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PAST LIFE
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reincarnation, past liFE, karma …
Reincarnation, also called metempsychosis or
transmigration of souls, is the rebirth in another body (after physical death),
of some critical part of a person's personality or spirit. Its occurrence is a
central tenet of Hinduism, Jainism, some African religions, as well as various
other religions and philosophies. Most modern Pagans also believe in
reincarnation.
It has traditionally also been understood to be akin to the Buddhist concept of
Rebirth, but in recent years it has become clear that the two concepts are very
distinct - Buddhism teaches that there is no self to reincarnate. There is an
alternate view, based on a different set of inherent assumptions, that the
teachings of Buddhism as a religion might stress one aspect, the teachings of
Hinduism might stress another aspect, but that an advanced Buddhist and an
advanced Hindu would directly perceive the phenomenon of reincarnation
identically.
First of all why do we have to reincarnate? Why do we have to come back as a
man, a woman, in a specific family, in a certain country and in a particular
century? Who were we before? What happen to us? Those are questions we all have.
All of us, here on earth right now, for one
or another reason had to come back. The reasons are to be found in one or more
of our past lives. Throughout our many incarnations we went through various
experiences. Some of them provoked good emotions. Some of them provoked bad
emotions. At the end of a lifetime, a conclusion to what life is about, some
sort of belief systems were then created. A thought is always at the root of an
emotion. This is what we have to change.
The first thought that created a chain of experiences over and over. Once we
change this thought, the emotion, usually negative, will disappears. In order to
change the original thought we have to go back to the very first experience that
has created the thought.
In this present life you are connected to many past lives. In each incarnation
you reconnect with past lives acquaintances. And then every time you go through
a change of environment, person, work… you are reconnected to more people you
previously met and with whom you already had a story. Life is made of
experiences. Some of them, with their share of pain and sorrow provoke another
incarnation and this is what I deal with.
Another theory of reincarnation
A belief in reincarnation does not discount the existence of heaven, hell, or a
final judgment. There are a number of small children who have reported having
memories of past lives prior to their present life, and some also report being
able to recall a time between lives (see books by Dr. Ian Stevenson, Carol
Bowman, and Elisabeth Hallett). In some cases these children have also reported
being in a place like heaven between lives, and sometimes that they were given
some degree of choice as to whether and when to be reborn, and even in selecting
their future parents.
Some of these children claim that being reborn is not necessarily a punishment
for past bad "karma", but rather an opportunity for a soul to grow spiritually.
Additional lifetimes could give individual souls a greater opportunity to
accomplish more for God, if that is a person's goal, and to develop better
character traits. Eastern views of reincarnation vary and several parallels with
this idea are to be found in certain branches of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Quote: "So convincing is the evidence in favor of past life influences that one
can only conclude that those who refuse to consider this to be an area worthy of
serious study must be either uninformed or excessively narrow-minded." -- Stan
Grof M.D., Holotropic Mind
Origin of the belief
This doctrine has its roots far back in primitive culture. According to some
scholars, this idea developed out of three common beliefs: (1) that man has a
soul, connected in some vague way with the breath, which can be separated from
his material body, temporarily in sleep, permanently at death; (2) that animals
and even plants have souls, and are possessed to a large extent of human powers
and passions; (3) that souls can be transferred from one organism to another.
(This idea still has adherents in many schools of Hinduism, the oldest of extant
modern religions)
Alternatively, some consider that reincarnation as a phenomenon (not simply a
belief) has been occurring through history, and has been discovered and
re-discovered by societies both primitive and advanced.
Transmigration of human souls into non-human bodies is implied in totemism, for,
as Professor Frazer says, "it is an article of faith that as the clan sprang
from the totem, so each clansman at death reassumes the totem form."
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