Stuff You Should Know - How Reincarnation Works

Episode Date: July 13, 2010

A large percentage of the world's population believes that you will be reborn after you die. So why does the concept of reincarnation seem so paranormal to Westerners? Join Chuck and Josh as they explore the ins and outs of birth, death and birth again. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is Operation Trade Bomb, an Apple original podcast hosted by Mark Smerling. Follow Operation Trade Bomb on Apple podcasts. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, with me is always is Charles W. Chuck Bryant, as far as I know in his first incarnation as a podcaster at least, right? Possibly before you were a dolphin. I know.

I was a podcaster in the Ming Dynasty, a little-known fact. They're... Really? Uh-huh. When was the Ming Dynasty? It was when the first podcast was created by me. You know who created the first podcast, don't you? Oh, that guy from MTV?

Yeah, Adam Curry. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? Is he still around? He was a pioneer in our field. Yeah. Yeah. We should jump him and beat him up, give him the old pillowcase treatment.

No, we should salute him, hats off. Oh, yeah, that too. By the way, Chuck, did you notice in iTunes that you and I are in a special room where we are basically referred to as pioneers? Yeah. Podcast turns five. Yeah. Awkward to say.

Yeah. So, Adam Curry started what? Five years ago. 20 years after Ghostbusters. Ah, very nice. No, 21 years. Nice work. Let's get to it, shall we?

Yes. Have you heard of a kid named James Leninger? No. So, let's see. He's 11 now, I guess, and he lives in the United States. I don't know what state. I'm sure we could find out. One of the 50.

Yes. And he, around the age of two, started having these crazy nightmares. And he always had an affinity for airplanes, but around the age of two, things turned a little bit dark. And he started waking up, screaming things like, playing on fire, playing on fire, or something like that. Was that the kid sitting next to you when you flew to New York? No, that kid was, he was just a punk.

This kid was traumatized, you could say. He knew a lot about planes. His parents started noticing that he would do kind of pre-flight checks when he was playing with his airplanes. He could point to parts of the plane. His mom thought a fuel tank called a drop tank was a bomb attached to the belly of a toy plane. And he's like, no, that's a drop tank.

And he was just a little kid at the time, right? And after a while, the things he was talking about started to get a lot more specific, Chuck. He talked about going down in a corsair that he used to fly. Oh, I see where this is headed. He talked about how the corsair he flew, his tires would always go flat, which is kind of a little known fact unless you're a World War II pilot or worked on a flight deck. And then he finally said that he went down near Iwo Jima in a plane and that his plane had gone down from taking a direct hit in the engine.

And by this time, this kid's like five, right? And so he said that he had been flying off of the Natoma, right? So his father started to get a little bit obsessed with this and started researching the Natoma and found that there was an Atoma bay, an aircraft carrier, that was off the coast of Iwo Jima during the raid on Iwo Jima in March of 1945. And there was indeed a guy whose name was James M. Houston, Jr., and he was the only one to die in this raid on Iwo Jima from- Hitted in the engine.

Direct hit in the engine. Wow. Went down in his corsair. Is that a movie yet? Not yet. What did it be? So the kid's getting older. His memories are fading.

This was 2005, the article, and his memories are already fading. Oh, wow. Apparently they hit their pinnacle at about three, two to five, something like that. Crazy. And a lot of researchers are saying, you know, the parents have deluded themselves, they've deluded him, they've really kind of encouraged this, and they're seeing things that aren't there. But obviously, his parents think that this kid is the reincarnation of this other guy

named James, the one who went down in 1945 in his corsair, right? Sounds plausible to me. It is. There's a lot of people out there that would say that it doesn't sound plausible, especially people in the Western world, but you go a little further east, a little past the Greenwich Date line, right? And you will find a billion and a half, two billion people who believe in reincarnation, right?

Yeah. Well, wait, is that a billion and a half? That's just Hindus and Buddhists, right? Yeah. Or is that everybody? No, no, that's just, there's like a billion people in China alone. Right. Yeah.

But I don't know that all of them are Buddhists. Yeah, but many more people believe in reincarnation than the Hindus and Buddhists. So you cross the international date line, go a little further east, you're going to find billions of people, billions of people, starting in Central Asia and moving eastward. And us Stajji Westerners are always the ones going, I don't know about that folksy remedy or I don't know about that coming back as someone else. Well, one of the reasons why is because we view time as in a linear motion. There's no going back, there's no coming back to do it again and again, you know, there's

no rebirth, most of the religions over here are monotheistic. Sure, you've got to heaven after you die, your life on earth is to sort of gain entry into heaven or hell. And on the other side of the world, among cultures that believe in reincarnation, time is generally viewed as cyclical, which makes for coming back again and again as a lot more plausible, right? Yeah. The other thing about Christianity though, there are some people who think that reincarnation

may have been an early tenant of Christianity, but it was misinterpreted and or just flat out kind of lost over the years. Yeah. Are you talking about the Cathars? Well, it's just, I mean, none of it can be proven obviously. And then parts of Judaism, the Kabbalah and Hasidic Jews believe in reincarnation. Yeah. Let's talk about that.

Let's talk about Asian views of reincarnation, all right? Okay. There's a lot of really interesting similarities across cultures as far as reincarnation goes. And the earliest, well, the oldest active religion right now is Hinduism, right? Oldest surviving religion. Right. I think you can make a case that Zoroastrianism is older, but I don't know that you could say that that's actually surviving.

Yeah. It's a very least is not thriving like Hinduism, right? So Chuck, how long has reincarnation been around? It hasn't been around forever like people would think. It's actually, it's fairly new, right? Yeah. Fifth and seventh century, B.C. Yeah.

B.C.E. Sure. We get yelled at every time we use that, don't we? Yeah, sometimes. Okay. And the Apana shots, right? Which were these Hindu, ancient Hindu texts where reincarnation was first really spelled out, right?

Right. And they don't think that it was around prior to this because there's a lot of evidence that in like burials that people believe that this individual person went on to another life. So they would bury like their hunting materials or the Aryan societies would burn the wife alive when they cremated the husband so they were together in the next life. So then reincarnation first pops up around the fifth to seventh century or the seventh to fifth century B.C., right?

Yes. So what are we talking about when it comes to Hinduism, like what's the basis of reincarnation? Well, I mean, in its original Latin translation, it means entering the flesh again. So that pretty much speaks for itself, I think. In Hinduism, it's all about the acceptance of samsara, which that literally means wandering on. And from what I gathered, it's more of an answer to what are we doing, like the eternal question is, what are we doing?

No way. Not where are we? A lot of people think it's like, you know, where you are at your station, but it's really what are you doing? Right. So basically, it's sort of the same in Buddhism, we'll get into that, but it's not a continual cycle for all of eternity. There is a goal that you eventually want to break the cycle and reach an endpoint.

And in Hinduism, it's called moksha, is that right? Yeah. That's how I took it. Yeah. And that's salvation, right? Yes. It means release, literally release. So to be released from your cycle is how I took it.

So with Hinduism, you achieve moksha through karma, right? And karma is this very, it's as misuse as socialism these days, I think, at least here in the West, right? Karma is basically this impersonal law where if you carry out good actions, you become good if you carry out evil actions, you become evil, right? So according to how you live your life is the kind of karma you accrue, and this karma accumulates from life to life, and ultimately when I guess enough of the good karma is accrued, if you will.

Sure. And I don't think it's as black and white as good or bad karma necessarily, but once you accrue this type of favorable karma, you're ultimately loosened from your human form and you're not going to be reborn again, you're going to go join the Brahman, right? Yes. That is the absolute God of the Hindus, the big cheese. You become one with it. Yes.

I guess a part of it. Uh-huh. Yeah. But karma is not controlled by that God, it's not controlled by any God. No, right. It's this universal law like thermodynamics or something like that. Yeah, it's not like God says, I'm going to, you know, you've earned this or you haven't earned that.

Right. He's just like, he's like a dealer in Vegas, like, I got nothing to do with this, buddy. This is all about it. It's the second time we've done that. Called clearing your hands. Clearing your hands. Right. Or tapping out.

Chuck, I find that really, really interesting and kind of uplifting that there is this God, this almighty, powerful God in the Hindu religion, and then there's, of course, like tons of other gods, right? But this all-powerful God can't do anything about this cosmic law of karma. It's up to the individual's actions. I just find that endlessly appealing that it's up to you how you live your life, whether or not you're going to achieve moksha or not. I just think that's super cool.

Absolutely. You know? Because your actions should reflect, you know, how you end up. And I think it creates your station in life as well, right? Well, yeah, if you do enough, I guess if you accrue enough good karma, you may end up in a higher caste in another incarnation here on earth. Right. Right?

Sure. But then there's no heaven or hell or anything after you do hit moksha, right? It's just being a part of the Brahman. Right. Okay. Which is the Buddhist equivalent of, or the Hindu equivalent of the Buddhist nirvana. Right. So, moksha is one of four primary Hindu goals, right?

Yeah, the final goal. That's the final. The first one, and it's almost kind of like this transcendence, and it starts with this very base goal of desire, where you want to have sex, or you want wealth, or you want fame or something like that. Right. And then you move to wealth, artha, which actually is... Karma was the first one.

Right. I'm sorry. K-A-M-A. Right. K-A-M-A. Yeah. And then artha, A-R-T-H-A, is wealth, and it's not like a bad thing. It's not like our concept of wealth.

You want to accumulate wealth so you can take care of your family, or do good for other people, that kind of thing. Sure. So, that and the Western concept of wealth are not necessarily one and the same. Then you have dharma, righteousness, right? And then after that, you achieve moksha. And I think there's an interplay. I don't think it's necessarily graduated.

There's that linear thought progression again in the West. I think they're all kind of intertwined, right? I think so too. But you led us to Buddhism, and I trample all over that segway. So let's go back to it, buddy. Hey, everybody, it's a new year, and it's a good time to take a look at your website. And if you take a look and you decide it looks kind of black, then it's time to head on over to Squarespace to create a new one.

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If you want to check it out, download the app today or visit teladoc.com slash stuff to register or schedule a visit today. That's T-E-L-A-D-O-C dot com slash stuff. For JD Power 2021 award information, visit JD Power dot com slash awards. I believe that we said that Moksha would be the Hindu equivalent of the Buddhist Nirvana. Excellent segue, Chuck. Buddhism is about 2,500 years old and their concept of reincarnation is much the same as Hindu.

In fact, they got it from the Hindu. They believe in karma, they believe in good karma and bad karma, they believe in samsara and rebirth, and they also believe in the in-between, which is between the afterlife, after death and before birth. Right. That's actually Bardo in the Tibetan tradition. Oh, okay. Is it?

Yeah. There's a... It's basically... Yeah, you can't really call it an afterlife, right? You call it an in-between life. And so Chuck, this thing that exists in-between life and also in life and what dies as well, Buddhists consider a germ of consciousness, and I just made air quotes, right? Right. So that starts in the womb and you live, you die, you generate karma based on how you live. But the point of life to Buddhists is suffering.

Yes, that's part of the Four Noble Truths, which is suffering exists, suffering arises from attachment to desires, suffering ceases when attachment to desires cease, and freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the Eightfold Path. Right. And the Eightfold Path was something that was created by the Buddha Siddhartha, who was born around 563 B.C., and he was born into a life of opulence and wealth and privilege. He had it very easy, but he noticed fairly early on, I get the impression he was something of a prodigy, that he wasn't achieving much spiritual progression through this life of

wealth. So he went off and he did what, Chuck? Well when he was 29 years old, he left and said, I'm going to practice yogic training, and he basically abandoned all that and sat under a tree. He lived the life of a hermit. So you know me, Chuck, you know how I feel about Buddhists going off and living in the cave by themselves and not contributing anything to humanity, right? And this is what Siddhartha tried, and did he gain enlightenment from this?

No, I guess you could say he was in your camp. He didn't, I'm not going to say he didn't get much out of it because I wasn't there, but he ultimately did not gain enlightenment that way, and he thought, you know what, maybe a mix of both is a good thing, and maybe we should call that the middle way, and maybe that's the way to be. Right. And it's called the Eightfold Path, right? So he achieves enlightenment and he immediately starts telling other people about it.

And he said that there's this Eightfold Path that is basically, it's in the middle between excess and self-deprivation, right? Right. So what are the eight parts of the Eightfold Path? Well this is broken down into three qualities, the wisdom, or panna, is right view and right thought. Okay. You got morality, which is right speech, right action, and right livelihood.

Sure. Then you have meditation, which is right effort, right mindfulness, and right contemplation. Very nice. So basically you put all this together, you are living the right life that's going to deliver you to nirvana, right? Yeah. Which is the middle way. Right.

Sounds pretty easy. I'll bet it's extremely difficult. I think so too. Inna? Well, it's difficult because there's something called hindrances, and they actually list these out, which in, you know, it's probably no surprise that one of them is lust. One of them is aversion to ill will, you have sloth and torpor, which, you know, who wants to be involved with torpor, restlessness and worry and skeptical doubt.

And then there are seven factors of enlightenment, which are mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture, twang, twangquility, concentration, and equanimity. So yeah, not so easy. No, I wouldn't think so. I mean think about it. Avoid those and then do those though, and it does sound easy, but how life is. I'm sure if you, like, you know, zig to the left, you zag right into, you know, some sort of temptation or, you know, if you close yourself down to the possibility of, you know,

being exposed to wealth or whatever, you're missing out on being able to help other people. You know, there's probably a lot of pitfalls to that way of living, which is why I issue the whole thing. Yeah. Well, Siddhartha believed it. He wandered around India for like 45 years teaching this, and until he died at the age of 80, and you know what his last words were? Tell him I said something cool.

No, he did say something cool. He said, impermanent or all created things strive on with awareness. Party on is basically what he said. Party on, Garth. Wow. Yeah. Nice last words, huh? Yeah, they are.

Have you ever wondered what yours will be? I have a feeling mine are going to be, holy s***, that'll be my last two words. Yeah. Mine will be probably, you got me copper. Are you going to revert back to your bad boy ways? Just for one last. And die in a shootout? Yeah.

But suicide by cop. That reminds me of the end of royal tandem bombs when they show the gravestone. It's that he died heroically saving his family from a sinking ship. Yeah. All right, Chuck, some of the stuff that we've been talking about may sound kind of familiar. If you live the right way, you can stop coming back to this existence that we call Earth. Right. Life on this planet, right?

Sure. Well, it kind of bears a striking resemblance to the Judeo-Christian ethic of, you know, if you live this right life, if you're good to other people, you don't hurt other people or other things, you're not a cruel person. And you kind of, you don't pursue worldly objects, you're going to have a better afterlife, right? Yeah. But it's, you know, in Christianity, obviously, it's a permanent afterlife.

Right. And reincarnation, here's the thing, like, there's a similarity between the Judeo-Christian outlook and Muslim as well, because they believe in the afterlife as well, that the soul is immortal, that there's something in us that lives on after the physical body dies. Right. Where it differs and disagrees is specifically with reincarnation where you come back and you inhabit some body on this Earth again.

Right. And that's the difference. That's reincarnation right there, right? It has nothing to do with the immortality of the soul. Well, it has everything to do with the immortality of the soul. But as far as comparative religion goes, the difference is, you don't keep going straight, you come back. Yeah.

Because, ah, you screwed up. I took a comparative religion class in college, and here's a little secret, Josh. Don't tell anybody, but they're all kind of the same. I know. And do you want to know why? I have my theory. Let's hear it. Are we going to go there?

Okay. Here's my theory. Man evolved into man from whatever, and man started to, as soon as man could think, man started questioning why they were there on Earth, looking for a purpose. And that's where religion sprung up, and that's why they're all very similar when you break down the tenets of world religions is people fractured and split off into different areas and they evolved differently. But at the root of it, I think it began with man walking upright and looking at, you know,

the sun and saying, why sun there? Yeah. I think I subscribed to something very... Why river run? Right. I think it was born, though, Chuck, out of the first time somebody witnessed someone else die and realize that that's going to happen to me one day. What happened to talk talk?

Right. There's a, if you look at religious scholars work, most of them will tell you that reincarnation was born out of watching the seasons change, especially because these were agricultural societies that started giving rise to religion like this, right? On the whole cyclical thing, it makes sense. The Earth rotates, the seasons rotate in a cycle, it makes sense. I guess the commonality, like you said, people started to split up. I don't know that it's necessarily that it happened and then I see what you're saying

like with religion in general, but with something like, say, reincarnation and these really lead a good life and then there's a reward after this. I think it was from cultures having an influence on one another by living near one another. Remember we did that podcast on whether the Greeks got their ideas from the Africans? Yeah. Well, this apparently is another example of that, the African mystery system, the comedic mystery system that we talked about in Egypt. One of the big guys who formed a mystery system.

The big guys. Well, one of the big cult founders, his name was Pythagoras, remember him? The Pythagorean theorem. So we're going to get into the mystery religions a little bit? Yeah. So several decades in Africa and came back and the next thing you know, he's founding mystery cults, Orpheus, the Orphic mystery cults founder, well, he's supposedly a mythical figure, but they also think he may be an actual historical figure.

The music legend? Uh-huh. Yeah. If he was real, part of his legend is that he went and spent 20 years in Memphis studying from the Egyptians. So you kind of get the idea that a lot of the ideas of rebirth and reincarnation went from the Hindus to the Egyptians to the Greeks. And then remember we talked about the Jefferson Bible being written, or the Bible being written

by the Platonics? Yes. That Plato was derived from these mystery cults who believed in reincarnation and actually some early Catholic cults believed in reincarnation as well, like the Cathars. Yeah. Well, Orphism sounds a lot like heaven and hell to me because they believe that leading a correct life leads you to Elysium, which is like a paradise, and if you're evil, you'll go to hell.

Right. But you can die in the afterlife as well. Well, yeah. It doesn't stop there. And come back. That's the main difference. There are good Orphic lives to get out of there. And what is leading a good Orphic life, Chuck, with this horrible, horrible Orphic life?

Well, no wine, no sex, no meat, vegetarianism is good. So yeah, those are a few of the tenets. Which is strange because this Orphic cult was actually an offshoot of the Dionysian cult, and they believed quite the opposite, they would rip a goat to death, a live goat to shred. With their teeth. As part of their ritual sacrifice, they'd get drunk as they could on wine. They'd have sex and orgies, and they'd just eat everything, right?

And apparently Orpheus went to Memphis and came back and said, hey, I know what you guys are trying to do, and that's a good idea, but you're doing the opposite of what you should be doing. So let's start leading this puritanical life, and that led to this kind of idea that denying yourself was a good way toward being a pure person. Right. I think you were starting to lead us down the road a minute ago about a Jainism. There's a couple of other Indian religions, Jainism, and I always thought it was Sikhism,

but I also saw something that said that's a common mispronunciation, and that it's like Seikism. I don't know if that's right or not. Way to go the extra mile, Chuck. Well, who knows? It's on the internet. It might not be true. But Jainism, they think that your soul accumulates karma as a bad thing.

It's an actual substance, physical substance, and that karma is never good. Karma's always bad. Yeah. So your goal is to rid yourself of karma on here on earth. Yeah, and if you have these karmic particles, then your soul's always going to bind to a body, right? Yes. So if you can get rid of the karmic particles, you're all right.

Right. I also mentioned the Cathers, right? This was, they were from South France and Spain, I believe, and they're the reason the Spanish Inquisition was founded because they were considered the heretical sect of Catholicism. Basically, they were vegetarians. They believed in reincarnation. They followed this highly Neoplatonic tradition. And they accused the Roman Catholic Church of being the anti-Christ branch of Catholicism.

The Roman Catholic branch proved stronger, started setting up stakes, burning cathars at them, and basically ran them out of existence. But they believed in that you shouldn't eat meat, that you could come back as a human or an animal, and that there was just kind of a kinder, gentler version of Catholicism. A little less bloodthirsty. Hey, everybody. It's a new year, and it's a good time to take a look at your website. And if you take a look and you decide it looks kind of black, then it's time to head on over

to Squarespace to create a new one. That's right, especially if you have, oh, I don't know, some kind of audience like we do, Squarespace member areas connect with your audience and generate revenue through gated members-only content. You can manage your members, send email communications, and leverage audience insights all on one easy-to-use platform. Yeah, and if you have a big social media presence, you can display posts from your social profiles on your website.

You can automatically push website content to your favorite social media channels. It's like the circle of life. So head on over to Squarespace.com-SYSK for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, use offer code SYSK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. It's 2022 and things look different, like doctors visits, for example. Sometimes you don't have to go into a doctor's office to be treated for non-emergency situations like a sinus infection or allergy, and that's why Teladoc gives you the chance to connect with board-certified physicians right from your home via phone or video.

That's right, doctors are standing by 24-7 so you can schedule a visit according to your schedule. You can see for yourself why Teladoc is ranked number one by JD Power and Telehealth Satisfaction with direct-to-consumer providers. Teladoc's available through most major health plans and many employers, but even if you're not covered by insurance, everyone has access to use Teladoc. That's right, if you want to check it out, download the app today or visit teladoc.com slash stuff to register or schedule a visit today.

That's T-E-L-A-D-O-C dot com slash stuff. For JD Power 2021 award information, visit jdpower.com slash awards. So Chuck, we talked about the West being generally incredulous of this kind of thing, right? There's a sterling exception as far as Westerners go of believing in reincarnation and that exception took the form of a guy named Dr. Ian Stevenson, right? Yeah, well he studied it. He never said that he believed it was true.

He just wanted to prove that it was at least a possibility. So he spent his life pretty much until he died in 2007 trying to do so, founded the Division of Personality Studies at UVA. Which became, I guess it was originally called the Division of Perceptual Studies, right? Well, no, it later became the Perceptual Studies. I get confused sometimes. Yeah, it was originally Personality Studies and he was a Virginia Cavalier? Yeah.

Is that right? Uh-huh. Okay. Go, Cavs. He was in a lab basically where he studied near-death experiences. He studied children mainly. Two to five? Young kids who, you know, to kind of like your kid that you talked about at the beginning.

Two to five? Who had these stories that could not be explained in ways that made sense other than perhaps they were reincarnated. Yeah. There's been tons and tons and tons of cases. Some are easily explained the way others aren't. Did Stevenson apparently investigate about 2,500 of them? Yeah, over 40 years.

Yeah. But he was pretty much shot down by mainstream, his peers. He was. And he was a true Fortian, actually. He wanted to apply the scientific method to the supernatural, right? He just basically believed things that were considered supernatural were just things that couldn't be explained by science right now. But like you said, he was basically pushed to the fringe just because of his studies.

Right. But there's a lot of people out there that think he was successful in proving that it is possible for reincarnation. Like the kid who thought he was a World War II pilot, Stevenson would never say like whether he believed in reincarnation, anything like that, but about in like, I think 1967, he went out and bought a lock, a combination lock, and set the combination himself and then used a mnemonic device to remember the combination and he stored the lock away. And he always said that the reason why he did this, he wanted to see if he could transmit

the information, the mnemonic device to somebody who could then go unlock this lock after he died. Right. And so far, nobody's unlocked the lock. Yeah. It's been a few years. But I don't know that this proves anything to you. No, of course not.

It proves that no one's unlocked the lock yet. Nice. Chuck, very diplomatic. That's all. I'm going to get you a job in the Foreign Service. You got anything else, reincarnation? Yeah. The Chinese government, did you know they banned reincarnation without permission from the

Chinese government? I think I have heard that actually. When? Was this like a few years back? Yeah, China likes to ban things, as we all know, and they banned reincarnation without consent from the Chinese government. And basically, it's a way to keep the Dalai Lama from reincarnating and saying, this is the next Dalai Lama.

Basically he won't have permission to do so, so China will be able to choose the next Dalai Lama. And the current Dalai says, obviously, he said many times, I am not going to come back as long as China is in power over Tibet. So he's boycotting reincarnation? I don't know if he's so much boycotting it, but he's going to end up here? Well, I guess he is boycotting it. He says he refuses to be reborn until that happens, so we'll see.

But what's happening is, I mean, when he dies, it's going to be a little hinky because potentially there might be two Dalai Lamas. The one China appoints, and the one, you know, the real one, I would call it. That will be awkward if they ever meet. Yeah. Or if they met Shirley MacLean. Remember that stuff? Sure, yeah.

And she claimed that she was reincarnated, and she had sex with Charlemagne. I didn't hear about the Charlemagne part. Yeah. Well, she said she actually did have an affair with the Swedish Prime Minister, Olaf Palm, and she said he was Charlemagne reincarnated. Crazy. So supposedly she says she got it on with Charlemagne. Well, if you want to know more about Charlemagne or reincarnation or the Dalai Lama, we've got

tons of those articles. Just come up with some good keywords and put them in the handysearchbar at HowStuffWorks.com, which means it's time for, Chuck, is it listener mail? Are we back to listener mail? We are. It's time for listener mail. Quickly we want to support our Kiva team real quick beforehand. Let's do this.

We need to mention this, because it's been a while. We're trying to get to $250,000 by August. Oh, I don't know. August. We'll say the end of August. I think it was 26th. I'm not going to say the end of August. The end of August, right?

And we are plugging along. I think we're at about $170,000 right now, $170,000 raised by the stuff you should know, Kiva team, which is far and away, all stats aside, far and away, the greatest Kiva team ever assembled, agreed. So we're trying to get to $250,000. This is not an exclusive team. So if you want to join, you can donate an increment of $25. You donate as a loan.

It's repaid. You don't get any interest back, but I mean, you get your $25 back. And it's pretty addictive, isn't it, Chuck? I'm pretty hooked. Yes. You can go to www.kiva.org, slash team, slash stuff you should know and join or check it out or whatever. So, Josh, I'm just going to call this one a question that has been answered many times,

but Sean doesn't know the answer. It's a great title for this one. Chuck Josh and Jerry, I missed the Facebook questionnaire because I was at work and my job prohibits Facebook. Thank God for SYSK, ABC News, and yes, Stuff Mom Never Told You podcast. It helps this 24-year-old newlywed understand his smart, wonderful, beautiful, but very complex wife a little better. Those are the best kind.

His question is this, who the heck is hippy Rob? I'm pretty sure I've listened to all the podcasts. You clearly have not. And the ones before Chuck, so which one explains hippy Rob and all my cubemates who also listen are wondering the same thing. We need to know. Cubemates is not a word. Otherwise, it's just a boring inside joke that drives us nuts.

Oh, wow. So. Sucks to be you, pal. PS, Jerry, at least cough or something. No SYSK listener believes you're real and we wouldn't put it past Chuck and Josh to make you up. This guy is really suspicious, one, and demanding, two. Sean of Virginia Beach, little bossy Sean, get with the program, buddy.

Yeah. The answers are out there. Sean, we're going to do a reverse on you. I'm not going to say who hippy Rob is or where the origin is. So Sean, actually, instead of telling you who hippy Rob is, where he came from, et cetera, we're going to put a request out to our listeners, the first person who sends us an email and tells us where hippy Rob first appears, what episode, and in what capacity that he's described. Right?

Yeah. If you do have that info, send it to StuffPodcast at HowStuffWorks.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit HowStuffWorks.com. Want more HowStuffWorks? Check out our blogs on the HowStuffWorks.com homepage. There's nothing quite like the excitement of knowing a baby is on the way. After all, you have been dreaming of this moment your entire life. With Kate and Lane, we have everything you need to keep your little love cuddly soft

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