Karma Chameleon

Prompt:

Feb 8 

Karma Chameleon

Reincarnation: Do you believe in it?

If the concept of reincarnation postulates that dead persons return in their spirit or soul-ish form to dwell in other men’s bodies, then I do not believe in reincarnation. When people die, they die. The body returns to dust, but the spirit, which is the real person cannot posses another body… because I mean, God makes every human being and breaths His life into them. You, where are you coming from?

I, however, understand what the proponents of this concept mean when they say that people return when they die. I see what they see, but I have a better explanation for it. What we see is this: we see people who resemble other people, not just in their looks but in their mannerisms. We see grandchildren who act like their late grandparents. We see sons who behave like ex-boyfriends. We see friends who behave like late friends. And when we see these things, we easily connect them with the experiences we had with similar-acting individuals. 

But similarities are bound to abound in relationships because;

1. There is a template for the kind of people we attract into our lives: So if you keep wondering why you have a friend that behaves exactly like some other friend you had while you were in South Africa, or secondary school or at your former place of work, or who was alive at some point in life, then maybe you’re just attracted to persons of that sort of mannerism. And you know, that’s perfectly alright! (An inherent lesson from this is to watch the kind of characters you attract at any given point in time as they tend to stick to you like a stamp to a letter as time goes on).
2. There’s something called genes: I’m not big on biology and the intricacies of the gene pool concept, but I know that people who share a degree of blood tend to have certain traits passed down from one generation to another. So does your child (whose feet look a lot like your late mother’s) also chew loudly at the table like your late mother? Fret not. No, It was not your late mom who suckled at your breasts; the child is indeed your unique child with her unique personality showing traits of your late mother because (surprise!), she shares some degree of consanguinity with her and some genes were passed along with the inheritance. 
3. There’s something called the Water, Smile and Frown Theory (which I just made up right now): I was on the phone with my dad some days ago and as is his nature, he seized the opportunity to remind me that he is waaaaay more knowledgable about things than I am. So he says, ‘Do you know why couples begin to look alike after some time in their marriage?’ I may have heard of some theories crediting this mystery to the exchange of body fluids, but I know my father so I just say, ‘Nope’. Then he eagerly explained, ‘Well, when you live with someone, you drink the same water they drink, eat almost the same food they eat, and you go through the same situations with them so that when they smile, you smile and when they cry, you cry, and when they frown you frown. So both of you grow up with relatively the same number of creases and wrinkles on your faces’ While there’s a lot to question about this theory, let’s adopt it to this topic. So you see, maybe your son behaves like your brother or your roommate behaves like your former roommate simply because you have all developed a certain likeness of the same kind of troubles and joys. You most likely behave like that too! Does this one make sense?
4. There’s a mystery known as the human template: Do not judge me, but I can look a person and tell you how they act. I can tell you what gets them angry, what makes them smile, their bad attitudes, what gets them emotional, what makes them curious, how they fight, how they settle fights, their level of esteem and so on. All I have to do is connect that person to some other person I know who looks like them, or walks like them, or laughs like them etc.  I am a core proponent of the school of thought (which I also just made up) that says, ‘All humans look like some other humans; and they most likely behave like those other humans’. So no it’s not a re-incarnation, it’s just a mystery we’re still trying to figure out. If you know anything about Dara Peace Ajala and I, you would believe in this theory of mine. 
5. There’s nothing called reincarnation.