Newsletter

I. On Reincarnation

I have been facilitating quite a few past life regressions lately and this has gotten me thinking about reincarnation as a belief system, how long it been around and how my belief in it has effected me.

Having facilitated part life regressions for the past eighteen years or so, obviously I believe in reincarnation. When my mother died at age 49 which seemed like a very young age to me, I began to question the validity of having only one lifetime. I had been brought up in a Protestant branch of the Christian religion, however it didn't make sense to me that we only got one shot at life. Why would a just and wondrous God/Goddess put us here for a short, one-time shot at a physical life and if we are "good" we are rewarded and if we are "bad" we dwell in misery forever and ever?

Shortly after my mother died, I experienced my first past life regression. After this I knew totally that I had lived before and that I would live again. Since then I have believed in reincarnation which is the belief that our soul or awareness survives death and returns at varying intervals to be born again into another physical body for the purpose of growing in wisdom and self-knowledge.

The more I facilitate regressions and the more I learn about reincarnation, the more sense it makes. First off, did you know that even the early Christians believed in reincarnation? I recently learned the following: it was not until Emperor Justinian summoned the fifth Council of Constantinople, now known also as the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 543 A.D. that the belief in reincarnation was censored from religious literature and teachings. It seems the noble folk of the day did not like to think about the fact that they might be a "commoner" in their next lifetime. Reincarnation makes all men and women equal and that made it difficult for the nobility of the time to convince others of their divinity.

Also reincarnation puts the responsibility for our lives and our spiritual development on ourselves for it teaches that the truth is found within us. This too was very unpopular with the church officials who did not encourage the "people" to think for themselves for this took power away from the church officials.

In spite of efforts to destroy all references to reincarnation in the New Testament, several can still be found. Even though I knew these passages, I never thought about them in the context of reincarnation until I got more involved in experiencing my own past lives. In Matthew 16:13 Jesus asks his disciples who the people thought he was. They told him some thought him John the Baptist, others thought Elijah or Jeremiah. Again, in Matthew 17:10-13 after Jesus states he is the Messiah, the One who had been prophesied; the disciples then ask him, if he is the Messiah wasn't Elijah to have come before him? Jesus responds explaining that Elijah had been reborn and they hadn't recognized him. They then understood him to mean that John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Elijah.

In John 9:1-3 there is a story of a man born blind. The disciples question Jesus on whether it is the man who sinned or his parents that he was born blind. Jesus explains it was neither but that the man was born blind so the power of God could be demonstrated. No one, including Jesus, finds it preposterous that the blind man could have performed some act before his birth to have caused his blindness. Pretty interesting?

Often people who do not understand reincarnation think people are attracted to this belief because it frees them from taking responsibility for their own actions. They think that people who believe in reincarnation think they can do anything they want in this lifetime without being concerned because they can just come back and do it again. Actually personal responsibility is one of the main lessons taught by reincarnation for in reincarnation you recognize the role your past actions have played in creating both the desirable and undesirable elements of your present life. This is a very strong motivation to make every effort to build a good life today so that your future lifetimes will be better. I know I think twice before doing certain things, just cause I don't want to come back and do this one all over again.

My belief is that we choose our parents, we choose the important people in our lives and we even draw up a sort of blueprint for each lifetime. All this choosing puts all the responsibility on us for then making choices in our lifetime that support our growth and creativity. For me, this belief has allowed me to let go of making a lot of judgments about others. Because I do not know what someone has done in a previous life or why someone may have chosen a particular role, it is hard for me to judge their actions or even what is done to them.

Consequently, I am kept busy working out my own blueprint and my own choices around what I have come here to do this lifetime. That's why it is so important for me to support myself and others in living fully and in creating and living lives of purpose, love and abundance.

Next issue I'll discuss what benefits you may gain by getting in touch with your past lives when you experience a regression.

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Sedona Sunrise
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