Reincarnation is a process of education for all beings in the grander evolution of consciousness.
Our collective existence here on earth can be thought of as time spent in “soul school”—and it seems we have more than one chance to get it right, as we return repeatedly through multiple lifetimes over vast cycles of time. This evolution is not chaotic and random, but reveals purpose and meaning to our existence. And, we are ushered by a force of infinite love that guides our pathway of learning and teaching.
The progressive growth of consciousness itself is ultimately the purpose of our existence, and each of us plays a crucial role in this process. Hypnosis is one technique that can serve to facilitate recollections of memories from past lifetimes or from the time between lifetimes spent on earth.
While some children (and adults) spontaneously recall past life memories, hypnotic regression allows people to attempt to recover memories of past lives. Such sessions are not typically scientifically verifiable; however, individuals sometimes experience remarkable healing of symptoms in their current life, that can be related to a release of emotional trauma from previous lifetimes.
During “life between lives” hypnosis sessions, people often report making specific plans for milestone events to occur throughout their life, including hardships such as disease or other challenges. Such events typically serve as catalysts for growth and learning. It is our chosen responses to such challenges that determine their ability to empower our growth.
Recognizing that the struggles and conflicts we face in life might serve a higher purpose of learning offers great insight in living our lives in the here and now. Some find it challenging to accept that we have intentionally planned less-than-ideal situations for ourselves. It seems when these plans are formed, we have full knowing that the situation will be temporary. Of course, when we are living them in the now, we tend to forget such underlying arrangements.
I’ve done four what seemed like quite successful hypnotic past life regressions. Two are perhaps validated having experienced circumstances in the past that I was not consciously aware of at the time and with one regression leaving behind a physical trace. In that one I was a male pygmy that was banished from my tribe in the jungle for what crime I do not know. Alone and standing in a river up to my mid thighs I was pushing my ‘canoe’ from the back of it up to small clearing along the river bank. Then I was bitten by a poisonous water snake on my mid right thigh. Next I was lying on the beach crying very hard as I was thinking, “Now I will die just like the animals die.” When I awoke from the hypnotic state, still crying a bit, there was a hard, red and sore lump on my thigh where the snake had bitten me that was not there before. In another regression I was a young slave girl in ancient Egypt forced to work in a small underground room, one level below the surface carved, or so it it appeared, out of sandstone. I could see my long, straight unkept black hair and dark skin on my thin arms. There were stairs going to the surface in a corner also carved from the stone, as well as two long thin wood work benches made of wood boards that were placed between crossed legs on either side of them. Along with maybe 8 or so other slave females we were making flat bread for the monarchy. Then suddenly water came rushing in down the stairs and I was terrified over the few minutes I had left to live and became alert due to the terror that I actually felt. This didn’t make sense to me because of the geographical location. Then much later I learned that the Nile regularly flooded. As a child you couldn’t get me in a river or lake, I would scream blue bloody murder should anyone try. Later, I went on to swim competitively so I got over that. But to this day, I do not cook other than rice and microwaved frozen corn. I hate to cook so I eat a simple repeated diet of corn and rice in a bowl, lots of milk some wine and sometimes a treat, like chocolate or mangoes. It wasn’t always exactly like that, but I’ve strived for a simple diet with no spices, salt or sugar and no vitamins, And, and believe it or not, I’m quite healthy and strong, particularly for woman in her 70s. ..
I have dedicated myself to meditation for years, and have been listening to Sacred Acoustics tracks for several months. My sessions have become deeper and more spiritual, and I have experienced the timeless moments where I have sensed “the infinite” (only way I can describe it). Such overwhelming peace!
I have read Eben’s books and am currently reading “Journey of Souls”. The process of soul progression and reincarnation are fascinating, simply because it rings true to me. Throughout it all, my materialistic mind has (and still is) struggling with the concept of “past” lives. This indicates a timely progression. How can the concept of past lives coexist in a timeless universe? Is there such a thing as future lives or soul progression? And to take this overthinking a step further, if we have knowledge of future lives, doesn’t that give us a “cheat” by already knowing the pitfalls and mistakes of our current lives in advance.
I realize we are discussing concepts that can’t be adequately understood with our neuro-linguistic brains. The answers, I am sure, will be abundantly clear. Meanwhile, I will let whatever time I have left in this physical realm to learn, to be, to grow, and to have eternal gratitude for every moment of our blessed and miraculous lives.
Along with reading these daily, I have read “Proof Of Heaven” and am currently reading “Living in a Mindful Universe”. I understand what is being said regarding big events that can cause us to seek out our consciousness. I recently lost both of my parents in an accident, I am only 35 years old and am devastated. We were very close and up until now I can truly say I have not experienced any hardships. I was previously agnostic at best, but now I have to believe that they are still with me and have received signs from them. Their deaths have caused me to explore my spirituality; while I cannot meditate yet (it just makes me cry), I like to read these exercises. Reincarnation is causing me distress because what if they have been reincarnated before I die and can meet their spirits again? And how do people see their loved ones during NDEs if reincarnation is real?
Hi Brey, I’m so sorry to hear about your parents, that is rough :(. I am just like you! Agnostic and no hardships until a similar situation (regarding my father getting rapid decay ALS devastating my family within 1 year and changing my other’s whole personality under the stress), has caused me also to seek spirituality and understanding about the after life (and reading “Living in a mindful universe”). Also my best friend passed away 2 months ago, quite suddenly of a heart attack… So, it’s been a year. I definitely get it 🙁
Anyway, to asnwer your question with what I’ve learned about NDE and reincarnation and books like this one, is that souls seem to fit into “soul groups” for love and learning with others close to us; and therefore it seems our loved ones wait for us / everyone in our soul group to die, so the group can be reunited in death, before they all choose when ready, to reincarnate together as a group. It’s almost like the concept which cultures have, of “a second death” when nobody alive remembers someone anymore, they ascend to another level (but not in a sad way, just that it triggers something).
Another great book that is helping me a lot with death is “Hello From Heaven” where they interviewed thousands of people to get stories of contact from dead loved ones, and it’s actually as high as ~40% of people. Amazing read, gives me hope!
Lastly, in regards to meditation making you cry, that is a good thing! It means you are releasing important emotions you need to let out, and let yourself feel. it’s healthy, do it more! 🙂
with love,
J
Dear Eben Alexander, Dear Karen Newel
It is overwhelming : the 33 Day course came into my life in Covid-19 times, where I have much more time available to digest and experience the daily lessons with immense awareness. It happens, that I get the exams/examples served which are related to the daily subject you treat . Is this not amazing?
It feels like the Universe does give me private lessons subcutaneously taylormade.
I am touched so strongly and full of gratefulness. In my family (sisters brothers) I have no understanding, nor the possibility to discuss these things, as it looks like, that I carry a complete different bag. It makes me feel sad, as if I would not belong to this family.
So let me thank again, for this immens work you undertake to share your experiments with me and all who are on the path. I do thank the divine, this source of creation . Thank you to all of you. Annakatharina
I have a difficult time understanding why our souls, that are of much higher understanding and love, have to degrade to a human level to experience growth. Can’t souls just be presented with this information and have the knowledge expected to be with the source? I have lived a life immersed as an incredibly loving wife, wonderful mother, and devoted nurse caring for all levels of humans. I have volunteered and am a loyal sincere friend. My point is, I already am filled with the virtues of love, compassion, forgiveness etc. I have created a happy life, and worked hard. At age 60 I was traumatized beyond what I ever could imagine. I shockingly discovered that my kind, loving spouse of 30 years had a secret sex addict life he kept in a tight vault, so well hidden, no one would believe. There were 100s of hookups, affairs, etc. He committed suicide after being discovered and I never got to discuss any of this with him. This has traumatized me beyond anything I could ever imagine. My life was not what I thought. My spouse wore a mask. I don’t know what was real or fake with him. All my decisions were based on false pretenses. The man whom I trusted most of my life deceived me the entire time. I am hurt so deeply as our my grown adult children. I don’t know what my lesson is supposed to be. It’s been a year. I have been in therapy, have read so much and know I already am the soul filled with the virtues most would take away as lessons from this. I pray to God, our universal source to enlighten me regarding all of this. I even remember saying to my spouse, the only one we can trust is God. Any thoughts?
Hi Jennie, first off, that sounds horrible. I hope your therapy and healing process is going well. On behalf of all men, I deeply and sincerely apologize for our messed up understanding of human sexuality. Society (which we are all responsible for) also does us no favors. Check out the #MeToo movement. Boomers have had a rough go of it, generally, in terms of love, romance and all that goes with it, and us millennials have our own challenges in this regard. You definitely received a big lesson though! Ultimately, what you choose to make of the information you received over the course of your marriage to this man is up to you. Hopefully, the conclusions you draw lead you closer to truth. If you’re open to it, maybe try psychedelics as an adjunct to psychotherapy? Psilocybin at a retreat in Jamaica or the Netherlands or ayahuasca in Peru might help. Best wishes!
Hi everyone,
I just dont get it. How are we supose to learn anything if we live in a traumatised society which causes trauma to all of us? Thats not fair at all, cause we are so conditioned to do wrong – so we dont really have a free will!!
Please read this documents by a german Trauma-Psychologist: https://www.franz-ruppert.de/de/downloads/category/16-englisch
So what do you think?
Eva
Dear Eva
Thank you for the link of Prof. Franz Ruppert. Working on todays lesson Incarnation , I found a lecture from Franz Ruppert which is helpful .
With gratitude Annakatharina
/Zurich Switzerland
What a wonderful sense of adventure I got from reading the comments in this lesson! Surely, I thought, rebirth presented by an esteemed doctor & NDEr would be a no-brainer. However, I think the power of the concept lies in its coin-like nature, meaning its dark & light aspects. On the dark side, people tend to see it as a hurtling plunge into the unknown, which many times it is. What I learned from all these exchanges here is that humans want to shirk responsibility here as in many other parts of their existence. This race from accountability is the deepest of problems.
On the light side, reincarnation makes us free to see that personal survival in a fleshy sense is a scam. The best example is this cryogenic fraud of freezing a person’s head so that they can be revived in the future when “science” finds a way to bring them back to a healthy life. Watch the terrifying movie “Realive” to see what kind of evil that whole kind of nonsense represents. The spiritual benefits are well established by all the other input.
To me, the sheer, over-powering truth of rebirth is revealed in its treatment by the Catholic Church, the earliest organized form of Christianity. In 553 A.D., the Second Council of Constantinople banned the teaching of rebirth! While the Bible is not filled w/ examples of our eternal existence through spiritual evolution, there are bare-faced examples. What else could Jesus have been talking about when he asked Elijah, “Are you John the Baptist?” John the Baptist died many, many years in the past! An exoteric group like the Catholic Church surely could not conduct its twisted campaign as the only source of celestial connection if people knew they had untold opportunities to clear their mistakes & reach perfection.
I am totally at peace with “reincarnation.” There is no way one can get everything done in one short lifetime! We bring in with us all we’ve learned before, and our knowledge shows up in many different ways—unexplainable preferences, fears, loves, talents, things we just “know” about from travels and skills we’ve learned before. We don’t lose the memories from previous sojourns; they are safely kept for us by our own greater consciousness. But we suppress the actual memories because they would prevent us from learning new things, from trying out a new personality. Some of my past personalities show up like this: I feel great devotion like a nun, and in meditation, I often find myself before an altar in the Andes with the smell of fresh linen and a candle before a statue of Christ. This image often spontaneously settles on me. But I think I was once a wild dance hall girl, too. The nun and the dancer love each other! they express the joy of being different, but what they have in common is passion. Reincarnation can be looked at from different time perspective: we live multiple lives concurrently or one after the other, depending on how time is in the reality you are focused. It is all true. This is the only life I will live as the person I am now. One lifetime is not enough to develop compassion and wisdom. If one is a student of theology, for example, he will need to incarnate as a believer in different religious systems, and he will need a couple of lives to be an agnostic and an atheist, too, if he wants to truly explore the God concept thoroughly. In my current life, I chose a very difficult situation that has taught me compassion in a way I could never have learned otherwise. I am so grateful for all I’ve learned. I feel I have so much more to learn. Actually I feel that learning is endless. Expressing the spirit in form is endless. And there are many dimensions and worlds even in our one universe of billions and billions of galaxies, with each galaxy full of billions of stars. I have always thought big as far as space and time. We are all born with treasures of knowledge. Imagine a doctor who only has one life to perfect his healing or surgical abilities. Or a teacher, or an artist. What a waste that would be!! And WE are always one with a part of God—and so, it is God’s desire to create and express in form. And sometimes God loses itself in forms and forgets what it really is, but I have never experienced that there is an external God doing stuff to us! It’s all in resonance. We create our rewards and those things we call punishments, though we’re not always aware of how we do it. I have never, ever had that feeling to blame God for anything. I know in my bones I am responsible for what I do, what I attract, that nothing happens in my life that is not in resonance with my state of consciousness. So when I don’t like what is without, I look within to change myself. An amusing dream: Once I was camping out in the wilderness by myself, in grief over a loved one, and I thought to myself: I must change something in myself to affect my loved one in a positive way. So I meditated, beat my drum, sang, then fell asleep. I dreamed I put my hand in my pocket and to my amazement, I had coins that were all in halves. Half a quarter, half a dime, half a nickel, half a penny —- this made me smile. The half coins referred to “change.” Well, at that moment, I was reassured I was halfway there.
Hi, folks
A reflection on Ter’s and Mark´s feelings, corroborating Fred Carson’s explanation.
By the teachings of Jesus (and other mystics) and more recently by Christ (from 2000 onwards), the cycle of reincarnations can be stopped when we can shut our minds of our ego, compensate for all the mistakes made by the behavior of our ego, and allow the Creator Father to be expressed by our human being (ego under control). Jesus and now Christ insist on saying that the shortest way to return to the Father’s house is to undo all that is material and to follow the proposed path of reconnecting with the Father Creator or Higher Self (who is a sprout of the Father, divine Consciousness) . Otherwise we will become repeaters in our attempt to fulfill our mission, and repeating of the year means to reincarnate, to have to return to do the things well done. And Christ further informs that the spirits of light as a more evolved brother have the almost moral obligation to return in some way and help the latecomers to find their way back to the Father’s arms. Reincarnation is necessary, but not out of this spiral, and worse, sinking more and more energetically (see Hawkins), is a sign of serious behavioral error of ours. Maybe we need help getting out of the hole. But we have to want that help. And when we ardently want it, and ask the Father, that help appears in some way. It takes patience and self-control. Our rude ego is the cause of all our ills.
This is the only part I honesy don’t get it. The fact the reincarnation is a natural process for all beings and not some extraordinary event like Ian Stevenson thought, make sense because those children had recalls of those lives, but in my case and 99%of people who don’t remember anything of those lives then I don’t see the point. It would the same as dying because everything you loved, observed touched are disappeared. Some people would say that you can learn from your subjective thoughts , but that’s not a verificable sources, if we recall even through hypnosis our past lives we should recall where we lived who were our parents, etc. Plus another issue I see is mediums who can talk to death people and are verifiable , so the question is if everybody is reincarnated, who are they talking to? It’s somehow contradictory and I don’t know what to believe. I guess the one- life makes more sense to me . I don’t want to have other parents and forget the ones I got now. That makes life meaningless. The population grows every year which don’t support reincarnation. My thoughts are that I prefer die physically and consciously instead of living again on this hellish planet.
Dear Oscar,
Whoa, buddy, slow down & breathe! The point of reincarnating is to build on what you learned about honesty, compassion, & forgiveness. Plus, you have a chance to add to your experiences & wisdom, which will benefit you & others in the future. Have you heard that Mozart wrote a symphony at age 3? This feat is a way of widening his entrance into life’s many advantages, its beauty & privileges, by giving him some freedom from just toiling away on a farm or in a sweatshop. Memories of past lives range from hints like my behavior quirks (no one in my family ate like I did, one kind of food eaten completely before going to the next) & the slave tattoo on my inner thigh to full-blown, detailed recollections. The Buddha reported many, many detailed past lives over 91 eons! What makes the most sense is that not everyone reincarnates immediately & some not very often. The Earth’s population varies from high to low, so of necessity, there would be those souls who would have to wait & some, through experience w/ a mortal life, would discriminate & wait to choose a good birth over a bad one. Some NDEs report a vast plain packed w/ the denizens of Hell, so many plainly bide their time.
Finally, what we wish for & get are often two different things. I found it extremely liberating to learn the truth of rebirth, since my Presbyterian & Methodist upbringing horrified me w/ the punishment reserved for sinners, while Christian heaven sounded like the pits of boredom. Who really wants to float around on a cloud playing a harp for eternity? So, how wonderful! Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said everyone will do great things as I have & greater. How else could that be true unless we get a number of shots at being a Son of God? Oscar, mortal life is hellish b/c it is impermanent & is designed to force us to seek answers to suffering & the inequalities in life so we can be free at last. After all, most people come here b/c they have done something bad, but the Almighty wants us to return to our origins so he/she/it gives us a way out, if we so choose.
Reading ‘Journey of Souls’ by Michael Newton changed my life. I realised that many of the spiritual happenings in my life were real and not just my imagination.
PS. Acceptance of Gods’ Will in everything, especially during times of struggle and hardship, engenders a sense of humility. This is essential for receiving guidance and inspiration from Higher Consciousness.
This is exactly what the word “Islam” means in Arabic.
We are finite being and can never know everything but the possibilities for expansion of consciousness are truly endless.
Understandably, this topic seems to stir up a lot of different feelings, thoughts and opinions. Eben is quite definite in his viewpoint and clearly has experienced something in his NDE which he can only describe by using the reincarnation theory. Of course, something approximating reincarnation is present in all spiritual traditions of the world. In Eastern religions it is more overt but similar phenomena can also be found in all the inner mystical traditions of the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity & Judaism), although it is often hidden there and considered blasphemous by orthodoxy.
But like any true teaching reincarnation can be understood on a multitude of levels, all of which can only ever approximate to Absolute Truth – like the story of people trying to describe an elephant in a darkened room. But also like any teaching that attempts to contain the infinite within a finite concept, it is wide open to dogmatism and misinterpretation by those of us who haven’t directly experienced something like it or those of us who look at things mainly from an intellectual level.
Personally I feel that, even though reincarnation may have an important place at the spiritual table in terms of discussions about Ultimate Reality and as a useful tool to help us understand some very unusual and relatively rare phenomena in the world, perhaps it is not such a useful concept in todays’ modern world where we are all being confronted by so many immediate inner and outer existential problems. Perhaps it is more important for us to focus on the survival of the human species at the moment so that there actually continues to be a vehicle through which the Spirit of God can express Himself on this physical plain? The “here and now” has some pretty vital and pressing issues for us stupid humans to get to grips with and to try and bring the Light into…………………….”reincarnation” should never be used as a means of escape from Reality which is unfolding and happening right now and right here all around the world.
Dear Fred,
Reincarnation is rare in the Western world, though, thanks to Eben & Karen & others, many, many people are coming in contact w/ its liberating reality, so soon it will be a common conception. In fact, an increasing awareness of rebirth should have an impact on the potential collapse of the current plague of irresponsible civilizations incomparable in recent human history. What do you think leads “stupid humans” to abuse their beautiful planet? One of the most revolting is the ignorance of or the denial of the fact that they may well be reborn into the stinking hole that they helped create last time they were here!!
Some very diverse opinions here. This is a great topic and one that I have pondered over for decades and more intensely of late. From my own spiritual experiences over the years and from listening to others who have had past life memories as well as near death experiences, I have developed a few theories myself on the journey that involves both planes. I see myself as soul or spirit as a piece of “godlike” DNA. In other words, I feel that all living things are a splinter of the all loving and all wise force that some call “god”, or “the universe”, or “source”, etc. My soul, I believe is a small molecule of this divine source and likely as such has attributes of the divine source, but also in some way that I cannot conceive of in this life, has a uniqueness or oneness in and of itself. In this way, I believe that each living thing is part of the “whole” while still being an “essence” in and of itself. I can’t quite wrap my mind around this as I currently live in a body that has oneness defined in its very nature but I believe that when I move on to the other plane, that this awareness will become clear. I also have come to believe over the decades of living in this current life, that even though at this moment in time I may not want to come back to this worldly plane due to its challenges, that once filled with the wisdom and love and desire to spiritually grow and become more like the divine energy force from which we are a part of, I will be so compelled to become more “god-like”, or “source-like”, that I will once again make a contract to come to this earth plane to experience more diverse lessons and experiences. My thoughts are that the purpose of these experiences is to see how we can “love” our way through any challenge and experience… to love “ourselves” as beings and to love “others” including this earth as I believe it is a living being as well. And so it is with regards to the concept of “karma” that I believe when we have experienced one set of circumstances and hopefully gained wisdom and love, that we may at another time in either the same life or a different life, experience the complete opposite of what we previously experienced with the opportunity to see if we can also “love” our way through this alternate experience. The more diverse the experiences and the more we can learn to love our way through these experiences, the more we become closer to the divine source of love and wise energy force that we are a piece of. I have experienced this beam of love channeled through me at one time when I was connecting with spirit on behalf of a friend and all I can say is that the feeling of love was like nothing I have ever experienced on this earth. I did not want to leave that experience but it only lasted for a matter of several seconds. I suspect that this may be something similar to that love that those who have had near death experiences have felt when they have temporarily crossed over into another plane. I have pondered over these things since I was a child and I suspect I will continue to ponder. I so appreciate this venue that you all have provided for like-minded “ponderers” like myself to read and share with each other. With gratitude…
Some things confuse me about this. Mr. Alexander says: “more than one chance to get it right, as we return repeatedly through multiple lifetimes.”
I have heard this expressed as “learn more.” But if we don’t have access to our prior memories, how do we build upon what we were, what we knew before? (And obviously very few have access to, or would use, regression therapy so that shouldn’t be used as an answer). I have studied NDE’s for many years, and most of them talk about having access to all kinds of knowledge after death. Why, then, do we have to return to earth to gain the knowledge which is freely given to us in heaven? And I struggle with the idea of this simply in terms of sensory knowledge. If we have the direct vision of God we have everything. I can’t conceive of wanting to return to the pain and suffering of earth simply to learn to play a musical instrument, or be kinder to my neighbor. As other NDE’ers say – we “become Love.” Why would we then abandon what we already attained to by the free gift of God, reject the gifts of knowledge and the totality of Divine Love, and come back to another earthly life, with yet another human heart, which has darkness in it, only to begin it all over again, without even being in possession of the wisdom and knowledge from prior lives so as to help others in an angelic kind of way? It doesn’t seem to stand up to reason, or to the experience of the vast majority of NDE’ers who talk about the complete fulfillment of heaven, the completeness of the knowledge given, and so on.
I think that is a very good point, Mark. Though I’m navigating this life pretty well, I would NEVER want to return to such a low frequency existence! I can hardly bear the cruelty toward people, animals, and the environment that I see and read about. My spirit longs for a place of peace and love where I will be with those I loved dearly who have died and who I desperately miss, especially my sweet grandmother. Also, because of the plundering of this earth’s resources, the resultant pollution, and general disrespect for what was once a breathtakingly beautiful world, this earth is not going to be habitable for life very much longer. This is according to experts on climate change like Dr. Guy McPherson and Dane Wigington. Not trying to be negative, but I’m a realist.
The point you raise Mark about not having access to previous memories also confounds me. I have learned so much in this lifetime and the thought of starting again in not a positive prospect.
Hi, Mark
Believe me when I understand your confusion! The Creator is described as infinite, endlessly forbearing Love, but we are “tossed into a maze” as Li Hongjer puts it, at birth. Some, like Paramahansa Yogananda, claim knowledge of his/her predicament practically out of the womb, while others, like myself, have cast about for more comprehensive answers after rejecting exoteric Christianity. As I understand it now, ( Li says this changes as you raise your spiritual level) we enter a new life w/ little or a lot of gong, the only energy that we take w/ us at death & goes w/ us at birth. Actually, he also talks about quintessential chi, but gong is the “big daddy” converted from the virtue or white substance we collect during the previous lifetime by benevolent beings. This gong helps by creating advantages in the new life like high-paying jobs & social advancement; some will call it “luck.” So, Li’s aim as a teacher is to get people to strictly cultivate themselves until they attain enlightenment, at which point they have paid their karmic debts & are free to choose how to exist. In the process of reaching enlightenment, their bodies have become immortal, having had all fleshy matter converted to high energy, indestructible matter. Are you ever free from what the Almighty wants you to do? I think you probably continue to evolve to the point at which you & the Great Love are indistinguishable.
So, back to Li & other teachers that make this claim as well. If you are serious about cultivation & winning your freedom, then he will keep you alive until you reach it. Sound like so much malarkey? I honestly think Li does not lie b/c, if he does, his level falls & he loses everything he has gained. So far, I’ve found him to meet all his promises w/o fail. But that nagging question remains: why the horrendous struggle? Since Li has never named reasons & since he won’t tell you something he is not certain of, he remains silent. Perhaps that is the last reward when we merge w/ the Godhead. Then we’ll know…
This journey has now taken us from the premise of a heaven to a perpetual rebirth, heaven, and back again ad infinitum. Such an existence is frightening because the implication is that heaven and hell is right here on earth. This is not comforting and totally contrary to Christian principals which does acknowledge a one time rebirth to another dimension or heaven, but not multiple rebirths. I’m a little stunned where this 33 day adventure has gone.
I think this is only ine particular direction it could have gone. For me, I will hear it out and experience what I can, buat do not think it exp’ains all the suffering of innocents here on earth. This question still remains.
Dear John,
Please read my reply to Mark. I think you just need to learn some more detail about what rebirth entails. Please ask plenty of questions! The implications of reincarnation & its reality can be staggering.
I have been regressed twice. The first time, I was in the Thirty Years War in Germany, as a soldier, SO vivid, but later I saw a film on DVD with the same scenes called “The Last Valley,” so attributed my regression to memory of seeing the film earlier in a theater. A second time was more profound and I was passing through galaxies. Other times have occurred in fleeting spontaneous moments, images so real I lost awareness of my current identity, but only for a few seconds. There have been many out-of-body experiences, in which I felt transported to other realms. Most of my experiences strike me as being clear expressions of how vast the universe is and how my job is to allow it to unfold. I have resisted this, feeling I can do things alone. Now, I am aware not only that I am never alone, but everything I do exists in a multidimensional reality. When I stop remembering this truth, I find myself in stasis. That is the sign I am meant to address whatever is stopping me, and change it. I have the sense from these things that the universe is experiencing itself through me (us), and I (we) need to be aware of this. It is awesome.
Are you saying that you are experiencing astral projection? I’ve never experienced it, but it sounds fascinating.
I’ve read many many NDE’s in serveral books and was always very curious, if I can discover any signs about other lifes. I can remember only two cases beside hundreds of others. It seems to be not very important for the people to look onto more than one life in the life review. Maybe we have enough to do with this ongoing life so I’m not sure if it’s good to force the remembering of past lifes too much. And – well I came across several woman who were convinced that they were Marie-Antoinette. So I believe only children. For us it is difficult to distiguish. My brain is not out of order because of meningitis and my phantasie is working a lot.
The opportunity arose, and I asked a young lady (possibly 16 years old) as a little girl do you remember any of your past lives and do you believe in reincarnation. She replied yes but not as a little girl. Her heart had stopped beating when she was 7, 9, and this year for a minute and x amount of seconds (technically died 3x’s). She described that she is an old soul and that her Mother in this life is a newer soul. She also said that several reincarnations came be from one soul; kind of like how mushrooms grow. She basically said from her perception that when she died, she saw the souls living among us in another dimension. That they are all one… also stated that there wasn’t a Heaven and hell the way we perceive it. Interesting encounter to say the least… I asked her to please write down her NDE experience and her memory about her past lives.
Another synchronicity moment… my wife Tina sent me a birthday quote from Louisa May Alcott
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship”
Love this quote, Michael!
I met a holy man years back named Swami Nadabrahmananda (Swamiji) disciple of Swami Sivananda. Swamiji had told me about my past lives (monk, concert pianist, etc…). I have no recollection of any of my past lives… He told me that what I already did (past actions) are already written in the book of time. Do good and get back good, do bad and get back bad (karma)…. we reincarnate to learn life’s lessons and when we finish learning the lessons we free ourselves from the cycle of birth and death. Basically Swamiji was telling me of the importance of choosing a spiritual life so I can make progress towards the goal of liberation.
I think of the Four Noble Truths path and how Buddha addresses suffering and the cessation if suffering.
In the past, I have had the privilege of working with children with terminal illnessses providing music therapy treatment. Each one gave me a gift of love beyond this world. Certainly those precious children weren’t in those life threatening situations because of karma. With today’s lesson it opens me up to the possibility that a person can choose a hardship and come into this world to help, open up, and serve others.
Is it possible that God choose this with a divine incarnation Jesus for that same higher purpose?
I definitely don’t have “the answers” but Swamiji shared another story. He said we are living in Kali Yuga (4th age: the age of hypocrisy and quarrel) and after this we will go to the 1st age (the age of great harmony). Swamiji shared that we have been through this grand cycle 3 or 4 times), but when we go from 4 to 1, humanity will never go around the cycle again. I asked what do you mean, and he said the We Will Go into a permanent Golden Age of Peace.
I want to hold onto the possibility of all of our collective lessons will ultimately lead to permanent peace.
Hi, Michael
I certainly hope Swamiji is correct! I seem to recall that Robert A. Monroe, during one of his OBEs, saw a time in Earth’s future which can be described as idyllic & peaceful. Li Hongzhi says Earth has only 3 periods, First Havoc, Middle Havoc, & Last Havoc, which cycle endlessly. We are in the Last Havoc now. However, I’d like to believe that, except for the Great Spirit, everything evolves & Earth will leave its status as a place to forge the swords of the Infinite behind & enter that Golden Age. Absolutely, there must be plenty of other planets where souls may incarnate until they perfect themselves.
Doug: you have asked a really fundamental question .. i agree that there is just too much pain here on earth… I’ve travelled a lot and in a relatively short time I’ve noticed that people everywhere seem to have become more aggressive with each other, more predatory, in every sense, whether local or a visitor. Self-respect has been dropped in favour of defensiveness, passive aggressiveness & similar methods to achieve self-preservation or survival. Even though more of us can visit other parts of the world, this privileged experience hasn’t generated much spiritual love or understanding for the common experience of humanity, rather it has generated a greater determination to find material ways to exploit a market that has expanded way beyond any person’s wildest dreams but at the cost of humanitarianism & kindness to one another. That has been seen to be a great weakness. The better part of our natures can only dominate, once we’ve reached a certain level of comfort and until we do, it seems to be a fight more reminiscent of life in a very large ghetto. Every philanthropist generally has only become conscientized, after accumulating wealth, but today even vast wealth doesn’t seem to be inspiring philanthropy in enough of them. Faded moral consciousness is also bringing more souls to earth irresponsibly – in a way that is creating the burden of dependancy & the potential for enslavement. You are right to imagine that this is getting way too big for us to deal with other than with the help of a benign super power on a spiritual level.
I want to thank Roland for expressing this so well. I have no problem with Reincarnation and accept the concept as it is, warts and all. I’ve also read about it and I can see it’s utility. We need to know how it feels to have the consciousness of lives we may have not yet experienced so that we can evaluate the pain that we may be complicit in creating. We know what lessons we have to learn before making this life time trip. I have come to respect and feel gratitude for the lessons I have learned, even though some have been extremely painful. I then move on to the next lesson. I have also been rewarded with Grace in between. If I have another lesson I hope I will continue to accept it so I may understand it, as compassion, when I see it in a future life.
I would be grateful to have read about how you learned a lesson, perhaps just one, to illustrate what you mean. I need to know how to interpret painful experiences because at present, I can’t see the lesson in one or two of my painful experiences.
I remember being a child and understanding that THIS is my place in the world, that I’ve chosen it. In age it slowly changed, because of fear I forgot many things, especially love. Children don’t see negative things about their present situation, they accept it as it is and love their families. I think the main reason we don’t remember past lives, it’s because it would be hard to deal with more history than we have in current life.
Yes absolutely. It’s also quite difficult to see the lesson in a particular occurance. I also believe that we can learn from others’ mistakes if we are living with greater awareness or if we think about the way events unfolded as they did, especially today when stories in tge media reach us from around thexworld, let alone from within the rekative confines of our own families. A family is a good context in which to learn about ourselves & others through observation or discussion – if we can get past all the negative feelings, judgements & resentments. It also depends on our capacity for compassion towards one another, & understanding of why we behave as we do. Sometimes I think we are mostly stumbling around in the dark.
After reading Eben’s first two books which I thouroughly enjoyed, I still wonder why more people don’t ask him about his beliefs in reincarnation after the NDE. On the one hand we go to Heaven to be closer to our loved ones and God. On the other hand we go back to Earth to be closer to pain and suffering (just being honest, I am still a glass-half-full person). So how can you have heaven and reincarnation? I realize the concept of heaven being a happy place between lives, but am I the only one who wishes there was more happy time in between and less time on earth?
Hi Craiger – I’m with you. I’ve asked Dr. Alexander about this myself, and received a reply from his assistant that didn’t really address my issues. My feeling at this point is that although I’ve become quite interested in accounts of between life existence, something about all of this just doesn’t sit well with me, because there’s just far too much pain and suffering on Earth for me to be able to accept the soul school idea. There’s something fundamentally wrong with freely supporting a system that generates so much pain. Now, it could be that we are under a compulsion of some kind to keep returning. That I could buy. But Dr. Alexander states that there are no real evil forces at work here. The best metaphysical idea I’ve come across is that of the Gnostics (when properly understood), which suggests that the formation of our solar system happened in an unorthodox way that resulted in the generation of a great number of non-organic “archons” that now have some measure of control over humanity and promote the more unpleasant sides of human thought and behavior. The chief archon, in ignorance of his origin, became the self-proclaimed “creator god,” and in some way made things here as they are now. How far this control might extend into spiritual (“between lives”) existence is less explicit, but would seem to exist there also. I’m hoping for more clarity on how to work with this and be able to detach from the cycle of endless “samsara,” and this inning isn’t over for me yet. The teachings and presence of Adyashanti have had a significant impact on my life, but I don’t think he speaks of any “evil” influences either. His approach just doesn’t seem to include that type of thing.
…And maybe that’s the point – that the way out is through, as they say, and that there’s nothing really to be gained from having a focus on the controllers. And again, by the same sentiment, it seems to me that the approach of “Earth as soul school” is essentially ego-based, is actually the other side of the coin of “evil,” and covertly feeds into the control mechanism that is generating misery here. To everyone – please understand that I’m just asking the question. This is the elephant in the room that no one seems to be paying attention to. I hope some of you can understand the question I’m asking, because I know it’s not easy to see it.
Very interested perspective here. Would love other people’s feedback too, so far you are one of the few asking questions. Thank you for doing so!
Hi, Craiger
Doug’s story about archons is a new one to me. I read an Edgar Cayce explanation of how humanity came to be. He said we were once all extremely ethereal spirits that could surround the entire earth if we wished. We were drawn to plants & animals, how they enjoyed their senses through eating, sex, & so on. So many, b/c we were so ethereal, passed into animal bodies & sampled their sensory sensations & many enjoyed this so much that they stayed longer & longer until they forgot who & what they really were. This readily explains many spiritual traditions of people rediscovering who & what they really are…
….& the story continues. The spirits trapped in dense bodies incurred a host of problems: they couldn’t just slip away like they used to when the painful times of a physical body occurred. Childbirth, injuries, illness, & death became excruciating realities. Another fascinating part of this tale is the birth of abominations, i.e., hybrid offspring of animal\spirit combinations. This is the stuff of myth & legend, the minotaurs, centaurs, winged & beaked people, humans w/ tails, claws, & furry bodies. Maybe this was the point that the archons came in b/c there were two camps that struggled w/ what to do about the abominations. One, called the Sons of the Law of One, wanted to free the hybrids of their bondage by removing the tails & other reminders of their “sin” & formed temples where these interventions were performed. The other, called Sons of Belial, wanted to enslave the creatures & use them like animals. Eventually, there was outright warfare between the two persuasions & the Sons of Belial won. The extermination of the abominations became common & humankind descended into Darkness.
I like this version of our beginnings b/c there is a definite sense of responsibility; foolish spirits paid for their indulgence dearly & some are still working their way back to their origins. A creepy assessment might involve seeing deformities in people today, such as being born w/ a tail & very hairy, as throwback reminders of our vastly ancient past.
Try reading the book by Natalie Sudman of her experience of NDE, where she describes precisely what it was like to ‘design’ what injuries she would wake up with after being injured by an IED in Iraq. Our perspective from the other side is so different, and what we see here as suffering is seen in another light altogether from there. I’ve read many books on NDEs, hers is one of the best for this perspective.
It’s my belief that we are returning to earth simply because with a body (read; our senses of smell, sight, hearing, taste and feeling) we can experience life faster then without the body. The learning through experience (senses) is far greater then learning through belief (mind).
I like to use the example of the wonderful taste of wine for instance. Explaining (words) all the truly fantastic flavours and feelings etc when drinking a good glass of wine means very little to those who never drink wine, until they drink the wine themselves (senses). You can fill in different words for wine but it all stays the same. It is about experience not words/beliefs that can make us truly become more aware of the beauty of our existence.
To speed up the awareness of my developing consciousness and while this is happening, slowly becoming aware that it is all about love, love for yourself and love for all that is.
That is why I belief I am here on earth, again and again 🙂
It depends on whether we really are with our loved ones in heaven. If we do reincarnate, we must surely & of necessity, live a completely new & different life, we have to play a new role to learn new lessons, the souls in our soul group become unrecogniseable from one life to the next as they, too, have to evolve through new lessons & new roles. So there is no point in having a longer “between time”. Once I realised this, that we have to release our expectation of ever seeing ‘loved ones’ again because souls need to evolve and are all at different stages, I’ve become much more interested in how we can accelerate the learning process in one life-time. In my opinion, the conditions created on earth are harsh & seem to be getting harsher. Look beyond comfortable suburbia in industrialised nations to the kind of lives people are leading in countries not governed democratically, where poverty, corruption & subjugation thrive instead. Even in industrialized, wealthier nations, it’s not difficult to find hardship & supreme forms of struggle. I can’t believe a homeless person or an oppressed villager in Africa can find much solace in the realization that they have ‘a life’s lesson, a spiritual lesson’ to learn & if they do, they are more likely to ask “why?” & find a corrupt political establishment behind their predicament than any personal contribution because of their spiritual or psychological weakness. I also can’t understand that we are not really meant to question the wisdom of the Higher Power, in the creation of this difficult dimension we call earth where on the one hand there is evidence of much good being achieved but seemingly outweighed by evidence of greater evil. So much depends on luck, & I’m having great difficulty with that fact. I seem to be spending a lot of time weeping in gratitude for my relatively easy lot in life & in great fear for the next life cycle.
Growing up as a Christian within a very fundamentalist families’ belief system, could never answer questions I had at a young age. Answers about out of body experiences and travelling in worlds which seemed as real as this one, were dismissed as, “It was only a dream”, or if it was a nightmare, being told, “It was only a dream and it will get better”, or “Some things we just have to accept on faith”.
To my mind thinking that if we lived a good life, for however many years, we would go to Heaven and sing with the Angels for all eternity, never quite sat right in my own heart.
There was that first frightening flush of all the things you could think of that you didn’t want to come back as, but when the dross of misunderstanding clears you realise it’s not you, the transient personality with its physical body, that has anything to do with the decision. It’s a matter of vehicle expressions in a physical form for the Soul.
Over half the world’s population believes and accepts Reincarnation, a truism always accepted in the East and has been filtering into our western materialistic consciousness. It’s people like Eben Alexander and Anita Moorjani, and many others, who have had direct experiences of higher worlds that are helping to change the climate of thinking.
The reference you referred to in Day 23 of ‘Soul Survivor’ by Bruce and Andrea Leininger is an irrefutable western example experienced by their son James.
Everything so far but past lives and reincarnation in this most valuable and wonderful course meets with my understanding. Reincarnation is addressed in the Writings of Baha’u’llah, the newest Manifestation of God for today. In the book Some Answered Questions, Chapter 81, the concept of reincarnation is not accepted as a truth. It is, of course, a concept to be explored by seekers of truth upon the principle of independent investigation of truth. With love.
Hi Barbra, I am going to look up the sources you reference. I agree with your take on everything but the past lives and reincarnation meeting with my understanding also. I still don’t completely resonate with the currently stated explanations of learning lessons and reincarnation. Something about it feels “off” to me. It is as if we are trying to make life’s pain and suffering fit into a human explanation of which we included reincarnation, but it just doesn’t quire ring true with me. Also, living here in the USA having the time and resources to “contemplate” all this is one thing, experiencing constant deprivation as in other parts of the world is another aspect, to my mind, completely.
Karen
I’m happy to continue discussion with you via FB or email. 🙂
So true Barbara!
It’s one thing to have the time because of material advantages to contemplate “lofty thoughts”, but quite another matter when your very survival depends on finding ways to cope without potable water or a range of options with which to guarantee a roof over one’s head. This is my problem with all esoteric writing… complex ideas about the spiritual dimension to life written in complex language and often in supercilious tones for very well educated elites or to show off a certain level of education & intellect. Hardly helpful.
Yes, Baha’u’llah says we continue to progress “throughout all the worlds of God,” but do not repeat the physical experience on this earth. Isn’t it possible that “past-life” memories are actually a replay of someone else’s memories that we tap into somehow? Apparently, as we receive a “Life Review,” our memories or stream of consciousness must be recorded somehow. (Just like when your parents pull out those old videos!) For those people who have birthmarks and so on, I wonder if their past-life memories could actually be those of their ancestors, perhaps transmitted through DNA? As for recognizing each other in the world to come, “The mysteries of which man is heedless in this earthly world, these will he discover in the heavenly world, and there will he be informed of the secret of truth; how much more will he recognize or discover persons with whom he hath been associated.”
Hi, Carmen
Someone w/ a great imagination has certainly been at work on alternate explanations for rebirth! Besides the tremendous amount of verification of the phenomenon, rebirth, to me, has the advantage of Occam’s razor (when presented w/ competing hypotheses that make the same predictions, one should select the solution that makes the fewest assumptions). For instance, how could you possibly verify that birthmarks came from an ancestor’s DNA? I like to be open-minded, but the sheer complexity of supplying solid explanations based on an idea like one Earthly incarnation is beyond staggering. Perhaps Debra Diamond is a Baha’u’llah follower? In an interview on Skeptico, she rejected reincarnation as a religious conception only, but didn’t supply an alternative. I often get the feeling that people w/ so many advantages & gifts like Debra are revolted by the idea of rebirth b/c it offers the possibility that next time around they might not have such an inordinate slice of the talents, privileges, & opportunities.
Thank you for explaining the importance of understanding this truth.Our life experiences make sense. A teacher David Hawkins once expressed it this way referring to soul and reincarnation. “We are the book (soul) with many chapters”….paraphrasing Thank you Eben as a scientist and teacher for bringing this series to our consciousness.
I think that acceptance of the principle of reincarnation is almost like a sigh of relief, a case – “Aah, that’s what it is all about” We all act as catalysts for each other. That includes, not only family and close friends, it stretches and bounces until our thoughts and intent affects someone across the planet. That is a responsibility, isn’t it?! Then of course, what about meeting a stranger, who you may feel you know, that someone may give you that special look, goose bump stuff. A comment, too, from the girl in the supermarket causes a change of intent. Mother spider syndrome, shakes the web and we all move along another strand. How do we know that even warfare, murder, chronic illness is not part of the play. I think I have said before, we are the actor’s and observers in the theatre of physical existence. What about the theory of Jesus and Judas coming to an agreement ? Simple complication! Lots of love as usual. Margaret
We need to make the distinction between reincarnation and rebirth. From a deep spiritual point of view life is a never ending process beyond the duality and polarity of birth and death. Life is eternal without beginning and end. Every moment we are reborn. We undergo a permanent change, our innermost essence remains immortal. After-Life is a wrong terminology. We need to correct our concept of life. The visible existence is the smallest part of our eternal life.
Roland R. Ropers
Spiritual Language Research
Wisdom Teacher
wonderfully expressed.
Roland..well put ..have from age 8 ..a deep realization.. my mother left this world.. father had put us up for adoption.. foster parents wanted to adopt bro sis not moi ..i knew ..had this understanding so clear .. the bigger picture became my reality.. i did not feel sorry for myself.. nodda ..only a clarity of … no one can be dependent on those whom brought us into this world … hence became aware that many young one ..souls are left with out parents.. orphans i was so not the only one.. one of my major life understandings ..indeed this physical reality is a fire to be sure.. always the bigger picture is also there ..this too is temp..i am feeling a deep sense of soul sharing these daily reminders of the enormous role we all play ..so much love an light radiating…my wee self can feel more then filled …
Thank you so much for daily lessons. They all make me feel so much closer to my creator. I so much appreciate all the love so freely given you both share with us. I have heard both of you speak several times and thank you for your unconditional love. I am looking forward to your new book 💖
Day 24. REINCARNATION .
This version of reincarnation is similar YET vastly different from that in Taoism & Buddhism . How we are borne in our next lives is determined by how we live THIS one.
Being Chinese there is a cross over between culture & religion too, we Chinese just like to make life more difficult than it is . As a child I was told many “lies” to keep me in tow – The fear of God was instilled in us . Reincarnation is a ” WASHING processs” ………The more refined our souls are , the better our lives are .
lIt’s like being in a WASHING machine cycle. is how I view it .