When I first heard of reincarnation many years ago, having been raised in Western culture, I thought the idea absurd. Today, I've allowed myself to consider it more after researching compelling evidence that may confirm the existence of previous lives.
My Past Bias
Before I could wrap my brain around the possibilities that the reincarnation concept presents, I first needed to "undo" what I thought I knew. I was formerly religious, a fundamentalist Christian, and one who saw everything written in the Bible from a literal interpretation. My "black and white thinking" about the world that revolved around me, death of the body, and closed-minded spirituality had made me unable to allow for a different take on the hereafter. And, yet, it was Jesus who we read said, "The things that are impossible with men are possible with god." To me, this statement boldy declares that all things are possible -- something that changed my world over two decades ago and caused me to revisit what I had formerly deemed impossible.
Does Reincarnation Tie-into Ghosts and Spirits?
When we think about the soul of a person having lived a previous life and reincarnating into a new body in the present, we are truly believing in a connected "spirit world." The spirit realm must be something beyond our human comprehension, at least as far as having an inkling of its depth, a place where there is plan and order hidden within our midst and within chaos. That intrigues me. And if former lifetimes are a fact, then we are spirits having a collection of multiple experiences that are diverse, and quite possibly, of different type. Where might we find ourselves after this current lifetime (beyond the grave, that is)? Could we be wandering the earth as a ghost? Might we be overseeing others' lives as a guiding, loving spirit who has been here prior? Or will we choose to live another earth incarnation, a person with a new name, unfamiliar body (what if you come back as the opposite sex the next go around?), and with new challenges to overcome?
Why Reincarnation Might Make Sense
For years I wrestled accepting reincarnation for consideration because there needed to be a purpose for it. Otherwise, why bother, right?
Certainly we can agree that living multiple lifetimes would afford us the ability to come back to learn new things, struggle with new experiences that can teach us life lessons, offer us another chance to "get it right" a second time, and give us a greater understanding of who we are. All are good reasons for why one might want to come back to earth after dying; some spirits may not desire to return here, I am sure. Pre-birth planning, coming back into an earthly body, and how that is worked out and overseen by soul groups is an intriguing topic. My friend and author, Rob Schwartz, has written two fascinating books about his research into the subject of planning incarnations (Your Soul's Plan, Your Soul's Gift) using past life regression techniques along with help from psychic mediums who can communicate with those in spirit who are involved with the lives -- each a bit player in everyone's experiences. Putting it all together, Rob has been able to find meaningful connection between the past and present lives.
The Impact of Reincarnation on Our Future
I began thinking more upon this connection to the past within each of our lives (assuming that we are not in our first visits here on earth, of course) and will present some assumptions for your consideration. In previous lives, the things that we experience might be carried forth into the present life we are living, impacting us in both a negative and positive fashion. I could see that my prior loves and fears may influence the decisions I make, today. For example, deep-seated phobias collected from an earlier, frightful experience that I remember deep in my subconscious might affect my current life. And if this is the case, these phobias might also cause us to be put in places, in situations, that will eventually make us face or explore our fears in order to have victory over such traumas that still haunt us. In contrast, with our previous loves, could it be that we find commonality with other people, places and things that were dear to us in our hidden past? I wonder. Two different feelings that may compel or repel, interwoven in our soul's make-up, that is to say our personality.
If any of my suggestions have validity, think about the impact of the echoes we created in the past and how they might be affecting us today. But do not stop there: consider the echoes you might be creating today that could impact your future incarnations. Are the choices we make (and do not make) each day impacting our future in some fashion? I suspect so and think that everything is connected -- even our past, present, and future lifetimes. Could we also be affecting future generations, even our unborn offspring, by the typle of lives we lead today?