Reincarnation--Personal or other info related to

[feywon]

Please share here:
Your personal Past life memories, how you've felt about them over the years, if you questioned them at first and what eventually brought acceptance?
Any experiences with reincarnation among family and friends.
NOTE: Many westerners mistakenly think of 'soul mates' strictly in terms of romantic love but that is not the case. Edgar Cayce, who in waking life was a devout Christian came to believe in 'family Karma' and that some 'soul groups' reincarnate together.
For myself, when it come to romantic loves and reincarnation---sometimes yes--we find each other but it may be to work thru and let go what was problematic between us in past life (where we may have been connected in some way other than romantically).

It took a while to accept my own but certain family ties from one existence to another made a difference. And as my confidence of my understanding of our souls being our 'real' selves grew due to things i used my meditative states to do in service to others, my confidence in my own perceptions of past life memories. How about you?

For those new to trying to learn about it: Writings of Edgar Cayce, Dr. Raymond Moody and The Seth Material' by Jane Roberts are foundational. But these days we have access to a lot of things online. YouTube has a wide variety just keep in mind that reading original materials, even just partially is your best source for what the author thought. I'm always leery if the maker of the video doesn't suggest you read the original. There have been huge reddit and twitter threads where parents relate 'creepy' things their young children have said to them. Often not creepy to some of us--just evidence that past life memories are fresher in the very young, even tho we can recover thru hypnosis or meditation (which can be self-hypnosis).

 

[Sassycakes]

I don't know if this relates to the topic, but I have had strange dreams that tell me things. As an example when my Dad was dying my niece screamed "Please God if you make my Poppy live I will never ask for a baby again." I pulled my niece off my dad and said Poppy would never want to live if you couldn't have a baby. A few nights after my Dad passed away my Dad came to me in a dream and told me he was sending a nice little boy her way. She heard about a local woman who had to give her baby up for adoption. My Husband got my niece a lawyer for the adoption who couldn't go so his partner went. The partner happened to be the sister of the Priest who said my Dad's funeral mass. The courtroom was being remodeled and they had to go to Rm 313 which was my dads' birthdate.

 

[feywon]

I don't know if this relates to the topic, but I have had strange dreams that tell me things. As an example when my Dad was dying my niece screamed "Please God if you make my Poppy live I will never ask for a baby again." I pulled my niece off my dad and said Poppy would never want to live if you couldn't have a baby. A few nights after my Dad passed away my Dad came to me in a dream and told me he was sending a nice little boy her way. She heard about a local woman who had to give her baby up for adoption. My Husband got my niece a lawyer for the adoption who couldn't go so his partner went. The partner happened to be the sister of the Priest who said my Dad's funeral mass. The courtroom was being remodeled and they had to go to Rm 313 which was my dads' birthdate.

It does relate. Thank you for sharing this beautiful story.

It relates because the key to so many things is the continued existence of our souls when the body is shed.

 

[davey]

just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons?? did Jesus Teach reincarnation??

did Jesus teach reincarnation?

 

[Magna-Carta]

As a very young child, maybe less than 5 years old and as long as I can or could remember before that, I felt that I had come from a place. I wasn't sure what that place was, yet it was something that felt real and very close by.

At that young age, I felt that I needed to keep thinking about it to keep it in my mind. I thought that as I got older I might develop the brain power to figure out what it is. As a child, I felt that I needed to keep thinking about it because I thought that when I became an adult I would be too involved and preoccupied with adult things and I would forget. I felt that I had gone through this thought process before, in a different time and place. All these things going through my mind at such a young age.

I also thought that even though I was young, I had some kind of longer connection with my parents than my age would suggest. I felt my parents had forgotten where they had come from, because their minds were so far removed from mine, as they now were too preoccupied with adult matters.

It didn't feel like playful childish imagination at the time, or now really.

 

[feywon]

just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons?? did Jesus reach reincarnation??

did Jesus teach reincarnation?

No longer being a member of an or organized faith, your comment is irrelevant to me, but if anyone else wants to discuss that with you, have at it.
Funny you picked that euphemism for 'stirring the pot' one that implies anyone who accepts reincarnation (as a billion Hindus do for starters) is gullible in the extreme.

 

[feywon]

As a very young child, maybe less than 5 years old and as long as I can or could remember before that, I felt that I had come from a place. I wasn't sure what that place was, yet it was something that felt real and very close by.

At that young age, I felt that I needed to keep thinking about it to keep it in my mind. I thought that as I got older I might develop the brain power to figure out what it is. As a child, I felt that I needed to keep thinking about it because I thought that when I became an adult I would be too involved and preoccupied with adult things and I would forget. I felt that I had gone through this thought process before, in a different time and place. All these things going through my mind at such a young age.

I also thought that even though I was young, I had some kind of longer connection with my parents than my age would suggest. I felt my parents had forgotten where they had come from, because their minds were so far removed from mine, as they now were too preoccupied with adult matters.

It didn't feel like playful childish imagination at the time, or now really.

At some point i'll share the not only some of my own past life memories but the stories of the two of my children who are reincarnated members of my first husband's family.

In cultures/faiths that accept reincarnation adults are more open to and not bothered by children voicing things that refer to a previous life. Sometimes they will take steps to validate the child's memories. But in America and probable most 'western' countries statements like 'When i was a pilot' or 'when i was a Mom/Dad' are more likely to turn up on Twitter or a sub Reddit about 'creepy things said by young children.

 

[davey]

No longer being a member of an or organized faith, your comment is irrelevant to me, but if anyone else wants to discuss that with you, have at it.
Funny you picked that euphemism for 'stirring the pot' one that implies anyone who accepts reincarnation (as a billion Hindus do for starters) is gullible in the extreme.

well maybe the Hindus never ever got it right for my money they have far too many gods anway? and all this public cremation stuff seems too too extreme?

 

[Capt Lightning]

Just because a lot of people believe something (or have been taught that it is true), it doesn't mean that it is. I would not describe anyone who believes in reincarnation as gullible, but simply clinging on to the view that life will not come to a complete end when they shuffle off this mortal coil.
I have difficulty explaining my views but they concern the notion of being 'self aware'. I'm me, and I'm sitting here at my laptop. I know that one day, I'll 'peg it' and that will be that. However I wonder if at sometime in the future, a new 'me' will be thinking the same thing. This is not reincarnation, but being self aware as a different person. Sorry, if I didn't express that too well.

Another point I wonder about is inherited memory. This perhaps ties in with Magna-Carta's thoughts of knowing someone from before you were born. Perhaps some experiences are passed from the parent's past (obviously before the child's conception. )

 

[feywon]

Just because a lot of people believe something (or have been taught that it is true), it doesn't mean that it is. I would not describe anyone who believes in reincarnation as gullible, but simply clinging on to the view that life will not come to a complete end when they shuffle off this mortal coil.
I have difficulty explaining my views but they concern the notion of being 'self aware'. I'm me, and I'm sitting here at my laptop. I know that one day, I'll 'peg it' and that will be that. However I wonder if at sometime in the future, a new 'me' will be thinking the same thing. This is not reincarnation, but being self aware as a different person. Sorry, if I didn't express that too well.

Another point I wonder about is inherited memory. This perhaps ties in with Magna-Carta's thoughts of knowing someone from before you were born. Perhaps some experiences are passed from the parent's past (obviously before the child's conception. )

You are quite right that many people believing something does not mean it is so. However, in many cases--people believe something not because they were raised to, or read scriptures or books about it---but because they had experiences---often several to 'many' experiences that lead them to 'believe'. Often if these experiences begin early in life - it is the other way around---the desire to understand their experiences leads them to read books, talk with others that have had similar so they make sense of what they experienced.

About the bold part: Interesting you find that easier to consider that concept than the idea that our consciousness exists independent of our physical bodies. While some studies with worms and suggest have 'suggested' that there is such a thing in those creatures, and some scientists have talked about various kinds of mass traumas (droughts, famine, wars) can impact DNA and be passed a long--none of those researchers claimed humans have actual memories of the triggering event, rather it impacts body processes.

One example i read related to bodyfat storage in people of Irish descent due to the "Potato Famine' or 'Great Hunger'
in Ireland in the mid 1800s. While i've joked about that being a factor in my later life weight gain since i read that, i have not had even vague memories of experiencing it. While i have had some very clear memories of past lives and past deaths.

Edit, additional response- to "who believes in reincarnation as gullible, but simply clinging on to the view that life will not come to a complete end when they shuffle off this mortal coil."

Do you honestly think the part of that statement after the comment is less judgmental and condescending than the part before the comma? Would it surprise you to learn that for those of us who've had NDEs as well as past life (and between life) memories it appears the other way round? Those who think consciousness ends when the body dies are clinging to the notion that there is blissful nothingness after death. Some people find comfort in that belief. My first husband, who was raised Hindu, and i debated it frequently with me arguing for reality of 'after life' more strongly after my NDE.

After his death he was very angry to learn i was right.

 

[Hopeful1]

While i have had some very clear memories of past lives and past deaths.

Please share with us some of those memories if you can.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

just to throw a cat amongst the pigeons?? did Jesus Teach reincarnation??

did Jesus teach reincarnation?

We cares whether he did or not?
What’s Jesus got to do with reincarnation?

I believe in reincarnation and have had memories of past lives and many experiences with near death experiences, out of body experiences, lucid dreaming and past life regression. Consciousness, like the soul, is eternal.

 

[feywon]

Please share with us some of those memories if you can.

i will sometime in the coming week. i have shared them before on older threads from before this forum was created. But i will share more soon. The shortest story is probably about how 3 different memories of past life deaths. i'm not going to going to a lot of unnecessary details about time periods or precise situations leading to my death in each in part because the relevant part is in what they had in common.

i suffered from claustrophobia from an early age, tho there wasn't a lot to trigger it in my rural early childhood. Elevator rides when we were shopping in the city, but i knew they'd brief. For that matter i felt to some extent in crowded places. As a teen and young adult living in suburbs then cities---elevators, subways, crowded buses(tho at least with busses i could see out and that usually helped me calm the feeling).

But a quirk of mine is that from early childhood i was confronter of fears, tho not a lot scared me to begin with--but when something did i'd steel myself and do it, experience it. So every time i got into a confined space i calmly endured from a sheer act of will. Sometimes at the end of a bad work day in NYC i wouldn't quite feel up to it, so i would walk down 10-30 flights of stairs instead. But mostly i'd just do it. (In the thread 'Do you allow yourself to be happy i talked about how i had learned to suppress feelings and compartmentalize early in life--that helped.)

After i learned to meditate and it was my regular practice i had 2 past life/death recalls that involved tight spaces and suffocation. Recalling past life trauma can, like fully recalling/coping with current life trauma that created certain emotional responses, can help free you from that effect. It can move the traumatic memory into category of just a 'bad' memory--one you can not just say but feel 'that was then/there, this is here/now' about. For years i had no issue with small cramped spaces, tho i had a nagging feeling there was a lingering issue, perhaps one more memory to recover.

Then i had go in the crawl space under my mobile home in Laramie. Previous tenants had left things under there making it even more cramped and could only see daylight thru the small opening where i'd removed a section of skirting. While i maintained control i did feel 'trapped' and that i had to get out. So for the next 3 days each meditation included the affirmation that i would recall whatever it was that was triggering that feeling, whether in this life or a past one. i should have added an injunction that the memory would come when at home. It came while i was driving to library one Saturday morning with my daughter.

Fortunately, it was early and the street fairly empty. My daughter and i were talking about my attempts to recall any other experience which could have fed my claustrophobia a few days prior. And suddenly the memory was projected as an overlay on the actual street, like a double exposure on film. i could see the street and my mirrors enough to pull over safely and just sit with it a bit. The memory ended and we still sat there while i shared it with my daughter. i haven't had a bout of claustrophobia since--nearly 2 decades.

Now one could argue as Dr. Edith Fiore did when she first started helping patients recall past lives during therapy for current life issues that my own mind created the memories as a device to feel i'd dealt with the emotions involved and let them go. In her early days of using the technique to help patients she defended it to her colleagues as it just being an exercise (like role playing in relationship therapy), that treating them 'as if' those memories were as real as current life memories allowed people to let go their traumatic responses, move on emotionally. But over time the sheer volume, variety and sometimes verifiable details became evidential for her.

 

[Magna-Carta]

I’m not yet convinced of reincarnation, but there is time yet to tell. For me reincarnation raises a number of questions.

I've often pondered the nature of consciousness in relation to reincarnation. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, is the same 'consciousness' carried from one life to another, or is it something very different from the consciousness we experience within our own bodies?

For instance, when people experience brain trauma and lose certain aspects of consciousness and self-awareness, those aspects may never fully recover. In the context of reincarnation then, does this mean that some aspects of lost consciousness are suddenly restored upon death, and if so, where has that restored consciousness suddenly come from? Or does a different form of consciousness emerge? If it is different, why is it different, what is different about it?

If we were to assume reincarnation involves carrying our personality from one life to another, it raises the question of whether a person's personality is solely shaped by their childhood experiences. Could it be that we take our unique personality beyond the grave, but when we enter a new body, the process of personality development starts all over again, with potentially a completely different outcome?

 

[feywon]

We cares whether he did or not?
What’s Jesus got to do with reincarnation?

I believe in reincarnation and have had memories of past lives and many experiences with near death experiences, out of body experiences, lucid dreaming and past life regression. Consciousness, like the soul, is eternal.

The part i made bold: Yes. For me they are the same, which is why i sometimes use them interchangeably or type them as 'consciousness/soul'.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

The part i made bold: Yes. For me they are the same, which is why i sometimes use them interchangeably or type them as 'consciousness/soul'.

Of course ! They are the same for me also.
For us, how could they not be? lol

 

[Jamala]

I don’t want to upset the apple cart in here. Just dropping in to say, behaviours can be affected by events in previous generatios which have been passed on through a form of genetic memory…Capt Lightening touched on that and I agree.

A point I would like to make is, when brain death occurs, all brain function ceases forever. Consciousness relies on brain function. Many neuroscientists and neurophilosophers, agree on this… my son (who is a doctor and who is specialising in genetics) concurs with this too…. so therefore, to say consciousness is “eternal” …is incorrect.

 

[feywon]

I’m not yet convinced of reincarnation, but there is time yet to tell. For me reincarnation raises a number of questions.

I've often pondered the nature of consciousness in relation to reincarnation. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, is the same 'consciousness' carried from one life to another, or is it something very different from the consciousness we experience within our own bodies?

For instance, when people experience brain trauma and lose certain aspects of consciousness or self-awareness, those aspects may never fully recover. In the context of reincarnation then, does this mean that the lost consciousness is suddenly restored upon death, and if so, where has that restored consciousness suddenly come from? Or does a different form of consciousness emerge? If it is different, why is it different, what is different about it?

If we were to assume reincarnation involves carrying our personality from one life to another, it raises the question of whether a person's personality is solely shaped by their childhood experiences. Could it be that we take our unique personality beyond the grave, but when we enter a new body, the process of personality development starts all over again, with potentially a completely different outcome?

Firstly, let me make clear--i'm not here, didn't start this thread to 'convince' anyone. Each person needs to find their own path. As long one does not ridicule or try to invalidate the experiences others relate i have no agenda of changing people's minds about their own beliefs. What i do want to do, and have done online for years is try to support those who are certain of their beliefs in various things others call 'paranormal' or 'supernatural'. To offer sources of info as there were few when i was a teen and my 'psychic' abilities were blossoming, Now there are perhaps too many, making finding reliable, helpful sources more difficult.

It might help you if you don't confuse our primal/eternal consciousness with the surface 'personalities' that emerge due to life circumstances and social/familial conditioning. The former is eternal, the core 'self' as it were. Personality is what develops in response to current life--experiences and conditioning. When we reincarnate the 'core self' is intact regardless of any brain injury, mental disability or health issue in the previous life/lives. Part of what the soul does between lives is evaluate what they want to hold onto from most recent incarnation and what they want to let go. This assessment helps us choose some parameters of our next life.

One between life recall i have is of my soul both observing my parents for this incarnation while Mom was pregnant, and even moving into and out of the fetus. When in the fetus i could sense just how needy, wounded my prospective mother was and it gave me reservations that i discussed with 'advisors' (guides? angels?) i really wanted the father but the mother worried me (with good reason tho i wouldn't have the personality i do now had i not experienced her as well as Dad). My advisors basically said 'They are a package deal, you want that father, you have to take that mother.'

i don't know if any of that helps you at least have some understanding of why for some of us it is a certainty not a 'belief' but i hope it does. It's just people like us don't usually try to impose or force our beliefs on others. We relate ours, we try to help others understand puzzling experiences they have.

 

[feywon]

I don’t want to upset the apple cart in here. Just dropping in to say, behaviours can be affected by events in previous generatios which have been passed on through a form of genetic memory…Capt Lightening touched on that and I agree.

A point I would like to make is, when brain death occurs, all brain function ceases forever. Consciousness relies on brain function. Many neuroscientists and neurophilosophers, agree on this… my son (who is a doctor and who is specialising in genetics) concurs with this too…. so therefore, to say consciousness is “eternal” …is incorrect.

1) Only some of the relevant scientists agree on that, other do not.
2) How many scientific paradigms have we seen change or fall entirely in our lifetimes. Eventually this one will too.
3) In recent decades there have been too many cases of things that scientists and doctors of various kinds 'agreed on as being 'incorrect' that turned out to be true to blindly accept current paradigms that our/one's own experience invalidates.

You can believe whatever you want, but saying things like 'with respect' or 'i don't want to upset the apple cart' before making pronouncements that belittle and/or invalidate the feelings and personal experiences of others is not that different from the device of saying 'just kidding after making' sarcastic, condescending or dismissive remarks to others.

 

[Jamala]

You can believe whatever you want, but saying things like 'with respect' or 'i don't want to upset the apple cart' before making pronouncements that belittle and/or invalidate the feelings and personal experiences of others is not that different from the device of saying 'just kidding after making' sarcastic, condescending or dismissive remarks to others.

That's untrue and uncalled for Feywon.
However, I shall leave this thread alone....no further comment from me.

 

[feywon]

That's untrue and uncalled for Feywon.
However, I shall leave this thread alone....no further comment from me.

Thank you, appreciate that.

My concern is for who people struggling to understand things happening to them might be hurt or influenced to feel they have a mental health issue by remarks that dismiss and invalidate their personal experiences.

 

[Magna-Carta]

I don’t want to upset the apple cart in here. Just dropping in to say, behaviours can be affected by events in previous generatios which have been passed on through a form of genetic memory…Capt Lightening touched on that and I agree.

A point I would like to make is, when brain death occurs, all brain function ceases forever. Consciousness relies on brain function. Many neuroscientists and neurophilosophers, agree on this… my son (who is a doctor and who is specialising in genetics) concurs with this too…. so therefore, to say consciousness is “eternal” …is incorrect.

That kind of what I was alluding to in my post #14

As for, "Consciousness, like the soul, is eternal", it raises the question of what does Eternal mean in this context. Eternal as in it has always been with no beginning, or did it have a beginning and its continuation is never ending.

If consciousness has a relationship with reincarnation, then when did this eternal consciousness start? Did it start before our planet existed, or only after? If it started before our planet, then where else did our consciousness reside -- on another planet, inside a different organism.

 

[Jamala]

Thank you, appreciate that.

My concern is for who people struggling to understand things happening to them might be hurt or influenced to feel they have a mental health issue by remarks that dismiss and invalidate their personal experiences.

May I make one further comment? After this comment, I shall forever hold my peace in this thread.
I am addressing the bolded text only.

I presume you are a psychiatrist otherwise you will not be making that comment.
If someone is suspected of having a mental health issue, nothing should
prevent them from seeking the correct help.
Over and out from me.....

 

[Magna-Carta]

1) Only some of the relevant scientists agree on that, other do not.
2) How many scientific paradigms have we seen change or fall entirely in our lifetimes. Eventually this one will too.
3) In recent decades their have too many cases of things that scientists and doctors of various kinds 'agreed on as being 'incorrect' that turned out to be true to blindly accept current paradigms that our one's own experience invalidates.

You can believe whatever you want, but saying things like 'with respect' or 'i don't want to upset the apple cart' before making pronouncements that belittle and/or invalidate the feelings and personal experiences of others is not that different from the device of saying 'just kidding after making' sarcastic, condescending or dismissive remarks to others.

I'm struggling to understand the point of these comments when they are not reflective of the post of the person you are referring to. Often, something coming across as "sarcastic, condescending or dismissive" might only seem that way if the person reading chose to see it that way, when it might not have been meant that way in the original post.

 

[Jamala]

That kind of what I was alluding to in my post #14

As for, "Consciousness, like the soul, is eternal", it raises the question of what does Eternal mean in this context. Eternal as in it has always been with no beginning, or did it have a beginning and its continuation is never ending.

If consciousness has a relationship with reincarnation, then when did this eternal consciousness start? Did it start before our planet existed, or only after? If it started before our planet, then where else did our consciousness reside -- on another planet, inside a different organism.

I would love to reply to you MC, but I promised Feywon that I would not comment anymore on this thread. Cheers.