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Though the idea of humans—and non-humans—living more than one life seems new, revolutionary, or even heretical, to many, it has been around for thousands of years and all over the world. In fact, in most parts of the world the idea that we somehow do not live multiple lives is seen as strange, even absurd.
Even as the idea is becoming more and more mainstream within the modern Western society, most people think of it in a linear way, talking of past lives rather than multiple lives. This is really not surprising as in those parts of the world where the idea has been fully accepted for millennia, it is usually under the concept of reincarnation or rebirth.
The classical idea of reincarnation usually implies a dualistic idea of an eternal (or at least immortal) and immutable soul on one hand and a temporary body. It is often likened to a diamond set in a metal ring. As the metal of the ring wears out, the diamond is placed in a new ring. The diamond is always the same, while each ring is different from all the others.
The idea of rebirth is common to Buddhism which denies the existence of an immutable soul. It is often likened to a burning candle. When the candle burns out, a new candle is lit from the old one. The flame of the new candle is the same as the flame of the old candle, yet it is different. It really depends on how we look at it whether we say it is the same flame or it is not the same flame.
Although I have never heard any Buddhist teacher talk about anyone living multiple lives at the same time, at least the imagery of the candle does not exclude the possibility. Indeed, one would almost have to light up the new candle before extinguishing the old one. Otherwise, there would be no flame left to light up the new candle.
The classical dualistic idea of reincarnation makes the concept of living multiple lives at the same time rather hard to imagine. One would have to split the diamond in two. The result would not really be simultaneous lives of the same soul, but rather two separate souls that could never become one again (since you can cut the diamond in two, but you cannot paste the two back into one).
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