I like that....Quasi-Buddhist. I can identify with that idea, and I also have some problems with the reincarnation thing, but it does provide a grounding for ethics, which any religious system does require, so it makes sense from that perspective. If you consider reincarnation as being more of a "reintegration" it makes better sense, to me. We come from "star stuff" and return to become part of the whole process again...like a drop of water entering the ocean (or vice versa!).The Buddhist concept of nothingness and no-self are hard to grasp. But the more you talk about it - the farther you get away from it. So we end up laughing about it and moving on. Actually I'm more of a quasi-Buddhist as I have trouble with the whole re-incarnation thing. -Dionysus
It is the ego which holds tight to the soul. This sure seems like a striving toward permanence in what is clearly an impermanent world to me. I do see why this is unnerving to so many, especially here in the West where we have been told ad infinitum that there is a "ghost in the machine".
I do not think it is coincidence that Joseph Campbell found himself closer and closer to Eastern (particularly Hindu) concepts as the end of his life drew nearer. He was a pretty sophisticated and intellectual man and the rich and deeply textural mythologies of India (and Buddhism, Taoism, Zen Buddhism) require a pretty open and sophisticated person to integrate their concepts without compromising the reality of being a Westerner living in the West.
But I have led this conversation astray a bit...there is the East/West thread to discuss this!
Peace~