Search the Community

Way back, at the beginning of my spiritual search and studies...I joined a weekly meditation group. They were also interested in healing and so they got into past life regression. I explored many of my own (in relation to current blocks). Outside of regressions, I have had memories of past lives come to me as well. One experience in particular I will share. A friend from the meditation group introduced me to an old friend of his. This friend took an instant dislike to me and was actively mean to me whenever he had the chance. I thought the reaction was too strong to be something of this life, and I suspected a past life connection. The topic of past lives did come up, and this friend did not believe in it or that he has ever lived before. So I knew I could not work in any way with him directly. That night I decided to delve into past lives between us that might result in this instant hatred. I found two. I knew we are all connected on "higher levels" and so I decided to reach out to him on a higher level. I saw him before me in my mind's eye and I explained that i figured out the problem between us. I said I did not remember, but know I do and I was totally at fault. I asked his forgiveness and he seemed to nod. A year later, I met this friend of my friend again and his attitude was totally neutral. Eventually, he warmed up. Years later, as good friends, we were talking about how we met and he said he could never figure out why he disliked me so much when we met. He also said, he couldn't figure out why it was different the next time we met. I have had many experiences of past lives (that I remembered or had to look into to remember) that had effects and when I worked on it, the situation changed. So I would have to say, from my own experience - past lives exist and reincarnation exists. Nonduality does not exclude the happening of reincarnation, but I would say it just means there are dreams within dreams. I haven't had anything to do with past lives though in over a decade. Yeah, it happens...but it is just another trap and distraction. Now is more important.

Dolores Cannon has written books on reincarnation, she had 40 years experience in hypnosis.

Ok, and who is the one who thought of the thought "I am the reincarnation of Jesus Christ". Did you create that thought or did you become aware of it. Be honest with yourself. - If you say you created the thought, then you willingly admit that you are unconsciously creating thoughts, because you were not conscious of the creation of the thought. Therefore, you willingly admit that you are unconsciousness. This cannot be the case, because if you check your present moment experience, you are conscious and you have nothing to do with the unconscious processes. - If you notice that you are aware of the thought once it is already produced and you had nothing to do with it's producing, then it is not your thought, so why identify yourself with what the thought says? If you notice you are only aware of the thought once it is produced, then maybe you should question a bit the one who just presented you with a lie. The lie is not that You are a form that is reincarnation of Jesus Christ necessarily - The lie is that the mind claims it is who you are and you believe it's produce, because you haven't questioned it. Cheers!

Reincarnation.. Thread posted..

I am confused with this topic. There seem to be the more "feel good" concepts about death and reincarnation like we can choose our next Incarnation and basically can do what we want after death. And that this life is a school that our soul has chosen to grow and experience even "higher" realms/experiences. That life is a eternal journey because the potential for growth is infinte. But then there are the tibetan buddhists for example who are well respected for their research and knowledge about death. In their understanding, we die as we have lived. And our whole life is basically a preparation for death. In the process of dying and death we pass through different Bardo states, and it is said that it's very difficult to maintain consciousness in these Bardos. That's why they prepare in this life (the natural bardo) for those so it's possible to escape Samsara. "If we cannot carry our practice into sleep," Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche writes. "If we lose ourselves every night, what chance do we have to be aware when death comes? Look to your experience in dreams to know how you will fare in death. Look to your experience of sleep to discover whether or not you are truly awake." What do you say? Is it possible to reconcile these concepts somehow?

@Annetta i belive. Yes. I in ego do not want to reincarnation form of being. Based on karma i value my journey noe this being present to accend. I feel its a path of evolution/revolution. If we have choice and act on our free will. Can one transcend time infinite love/vibration. 4th density 5th dimension being. Ok yes subject my words or see my positive journey now. I love mycellf. I love you.

Back when I was in college I was a pretty militant atheist. I didn't say that god was provably non-existent, but I certainly fought with people about their need to give up all beliefs. I would enter debates and talks with people about religion like all the time. Then my girlfriend at the time showed me three short stories called The Egg, The Last Question, and The Last Answer. Reading them shook me to the core and awakened something deep in me. It was the first time I had cried reading anything. She had only seen them as neat science fiction. But to me, it was different. Something inside of me knew that these stories pointed towards the truth, despite my inability to fully explain it. From then on, I understood what it was like to begin taking spiritual texts seriously. Over time, my feelings towards religions shifted toward pure open-mindedness and empathy. I wanted to share these stories with you to inspire you and give you food for thought. They only take at most 20 minutes each to finish, but their messages are quite profound. The first one to check out is called The Egg by Andy Weir. It helped me begin to understand reincarnation and karma. You can find it here: http://highexistence.com/images/view/the-egg-by-andy-weir/ The second one is called The Last Question by Isaac Asimov. It informs my current life purpose and what's worth it to focus on technologically. I'm pretty sure this story inspires Elon Musk and all of his companies, too: http://multivax.com/last_question.html The third one is called The Last Answer. It is also written by Isaac Asimov. It helps me understand a bit of the nature of growing the quality of my consciousness. I think it goes well with The Egg. Leo posted in the insights blog about how time and reality goes in a circle. Perhaps this is a way of what that would look like: http://www.thrivenotes.com/the-last-answer/ After years of contemplative, psychedelic, and academic research into enlightenment, I think these stories do a great job of at least inspiring one toward capital T Truth. They echo many of the main ideas of ancient traditions around the world, except modernized and thus easier to understand. So read em and post here what you think!!!

It seems pretty clear that time is a construct, because it is uneven. Also, there is a part of you that feels as though it never ages. Also, it is always the same moment, with different content. What type of being experiences a perpetual now and never ages? Who knows about reincarnation. It seems like a wish of the me. Who cares when you are immortal?

I think it's a metaphor. I see the illusion of individual awareness (aka egoic experience) to be the universe/existence/consciousness becoming self-aware/awakening. So each egoic experience (aka individual) is a portal or appendage into a process of awakening. So in this framework, reincarnation is a singular but complex consciousness acting through different portals with the potential of awakening in the world of form.

@Annetta Pythagoras discovered the Western mind - the idea of reincarnation. Pythagoras first brought vegetarianism to the West. It too has some connection with vegetarianism. Again you will be surprised: all vegetarian religions believe in reincarnation. Vegetarianism makes to move into memories of past lives easier. Meditation is like a big river — it will reach to the ocean; it is sure to reach. Meditation will surely bring you to God. There are, however, other intermediary applications of meditation also. Like small tributaries these can be directed into canals of meditation. Jati-smaran is one such auxiliary method of meditation. We can channelize the power of meditation towards our past lives also; meditation simply means the focusing of attention. There can be applications where one’s attention is focused on a given object, and one such application is jati-smaran — focusing on the dormant memories of past lives. Buddha has called this alaya-vigyan. There exists a corner in our minds which Buddha has named alaya-vigyan. Alaya-vigyan means the storehouse of consciousness. As we store all our junk in the basement of a house, similarly, there is a storehouse of consciousness that collects memories. Birth after birth, everything is stored in it. Nothing is ever removed from there, because a man never knows when he might need those things. The physical body changes, but, in our ongoing existence, that storehouse continues, remains with us. One never knows when it might be needed. And whatsoever we have done in our lives, whatsoever we have experienced, known, lived — everything is stored there.

What are your opinions/beliefs on/about reincarnation?

@Prabhaker What are your opinions on reincarnation? @Dingus It explained certain behaviors of mine that I have not been able to identify. It helped me to understand my ex's disdain of women. What I mean by the ex, I don't compare to her. I mean, his ex before was kind. I spoke to her. He chooses good nurturing women and ruins them. She will go through what the two of us did if she does not have a good family to watch out for her. I've met her. I'll have to look at her knowing she won't believe what he really is, keep quiet about it. And he'll mess her up if she ever marries him.

@unknownworld Most people mistakenly think relative truths are Absolute Truth. After contemplating for awhile, I think reincarnation might be true. I just have this gut level feeling but I can't grasp it with my mind. I also can't describe it with words. I think one has to be fully enlightened to understand it.

if you really want to see some real tangible progress then you have to do some type of psychedelic from time to time, like dmt or mushrooms. Just to enjoy those higher vibrations, those mystical vibration. Just having an experience like that, basking in those higher vibrations, you'll learn a lot subconsciously. it's definitely no requirement to do psychedelics, you can also meditate daily, if you want some real result try a good 30 minutes of meditation a day. one other thing you can do is read books about spirituality, any topic, be it chakra's, the soul, reincarnation, the infinite one, healing, crystals. The more you get in 'touch' with stuff related to spirituality, the more you'll grow,just by being busy with it, it doesn't matter if you don't get the ''lessons'' in the books, just being busy with that stuff gets you familiar with higher vibrations. it's how easy it is, just get busy with something related to enlightenment, and things will fall into place

You mean reincarnation. What if the consciousness is infinite and we are just adding to it. Or maybe there is specific and non specific consciousness. Non specific meaning universal and specific meaning related to oneself. But the self consciousness could be infinite in which we can experience birth, death and rebirth. waves in the same ocean

@Callum A https://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Souls-Studies-Between-Lives/dp/1567184995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491075019&sr=8-1&keywords=destiny+of+souls https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Souls-Studies-Between-Lives/dp/1567184855/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491075907&sr=8-1&keywords=journey+of+souls These were written by a hypnotherapist who was able to bring back patient's memories of what life was like in the spirit world before they came into physical bodies. Also goes into things like ghosts, spiritual guides, reincarnation etc. Normally I'd be pretty skeptical about it but he has 30 years of research done on it and the information he has received has been very consistent. Plus most of it just makes sense from an absolute point of view, we are just souls playing roles

Dimensions Beyond the Known by Osho A fascinating journey into the many mysterious realms of our existence, including what happens to a person after death, reincarnation, the esoteric roots of religious experience, and the dimension of time. There is also an account of the Tibetan practice of bardo. The beauty of this book is that it explains metaphysical concepts in a simple and comprehensive way. http://www.oshorajneesh.com/download/osho-books/hindi-translations/Dimensions_beyond_the_Known.pdf (Download in pdf format)

I also thought i was the reincarnation of [insert random guru here] the best you can do about all this stuff is just go on your meditation to not acumulate useless mental information when you have a true insight it will look true to the bones five minutes an hour a month later

Last year Jan 2016 I was determined to start a daily meditation habit for 20 minutes. I was very diligent with my practice until 4 months later when something drastic happened to my consciousness. It started subtly and gradually increased by several magnitudes. My meditation practice was the "do nothing" method. My meditation sessions would make me feel "in a focused and clear" state. I felt that I had more energy throughout the day and was overall more productive in my life. I saw this initially as some positive side effects from meditating daily. In April I started to feel euphoric and so full of energy (more than previously). I became extremely outgoing and started to eat and sleep less. When I would get home I would sleep for 3 hours and then meditate some more. While meditating I received a "revelation", and I "realised" that reality is an illusion and life is meaningless. I became paranoid and experienced reality as Orwellian. I believed I had a recollection of "my past lives" and I was the reincarnation of Gandhi and decided to go on a hunger strike for a few days. I also started to hallucinate a bit. What happened afterwards is I got sent to mental institution and was diagnosed with acute psychosis and got prescribed anti psychotic drugs and had to go through a lengthy rehabilitation process. I came to learn recently that meditation could lead to some negative consequences especially if you have had a past of abuse (which I do). I was not aware of this fact prior to starting meditation which I did because of all the positive effects I have heard about it. What I want to know is what exactly occurred in me? Did I experience a kundalini awakening or the dark knight of the soul? Or something else? Let me clarify that under this process I did not intake any form of alcohol or drugs prior to getting rehabilitated. I also was NOT under the guide of a teacher when exploring meditation.

This idea does not exist in the religions that have arisen out of Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism. The philosopher Keith Augustine has written "the vast majority of Stevenson's cases come from countries where a religious belief in reincarnation is strong, and rarely elsewhere, seems to indicate that cultural conditioning (rather than reincarnation) generates claims of spontaneous past-life memories. The philosopher C. T. K. Chari of Madras Christian College in Chennai, a specialist in parapsychology, argued that Stevenson was naive and that the case studies were undermined by his lack of local knowledge. Chari wrote that many of the cases had come from societies, such as that of India, where people believed in reincarnation, and that the stories were simply cultural artifacts. @Deep You will be surprised: all vegetarian religions believe in reincarnation, and all non-vegetarian religions believe in only one life. This can not be a coincidence. Pythagoras vegetarianism first brought to the West. And Pythagoras discovered the Western mind - the idea of reincarnation. If a person is an absolute vegetarian, he can easily recall past lives. Pythagoras visited India, deeply meditated realized past lives. Nature in its wisdom never allows you to remember your past lives – unless you come to a point where it can be allowed, when you become so meditative that nothing disturbs you, then the gates open and all your past lives are before you. It is an automatic mechanism, though sometimes the mechanism doesn’t work. Through accidents some children are born who can remember. But their lives are destroyed. You don’t remember because it would be difficult for you to manage. Even in this life you are making such a mess – many lives remembered, you would simply go mad.

Here is clip of Dr. Stevenson presenting his research on reincarnation. If we are One consciousness, why do only certain people remember and not all of us? Doesn't that mean consciousness can become individualized or appear to be?

@0ne I just stumbled upon this book called "the truth contest" http://www.truthcontest.com. What if there is only consciousness, only life aka reincarnation. Killing oneself would not help at all. If anything I'd come back and maybe be less fortunate than now. Makes me appreciate my current life even more.

Hey guys, This evening, I attended a lecture by Pete Hulme OBE this evening, a former consultant psychologist and head lecturer at my university. The talk was titled Consciousness: Spirit, Mind or Brain? It was incredibly interesting and inspiring, mentioning things from philosophy to LSD. He left a reading list as a handout that I thought might be interesting/useful to some people.. so here you go! Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary: The Spiritual Brain - a Neuroscience's Case for the Existence of the Soul. A rigorous examination of the work done up to that point in the field of parapsychology. Stephen E. Braude: Immortal Remains - the evidence for life after death. An in-depth consideration of a small number of the strongest cases in favour of medium-ship and reincarnation, testing them against such alternative explanations as dissociated or psi. Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick: Past Lines - an investigation into reincarnation memories. One of the more readily accessible treatments of this issue, again considering other explanations as well as reincarnation. David Fontana: Is There an Afterlife? - a comprehensive overview of the evidence. One of the rare books, written by a practicing psychologist, that is not dismissing the evidence out of hand. H. J, Irwin: An Introduction to Parapsychology. A basic introduction. Edward F. and Emily Williams Kelly: Irreducible Mind - toward a technology for the 21st Century. A comprehensive attempt by two academic editors to gather together a detailed overview of the evidence for mind-brain independence. David C. Lamberth: William James and the Metaphysics of Experience. A fairly demanding exploration of Jame's approach. Pim van Lommel: Consciousness Beyond Life - the science of the near death experience. A presentation of one of the few prospective studies done in this area to date. Alexander Moreira-Almedia and Franklin Sanrana Santos: Exploring Frontiers of the Mind-Brain Relationship. A bit of a curate's egg but there are some excellent chapters triggered by the proceedings at a symposium in Brazil. Dean Radin: The Conscious Universe - the scientific truth of psychic phenomena. It deals in depth with the supportive research that had been undertaken until that point on the vexed issue of psi. t has been criticized for failing to take hoaxes into account and for misinterpreting the file-drawer effect. Worth a look none the less. Jeffery M. Schwartz: The Mind and the Brain - Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. This book principally addresses the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and concludes: "The clinical and physiological results achieved with OCD support the notion that the conscious and willful mind cannot be explained solely and completely by matter, by the material substance of the brain." Evan Thompson: Waking, Dreaming, Being. Just to show that I don't only read books that confirm my biases, this one is worth a look. Thompson perhaps comes closer than most to the ideal of complete agnosticism in his exploration of consciousness. I don't think he quite manages to shake off a bias towards a skepticism that reads more like dismissal sometimes. So yeah, hope you enjoy It's also worth noting that he considers himself of the Baha'i faith. Good vibes to you all.

Hinduism is kind of everything you need and everything you dont need. Budhism is also kind of same minus brahmanical order. Budha actually fought with Hindu brahmins veiws which is same of abrahamic religion. Hinduism dasha maha vidya (tantric) has lot of freedom compared to some budhist practise. And Hindus veiw on reincarnation is cool.

@heisenburger You are forgetting something important here....those who are suffering in wars, and those animals who are getting killed, millions of them, are already "you". Are they not? So what are you afraid of? Ok that was mystic mumbo jumbo enlightened master talk about. It all depends on how you define "you". People have a different idea of self depending on their level of achievement. Lets see: you=body: it becomes dirt for sure, nothing is reborn that is body. you=ego: or the lower mind, responsible for survival of the organism. It surely gets destroyed as brain decomposes. you=mind: hmm .. we are getting fuzzy here, because mind is non-physical, perhaps something will survive, like an artistic skill or effect of a deep trauma. But its probable that most of it is wiped out, including the personality (individualness), memories, and knowledge. you=universal mind: we are in pure theoretical area here (as far as my own experience goes), but I can guess that most of it survives. It includes the impressions taken from current life, the storehouse of impressions is universal mind, aka Karmic store. According to some, it is this thing that is reborn (concept of Jiva, or soul). To stop it from playing the game of lives and death (samsara), you need to get liberated (nirvana). To be honest, it all is just theory for me (at this time, no direct experience whatsoever). you=consciousness: there is no doubt that you are the consciousness, and it cannot die, its not a thing, not physical, not non-physical. Its the witness, and it will witness the next drama on its screen. It is free, it is already in nirvana, nothing needs to be done. So you can pick a definition, and worry about death and reincarnation at that level. In the end, you will find that its useless. Some things are unknowable. Most are beyond a person's control (dead or alive). The only thing you can do is be enlightened, remain as consciousness. Rest may happen when the time is right. All the best for your next incarnation