Reincarnation, viable solution, destruction of pride, or both? I testify, you decide.

[Emproph]

{Another essay, I know, I'm sorry }

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 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?

[SolInvictus]

Keep in mind: I haven't read the entire article yet, but will reply more once I get the chance.

Reincarnation: I do believe it is possible. It is even cited in the Bible, which is, naturally, a subject of debate. Jesus says he knew John the Baptist before as Elijah. This suggests early Christians did believe in reincarnation & even found in such groups. Hinduism teaches the concept of samsara - life continues in an endless cycle of reincarnation in response to past karma or eventually reach union with Brahma (the Godhead). In Buddhism, samsara is redirected through the "middle way" or purifying bad karma through releasing from attachment & reach nirvana ("bliss") after reaching full enlightenment. In contrast, Jainism teaches absolute ascetism is necessary for purging of karma (i.e. monastic life).

Karma: To me, karma can be a reaction of an action in this and/or the next life. Like in physics, an equal and opposite reaction exists in response to an action. Thus, if someone offends you - they will be offended in the same way in the near future. However, like Jesus taught, we can only be emotional injured by others if we allow them to do it. By going the "extra mile," that power over us may be neutralized (at least from the view of the victim).

[RainbowL'elly]

i can't see why this couldn't possibly be true- i mean, i don't think that we are necessarily limited to this one existance or even this single plain of existance and i certainly believe that in an altered state of being (hypmotism, Divinely induced revelation, etc) that we could possibly discover past lives and past occurances that we experienced in other lives- enough people have claimed to have known things about past lives that i wouldnt doubt there's something we are missing. i dont fear hell, so that possiblity is out, though i do fear death and i am not ashamed to admit that. i've had to deal with enough people dying in my 22 years of life that it's no secret i don't like the idea. i do believe in karmic cycles and energy fields- i believe in auras, for cripes sake, i'm a little odd. i'll go with you on this- please, post more of your theories and discoveries- i would really like to hear them.

[Daniel]

Emporph- you've certainly opened pandora's box- and just in time for Christmas! Reading your post earlier this morning, I've been thinking about just how much I want to relate about my own experiences in this area, and taking courage from your own frankness of self-disclosure, will endeavor to do the same.

Two years before I met my husband (that would make it about 17 years ago- yikes!) I went to see a past-life regressionist. I was trying to get over an obsession with a guy I had been dating for two years- which I knew- after much thought and inner seeking- wasn't going to go anywhere. But why couldn't I simply let go? That bothered me. I felt stuck. Not only that, I wasn't happy in my professional life- and knew that there were things I wanted to do (and be), but I didn't know how to find my way forward.

It might seem strange to look into the past for answers to the present and future, but even if one discounts the possible reality of past life, the experience of past-life regression can be beneficial insofar as psychoanalysis purports to address the same: ever since the musings of Freud it has become de rigeuer to think of childhood experiences as causing adult problems- why not other lives?

So I entered into the experience with several questions and a good deal of curiosity. Since I had a meditation practice and knew what is meant by 'going deeply', I felt ready to explore, knowing full well that I might not experience anything at all.

I imagined myself- as instructed- as going down a road with tall trees on either side- faster and faster towards a light- going deeper and deeper- and then without much fuss found myself hovering over a green field in a different time and place. That was the beginning of the remembrance of three distinct lives as well the place/space 'in-between' them.

The lives I remembered:

1) Living in Ireland during the 19th century- being poor and having a daughter who drowned (pretty miserable in this one) after which I entered a convent.

2) Living in France during the 18th century and being killed at the age of 35 after the horse I was riding fell and crushed my legs (hetero and loving it in this one).

3) Living in Egypt (yes- this the woo-woo one ) where I served as a Priest and Healer (and yes- I was a flaming- though celibate- queer in this one).

What was interesting at the time (oh...one could have fun with this word) was the sense- if not knowledge -that people I knew in the past were present with me now, but not in the same roles: daughter becoming my sister, female lover becoming boyfriend, father becoming boyfriend- you get the picture.

It was one intense experience- lasting about 2 hours total- which felt like ten minutes actually: I walked around for the next two days feeling- for all the world- as if I was simultaneously existing beyond it- here and not here at the same 'time'. My instructor even put me into the future where I saw myself meeting my current hubby- a 'scene' which I found myself walking into two years later.

Of course one asks, "Was it real?" I can only answer with eyes wide open: 'I have no idea." It seemed 'real' at the time (in fact- more real than real- in that state of mind) and gave me much needed direction as well as hope. And there are things I told myself (I have the transcript) that I still reflect on, one thing being the concept that we don't get love from things or people. Rather, the nature of love itself is other than that which can be transacted (oh boy......the whole died on the cross thing is called into question...) and that one must be in time for the simple reason that, being outside of it, one is in love itself and doesn't have the opportunity to choose/experience it moment by moment.

That's why the angels praise God and secretly want to be human. They don't have any choice.

[marutidas]

In life you gain Good and Bad karma, and it is accumilated over many life times, Like a giant karma pool. The human soul is caught in a contiual loop trying to resolve its karma. The point is not to gain any karma, so the the soul will be be free from the cycle. The human soul is bound by two shackles one of iron(sin) the other of gold(virture). This does not mean the way to not gain karma is to sit around and do nothing, because if one sees suffering or injustice one must act. No, the way not to accumilate Karma is perform your deeds without exspectaion of reward or gratification and to not harm your fellow human beings is a given.

The Buddhist, Reflect it in this way, that over countless life times life times everything at one time or another has been a parent, a friend or an enemy.
Giving to the transient nature of reality.

The only past life I can remember, or at least part of it anyway, I was a woman, giving birth, I remember the child was stillborn, from the clothing I think it may have been the late 1600's, who knows. I died shortly after giving birth.

~~~Maruti Das

[BruceChris]

But if we're too upfront about it, I'm sure that it will push the Biblical literalists and fundies just that much farther over the edge. Just a thought.

P&L, BC

[RainbowL'elly]

hon, they're already so far over the edge that i don't think they'd recognise a God-given revelation if it smacked them upside the head with a brick....

i am fascinated by this prospect- i can't remember any past lives, but it would explain some of the peculiar behaviours and tendancies i have that i can't trace and it might explain the 'images' that i've had in my head that seem to come true over time...perhaps there is some truth to seers and maybe in a past life that was something i had the gift for- maybe these momentary, striking images are residuals from a past conciousness....

[Daniel]

Emroph- a close reading of your Reincarnation post revealed that you wrote it last February. Sorry I missed that the first time. (I thought, since I saw '24' in the date, that you posted on Christmas Eve.) If you'd like to revisit the matter, I, for one, and ready talk more about this issue.

I did, in fact, learn a great deal about myself- finding the experience to be very beneficial. I'm still chewing on it in some respects.

One thing came to mind as I reread your post: your inability, after learning self-hypnosis, to initiate a 'past-life memory'. I believe there may be a reason for this, and that is practicing going to the level where these memories- past alpha waves and into theta (there are 4 brain waves states). The trouble is in learning to go that deeply with full awareness.

From what you relate, you were eventually about to do this on you own.

[BronzDragon]

Originally Posted by Emproph

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.

» Thom says: ☛ I have memories of past manifestations. I won’t sit here and say, “this is the way it is” because I am only as confident of this truth as anyone can honestly say. I have memories, other theories could explain them, and I can’t really take you to the place of my experience and show them to you.

I have had memories of being male and female, and I think a few times of being somewhere in the middle. I don’t think my current life as a gay male is a result of my past life of being a Jewish, 9-year-old who never got to grow up. Nor do I think it is a result of having been a woman in Egypt over 5000 years ago. Why would it not be that I am gay in this life because of either desires or need or something deeper than either?

I would also think it is a stretch to compare a gay or lesbian with a transsexual. I suppose some are, and I suppose in history there might have been more because of the lack of options. Many gays are men who enjoy being men: some even cling to the macho man syndrom with relish. Some of us blur or bend the lines of gender, but don’t cross them (this is me, old school queen). But I don’t think of myself as a woman trapped in a man’s body. I think of myself as a man who made some poor choices about my health and habits .

Originally Posted by Emproph

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.

» Thom says: ☛ The Celts once held a belief in transsomal existence so strongly that any who died with a debt of any sort just paid it off in the next life. I see it as a warning: If I make a mess of the world in this life, I may have to clean it up in the next.

Karma: I agree with the Aghori’s, too much worry about karma is not a good thing. Sometimes we have to break through the barriers of good and evil to lean what is truly divine. And like the Aghori’s, I am not so worried about escaping this world, I love it here. I just want to enjoy this world better. Fear of Karma can keep us from acting on what we need to act on. Kama Mara sends his messengers – sickness, aging and death — to kick us in our complacencies and get on with our growth; ‘cause sister, there ain’t much time to get it right. Ultimately, One does not cultivate Dharma in Isolation. In a Crowd it can be like a weed, growing in the most unexpected places.

[RainbowL'elly]

» Thom says: ☛ The Celts once held a belief in transsomal existence so strongly that any who died with a debt of any sort just paid it off in the next life. I see it as a warning: If I make a mess of the world in this life, I may have to clean it up in the next.

That is an interestng perspective on things- I had never heard of that.

It seems to me that we were never meant to be sedentary- in our lives or in our spirits- we wander and in order to wander, we must not be constrained by time or tangible realms. We may settle into homes, but with the world so wide and vast, it almost commands us to explore it! We would need many lifetimes to know it even remotely well.