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What do Yossarian, a summer breeze and a box of rocks have in common? More than you think.
The idea of a "lifespan" is used to describe the duration of lots of things, many of which aren't actually alive at all. Products, for instance, have lifespans. So can a business. A document that is both used and revised is sometimes said to be a "living, breathing document." If you expand your idea of "life" to anything with functional duration, you really open a can of worms. All of a sudden, anything that eventually ends is somehow alive, until it's not.
The question arises, what is the implication of reincarnation in an inanimate form? Both those with "lifespans" and those without them. Inquiring minds want to know.
Very Dead
 It has often been pointed out that reincarnation into a form that is dead, such as a rock, is permanent. This is part of Reincarnation 101 - really, really basic. Since the thing can't literally die and won't end in any practical sense, it can't "pass on" and so be reincarnated. Duh. So reincarnation into an unchanging, inanimate thing starts to feel like an infinite loop of no particular interest. Put differently, reincarnating yourself as a rock is a stupid idea. Sure, you get to endure forever. On the other hand, you get to endure forever as a rock. By all reports, a bad idea.
Lively Inanimates
 Far more interesting to be zestfully inanimate. Like a summer breeze. A chuckle. A blink. Christmas morning, 2023. Or how about a fictional life? While a vividly invented character seems to have a lifespan (think of Kilgore Trout or Moby Dick) they actually are immortal. (No fictional character is, literally, immortal. Sooner or later, as the universe expands into a perpetual stillness and nothing remains of consciousness, even Kigore Trout will be forgotten.)
In the mean time, though, being a fictional character would be cool. Imagine the fun of being Yossarian or even Holden Caulfield. You'd have multiple, simultaneous existences, going about your business in zillions of high school English classes. All the good stuff would happen, and all the bad, over an over. Fresh and new, every time.
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Various Speculations
Ruminations, conjecture and speculation by the All-Knowing One in his blog.
Butterfly Effects - It's the little things that matter. And the unintended that always seems to surprise us.
The Inevitable - How we should all think about fate.
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Reincarnation Depository
Each EncoreAgain customer's reincarnation is officially logged with the International Reincarnation Registry. This renowned, non-profit group records the reincarnation form of each customer and assigns a unique registration number to it. This way, there can be no arguments. And renewals are immediate.
For more information on our chained, multiple reincarnation plans, click Renewals.
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All EncoreAgain Illustrations are
by the gifted Stuart Goldenberg.
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