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What is your view on
reincarnation?
You are now under a banyan tree in quiet contemplation. If as is
believed in some eastern religions you are here to work out your
karma, then it is very probable that you return many times. Most
of us have had déjà vu experiences. We ‘sense’ we have been to a
particular locale before … but not in this lifetime. How many
people have you met for the first time and you feel certain you
‘know’ them? In quiet moments do you sometimes feel things very
deeply which have nothing to do with your past experiences?
Could these be ‘shadow memories’ which have accumulated from
other lifetimes? Ever so faintly whispering to us “remember
lessons learned”. When you are ‘resting’ can you ‘hear’ the
murmurings, ‘visualize’ ‘foreign’ customs? Is there an
inexplicable awareness of brief flashbacks to another time and
place?
If you meditate regularly and ‘shut out’ the world, dim
fragments often race quickly through your psyche. These are
enigmatic. Perhaps there is a deep nostalgia that compels us to
feel things that have had great meaning to us in past lifetimes.
Have you ever reacted emotionally for no explicable reason? Has
a sound, a structure, a person’s visage moved you suddenly … and
left you wondering what was that? What happened? Why? Could you
be experiencing a connectedness to a universal consciousness? Or
to your own, personal journey through the ages?
If you have lived before why are you unable to remember? The
most obvious answer: Your memory is stored in grey matter, your
brain. Once it ceases memory is erased. Also, if you knew FOR
CERTAIN that you would be returning in another body, you might
be inclined to ‘bow out’ of a life you find difficult. The
survival instinct would be undermined and the ultimate escape,
suicide, embraced. Persevering through adversity would be
abandoned … ‘lessons’ lost.
Though we have no obvious memory of past lifetimes, our spirit
must retain something. For it is indestructible. Most of us
experience strong attractions and aversions during childhood. We
may enjoy music, sports, cooking. We may fear crowds, heights,
various creatures. Could intense ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ be
‘exhibits’ of passion and emotion from a past life? Often
nothing in a person’s current history can account for their
extraordinary skill. Consider the child prodigy born into an
ignorant, indigent family. A two year old plays the violin with
aplomb. An unusual gift? Or a message to us all that one has
lived before?
A final note: Many die young. Some are mentally impaired. Few
octogenarians have realized their potentials. Is it
inconceivable therefore that we humans are participating in a
process of growth … of spirit? A process that knows no bounds? A
mystery but one that should prod us to maintain an ‘open’ mind.
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