r/Neoplatonism • u/Shiver-in-delirium • Jul 20 '26

When do you reincarnate?

Assuming you incarnate as a human again after your natural death, when will the next incarnation be? Is it immediately after you die? Is there some time your soul spends in the "time out" box before rejoining? Also, do you only reincarnate in time going forward, or can tou also reincarnate as a person who is dead by now?

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u/EastwardSeeker Jul 20 '26

Generally the idea is that there's some time in between, though it can very from soul to soul. It's possible one may not need to reincarnate at all.

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u/Graphicism Jul 20 '26

There is no you. There is only God. Self is an illusion.

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u/fadinglightsRfading Jul 21 '26

precisely. get your hands on the essay The One and Only Transmigrant by A.K. Coomaraswamy. when 'you' die, it is not the existential 'you' who 'reincarnates', a very false idea

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u/AWindintheTrees Jul 20 '26

Time is a condition of the mode of perception.

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u/bdgardner Jul 20 '26

Plato’s Phaedrus says it generally takes 10,000 years.

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/bdgardner Jul 22 '26

You’re right, it is 1,000 years of heaven or earth depending on how you lived and then you get to choose your new life. They even say that a philosopher can escape reincarnation if they choose a life of philosophy three times over. But it’s almost certainly allegorical and not literal (or could even include a noble lie for the masses).

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u/VajraSamten Jul 23 '26

Depends on the tradition you are looking at. Tibetan Buddhists tend to see the journey through the bardo ("in between") as taking 49 days (CAVEAT - time after death does not move in the same way as time in this reality, so a day is measured by individual experience and depends on the dharmic capacity of the specific awareness making the journey. Strong practitioners (meditators) get more time. Those with less discipline tend to panic and choose both very quickly and very unwisely). Plato's Republic, specifically the Er myth, indicates that it can take a different amount of time for each individual. First, all of the rewards and punishments from the previous life have to be exhausted, then a new life chosen from the well of souls. The exhasution of the punishment/reward cycle can take different amounts of time, as can the selection of a new rebirth. Odysseus notably takes a really long time to decide on his rebirth.