OK now...let's see... who am I this time?? hmmm....
Many of the Teachers tell us that THIS is the lifetime in which everyone we meet -- we have known in other lifetimes. Some people we will encounter physically or 'in person'. Some we meet through correspondence of sorts.. even in dreams.
To say that I 'believe in' reincarnation is a given. Most of you who will be reading this believe either as I do...or you are at least extremely curious and willing to consider it as a possibility.
It's a matter of record that the Catholic church abolished the doctrine of reincarnation (eliminated Biblical references, too) and nearly all Protestant churches followed suit. This served to separate us from our own godhood, our own Inner Power -- the fact that we are PART of 'God,' Spirit, All That Is... This was a political rather than a 'religious' move... because in doing this, (and adding other man-made rules) ... it made us easier to control.
It's a matter of record that the Catholic church abolished the doctrine of reincarnation (eliminated Biblical references, too) and nearly all Protestant churches followed suit. This served to separate us from our own godhood, our own Inner Power -- the fact that we are PART of 'God,' Spirit, All That Is... This was a political rather than a 'religious' move... because in doing this, (and adding other man-made rules) ... it made us easier to control.
Just sayin' ... not wanting to be confrontational, but wanting to say that there was a time (maybe numerous ones) when we all 'knew better' about Who We Really Are.
A lot has been written regarding 'proof' of incarnation, and that is all well and good. Perhaps the most interesting 'proof' is the way the Dalai Lama is chosen. You can Google or Bing that one... :) Now, about 'you and me.'
Coincident, synchronicity, dreams, strange events, odd remembrances, -- have all contributed to our inner knowing that reincarnation is simply the way of Life. We might have gone through a stage in which this topic was one we were afraid to talk about for fear of how 'others' would react... or we were afraid 'God would punish us for such heretical thinking' because it was not 'the truth' as described in man-made dogma.' Etc etc etc...
In my family, we know with certainty that we have played 'roles' --both with and for each other in past lives. I just roll my eyes (and think un-nice thoughts) of people who retort stupid things like "Oh you were Napoleon! Hahahahaha..." or some other famous icon in history. At some 'point in time' they will realize how unfathomably and overwhelmingly HUGE all of life is.
It's hard to think out of the Religious OR even the Scientific boxes sometimes... but we have to be willing to LET GO of preconceived notions in order to expand our consciousness. Both Rumi and Lao Tzu expressed this so well in saying that in order to learn, you must come forward with an empty cup...and be willing to forget what you have learned. We have to be open and willing to do this.
We have, at different times known this. Certain ones speak to us...call to us intuitively... those with whom we vibrate (was that too 60's..?? :) help us to remember. I just 'knew' that incarnation was simply the way it was. Period. . I was just born knowing this. But the dream (1974) that led me to Mile High Church in Denver...and coming upon the church's book sale area after the service was what solidified things for me. I found Seth Speaks and The Seth Material. It all fell into place. YOU know the feeling of which I speak. It's those wonderful AhHA moments.
Buddhism, Hinduism (and a few other Eastern philosophies) teach about reincarnation in different ways. Metaphysically minded people may yet have their own ideas...many of which are rooted in the Eastern mindset...but still vary quite a bit.
I like, most of all, what Seth says: In all your lifetimes... you have DONE IT ALL....and if we do away with the Linear Time concept we may even say we are still DOING it all... Many people are broadening their mental/spiritual horizons by entertaining the idea of NON-linear time... while at the same time knowing life is a lot easier while going along with Linear time because it helps keep our limited brains from a meltdown by trying to perceive Everything Happening At Once! :) That includes no Beginning and no End...but Life Eternal....Eternity in its fullest meaning.
Could you possibly accept the idea that you choose your lifetimes? That you, inbetween lives when you are 'dead to the world,' are eagerly and happily forming blueprints of sorts, all subject to change, and furthermore that you choose the OTHERS that are willing to play certain roles for you and you for them? Free will exists. (That includes choosing existences in which you have no free will.) Maybe that person you just cannot stand the sight of!-- can be one of your best buds on the nonphysical planes of existence. Seth says that it is most common for family members to reincarnate and play different roles...mother, father, child, and all types of 'relatives'. He also says there are entire villages, communities that may reincarnate a number of times. You are always Creating Your Own Reality (if you like to believe it or not! :) because you are this Divine Intelligence, "God", Spirit, All That Is, expressing itself and ever expanding.
Why in the literal physical World would ANYBODY actually CHOOSE to be born into certain miserable circumstances?? (This is the 'argument' that is used in considering both Creating Your Own Reality AND reincarnation)... Well, for one thing it actually IS their business, their choice, their knowing what they feel they would like to experience in order, perhaps, to understand certain perspectives better -- and herein is one of my OWN biggest 'lessons:'... Its all experience!...if you want to interpret certain lifetimes as 'punishment' than you are free to do so...but that is strictly a 'human brain decision' but not the way it is...It's challenging to get that Big Perspective in our human roles... This is why our Teachers tell us: We can't take it all too seriously, because when we 'planned' it... we saw it as adventure and experience. Abraham says we can't WAIT to come back each time because of the depth and richness of physical existence... (although, yeah I know...hard to believe that at times! :)
It's hard to think out of the Religious OR even the Scientific boxes sometimes... but we have to be willing to LET GO of preconceived notions in order to expand our consciousness. Both Rumi and Lao Tzu expressed this so well in saying that in order to learn, you must come forward with an empty cup...and be willing to forget what you have learned. We have to be open and willing to do this.
We have, at different times known this. Certain ones speak to us...call to us intuitively... those with whom we vibrate (was that too 60's..?? :) help us to remember. I just 'knew' that incarnation was simply the way it was. Period. . I was just born knowing this. But the dream (1974) that led me to Mile High Church in Denver...and coming upon the church's book sale area after the service was what solidified things for me. I found Seth Speaks and The Seth Material. It all fell into place. YOU know the feeling of which I speak. It's those wonderful AhHA moments.
Buddhism, Hinduism (and a few other Eastern philosophies) teach about reincarnation in different ways. Metaphysically minded people may yet have their own ideas...many of which are rooted in the Eastern mindset...but still vary quite a bit.
I like, most of all, what Seth says: In all your lifetimes... you have DONE IT ALL....and if we do away with the Linear Time concept we may even say we are still DOING it all... Many people are broadening their mental/spiritual horizons by entertaining the idea of NON-linear time... while at the same time knowing life is a lot easier while going along with Linear time because it helps keep our limited brains from a meltdown by trying to perceive Everything Happening At Once! :) That includes no Beginning and no End...but Life Eternal....Eternity in its fullest meaning.
Could you possibly accept the idea that you choose your lifetimes? That you, inbetween lives when you are 'dead to the world,' are eagerly and happily forming blueprints of sorts, all subject to change, and furthermore that you choose the OTHERS that are willing to play certain roles for you and you for them? Free will exists. (That includes choosing existences in which you have no free will.) Maybe that person you just cannot stand the sight of!-- can be one of your best buds on the nonphysical planes of existence. Seth says that it is most common for family members to reincarnate and play different roles...mother, father, child, and all types of 'relatives'. He also says there are entire villages, communities that may reincarnate a number of times. You are always Creating Your Own Reality (if you like to believe it or not! :) because you are this Divine Intelligence, "God", Spirit, All That Is, expressing itself and ever expanding.
Why in the literal physical World would ANYBODY actually CHOOSE to be born into certain miserable circumstances?? (This is the 'argument' that is used in considering both Creating Your Own Reality AND reincarnation)... Well, for one thing it actually IS their business, their choice, their knowing what they feel they would like to experience in order, perhaps, to understand certain perspectives better -- and herein is one of my OWN biggest 'lessons:'... Its all experience!...if you want to interpret certain lifetimes as 'punishment' than you are free to do so...but that is strictly a 'human brain decision' but not the way it is...It's challenging to get that Big Perspective in our human roles... This is why our Teachers tell us: We can't take it all too seriously, because when we 'planned' it... we saw it as adventure and experience. Abraham says we can't WAIT to come back each time because of the depth and richness of physical existence... (although, yeah I know...hard to believe that at times! :)
There are people who have been overjoyed and so relieved at the thought of there really NOT being a mean, judgemental god who stands ready to cast you into the eternal fires of hell ... (or give you the privilege of playing the harp and singing his praises for eternity...now THAT is what you call an EGO!) However. Some of these same people, however, love to say things like: "You just wait! He'll suffer for it!!"...or "KARMA will catch up with her and bite her right in the arse!" etc etc... usually saying it with the same enthusiasm as radical religionists who threaten others with eternal damnation. It seems to me, here, that the only difference is, mayhaps, in the semantics... (I can hear and understand the 'yeah but's'..:) Some insist on holding to the idea that this interpretation of Karma is somehow more evolved and superior. Hmmm...really?? nuh-uh...me thinketh not.
We don't know, and its not our 'business' to know why some choose to suffer in this lifetime... however, in some cases, we cannot truly say that certain groups of people are actually 'suffering...' just because they are not living up to our own lifestyles. Consider that people DO choose to actually endure pain and an obviously
horrible life... that no god or 'karma' imposed it on them. Without Contrast we could not 'see' the need for qualities such as understanding and compassion...or true appreciation. HERE, as humans, we teach ourselves, in different ways about the immutable Law of
Attraction... AND how we actually DO create our own Reality. It is forever expanding the Consciousness of All That Is...of which WE ALL are a part.
NO ONE is, however, a 'victim' ... even though it certainly has the detailed appearance of it. Eventually we have to learn that, even though it may make one angry to even entertain the notion --- we DO create it ALL.
This includes our creating (all agreed upon) really 'bad things' for others...as well as for ourselves. However, there does seem those who enjoy thinking of themselves as victims and then taking great pride in being a survivor... Some seemingly have no problem
in accepting that this loving father 'god' did this to them, or allowed it to happen, as
part of his 'mysterious ways' that they dare not question. Then they get to keep their 'I'm a victim" stance which usually gets a lot of sympathy. :)
The word "why" is one that we torture ourselves with, over and over again.
When we have had 'enough' and we are willing to examine all sorts of possibilities, then, often as we evolve in our understanding of 'how it all works'... we can, at times, begin to see how we attracted certain situations to us. And yes, there can be other times that we may NOT understand until we return to the non-physical -- where we are not limited by the limited human thinking.
What we resist...persists.
There is such a HUGE lesson in enlightenment contained in that phrase.
More and more I am able to understand why Buddhism teaches us that clinging and grasping are some of the greatest obstacles in expanding our consciousness...mainly by refusing to give up some of the old ideas/beliefs that have become so ingrained in us that they seem 'right and natural' to us. First, i'ts the 'blame game' closely followed
by believing it's noble to be the 'victim' which pays dividends to the Ego with the positive attention when
we claim to be the martyr or 'survivor'.... That's grasping. Clinging can come in the form of beliefthat "we" have a corner on the truth and that we must battle others and be 'against' it...Part of it from fear...the other part is that we get that secure feeling of camaraderie in knowing we are a 'member of the right group who is against this and that.' We delude ourselves into thinking we are 'better than' because we have more enightenment or intelligence to believe in what THAT group promotes. This is an easy trap to fall into. Until we learn to recognize this--the Greater Part of "YOU" might easily decide that you need to give it another go... and focus on a lifetime where we
are finally are 'willing' to see what is binding and limiting us.
_/|\_
Namaste'
End of Part One
We don't know, and its not our 'business' to know why some choose to suffer in this lifetime... however, in some cases, we cannot truly say that certain groups of people are actually 'suffering...' just because they are not living up to our own lifestyles. Consider that people DO choose to actually endure pain and an obviously
horrible life... that no god or 'karma' imposed it on them. Without Contrast we could not 'see' the need for qualities such as understanding and compassion...or true appreciation. HERE, as humans, we teach ourselves, in different ways about the immutable Law of
Attraction... AND how we actually DO create our own Reality. It is forever expanding the Consciousness of All That Is...of which WE ALL are a part.
NO ONE is, however, a 'victim' ... even though it certainly has the detailed appearance of it. Eventually we have to learn that, even though it may make one angry to even entertain the notion --- we DO create it ALL.
This includes our creating (all agreed upon) really 'bad things' for others...as well as for ourselves. However, there does seem those who enjoy thinking of themselves as victims and then taking great pride in being a survivor... Some seemingly have no problem
in accepting that this loving father 'god' did this to them, or allowed it to happen, as
part of his 'mysterious ways' that they dare not question. Then they get to keep their 'I'm a victim" stance which usually gets a lot of sympathy. :)
The word "why" is one that we torture ourselves with, over and over again.
When we have had 'enough' and we are willing to examine all sorts of possibilities, then, often as we evolve in our understanding of 'how it all works'... we can, at times, begin to see how we attracted certain situations to us. And yes, there can be other times that we may NOT understand until we return to the non-physical -- where we are not limited by the limited human thinking.
What we resist...persists.
There is such a HUGE lesson in enlightenment contained in that phrase.
More and more I am able to understand why Buddhism teaches us that clinging and grasping are some of the greatest obstacles in expanding our consciousness...mainly by refusing to give up some of the old ideas/beliefs that have become so ingrained in us that they seem 'right and natural' to us. First, i'ts the 'blame game' closely followed
by believing it's noble to be the 'victim' which pays dividends to the Ego with the positive attention when
we claim to be the martyr or 'survivor'.... That's grasping. Clinging can come in the form of beliefthat "we" have a corner on the truth and that we must battle others and be 'against' it...Part of it from fear...the other part is that we get that secure feeling of camaraderie in knowing we are a 'member of the right group who is against this and that.' We delude ourselves into thinking we are 'better than' because we have more enightenment or intelligence to believe in what THAT group promotes. This is an easy trap to fall into. Until we learn to recognize this--the Greater Part of "YOU" might easily decide that you need to give it another go... and focus on a lifetime where we
are finally are 'willing' to see what is binding and limiting us.
_/|\_
Namaste'
End of Part One
