Born Again - The Matter of Reincarnation

Reincarnation. The belief that not only is one living their current life, but they will live another one after they die, and likely have lived many lives before this one came along. Many cultures and religions embrace the concept of reincarnation, in one form or another, and it isn't hard to see why. The thought that this life is not the only thing we have is a comforting notion. Through all the struggles in our lives, all the ways we mess up and all the mistakes we make, there'll be a "next time", another chance where we can make up for past transgressions, enjoy more happiness, enjoy more spiritual fulfillment. Also mixed in with this reassuring thought is the belief that we will meet our loved ones once more, live another life with them and enjoy their company even after they've passed on from this life.

But despite the basics being pretty much the same across belief structures, the details often cause some measure of conflict and dischord. Why are people reincarnated? Are we all reincarnated? Do we always come back as humans? Is reincarnation a reward, a punishment, or neither. Why do some people remember their past lives, and others don't? Are the bad things that happen to us now a result of bad things we did in previous lives?

There are probably more questions than answers, as is the way with most beliefs. Ultimately, only the individual can decide for themselves how they believe in a thing, if they believe in it at all. But whether we admit we believe or not, most of us have a curiosity about reincarnation, an interest ranging from mild to obsessive, about what lay behind, and what may come ahead.

More than one culture and/or religion holds the belief that each and every one of us can attain a higher state of consciousness, in essence an enlightened self. It's a spiritual transformation that comes about when we have learned all the lessons that life has to teach. Because there are so many lessons that life can teach, reincarnation is there to help us along. Though we may not remember the lives we lived in the past, our soul (essence, spirit, whatever you want to call it) remembers. It retains the lessons it learned in other lives, and helps us reach for that high goal.

If we reach this goal, most traditions that hold this belief state that the cycle of reincarnation will cease. We have, after all, learned all that we can, and what would be the point in going back to a place where we might become lost or tainted once more?

This is often incentive for people to live virtuous and good lives, as what we do in each life influences the way we are reborn into the next life. If we do good deeds, learn our lessons well, then we move one step up the ladder, so to speak. But this can work against us, for if we make the wrong decisions and ignore the lessons that life if trying to teach, we can "take a step down" too, and have to relearn what we've forgotten. The better we are, the better we will become.

This is a common belief when it comes to reincarnation, but it is not the only one. Other people believe that although we live multiple lives in order to learn lessons, the lessons themselves are evolving and changing as the world and the people in it change. There is no ultimate goal, but there is constant learning, and so we always come back to keep seeing what happens. We are "recycled", in a sense, put to use once more.

Some people believe that when we die, we have a choice in what happens to us. Spiritual realms of rest and recovery exist (call them Heaven, the Summerlands, what have you), and when we leave this body behind, we go there. We recover from the pains of the life we just lived, and then if we want, we can go back to be born again into a new body. Or we can stay in that restful realm for as long as we like.

Some people, of course, are skeptical about reincarnation. For them, it doesn't fit into their system of belief. They believe that when you die, you die, and there's nothing beyond it but decomposition. Or perhaps we go to Heaven and never leave again. One argument against reincarnation that I was once presented with was, "Why would God make us do this twice?" And in fairness to that person's opinion, they had a good point. With all the horrible things in the world, all the struggles that we have to go through sometimes just in order to survive, it might seem a cruel deity who would send us back and make us do it all over again.

Some believers in reincarnation find that attitude particularly uncomfortable, however, because it implies that we only get one chance. If we make a mistake in this short life, we can be condemned to an eternity of torture.

For most people in the western world, reincarnation carries with it the implication that we will meet people over and over again in subsequent lives. The firends and family we have now may well be the friends and family we have had for the past 20 lives. Through increasing familiarity, we form spiritual connections that draw each other, pulling us closer so that we can be together once more.

Directly connected to this is the concept of soulmates, the idea that there is one perfect person for everybody. This connection is soul-deep, cannot be denied, and because of the extent of the connection, soulmates will often try to find their way back to their mate so that they can be together once more. Soulmate relationships are nearly always seen in a romantic light, and it is rare to find two people who believe themselves to be soulmates who are not romantically involved.

Some people believe that ones soulmate is litterally the other half of their soul. At some point along the spiritual path, the two souls were one but became split, and the reasons for this are many and varied, and could probably take up another Hub on their own just to begin exploring. This is the ultimate reason for souls wanting to be rejoined. They simply want to return to their natural state of oneness, or at least get as close as possible.

Other people believe that the souls are created being so compatible, or that the compatibilities arise over time, through multiple shared lives and experiences, until we keep drawing to our soulmate because it's the soul's natural instinct to acquire that connection once more.

Believers in soulmates tend to agree that this is the deepest form of love possible, one that goes deeper than mind or heart and gets right down to the very essence of what makes a person. The soulmates may not be consciously aware of just how deep their connection runs. Incompatibilities in personality may even drive the people apart, in the same way that other relationships sometimes fall apart. But each soul still years for the other, and ultimately they'll have another chance to be together in another life.

This is a romantic notion that has been used in literature and movies countless times in the past. It's a very seductive idea, to believe that every once of us has somebody out there who, in the way that it counts the most, is absolutely perfect for us.

Others, however, reject the idea that soulmates are as good as some people claim. Common soulmate lore holds that your soulmate will love you, no matter what. They can't help it. It's just how it's meant to be. But where's the romance, some people say, in having somebody love you in a way that's almost against their free will? There's no choice in the matter, and some people see such love as being hollow, worth less than a relationship and love that one has to fight to obtain and maintain.

Memories of past-lives tend to fascinate people. I've seen people who shrug off the idea that reincarnation can really exist, but if I mention to them that I've had memories of a past life, they very quickly become curious, interested in what I have to say. And more often than not it isn't the kind of curiosity where they're just waiting for a chance to prove me wrong. Plenty of people seem genuinely interested in memories and experiences of previous lives.

Past-life regression hypnosis is a popular way of unlocking memories of previous lives. This method often puts the person into a deep trance, and instructs them to love backward down a limeline of their own life, in order to stimulate the mind into pulling up old forgotten memories. Then the person is instructed to go further back, past their birth into their current life, to see what came before.

This method has its merits and its problems. While it can be easier to have a guide leading the session than to attempt regression on ones own, the person leading the hyponotism can also ask leading question of the hypnotised subject, prompting them to fabricate memories.

This method also runs the risk of merely allowing a person to give voice to subconscious desires rather than to see any previous lives they lived. There's a reason why there exists a joke that everyone was Cleopatra in a previous life. Lots of people want to believe they were somebody important, somebody grander and more influential than they are now, because so many people nowadays feel a sense of helplessness about their own lives.

Pop-culture history also comes into play here. After the movie "Titanic" was released, countless people came forward with their past-life memories of drowning on that ship. Far more people told stories, in fact, than there were people on the ship in the first place. Our own understanding of historical events, often ones with well-known historical figures, tends to overshadow such regressions, and makes us very likely to create the life we wish we had lived, rather than the one we actually did.

Some people claim they have gained memories of their past-lives through dreams, that the memories of these lives is stored in the subconscious and that they're easier to surface during sleep, when the subconscious is active and our minds are flooded with images. The trouble with this method is that it's very hard to tell what are dreams and what may be real memories coming to the surface. This does not mean that dreaming can never release memories of past-lives, but merely that one should be cautious in what they claim. What you think may be a past-life memory may actually just be a rather vivid dream.

Or vice versa.

There have been reports of people not only remembering their past lives, but also acquiring memories of their future lives. Many people are skeptical about such claims. How could one possible "remember" what hasn't happen yet. Or how could one possibly predict, with such accuracy, who they will be reborn as and what that life will be like?

Ultimately, there's no way to prove or disprove this, but there is some logic behind the claim, provided you can understand the concept of a non-linear "timeline". This theory holds that time does not exist on a single unbroken line, but is more of a fluid concept, and souls can jump about more freely than our physical bodies can. This theory allows some pretty strange things to happen, such as dying in this life and then being reborn into a life in 1600 CE, a time that according to our linear understanding of the concept has already passed and will never come again.

Souls traveling outside the physical plane is why you will also sometimes hear reports of past lives being spent on alien planets, though such reports are rare. Most people stick to what and where they know.

Ask somebody someday what they think of reincarnation. Get into a discussion with a few different people about it, and I guarantee that if you scratch the surface you'll find many interesting and varied opinions. Whether you believe in it or you don't, it's something that has fascinated people for centuries, gained a place in our popular culture through books and movies, and isn't likely to die out any time soon.

And even if it does, it'll just come right back again. You know how these things work.