Dennis Prager discusses reincarnation, his rejection of personal rebirth, and the moral problem of karma: if suffering is punishment for past lives, how do we justify helping victims? A caller raises whether we should intervene in child abuse or let karma run its course.
Do you believe in— is that the word? The word, because reincarnation has two meanings. You come back in your own body at some point, or you come back as another person in the next life. It's very— it's a very common belief, by the way. It's held by all sorts of people that you might not expect. I know that, uh, in mystical Orthodox Judaism there is a belief, Gilgul Nefeshot, the transmigration of souls. Now I happen not to believe in this. I believe that there is a heaven. I believe there is a hell, or if you will, in more— not sophisticated but acceptable language, I believe that there is punishment and reward after death. But I don't believe that I come back as another person. It's a tempting belief because, let's say, you know, what if you're a baby that dies? That's it? Is that your whole chance at existence? For the people who believe in reincarnation, well, that baby, it will, will come back just as another human being. But if you have no remembrance of who you were in the past life, for all intents and purposes, you're dead anyway. If you're Joe Smith in this life and you come back as, you know, Mary Gonzalez, Joe Smith is dead. Now you say Joe Smith's soul continues, but Joe Smith's soul is not aware, at least has not transmitted that awareness to Mary Gonzales. You are really Joe Smith. On the other hand, to be fair, I have a close friend who studied hypnosis. He hypnotized a young woman many years ago who believed that she was on a, I believe, a 19th century caravan in the United States. She described— I don't know where it was. So Oregon? She was in Oregon. Oh yeah, you know this really well. Oh yeah. So, so remind me, what was she— she was on a wagon train and she— the details she knew, she— I don't even think she'd ever been to Oregon, not in this life anyway. And she knew details of the crossing of Oregon, which really only somebody who did it or had studied for years Oregon wagon trains, which I suspect she didn't study, would know. So I want you to understand, I don't have passion on this subject. It may be true that we do come back as somebody else. Now call 1-800-PRAGER-776, 877-243-7776. Do you believe in this? Do— are you skeptical? Are you antipathetic? How do you react to it? The problem of the unjust suffering in this life is so great that people have devised many, many solutions to it, and this provides one of them. But I was raising the difficult issue of karma in Hinduism. That you come back in this life and it's a reward or a punishment based on how you acted in a previous life. But then why would I want to show pity to somebody who's suffering in this life if I believe that they were evil in the last life and that's why they were suffering? I, I don't know the answer to that one either. 877-243-7776. Do you know somebody who believes in it? Do you believe in it? Do you reject it? Do you think it's more than wrong, it's actually against your faith or your moral convictions, whatever it might be? 1-800-PRAGER-776. All right, let's see what you folks have to say here. Santa Clarita, California, and Sean. Hello.
Hey Dennis, how are you today?
Really well, thank you.
So in a Philosophy 101 class, I gave quite a few examples of why I reject it, but I end with this strong one. Let's say I get called to work on an emergency and I have to call a friend or family member to come watch my young child while I'm at work, that family member sexually abuses my child. Now, in karma or reincarnation, something my child did in a previous lifetime demanded that this would happen to him in this lifetime. And so my question to my professor was, should I call the police or should I just let karma act out?
Yeah, well, that, that was what I raised as a problem. If I— if all suffering is merited, you did such awful things in past life, why would I feel bad for you, let alone help you? You're right, you're not allowing karma to work itself through if you help the person.
I have one historical example if you have the time.
If you're brief, I have the time.
Okay, the killing fields in Cambodia. There were Christian organizations in Buddhist countries handling all the Buddhist refugees, but there were no Buddhist organizations helping their fellow Buddhists. And the reason is, is because Buddha said you're an island unto yourself. And so that was the distinction, that the Judeo-Christian view of compassion was taking care of these refugees, whereas the Buddhist understanding rejected compassion.
Well, I'd love a Buddhist to respond. What you said made sense to me, but I would like to have a Buddhist response. I had a Buddhist monk on my first radio show. My first radio show was called Religion on the Line. It was on ABC in LA. This incredibly popular show, and I don't take credit for it. I inherited a popular show. I made it more popular, but I inherited one. Priest, rabbi, minister, different ones each week. After 5 years, I had— I opened it up to every religion on earth, and I had virtually every religion on earth. I had a Buddhist monk on once, and I said, because this was the way I could bounce off my understanding of religions off people who practice it. That was the best. It was a blessing from God I had that show. 10 years to the week. So I said to him, I said, I just want to understand something. Is it the Buddhist ideal that if you lose a loved one, you, you don't basically, you don't lament, you don't cry, because that's the way of things, and you accept it, and you don't Because you don't place your emotional world in the hands of others, as it were. Anyway, he said, yes, ideally you would not cry. That's right, if you were a Buddhist. You know, if you're— because he didn't have children, he was a monk. So I used a brother or sister as the example. So people, people work these things out if they can. Yeah, San Fernando, California. Joe, hello. Hello, Joe.
I'm not going to ask you how you are because you're wonderful, period.
Thank you, it's sweet.
Uh, I don't— I definitely rejected to the fact that In this universe, everything, or most things, do have a purpose. And if we come back and we don't have any memory of past life, what's the point? It's a real waste of time. That is common sense, religiously, right?
So yeah, I, I fully understand that, and, but I, I want you to understand, nobody has a good answer to many of these problems. What do you do with a, a baby that, that has suffered? I'll keep you on because it's— I'm curious. There's no great religious answer to that either. For the full episode of The Dennis Prager Show, go to pragertopia.com, sign up, and become a full member.
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