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Reflections

What If Reincarnation Were True?
How would you live your life differently?

I have been reading a lot about reincarnation lately, particularly the work of Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist from the University of Virginia and Brian Weiss, a psychiatrist in Florida. As a result of pondering the idea of reincarnation, I have become fascinated with how we might live our lives differently if we knew for certain that reincarnation was a reality.

While we contemplate this idea, assume for the moment at least that reincarnation is a fact. Spend a moment just sinking into that idea. So how does that challenge basic beliefs that you might have?

  • Trusting that reincarnation is a fact means that death is certainly not the end of your life as a soul.
  • If reincarnation is a fact, it means that life is not a meaningless jumble of events.
  • It means that what occurs in this lifetime is related to what occurred in other lifetimes.
  • It means that how you respond to events in this lifetime means that you are influencing future lifetimes.
  • It means that response is not just about how you act, but how you think and feel.
  • It means that your response to certain people or events may not be simply as a result of previous experiences in this lifetime only, but responses may also be influenced by experiences from other lifetimes.
  • It means that you may have actually agreed to the events of this lifetime in a “pre-life contemplation.”
  • It means that consciousness exists beyond our physical bodies.

As I contemplated what must necessarily follow if reincarnation is a fact, I began to look practically at my life and ask how that knowing changes things for me in my every day existence. Here are some ideas that emerged as I contemplated that idea:

  • It makes me more thoughtful about seemingly random encounters.
  • I recognize that everything that happens in my life is part of a meaningful lifetime plan.
  • I am more mindful of my emotions in situations. I ask if the reaction is coming from this lifetime or does it seems “off the wall” based on my previous experiences in this lifetime. I notice this particularly with immediate reactions to people that I first meet. If I have strong feelings about them (positive or negative), I wonder if that is from a previous lifetime or simply a response based on energies.
  • When I am faced with a difficult situation, I am more willing to enter into in completely whereas avoidance used to be my preferred response. I believe that if I don’t resolve the issue in this lifetime, I will merely encounter it again in a future lifetime and I might as well deal with it now rather than later.
  • On the other hand, if something seems just too difficult, I recognize that I will see it again and it is okay to pass this time if I am just not capable of resolving the issue in my own heart and mind. That gives me peace. It isn’t as if I will only be given one chance to deal with a certain issue.
  • I do not fear death, recognizing that the soul lives on. However, I am eager to make this life as meaningful as possible.
  • I enjoy contemplating those close to me and what issues we might have resolved and left unresolved in previous lifetimes.
  • I am more compassionate with other people, recognizing that I might well be in their position at sometime in the continuum of reincarnation.

Well, those are a few of the ways that the belief in reincarnation has affected my life. I invite you to contemplate this concept and to share your ideas with me via the website. You might want to add how you think our country would behave differently as well.

 

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