Other lives

Hello, I hope you are all doing well.

I am not sure how to phrase this. I'm not highly educated when it comes to religion but I know what I believe and what I feel and see.

I'm not sure if this belongs here either so if it doesn't feel free to remove it.

I am guessing there has been discussion about reincarnation. This isn't exactly about reincarnation but it's about a belief I have heard in terms of re-living a life over and over again until the individual gets it right, or reaches enlightenment, or something to that effect? I believe I also read somewhere that the individual doesn't have any real recollection of a previous life, just hints here and there?

Apologies if I am not saying it right... I am looking for more information and/or opinion on this topic and figured I'd start here.

Thanks much!

originally posted by: Scorpiogurl
Hello, I hope you are all doing well.

I am not sure how to phrase this. I'm not highly educated when it comes to religion but I know what I believe and what I feel and see.

I'm not sure if this belongs here either so if it doesn't feel free to remove it.

I am guessing there has been discussion about reincarnation. This isn't exactly about reincarnation but it's about a belief I have heard in terms of re-living a life over and over again until the individual gets it right, or reaches enlightenment, or something to that effect? I believe I also read somewhere that the individual doesn't have any real recollection of a previous life, just hints here and there?

Apologies if I am not saying it right... I am looking for more information and/or opinion on this topic and figured I'd start here.

Thanks much!

Are you simply asking if reincarnation is real? I'm afraid that you will find no real answers here. Although many will come to tell you what they believe and some will state that they know. But they will all be lying. There is no good reason to believe such stories.

a reply to: Woodcarver

No, no. I am not asking if it's real. I am asking if anyone has heard of the theory that I mentioned, about living a life over and over again until ya get it right. What religion or belief system is that from?

Obviously I'm not looking for facts here, just thoughts and opinions.


Thanks!

I can offer some perspective on this.

First, a little background, my wife and I recently became Eastern Orthodox Christians (I was raised a United Methodist and she was raised Roman Catholic), as it presented a third way between the faiths we were brought up in. We entered the church the same time as our daughter was baptized (sort of a three-for-one).

Here's the problem, we both are firm believers in reincarnation and both believe we are reincarnated souls. She is able to remember some of her past lives and my "real" self (i.e. the being that occupies the vessel we call a body) has been speaking to me (less and less as time goes on unfortunately) my entire life.

One key attraction to the Orthodox Church was the concept of "mystery" or things that were not revealed to us but may actually exist. I was hesitant to bring it up for fear of rejection but I had a very interesting discussion about it with my priest one evening. His words were, "that is not something that was revealed to us, but my suggestion is to focus on the task at hand."

His words were intriguing, and very enlightening. Specifically the idea that we shouldn't focus on unlocking memories of our past lives and trying to "beat the system" but concentrate on why we're here NOW.

Now, here's my personal belief on it, completely unsubstantiated by any official teaching, just the way it makes sense to me personally.

1. It is possible to reincarnate but not everyone does. For those that have worked their way through the karmic cycle and worked off their guilt/negativity they can choose to come back if they wish.

2. Reincarnation is attractive because it is possible to have both good AND bad experiences in our current reality. And I'm sure as we all know, we learn most effectively when bad things happen.

3. Reincarnation for souls that have been absolved, either through sheer work or by accepting the grace of God through Christ and his example, bears risk. Specifically risk of falling or failure. Someone who chooses to come back may not be able to keep their "eyes on the prize" and will fall back into the cycle of sin and death, and then further work is needed to work off that sin/guilt/negativity.

4. There are currently beings that are incarnating human vessels that are not "human" souls. These are higher-density beings (angelic?) that are here to help raise human consciousness and prepare us for the event that some are referring to as "Ascension" or the "Rapture" where those human souls who are ready to break the cycle and become higher-level beings will move on to that existence, those human souls who have condemned themselves to a "service to self" existence will descend into a darker yet existence, and those in the middle will start all over again (new heaven/new earth).

OP, it sounds like you are questioning something that you can't put your finger on. I was in the same place not too long ago, some things you just KNOW, and no matter what anyone else tells you, you can't for some reason back down from that. That warrants further introspection and research to come to terms with your personal purpose and what this existence means to you.

In that, I wish you the best of luck.

a reply to: Scorpiogurl

tell me where you live
and i'l come and show you
how it all works......

Makes me think of:


en.wikipedia.org... might interest you if you want to read more on cyclic ideas.

Eternal return (also known as "eternal recurrence") is a concept that the universe and all existence and energy has been recurring, and will continue to recur, in a self-similar form an infinite number of times across infinite time or space. The concept is found in Indian philosophy and in ancient Egypt and was subsequently taken up by the Pythagoreans and Stoics. With the decline of antiquity and the spread of Christianity, the concept fell into disuse in the Western world, with the exception of Friedrich Nietzsche, who connected the thought to many of his other concepts, including amor fati.

a reply to: Tman2135

Thank you for the reply. This does certainly strike a chord with me and you are correct, there is something there, it's always been there, that I can't exactly put my finger on but it's impossible for me to deny it or back away from it as you say.

There's something else too... you described it as voices, I've always described it as characters. It can be anything from a memory to a feeling, sometimes I just know how to do something that I've never learned (in this life). Sometimes I go to a place and just know my way around as if I'd lived there before. I work hard to "deny" these characters because like you mentioned, I appreciate the moments and living in the here and now, but sometimes they are overwhelming. I've often wondered if they are past lives giving me hints and clues along the way. Does that make sense?

a reply to: kibric

Oh come on, you didn't just really say that did you? lol!

a reply to: Tman2135

The whole priest do not want to quantify mystery, makes me think of Einstein not being able to handle quantum entanglement and how 2 different particles separated in space time can be connected to each other creating the possibility for instant information exchange with any part of creation.

If you can accept entanglement then Synchronicity follows.
en.wikipedia.org...

11:11 phenomena being a collective synchronicity phenomena that some souls are experiencing and become confused by.

Some souls have already seeded the next stage in understanding but humanity as a whole is not ready for those theories yet.
www.quantumconsciousness.org...

Low level telepathy become natural manifestations of a brain where particles are entangled with particles in another brain. Out of body can be explained as particles in the brain entangled with particles in another location remote viewing what happens at the other location.

a reply to: LittleByLittle

Well I think this goes over and beyond what I am trying to figure it out but it sure is interesting!

I definitely have out of body episodes and I have had sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember but I learned how to control it. Don't know if that has anything to do with what I'm talking about but maybe worth a mention.

a reply to: Scorpiogurl

I describe them as "big picture" moments. I remember being 4 and having my great grandmother pass away. I was not close to her but it affected me. Around that time I started to have instances where I would step out of my focus on what was going on right in front of me as though something was shouting "DON'T FORGET THIS IS NOT ALL THERE IS" or something similar.

As I got older and the details of my life (relationships, school, interests) absorbed me these instances happened less and less, until they stopped happening at all.

I now, through other means, consider myself "awake" to the world around us being merely a construct, a vehicle for us to have experiences.

If you feel so bold, there are some past life regression hypnoses videos on youtube, I did manage to have a few "flashes of insight" while listening to one.

Also meditate on eternity, and I mean true eternity, the reality not the vague concept.

Consider this, the "universe" used to be considered static and eternal, however science now is starting to demonstrate that our universe had a beginning, and will eventually have an end. In fact, there may also be many other universes bubbling about outside of ours, all of which have beginnings and ends.

This makes sense to us as we are pre-programmed to think of things in temporal terms (beginning-midpoint-end). However, what exists outside of our universe, the medium which all universes exist within, cannot be measured or deduced by us. It has been existing long since before our universe began and will exist after our universe ends, and it may very well have always existed.

When I confront that, I am almost afraid, my mind cannot comprehend the reality of something ALWAYS existing without a beginning and an end. Think about it, it really puts things in perspective.

a reply to: Tman2135

My favorite line - Life is a movie and I make it up as I go. Nothing happens until I get there and script it.

originally posted by: Scorpiogurl
a reply to: LittleByLittle

Well I think this goes over and beyond what I am trying to figure it out but it sure is interesting!

I definitely have out of body episodes and I have had sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember but I learned how to control it. Don't know if that has anything to do with what I'm talking about but maybe worth a mention.

Then you are one of the 5%. . I should also point out that I have not experienced out of body myself but have other manifestations of Synchronicity. When I try out of body my body just vibrates.

originally posted by: Scorpiogurl
I am guessing there has been discussion about reincarnation. This isn't exactly about reincarnation but it's about a belief I have heard in terms of re-living a life over and over again until the individual gets it right, or reaches enlightenment, or something to that effect? I believe I also read somewhere that the individual doesn't have any real recollection of a previous life, just hints here and there?

The human mind is not exactly a simple thing to understand. The hints you speak of could be your subconscious mind giving you clues about a decision you've already made but are not willing to think about it consciously. You should study depth psychology and dream analysis for a more deeper understanding of how the mind works.

Many religions believe in reincarnation. And there are many types of reincarnation. Some eastern religions believe reincarnation is the way the soul learns the lessons it needs to learn to graduate to higher level of awareness and being.

In western religions, we have vision of a heavenly Jerusalem. In western religion everything is outside the mind, a vision of what is sacred. God is out there. No one ever becomes God.

In eastern religion there is an inward focus. The purpose of religion is to achieve an alignment or way of being that is in complete harmony with all of existence. Many eastern religions talk about the idea that we are somehow deluding ourselves with our ideas about reality. They talk about we all have delusions about reality. Everything we think about ourselves, reality, our lives is all delusion. And even the idea of delusion is delusions. The final goal being once you peel away all the delusions you no longer see and experience yourself as separate from reality. But once you are unwrapped you experience yourself in complete oneness with everything with no boundaries between self and non-self. At that point no longer have the need to reincarnate because you have realized your true nature and there is nothing greater or more meaningful to experience.

And then there's another idea that I've been resonated with lately that is similar to reincarnation but all your past lives are happening at the same time. If you combine the multiverse of string theory with the many worlds interpretation of quantum theory you get the following idea. Every choice you make exists is alternate realities. So there an infinite number of yous in and infinite number of alternate realities living out every possible choice you could ever possibly make at any moment in your life. It's kind of hard to imagine that so many possible realities might exist. But if you consider our Big Bang was the result of a star collapsing to a black hole in a previously existing space-time dimension then when you take into account the billions of stars capable of collapsing into black holes, well, that's a HUGE amount time and very large number of dimensions. So in the multiverse you have both hard determinism and free-will both being true at the same time because over the entire multiverse every quantum reality is mapped out to a hard deterministic state.

So what does this mean. Well, if there are infinite number of yous in an infinite number of alternate dimensions each working out every decisions you could possible make there could be some information exchange between worlds giving you clues on potential outcomes.