Reincarnation--Personal or other info related to

[feywon]

I hope some don't mind me copying and pasting this i typed somewhere else; and now here with some additions. In a way it's a continuation of my post #5. And might give more insight to where I was as a child. I'm not entirely sure what it all means, all I know it was somewhat real at the time:

I think a child's mind can be quite 'powerful', more than we realise as adults. As a child I always feared that I might lose something as I grew up, such as vague memories of a before time.

My thoughts were correct as a young child, in that adult things and responsibilities take us away from where we came from and who or what we might have known — before we arrived here in this existence, perhaps??

I would think that maybe I have gone through this 'living' process several times, with memories being ever so slightly reinforced each time. Or at least that's what I wondered as a 5 year old. I really don’t know, but that’s what it felt like as a child.

As a child I thought that when I leave this existence and come back again my memories of before would get stronger each time and that I would eventually remember them, and then have better clarity of what might have gone before. Not remember the previous existence on this planet per se, but the place in between, whatever that might be; whatever it was that I felt I had a 'real' connection with as a child. It felt as though I'd been on this planet before. As a young child I wasn't interested in the 'life' before, I was interested in the place between lives.

Those thoughts of what was before, and kind of memories of before that do fade. Perhaps for most of us they are meant to fade so we can deal with the here and now, and not be influenced by a potential before time?

I’m not religious, and I don’t want to be, but in a way I have memories of memories. Memories of the other ’real’ me; the child me. The me with different insights and perspectives. Maybe I will meet up again somewhere with the things I might have known before this existence. My parents perhaps; the parents I might have also known in the between time. As a child I used to think my parents haven’t gone through this cycle as many times as me, as they didn’t yet think like me.

I don't know where those thoughts and feelings came from as a child of less than 5 years old. They were not of childish imagination, or so I thought. They were with me already.

UPDATE: As I got older, the prediction that my thoughts and pre-memories (for want of a better phrase) would fade when I became an adult were realised. I became evidence based; facts; data; repetition of results etc. When I was young, no one in my family had ever spoken of reincarnation, I wouldn't have even known what it meant; no one was religious either. But I still wonder where my thoughts and memories came from as a child. So I am left with the child me and the adult me, in battle with myself sometimes. Fact vs fiction; reality vs what isnt real, and at times not knowing fully which is which.

I would visit places with my parents, visiting people I've never seen before, only to look at them and think, "I've seen these people before; I know what they are going to do next; I already know their mannerisms; I know what they are about to do with their hands; the way they are going to walk across the room when they get up from a chair.

The between place is of much interest to me as well. And i think that it is or co-exists with what some call the afterlife.

True memories fade, but if one continues to have shall we say 'unusual' experiences--one retains them a bit more. But i think we also sense on some level that we have invest ourselves in our current life, make the most of it and some find that easier if they don't remember as much of 'past lives' or 'between'. Because life taught me early to compartmentalize might be why i can allow more of those memories even as an adult.

My earliest memory from this life of anything remotely touching on this topic was of lying on our dock looking at the stars and feeling 'homesick' i was maybe 5, and tho already a voracious reader i really couldn't identify the feeling as homesick--i was 'missing' something but couldn't even label what in my own head. One of my sisters was on the dock with me the rest of the family inside. i was safe and happy (as usual when enjoying nature) but there was this 'longing' for some vague thing, place, person that got me choked up. Which i hid from my Sister because i couldn't explain.

 

[Magna-Carta]

The between place is of much interest to me as well. And i think that it is or co-exists with what some call the afterlife.

True memories fade, but if one continues to have shall we say 'unusual' experiences--one retains them a bit more. But i think we also sense on some level that we have invest ourselves in our current life, make the most of it and some find that easier if they don't remember as much of 'past lives' or 'between'. Because life taught me early to compartmentalize might be why i can allow more of those memories even as an adult.

My earliest memory from this life of anything remotely touching on this topic was of lying on our dock looking at the stars and feeling 'homesick' i was maybe 5, and tho already a voracious reader i really couldn't identify the feeling as homesick--i was 'missing' something but couldn't even label what in my own head. One of my sisters was on the dock with me the rest of the family inside. i was safe and happy (as usual when enjoying nature) but there was this 'longing' for some vague thing, place, person that got me choked up. Which i hid from my Sister because i couldn't explain.

As a child, i used to think that people who have gone through this 'cycle' many times might have developed a strategy of remembering. People that have gone through this cycle far more than I. A strategy that they have added to during each cycle. But only something that was added to when young and not when older. When older other things/thoughts getting in the way of remembering and taking time away from it in order to do that.

As a child I wondered where this wanting to remember came from. I thought did it come from when I was in the 'between time', where things might have been clearer, and did I try to take some kind of yet to be fully developed strategy from the between time into this life.

In a way, when young, I saw it as a kind of 'knowing' there was something before because in years I was still close to the 'before'. Partly hidden experiences or memories that need going over in order to remember more. Yet also being conscious even at that young age of not wanting to create false memories.

I wondered if the people who are able to remember are the ones who have gone through this cycle many times and therefore developed that strategy of remembering, to the point where it then became second nature. Perhaps, if you will allow me to say it, maybe people like you?

All this above from the mind of a young child, with now some faded memories of 'this life'. With memories of events of this life even before my first birthday. Who knows what I might be able to remember of a 'before' time or 'in between' time, if there is another cycle. And if i try harder next time.

 

[Dave03]

I have the exact same dream every so often that I'm at Pearl Harber and the smoke is so thick and black that I literally cannot see anything.

I know I'm standing on a wooden planked deck, and there are sirens.

It's exactly the same every time.

 

[Magna-Carta]

As a child, i used to think that people who have gone through this 'cycle' many times might have developed a strategy of remembering. People that have gone through this cycle far more than I. A strategy that they have added to during each cycle. But only something that was added to when young and not when older. When older other things/thoughts getting in the way of remembering and taking time away from it in order to do that.

As a child I wondered where this wanting to remember came from. I thought did it come from when I was in the 'between time', where things might have been clearer, and did I try to take some kind of yet to be fully developed strategy from the between time into this life.

In a way, when young, I saw it as a kind of 'knowing' there was something before because in years I was still close to the 'before'. Partly hidden experiences or memories that need going over in order to remember more. Yet also being conscious even at that young age of not wanting to create false memories.

I wondered if the people who are able to remember are the ones who have gone through this cycle many times and therefore developed that strategy of remembering, to the point where it then became second nature. Perhaps, if you will allow me to say it, maybe people like you?

All this above from the mind of a young child, with now some faded memories of 'this life'. With memories of events of this life even before my first birthday. Who knows what I might be able to remember of a 'before' time or 'in between' time, if there is another cycle. And if i try harder next time.

Saying all that, I'm somewhat of a 'skeptic', as I battle with my adult thoughts and my thoughts as a child. In a way, as a child, I kind of predicted this battle within me. But hoped there was enough remaining to take into the next cycle.

UPDATE: Did I predict this battle, or did I know of it, because of some vague memory of how the cycle had panned out before?

 

[feywon]

As a child, i used to think that people who have gone through this 'cycle' many times might have developed a strategy of remembering. People that have gone through this cycle far more than I. A strategy that they have added to during each cycle. But only something that was added to when young and not when older. When older other things/thoughts getting in the way of remembering and taking time away from it in order to do that.

As a child I wondered where this wanting to remember came from. I thought did it come from when I was in the 'between time', where things might have been clearer, and did I try to take some kind of yet to be fully developed strategy from the between time into this life.

In a way, when young, I saw it as a kind of 'knowing' there was something before because in years I was still close to the 'before'. Partly hidden experiences or memories that need going over in order to remember more. Yet also being conscious even at that young age of not wanting to create false memories.

I wondered if the people who are able to remember are the ones who have gone through this cycle many times and therefore developed that strategy of remembering, to the point where it then became second nature. Perhaps, if you will allow me to say it, maybe people like you?

All this above from the mind of a young child, with now some faded memories of 'this life', of events even before my first birthday. Who knows what I might be able to remember of a 'before' time or 'in between' time, if there is another cycle. And if i try harder next time.

Have you ever meditated? It can be a form of self hypnosis and just as we can program yourself to sleep better, to remember, 'filter, or forget them (some are just the brain processing our days), to make healthier choices--we can program ourselves to recall at least parts of past lives. i tend it's to think it is probably better not to remember everything--but ask for those things that will help you toward your goals in this life.

i know i had to have several validating experiences about info i got while in meditative state, via psychometry, remote viewing etc, to build the confidence that i was not just 'telling myself stories'. And could trust info gotten thru unusual channels.

 

[feywon]

I have the exact same dream every so often that I'm at Pearl Harber and the smoke is so thick and black that I literally cannot see anything.

I know I'm standing on a wooden planked deck, and there are sirens.

It's exactly the same every time.

When were you born? If after that infamous day it could be a past life recall.

 

[Magna-Carta]

Have you ever meditated? It can be a form of self hypnosis and just as we can program yourself to sleep better, to remember, 'filter, or forget them (some are just the brain processing our days), to make healthier choices--we can program ourselves to recall at least parts of past lives. i tend it's to think it is probably better not to remember everything--but ask for those things that will help you toward your goals in this life.

i know i had to have several validating experiences about info i got while in meditative state, via psychometry, remote viewing etc, to build the confidence that i was not just 'telling myself stories'. And could trust info gotten thru unusual channels.

Not that I'm aware of. At times I think I have far too much in my mind to put to one side and meditate, with several branches of thoughts shooting off at the same time, and then more branches from those branched. With some thoughts doing their own thing in my subconscious. Those thoughts then come back one at a time to build up a picture or become so exhausting that my thoughts don't come back.

Maybe I should have a go though, if I can put my thoughts and curiosities of everything around me including the greater universe and everyone in it out of my mind.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

Not that I'm aware of. At times I think I have far too much in my mind to put to one side and meditate, with several branches of thoughts shooting off at the same time, and then more branches from those branched. With some thoughts doing their own thing in my subconscious. Those thoughts then come back one at a time to build up a picture or become so exhausting that my thoughts don't come back.

Maybe I should have a go though, if I can put my thoughts and curiosities of everything around me including the greater universe and everyone in it out of my mind.

That’s a lovely post.

 

[Capt Lightning]

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?

There is nothing judgemental or condescending in what I wrote. I think it is natural to want to go on living in another form after we die in our current physical form. Even if we don't have any proof that this will happen, we can still hold on to the hope that it will.

 

[feywon]

There is nothing judgemental or condescending in what I wrote. I think it is natural to want to go on living in another form after we die in our current physical form. Even if we don't have any proof that this will happen, we can still hold on to the hope that it will.

Correctly or not, the word 'clinging' got me, it connotes desperation. I may have over-reacted due to hearing that and other words that imply any form of spirituality is naive, ignorant at best and delusional at worst from shall we say (in hopes of not lighting another fuse that could derail this thread) confirmed atheists way too often in recent years.

By that i mean people who in their heart of hearts have zero doubt that these incarnate lives are all there is. One such person in the midst of a relatively civil debate responded to another very hostile atheist by saying "Now, now we can let them have their delusions." Coming from a man that impugned the intelligence of 'believers' in the same thread as well.

Full disclosure i have known some wonderful atheists and agnostics who while they don't entertain any kind of spiritual beliefs for themselves are extremely moral, loving, kind and compassionate people. I've been known to defend their position to 'devout' theists, many of whom only respect their own religion whatever it may be and have even less tolerance those who have no faith.

Oh FYI, my last suicide attempt in 1974 which resulted in my NDE, was fueled by the desperate hope that people like my first husband were right and there was nothing once the body dies.

 

[Dave03]

When were you born? If after that infamous day it could be a past life recall.

I was born 13 years after Pearl Harbor.

Wow. That makes me feel old.

 

[MarkD]

I don’t think my thoughts about it are exactly on target but they’re definitely not dismissive. I think of life and consciousness as an ever flowing, always changing process in which what we as individuals are gets recycled like raindrops which fall and find their way back out to the sea where again they rise to fall and flow again. I think we are beings that individuate from a timeless, infinite core to receive a finite, separate identity in each lifetime. Death is the end of the finite accretion of identity but the timeless infinite core keeps flowing and individuating. So reincarnation is a better fit for me than death as a permanent exit from our world into some final resting place apart from the world; neither above nor below it, we are the world.

While I’ve had a few epic, recurring dreams I never had the sense that they were from different iteration of life. I don’t reject the idea but I don’t resonate with it in particular either.

 

[feywon]

I was born 13 years after Pearl Harbor.

Wow. That makes me feel old.

Well, i'm older---born at end of WWII, 1946.

But yeah, in that case it's very possible in your previous incarnation--you were there. While there are other possible explanations (such as you connecting in dream state with someone who WAS there but survived) But i've found the person who experiences it often has good sense of what it is, if they let their instincts guide them.

Despite the jokes non-believers make about all the Napoleons, Cleopatras and Joan of Arcs, most of us have memories of being fairly 'regular' people--not ones that made the history books. It can sometimes be hard finding verifiable info for such folks. Altho if they can recall details about clothing, housing and the like it can at least give them some sense of satisfaction, especially if they had never studied the historical that place and period in depth.

 

[feywon]

I don’t think my thoughts about it are exactly on target but they’re definitely not dismissive. I think of life and consciousness as an ever flowing, always changing process in which what we as individuals are gets recycled like raindrops which fall and find their way back out to the sea where again they rise to fall and flow again. I think we are beings that individuate from a timeless, infinite core to receive a finite, separate identity in each lifetime. Death is the end of the finite accretion of identity but the timeless infinite core keeps flowing and individuating. So reincarnation is a better fit for me than death as a permanent exit from our world into some final resting place apart from the world; neither above nor below it, we are the world.

While I’ve had a few epic, recurring dreams I never had the sense that they were from different iteration of life. I don’t reject the idea but I don’t resonate with it in particular either.

Your thoughts relate to both reincarnation and any concept of an afterlife as topic too. i welcome input from people who have that 'we can't know for certain' right now perspective, but are willing to consider the possibilities.

As for dreams, like i mentioned in comment #63, the person who experiences usually has good instincts about whether it relates to past lives or not. Especially if you make a habit of examining your dreams, because then you learn your own dream symbology as well getting some idea of the archetypes discussed by early psychologists.

One of us needs to start a thread about how to analyze dreams. Usually if you remember it well and there was any kind of theme or plot to it--it is significant---bears looking at closer. Sometimes we acknowledge feelings in dreams that we've suppressed in our waking hours. Sometimes they're like messages to us from our 'higher selves'.

 

[Lawrence]

I believe I was a seafaring man in several lifetimes. One time a Viking that pillaged and plundered villages and died from falling off the ship. One time was in the German U Boat Navy and died at sea when the U-Boat was sunk during war. I believe I was a regular sailor that hauled cargo on wooden sail masted freighters in several lives. I believe in reincarnation and have read and watched many presentations about it. So much that it leaves me more confused about reincarnation than I know facts about it. I believe there are no set rules for reincarnation and the way it works defies beliefs of how it does. I believe we reincarnate but we may split and divide among ourselves when we reincarnate. So, there are times that the person of one lifetime does not exist as one being anymore. The reincarnated being can be one half of a person that existed before. The reincarnated person can be parts of several people that have lived before. I can see how the belief if you die you do not exist anymore because the spirit has divided and split to form other people. I can see how people believe that the total person reincarnates into a new lifetime. I believe that we are all spirits working to better the existence of the unity of all of us and not so much the exitance of me, myself and I.

 

[Buckeye]

Being brought up in the Baptist church, I was taught that we only get one chance at life here on earth, and the only way for eternal life after our mortal death is thru Jesus. 70+ years later, I still believe that this is true for me. And I have never had any sort of experience about former lives, etc.

But I don't try to limit how God reveals himself to others or his plans for others. What the Hindus believe can be true for them and maybe they can have multiple tours of duty here on earth. But I know that it does not apply to me.

 

[feywon]

I believe I was a seafaring man in several lifetimes. One time a Viking that pillaged and plundered villages and died from falling off the ship. One time was in the German U Boat Navy and died at sea when the U-Boat was sunk during war. I believe I was a regular sailor that hauled cargo on wooden sail masted freighters in several lives. I believe in reincarnation and have read and watched many presentations about it. So much that it leaves me more confused about reincarnation than I know facts about it. I believe there are no set rules for reincarnation and the way it works defies beliefs of how it does. I believe we reincarnate but we may split and divide among ourselves when we reincarnate. So, there are times that the person of one lifetime does not exist as one being anymore. The reincarnated being can be one half of a person that existed before. The reincarnated person can be parts of several people that have lived before. ating I can see how the belief if you die you do not exist anymore because the spirit has divided and split to form other people. I can see how people believe that the total person reincarnates into a new lifetime. I believe that we are all spirits working to better the existence of the unity of all of us and not so much the exitance of me, myself and I.

Have you read The Seth Materials by Jane Roberts? One her books talks about the concept of fragments of one soul reincarnating in more than one person.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

@feywon I will add more to your thread "along and along" as my mother used to say. But for now I want to address what you said about people reincarnating in groups (with those we knew in a past life). When my BFF, a friend of hers and I took an 8 week metaphysical course in 1988, the instructor said the same thing. I've had serendipitous meetings and interactions with a couple of people that solidify that belief for me.

You also mentioned children and their experiences. There are a couple that I find particularly fascinating. One is about the toddler who had nightmares (later determined to be memories) of being shot down in his plane. Even as a small child he could tell you the parts of the plane and about memories no little boy should have. His parents claimed he could not have gotten this stuff from watching T.V. or hearing them talk. It was later determined that he was the reincarnation of WWII fighter pilot. The family eventually tracked down that pilot's sister and she verified that things the boy spoke of were true.
https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Technology/story?id=894217&page=1

The other child was Shanti Devi, a little Indian girl who was born in 1926. She was just 4 when she started telling her parents very detailed information about her past life in a place that she and her family had never been to. After following up on things she said, they were astonished to find they were able to verify what she said. Here is her story:
"Simple events would trigger memories of this life, like eating a meal that reminded her of foods she used to enjoy in her old days, or while getting dressed she’d tell her mother about the clothes she used to wear.

Devi eventually informed her parents that her previous name was Lugdi and that she died shortly after bearing a son in October of 1925. She added uncanny details about her labor pains and the surgical procedures she underwent.

Such facts, it seemed, couldn’t have been conjured up by even the most imaginative child."
Full article: https://allthatsinteresting.com/shanti-devi

@SmoothSeas You wrote: "what scares me spitless is the current 'sorry' state of our planet. should I die tonight, what condition will the Earth be in on the next go around? I've been dwelling on that a lot lately. shiver me timbers, eh?"

Very good point and question! I never thought about that! When I think of the future, I think more in terms of what things will be like for my grandchildren (and great grands, if I ever have any).

 

[chic]

I have no past life memories at all. I have had conversations, in dreams which were more like warnings, from dead relatives but they never came back as themselves or anyone else.

I have experienced deja vu. Most extra sensory gifts I have seem to be focused more on the present or future. Has anyone here experienced deja vu? Not to hijack the thread but I do wonder.

 

[MarkD]

One of us needs to start a thread about how to analyze dreams.

I’m more of a let-the-dream-tell-you-what-it-means kind of guy rather than research and figure it out. So intuition rather than reckoning. But I’d be happy to share dreams, speculate about what they mean and see how other people interpret them.

Usually if you remember it well and there was any kind of theme or plot to it--it is significant---bears looking at closer. Sometimes we acknowledge feelings in dreams that we've suppressed in our waking hours. Sometimes they're like messages to us from our 'higher selves'.

I find the more involved dreams much rarer but also more compelling. I’ve experienced the recognition of feelings in dreams but in general messages from a higher self best describes my feeling about them.

 

[feywon]

I have no past life memories at all. I have had conversations, in dreams which were more like warnings, from dead relatives but they never came back as themselves or anyone else.

I have experienced deja vu. Most extra sensory gifts I have seem to be focused more on the present or future. Has anyone here experienced deja vu? Not to hijack the thread but I do wonder.

i suspect there are few people who have NOT experienced it at least once. You could start a thread in this 'category' about it.

 

[RadishRose]

Has anyone here experienced deja vu?

Yes. I think most people have.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

I have no past life memories at all. I have had conversations, in dreams which were more like warnings, from dead relatives but they never came back as themselves or anyone else.

I have experienced deja vu. Most extra sensory gifts I have seem to be focused more on the present or future. Has anyone here experienced deja vu? Not to hijack the thread but I do wonder.

I've experienced deja vu a few times. One that comes to mind is when I was in high school. We were in assembly and there was something going on on stage but only a couple of students were up there either performing or about to perform. Suddenly the janitor walked across the stage. I felt I had experienced that scenario before.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

I have no past life memories at all. I have had conversations, in dreams which were more like warnings, from dead relatives but they never came back as themselves or anyone else.

I have experienced deja vu. Most extra sensory gifts I have seem to be focused more on the present or future. Has anyone here experienced deja vu? Not to hijack the thread but I do wonder.

I agree with the others that most of us have experienced deja vu at least once in their life . I’ve certainly had my share of deja vu experiences as well as other extra sensory senses; only I don’t consider them gifts. In the mortal sense, they are more like curses. There are things I see that I wish that I could un-see.

 

[chic]

Yes. I think most people have.

Actually I know people who NEVER have, even once. This is friends and family. I don't have deja vu much which is why I ask if many have and I guess it's more common than I thought?