Are we in Purgatory? The concept of eternal existence.

Hello. This is my 1st post here. Thank you for accepting me. The video linked here represents the culmination of many years of research on this subject.
IF the concept of the reincarnation of the soul is a reality, then the process of the perpetual births and deaths of an individual soul, allows the existence of an timeless domain which is exclusive and unique to that soul, which equates with an eternal permanent existence of that [ now therefore immortal ] soul.
The ultimate extension of this idea is that the process of the perpetual reincarnation also allows the existence of a timeless metaphysical domain which is accessible only to the immortal soul and which equates with a personal eternal individual existence in Heaven.
It is my contention that our soul presently exists in Reincarnation Purgatory. This present physical existence represents the only occasion [ in the eternity of existence of an individual immortal soul], that all souls will be provided with the opportunity to escape Reincarnation Purgatory and be reborn in Reincarnation Paradise in their next physical existence.
So how does a soul ensure that when the physical body dies, it will be reborn in Reincarnation Paradise/ Heaven? There is only one possible  way - It's all to do with Karma.
I'll explain what you need to do in the video.
https://youtu.be/Ew7mN6_hb_g

So how does a soul ensure that when the physical body dies, it will be reborn in ................ Paradise/ Heaven? There is only one possible  way -

Repent of doing whatever you want and ignoring God and give your life over to Jesus, trusting in him alone for salvation.

Why would this be the only chance?

After all once the cycle begins again there's a new shot at picking the right ticket of the "Belief Lottery" to use a term from the philosopher/novelist R.Scott Bakker.

"The path to immortality is hard, and only a few find it. The rest await the Great Day when the wheels of the universe shall be stopped and the immortal sparks shall escape from the sheaths of substance. Woe unto those who wait, for they must return again, unconscious and unknowing, to the seed-ground of stars, and await a new beginning. Those who are saved by the light of the mystery which I have revealed unto you, O Hermes, and which I now bid you to establish among men, shall return again to the Father who dwelleth in the White Light, and shall deliver themselves up to the Light and shall be absorbed into the Light, and in the Light they shall become Powers in God. This is the Way of Good and is revealed only to them that have wisdom.”

― Thoth Hermes Trismegistus


Even the idea of endless reincarnation doesn't seem completely terrible...As Elton John would say the boulevard is not that bad...

The danger of commenting on a video that you have not viewed, is that the content of your comment patently betrays that fact.

[Laird]

Welcome to the forums, James.

I watched your video. I like its endorsement of the Golden Rule and its emphasis on the importance of committing to abiding by it. The reincarnation-based theory it presents is almost neo-Christian (but without a Christ or a God) - "make a decision in this moment which will save your eternal soul" - although it perhaps only seems that way to me because I've grown up in a Christian milieu.

For those who haven't watched your video, here's my summary of its thesis:

Although this physical universe is finite in both time and space - beginning in the Big Bang and ending in the Big Rip - and although each life is finite, an individual soul can exist eternally in this physical universe by reincarnating endlessly in lives across both space and time. All possible societies - including utopias - exist in this physical universe across all space and time. A soul's next incarnation is determined by its moral state at the moment of its death in its current life. If a soul attains a high enough moral state, it begins reincarnating in utopian societies, and continues to do so endlessly: this is "reincarnation heaven". If it attains a low enough moral state, it enters an endless "reincarnation hell" which, although a state of "damnation", is not one of literal fire and brimstone. We are each incarnated on planet Earth as a reward for being a good guy in our last existence in hell. Planet Earth is a kind of purgatory in which we have a one-time choice to abide without exception by the Golden Rule and thus ascend into reincarnation heaven, or otherwise return to reincarnation hell. We will not get another chance.

Does that seem like a reasonable summary?

In any case, I am curious to know how you arrived at this theory. You write above that "[t]he video linked here represents the culmination of many years of research on this subject", but you don't mention any of the sources of your research in either your opening post or the video. Could you give us a little insight into some of the sources, especially the most significant ones, that have led you to this theory?

At various key points you indicate that you are "contending" or "assuming", so it seems that you are not presenting your theory as definitive, objective fact, but rather as the one which makes most sense to you. Regarding this, you say that, per Sherlock Holmes, you have eliminated all of the theories that are impossible, and are left with this one: there is, you say, no other model by which a finite universe can accommodate an eternal heavenly existence - but why do you hold that this universe, finite as you contend it to be, is the only reality? Could there not be other universes or other metaphysical planes of reality into which a soul might reincarnate? Similarly, why do you hold that there is such a thing as an eternal heavenly existence?

I'm also curious to know your source for the idea of the "Carty Shell". Of this shell you say in the video: "The ability to form a linear flow of thoughts, or, in other words, that which we call consciousness, is a process which occurs at the shell which is located roughly 3,200 kilometres above the surface of the Earth" (15:34 - 15:53), and, "The lateral flow of time at this altitude is exactly equal to the speed of light in a vacuum. 3,200km represents the radius where a clock which is in orbital free-fall orbit around a planet at this specific altitude will neither gain nor lose time relative to the gravitational field of the planet." (16:09 - 16:36).

I am not sure what you mean by "the lateral flow of time", but in any case it seems to me that the units of a "flow of time" are (would be) different to those of "the speed of light", so it is not clear to me how you make the equivalence between the two.

You say of this shell that all of our thoughts and volition originate in it, and that all of our thoughts along with our actions are stored there, and can be retrieved instantaneously. Why do you believe this? And is this compatible with free will?

Some of your other contentions seemed contradictory, incoherent, or unjustified to me, and I'd like to get your clarification on them:

1. You contend that the number of possible physical bodies an individual soul can reincarnate into in the (presumed-to-be) finite universe is infinite - but how could this be true if each physical body is itself finite?
   
2. Similarly, you contend that every possible society exists in the universe across space and time, but given a finite (in both space and time) universe, is this necessarily true, and, if not (which seems to me to be the case), then on what basis do you hold it to be true?
   
3. You introduce, around 10:05, the word "multiverse", and later, between 11:04 and 11:27, you explain how you see this term as applicable: "The mathematical infinity of permutations of possible conscious, physical existences, and beginning with any individual first link in the eternal chain, also defines the reincarnation model of the universe as being a many-worlds multiverse version of physical reality." This seems to be an unconventional use of the terms "many-worlds" and "multiverse", and arguably an inappropriate one, since those terms are applicable to (the) physical universe(s) rather than to the "universes" of conscious experience. Given that you believe only in a singular, finite physical universe, are you sure that your use of these terms is justified?
   
4. You say that any God must be "capable of forming a linear, connective flow of thoughts" (3:43 - 3:47), but that this requires time and (forward-only) causality, and so you ask how God could exist in the timeless vacuum of nothingness - but, again, why do you assume that aside from the physical universe there is no other reality, and particularly no other reality in which God could exist?
   
5. You say that every life - human and animal - on this planet is the same soul undergoing different incarnations (and thus that to abuse others is literally to abuse yourself in another perspective), but you also say that as souls in the purgatory which is planet Earth, we have only one chance to choose either heaven or hell. I don't see how both contentions could be true at the same time.
   

Other questions I have, apparently in the first case along with Sci, are:

Why do you believe that we only have one chance at this purgatory? And why only on this planet?

Anyhow, that's all from me for the moment. Thanks for sharing your theory with us!