that might happen. If He wanted you to be reincarnated as a giraffe.......etc. But your intention means something, as well. Meaning, if you wanted to explore space, and that was a sincere desire in your heart, but you couldn't explore space while being alive, God would make sure that you could, eventually, explore space, in some earthy form or another.
What is a soul? Do you believe in reincarnation?
Those who believe in reincarnation recognize that the ego is destroyed in death (otherwise we would remember past lives). They believe that some core of who we are carries on, and can learn with each life to move towards enlightenment. This is very different from the Christian idea of simply waking up in heaven (or hell) with ego intact.
Also, in Buddhism, reincarnation is considered to be a curse. The idea is to leave the wheel of death and rebirth, and the "core of who we are" will enter some new phase, but perhaps without our past egos, and certainly not as a simple continuation of earthly life.
I don't believe in souls. I believe that our identity is something that emerges from the operation of the mind.