Wind of the Soul » Reincarnation

Exploring Reincarnation – Part 2

John Wolfe — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 22:27:16 +0000

Reincarnation has many critics that consider it to be a far fetched and controversial subject, especially when exploring it through second hand accounts, but when someone actually experiences something, first hand, it can shift into a plausible possibility. The most common (well, maybe not common, but most direct) way for someone to have an intentional experience with what are said to be past life memories, is through a process known as past life regression. Regressions are usually performed in the presence of a qualified therapist/hypnotherapist.

The therapist slowly takes the client into a deeply relaxed meditative/hypnotized state. Some may claim regression is an extremely deep hypnotized state; however I have been meditating for a number of years and can see major similarities between the states I achieve and the states achieved with the aid of a therapist. However, it’s not just the state but the visualization techniques that are employed, during a professional regression, that aid in unlocking memories from the distant past.

One argument against using regressions as a tool for deciphering past life experiences centers around some of the therapist’s methods. It is believed that they may be (unintentionally) planting suggestive ideas and phrases, prompting the client into remembering things that aren’t true. While some may do this, my sessions used no “subliminal” suggestions, outside of relaxation and the intent to explore within my consciousness. Everything was recorded and I was able to play it back, after the session was over, to check for any elements of coaxing or coaching on the therapist’s part.

Now, before I venture into the regression, I’d like to point out that I didn’t have any strong expectations about what might show up when I first started participating in these sessions. The regressions took place over seven years ago, at a time when I wasn’t really thinking much about reincarnation. I wasn’t a reincarnation advocate or opponent- I was basically neutral on the subject. It was similar to my situation with out of body experiences (OBEs). I didn’t have any interest or opinions on OBEs, until I accidentally stumbled upon them through my own personal experiences.

So, after undergoing the prolonged relaxation techniques, during my session, I found myself gravitating toward images, which actually had a strange familiarity to them. The landscape appeared to be something similar to Holland or the Netherlands and as I ventured further into it, my awareness shifted from watching it from above to actually seeing it through the main character’s eyes (my eyes).

I looked down and was able to decipher my clothing and could even see the individual cracks and rough surfaces on a cobblestone like street, beneath my feet. The regression continued to unfold, before me, as I began interacting with people that I recognized as friends and loved ones. These interactions were not just being acted out like a movie or play though- I was actually feeling highly charged emotional responses when coming into contact with these familiar faces. The amazing thing was how natural it all felt, as if we were picking up our lives like they were never put “on hold.”

There were moments during the regression that seemed to play out in real time and then there were moments, which flashed by rapidly. I experienced, love, anger, joy, rage, fear and almost every other emotion you would expect, if you were actually heavily involved in the human drama. At one point, I was able to view the death experience within this particular life, which was somewhat agonizing- until I released and allowed myself to move my attention away from the physical body.

I then experienced states that could be considered life between lives, until incarnating once again on the physical plane- where I encountered a life as the son of a blacksmith and then later, a farm life in the Midwest. I don’t feel the intimate details of these lives are nearly as important as the heavy emotional ties that accompanied the experiences though. I found myself completely wrapped up in the stories that were unfolding, more so than any book, movie, or television show I’ve ever read or watched.

For all intents and purposes, the people in my regressions were total strangers to me, yet I could identify with every single one of them. I could see how each of us touched one another’s lives in some way and I could feel how my words and actions directly affected them- because I was afforded a broader vantage point by using the regression. I could either view the experience through my eyes, or pull back and watch it from a different perspective, and sometimes I could do both simultaneously.

Now, I’m not going to try and convince anyone that these experiences were absolutely my own individual past lives. I ended my post: Exploring Reincarnation: Part 1, by discussing how interconnected we all are. Maybe this interconnection is what’s at the heart of reincarnation- we are all from the same single piece of conscious energy- whether you call it god, source, all that is, or whatever.

Every incarnation that has ever been or that ever will be is mine and it’s yours, at the exact same time- because separation is one of the greatest myths ever dreamt up by our fear driven human brains. Yes, we have our own unique individual perspectives and ways of being, yet we are still that one piece of unified conscious energy. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say there is only one single point of awareness in this entire Universe and it’s my point, right now as I write this, yet it’s also your point, right now, as you read these words.

It’s possible the children with past life memories, that I mentioned in my Part 1 post, are actually accessing memories that are held in the collective consciousness of our source energy and it’s also possible that I was doing the same during my regressions. However, that doesn’t mean those memories aren’t our past lives. We may just need to change our definitions of reincarnation by getting away from the idea of every life on this earth being separate from every other life. By doing that, we would in turn change our perspective on human existence.

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Exploring Reincarnation – Part 1

John Wolfe — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:26:34 +0000

The concept of our awareness continuing on (in some way) after death has been explored through metaphysical investigations, philosophy, literature from both fact and fiction, as well as the odd tale spun over summertime campfires. The majority of this exploration seems to revolve around spirits and what’s waiting for us in the great beyond. But what about what awaits us after the great beyond?

I don’t believe the afterlife is a final destination; it’s more akin to a layover along the way- a really amazing layover, but not the end. It doesn’t make a lot of sense why we would spend X number of years on earth only to then spend eternity in another location. We are all adventure seekers at heart, there’s not one single environment that could ever contain us or satisfy our curiosity forever.

The afterlife is only a phase we pass through, similar to a much needed rainstorm passing over parched landscape. It can recharge and revitalize the weary, yet also serve as a means to reinforce those that never really forgot their greatness. Either way, we pass through it and continue moving on. It’s this moving on from physical to non-physical and apparently back to physical again that inspired today’s entry.

I once heard it stated: Wouldn’t it be more amazing and ridiculous to only live once, than it would be to live multiple times? I’m paraphrasing and unfortunately cannot remember who made that statement, but it’s very fitting for this post.

The sheer fact that we have the capability and the means to be living this lifetime should blow our minds. Yet, we move through our lives with that understanding, like nothing extraordinary is happening. From that point of view, reincarnation should be very simple to grasp. We know we’ve definitely made it here once; we certainly should have the ability to do it again.

However, in our western culture, reincarnation seems to be an almost forbidden or taboo concept. Many parts of the world have easily accepted the birth, death, and re-birth cycle as a natural process of existence. Here in the western world we typically ridicule or scoff at the idea because it stretches well beyond the boundaries of where most have long since barred the door, limiting themselves to a narrow view on existence.

I can understand why reincarnation has many opponents or disbelievers, if they approach life through associating their awareness, primarily with the physical body. It takes an understanding that our true self is not this physical shell. The true self is limitless in its capabilities and always desires other experiences.

Of course religion has been a large contributor to this limited line of thinking about self and has dropped the ball in educating the masses about their potential and real identity, leaving its specific followers with an extremely vague awareness of their true essence. Most followers know they have an energetic counterpart (typically called the soul) but outside of it being eternally damned, if they don’t seek out a certain savior, they are not given much more than bread crumbs.

I’m not bashing religion, it’s great for a framework and if it helps people, then that’s fantastic. I’m all for anything that provides help, but at some point it’s beneficial to move beyond the helping hand and take back full responsibility for our life experience- instead of stating that it’s all simply up to a higher power. When we are fully aware of who we are, there is no higher power than what is flowing through each one of us.

Now, what I am bashing is the fact that religion (in its modern day form) neglects to allow people to find this knowledge and awareness of who they are and negates any experience, which doesn’t agree with the assumed word of “god.” Not to mention the fact that it automatically lumps us all into the same group with the flawed premise that we’re damned from the outset- all guilty until proven innocent- or sinners until forgiven; totally disregarding our own individual interpretations of our reality.

It’s little wonder that in our heavily dominated Christian culture, reincarnation is considered a forbidden fruit. However, there are some fascinating books on the market (including one that I have read) that speak about the lost Gnostic texts and the teachings within those; as they pertained to Christ’s ministry and its spreading the awareness of reincarnation, but I’ll save those titles for a later post. I mention these books because I don’t have a problem with the foundation of religion- my issues lie with what the modern churches have done to some of the original teachings.

Now, from a scientific standpoint we’re not making much headway regarding reincarnation either. I’m sure there’s not a lot of funding in this specific area of study. It doesn’t strike me as a top priority for scientists, especially when you realize more of those same cultural taboos play a huge role in the lack of financial backing for the scientific investigations of certain subjects. Science has more than distanced itself from religious dogma; unfortunately it hasn’t been able to separate itself from the afflictions of closed mindedness and cynicism.

Science, religion and narrow minded thinking aside; when we take a look at the documented evidence, there have been thousands of cases of children that claim to be the incarnate spirit of an individual who passed on and has made its return, using the child’s physical vehicle. Many can verify facts about their previous lives, where they lived, names of family members and sometimes can even speak the tongue of the former incarnation’s native land.

The majority of these children are extremely young and have never been exposed to the cultures they know so much about, or the foreign language they are able to speak, sometimes fluently. The cases that have been taken seriously and investigated have shown that the children were legit and right on all counts, with regards to the names of individuals, towns, streets, former residences etc. in countries that they had never traveled to or been educated about. This evidence surely supports the fact that something unique is happening to these kids.

I feel that these instances typically show up in young children because they are still so fresh from moving through their last incarnation, into the afterlife and now springing forth into their new existence. They retain a piece (or in some cases many pieces) of their previous life experiences.

I believe that all of us, as children had/have this ability to a certain degree, but a number of factors such as: environment, parental attitude, and health, to name a few, influence our ability to either retain or more easily forget this information. As we move through our toddler years, we tend to lose these memories, as they wash away under the heavy focus on our current life.

I know many beliefs around reincarnation concern karma and the idea we must come back to redeem ourselves in some way. I used to believe along these lines, but within the last two to three years I started analyzing those beliefs. I realized that karma is to the “new age movement” what sin is to Christianity.

This wasn’t the first time I had seen this dogma and pony show. Anytime I come up against an idea or belief that doesn’t register or feel right within myself, I try and take the time to explore it further, until coming to my own conclusions. I highly encourage everyone to do this, even about my own writing here in the Wind of the Soul Blog.

I write from my inner perspective. We are all unique in this way and are interpreting and creating from our own individual perspectives- weigh it out and take away from it what resonates with you, then disregard the rest. This is why there is no one answer to what’s ultimately correct and true straight across the board. What’s correct is simply what’s correct for you, through your own unique awareness.

So, what’s really the point of all of this reincarnation business and why does consciousness find the need to perform this process again and again?

I view the originator of consciousness or the source of our consciousness as one giant mass of energetic awareness. This consciousness is the energy matrix, yet it’s also each one of us.

Within this giant mass of energy are individual parts or aspects of awareness (each of us), yet they cannot be separated out from the individual source. I believe this is why wise sages have been saying for centuries: “what you do unto others is really being done unto yourself.”

In other words we may seem separate and different; however our uniqueness and individuality is illusionary when we realize the parts are but aspects, which have been derived from the whole. This whole mass of consciousness finds the utmost pleasure and joy in creating and exploring, reaching out and being for the sake of being. As humans we believe that there is always something else that has to be done or accomplished, whereas from the view of pure mass consciousness this isn’t the case. It finds the simplest pleasure in existing, feeling and living. In this simplicity and the thrill of experiencing our creations it would only seem logical that we would bring ourselves forth again and again.

In my next post on exploring reincarnation I’ll be discussing past life regressions (under hypnosis), including one of my own experiences with this interesting process.

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