Reincarnation Center

Yesterday I went for a walk in a park at lunch time. The sky was blue.  The trees and grass were intensely green. The birds were singing. The air smelled as sweet, well, I was going to say perfume but I don't like the smell of perfume so as sweet as the smell of lilac blossoms, iris blossoms and dogwood blossoms mixed with the scent of air floating across a shallow lake.  In other words the world was lovely.  I asked my companion, "Isn't this nice?  Can you think of one more thing that would make this a better moment?"  As I say those words I see to the right of the path a brilliant orange monarch fluttering around like a beautiful orange fairy. My first monarch spotting of the year!  The fact that it came into view at this particular moment seems divine. I wonder why I study nature so carefully.  Now that the kids are out of the nest, I spend more time observing birds and butterflies and flowers and shrubs.  What is the point?  Why is it important to me to know the life cycle of a monarch butterfly? What do I gain from satisfying that particular curiosity itch? Today I was reading another tree-hugger's blog, Dan Tallman's  and I found out why it is important to study nature. Think about the end of your life.  None of us know for sure what comes next.  We have our beliefs. Beliefs are might strong things but nothing makes one person's belief better than another person's belief.  If my Google search is correct, more than half the world's population believes in reincarnation.  From Socrates and Plato, to people who live in India, to Inuit's in North America, reincarnation is most likely in their future.  If more than half the world believes in reincarnation it seems logical that reincarnation is a possibility. So start studying nature now because if there is a choice, it will be good to know what you're getting into in your next life.  Good think I read that blog. If you're not careful and if there is a reincarnation center where you get a choice, you could choose to be a snail killing fly.  Or a slug. I would choose something with wings but not a snail killing fly.