Emproph
02-24-2006, 12:25 PM
{Another essay, I know, I'm sorry :o }
It is my understanding that the belief in reincarnation and karma would singlehandedly wipe out virtually all anti-gay prejudice. If there’s life BEFORE birth there can be gender before birth. Being gay would be no more than being born in a body opposite one’s gender. A gay man would be heterosexual woman born as a male, a lesbian would be a heterosexual man born as a female. I believe this is now called transgendered.
It would also effectively address several other social issues, not the least of which is the fear of death and the injustice of life. It would help to abolish the erroneous need for ‘come uppance,’ also based on the ‘scarcity’ of the “one life to live” principle. NOT to say life would be treated cavalierly, in fact it’s the idea of karma that, at least for me, helps to insure a more concerted sense of responsibility regarding my thoughts and behavior regarding others.
Many in the “I’m right and everyone else is wrong” ‘Christian’ circles conclude that idea of reincarnation would lead to the condoning of suicide and sloth (If I don’t like this life I can always have another), and the justice of karma would lead to an attitude of “they deserve whatever harm I cause them,” as opposed to the deterrence of knowing WHAT you do unto others WILL be done unto you.
What could be more just than that? The consequences of one's actions are always the experience of the circumsances they create. Eternal punishment for temporal sins strikes me as particularly evil.
Understanding the consequences of suicide would be even more of a deterrence. One of which is the very practical notion that they would by privy to the horror family members and friends went through. I recently read that at least six people are DIRECTLY affected by every person's suicide. It would also be understood that the situation in life that lead to the decision to commit suicide would have to be repeated as those circumstances would have been carefully planned for the purpose of learning specific lessons. Most notably I think is the idea that the ideas, hopes, inspirations we share move well beyond those we share them with, a version of “the gift that keeps on giving.” Making the consequences of breaking that chain much more far reaching than those we can presently consider.
The positive implications resulting from the disillusionment of the ONLY ‘one life to live’ philosophy are staggering. The focus would be on quality of life not quantity. The birth of the soul would no longer be equated with physical conception. The death of stem cells would not be considered to be ‘that one soul’s’ only crack at life. Euthanasia would be seen as freeing one to spiritual life as opposed to cutting short an already “short” life. Heck, stem cell research might eliminate many of the causes associated with senility and degenerative diseases, eliminating the NEED for euthanasia.
The same principle applies to abortion. Birth control would not be seen as eliminating the possibility of life. The implementation of the understanding that each life is carefully planned would help deter unwanted pregancies. Abortion would eventually no longer be necessary. Preventing death wouldn’t be the motive, insuring the best opportunity for life would be.
False memory syndrome would be understood as “recovered” memories of past life abuse. It is the disbelief in reincarnation the confines the explanation of those memories as having must occurred in this life. Think about it, this phenomenon normally if not always happens in hypnotherapy. They’re in therapy to begin with because of problems/unresolved issues etc., under hypnosis the reason for those problems surface, (and hypnosis is, as far as I’m aware, is the most popular way to recover memories of past lives puposefully). Not understanding these as past life memories leads to the complicating assumption that those abuses must have been “repressed” from childhood and denies them the reason as to why their abusers are now their parents, namely for the purpose of resolving those negative hateful memories of and with them with positive loving ones, forgiveness. In fact that’s precisely the reason we don’t remember our past lives, we’d never be able to forgive others or ourselves for past wrongs. Even if that were not the case, take a look at traumatic wreckage of human history, how functional would you be with full conscious awareness of your experience of it?
-A full account of my own story would be akin to a legal brief, so I’ll try to be...oh who am I kidding?
~The day I was "born again"~
I’ve not been the happy camper and yet have known it was my “karma.” The one thing I always implored of God was “If I can’t have what I want, at least tell me why.” In the midst of my desperation and after much consternation (understatement), I learned how to hypnotize myself to find out and after several dozen successes, to no avail. In the absence of decision making skills I trained myself to go from waking to sleep without ever losing consciousness! I had spectacular lucid dreams but not so much as an iota of further clarity of even known childhood memories let alone past lives. I tried, I succeeded, I failed, I was devastated, again.
A few years later something really bad happened. I prayed to God to die every day for two months, knowing full well my hell was for purpose, slowly I began to recover. Then, out of “nowhere,” I had a spontaneous revelation of the past life/lives circumstances that were responsible for my situation. Like an epiphany I knew things would never be the same, yet still had that tinge of doubt that maybe the profundity would wear off, (to this day it hasn’t). My second thought was NO WONDER WE DON’T REMEMBER. That’s the first thing I couldn’t have known, there were so many things I was never taught or had even fathomed about the pain and fear of human history that became reality for me so quickly and I must also say, so unwillingly. I have never in this life even conceived of the magnitude of fear and pain possible that I witnessed.
The most striking factor and the reason for this post and what they don’t tell you (at least not in the books I read), is that in all my lives I was either a gay male or a heterosexual woman. Point being, even if it was a “delusion,” it wasn’t caused by prior beliefs about reincarnation or classroom history for that matter. Much of it matches VERBATIM the accounts of false memory syndrome, the only difference was I knew what was happening.
The only qualified refutation beyond “Because the Bible doesn’t say so” is from Betty J Eadie’s “Embraced by the Light.” www.embracedbythelight.com (http://www.embracedbythelight.com) She had a near death experience where she was met by Jesus and he was only too happy to show her the answers to her every question about the human experience. I agreed with every part of the book except her explanation for reincarnation being genetic memory. It's presented as an explanation not an outright refutation, I don't reject it necessarily, I just don’t see it that way.
I mention this for two reasons. First I am willing to keep an open mind, even about that which I feel as certain of as my own memory of what occurred yesterday. Secondly, even if they are nothing more than “genetic memory,” the positive and liberating effect of them remain the same, which brings me to my point.
{In the words of Sinead O’connor “Fight the REAL enemy.”}
If public discourse of social issues was free from the arbitrary constriction of ideas, solutions could and would be discussed much more rationally, that alone would lead to, as of yet, unthought of solutions. Arbitrary thought censorship appears, at least to me, to be the enemy.
{Intelligence is the ability to recognize the order of importance, I suggest that first on that list should be the recognition of this.}
Whether it’s true or not is irrelevant. We all know the meaning of Pain, Fear and Love, and that the Golden Rule to “do unto others as you would have done unto you” is the best insurance that the motives of our actions remain in the best interest of all concerned. The real issue is the indiscriminate dismissal of information. If whole religions are based on the idea of reincarnation, why and how are so many people deluded? The approach as to how to decide what is truth should be the first decision.
For me at least, the understanding has meant the difference between knowing the truth of Only Love Always and knowing how to better apply that truth in my life. The message is that the goal is to find the BEST WAY to express this truth. I offer that the abolition of self censorship of thought is the best way to find the best way. The Biblical story of Jesus I feel best exemplifies that. Arbitrary adherence to that the way in which information is received would seem to go against that. If after careful consideration, Biblical inerrancy is the best way you’ve found to do so, so be it. I’m asking that you be certain as to how and why you feel certain about it.
Even after a lifetime of seeking answers, the potential for confusion seems to be the one constant I can be certain of. Yet it is the acceptance of this understanding that has been my greatest asset to the undoing of fear. To recognize confusion is to face fear.
Has anyone else had personal experience with this? I’ve heard enough testimony, snippets here and there from friends who feel they have some aspect of discernable past life memory (sometimes outright memory). And I have the suspicion that a significant portion of the population would not only be willing to accept this idea at this point, but may be just waiting for an example of conviction to pursue the thought further, am I wrong about that?
I just feel like it’s “too taboo” to talk about, yet I can no longer protect those who would abuse the Bible for the sake of confining truth for personal illusion of certainty.
I think it’s time for those of us who remember to “come out of the closet.”
My question is this: Beyond the fear of hell, pride of being right to the exclusion of everyone else, and/or the intoxicating notion of certainty resulting from Biblical inerrancy, or for you free range Christians (me included): Besides the aversion to these concepts because of the very practical notion that if something THIS big WERE true, it would surely be common knowledge, are there any other reasons that might deter one from accepting this as a viable understanding?
It is my understanding that the belief in reincarnation and karma would singlehandedly wipe out virtually all anti-gay prejudice. If there’s life BEFORE birth there can be gender before birth. Being gay would be no more than being born in a body opposite one’s gender. A gay man would be heterosexual woman born as a male, a lesbian would be a heterosexual man born as a female. I believe this is now called transgendered.
It would also effectively address several other social issues, not the least of which is the fear of death and the injustice of life. It would help to abolish the erroneous need for ‘come uppance,’ also based on the ‘scarcity’ of the “one life to live” principle. NOT to say life would be treated cavalierly, in fact it’s the idea of karma that, at least for me, helps to insure a more concerted sense of responsibility regarding my thoughts and behavior regarding others.
Many in the “I’m right and everyone else is wrong” ‘Christian’ circles conclude that idea of reincarnation would lead to the condoning of suicide and sloth (If I don’t like this life I can always have another), and the justice of karma would lead to an attitude of “they deserve whatever harm I cause them,” as opposed to the deterrence of knowing WHAT you do unto others WILL be done unto you.
What could be more just than that? The consequences of one's actions are always the experience of the circumsances they create. Eternal punishment for temporal sins strikes me as particularly evil.
Understanding the consequences of suicide would be even more of a deterrence. One of which is the very practical notion that they would by privy to the horror family members and friends went through. I recently read that at least six people are DIRECTLY affected by every person's suicide. It would also be understood that the situation in life that lead to the decision to commit suicide would have to be repeated as those circumstances would have been carefully planned for the purpose of learning specific lessons. Most notably I think is the idea that the ideas, hopes, inspirations we share move well beyond those we share them with, a version of “the gift that keeps on giving.” Making the consequences of breaking that chain much more far reaching than those we can presently consider.
The positive implications resulting from the disillusionment of the ONLY ‘one life to live’ philosophy are staggering. The focus would be on quality of life not quantity. The birth of the soul would no longer be equated with physical conception. The death of stem cells would not be considered to be ‘that one soul’s’ only crack at life. Euthanasia would be seen as freeing one to spiritual life as opposed to cutting short an already “short” life. Heck, stem cell research might eliminate many of the causes associated with senility and degenerative diseases, eliminating the NEED for euthanasia.
The same principle applies to abortion. Birth control would not be seen as eliminating the possibility of life. The implementation of the understanding that each life is carefully planned would help deter unwanted pregancies. Abortion would eventually no longer be necessary. Preventing death wouldn’t be the motive, insuring the best opportunity for life would be.
False memory syndrome would be understood as “recovered” memories of past life abuse. It is the disbelief in reincarnation the confines the explanation of those memories as having must occurred in this life. Think about it, this phenomenon normally if not always happens in hypnotherapy. They’re in therapy to begin with because of problems/unresolved issues etc., under hypnosis the reason for those problems surface, (and hypnosis is, as far as I’m aware, is the most popular way to recover memories of past lives puposefully). Not understanding these as past life memories leads to the complicating assumption that those abuses must have been “repressed” from childhood and denies them the reason as to why their abusers are now their parents, namely for the purpose of resolving those negative hateful memories of and with them with positive loving ones, forgiveness. In fact that’s precisely the reason we don’t remember our past lives, we’d never be able to forgive others or ourselves for past wrongs. Even if that were not the case, take a look at traumatic wreckage of human history, how functional would you be with full conscious awareness of your experience of it?
-A full account of my own story would be akin to a legal brief, so I’ll try to be...oh who am I kidding?
~The day I was "born again"~
I’ve not been the happy camper and yet have known it was my “karma.” The one thing I always implored of God was “If I can’t have what I want, at least tell me why.” In the midst of my desperation and after much consternation (understatement), I learned how to hypnotize myself to find out and after several dozen successes, to no avail. In the absence of decision making skills I trained myself to go from waking to sleep without ever losing consciousness! I had spectacular lucid dreams but not so much as an iota of further clarity of even known childhood memories let alone past lives. I tried, I succeeded, I failed, I was devastated, again.
A few years later something really bad happened. I prayed to God to die every day for two months, knowing full well my hell was for purpose, slowly I began to recover. Then, out of “nowhere,” I had a spontaneous revelation of the past life/lives circumstances that were responsible for my situation. Like an epiphany I knew things would never be the same, yet still had that tinge of doubt that maybe the profundity would wear off, (to this day it hasn’t). My second thought was NO WONDER WE DON’T REMEMBER. That’s the first thing I couldn’t have known, there were so many things I was never taught or had even fathomed about the pain and fear of human history that became reality for me so quickly and I must also say, so unwillingly. I have never in this life even conceived of the magnitude of fear and pain possible that I witnessed.
The most striking factor and the reason for this post and what they don’t tell you (at least not in the books I read), is that in all my lives I was either a gay male or a heterosexual woman. Point being, even if it was a “delusion,” it wasn’t caused by prior beliefs about reincarnation or classroom history for that matter. Much of it matches VERBATIM the accounts of false memory syndrome, the only difference was I knew what was happening.
The only qualified refutation beyond “Because the Bible doesn’t say so” is from Betty J Eadie’s “Embraced by the Light.” www.embracedbythelight.com (http://www.embracedbythelight.com) She had a near death experience where she was met by Jesus and he was only too happy to show her the answers to her every question about the human experience. I agreed with every part of the book except her explanation for reincarnation being genetic memory. It's presented as an explanation not an outright refutation, I don't reject it necessarily, I just don’t see it that way.
I mention this for two reasons. First I am willing to keep an open mind, even about that which I feel as certain of as my own memory of what occurred yesterday. Secondly, even if they are nothing more than “genetic memory,” the positive and liberating effect of them remain the same, which brings me to my point.
{In the words of Sinead O’connor “Fight the REAL enemy.”}
If public discourse of social issues was free from the arbitrary constriction of ideas, solutions could and would be discussed much more rationally, that alone would lead to, as of yet, unthought of solutions. Arbitrary thought censorship appears, at least to me, to be the enemy.
{Intelligence is the ability to recognize the order of importance, I suggest that first on that list should be the recognition of this.}
Whether it’s true or not is irrelevant. We all know the meaning of Pain, Fear and Love, and that the Golden Rule to “do unto others as you would have done unto you” is the best insurance that the motives of our actions remain in the best interest of all concerned. The real issue is the indiscriminate dismissal of information. If whole religions are based on the idea of reincarnation, why and how are so many people deluded? The approach as to how to decide what is truth should be the first decision.
For me at least, the understanding has meant the difference between knowing the truth of Only Love Always and knowing how to better apply that truth in my life. The message is that the goal is to find the BEST WAY to express this truth. I offer that the abolition of self censorship of thought is the best way to find the best way. The Biblical story of Jesus I feel best exemplifies that. Arbitrary adherence to that the way in which information is received would seem to go against that. If after careful consideration, Biblical inerrancy is the best way you’ve found to do so, so be it. I’m asking that you be certain as to how and why you feel certain about it.
Even after a lifetime of seeking answers, the potential for confusion seems to be the one constant I can be certain of. Yet it is the acceptance of this understanding that has been my greatest asset to the undoing of fear. To recognize confusion is to face fear.
Has anyone else had personal experience with this? I’ve heard enough testimony, snippets here and there from friends who feel they have some aspect of discernable past life memory (sometimes outright memory). And I have the suspicion that a significant portion of the population would not only be willing to accept this idea at this point, but may be just waiting for an example of conviction to pursue the thought further, am I wrong about that?
I just feel like it’s “too taboo” to talk about, yet I can no longer protect those who would abuse the Bible for the sake of confining truth for personal illusion of certainty.
I think it’s time for those of us who remember to “come out of the closet.”
My question is this: Beyond the fear of hell, pride of being right to the exclusion of everyone else, and/or the intoxicating notion of certainty resulting from Biblical inerrancy, or for you free range Christians (me included): Besides the aversion to these concepts because of the very practical notion that if something THIS big WERE true, it would surely be common knowledge, are there any other reasons that might deter one from accepting this as a viable understanding?