My Reincarnation
Like many people in diverse parts of the world, I have a strong personal belief that I have lived many lives.
I understand that my convictions concerning my reincarnation are by no means unique.
I have met many people who were reared in many different religious traditions who have, likewise, held strong beliefs in their own reincarnation.
The concept of reincarnation made its way into mainstream thinking in the western world during the last forty or fifty years.
Many people associate a belief in reincarnation with Eastern faiths that were brought to the West during the sixties and seventies, and, in fact, there was little teaching available on the subject until that time.
I remember when I was a very young Bible reader coming upon a passage that fascinated me.
I had not yet heard of reincarnation and wondered what was meant when Jesus' disciples asked him for an explanation as to why a man had been born blind.
"Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" We know that Jesus answered, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
" Thus arises an opportunity to debate the meaning and implications of Jesus' answer.
He said, "Neither," but he did not correct them for assuming that reincarnation could have been a logical explanation.
In other words, that the man's own sins from a previous life could have caused him to be born blind in a subsequent life.
If such an explanation was acceptable to Jesus, it would have made clear Jesus' own acceptance of reincarnation as a reality.
Perhaps partly because of this passage, without realizing it at the time, occasional thoughts of my reincarnation became a seed that would grow in my mind and heart.
Many years later, I became acquainted with a doctor in New York who was an orthodox Jew.
I took the opportunity one day to discuss the passage with her.
She replied that the transmigration of souls had always been a teaching of Judaism but that it was thought of differently amongst the Jews than the Hindus and Buddhists.
She explained that if a child died in a Jewish family, the next child born to the same family was thought to be the same soul as the child who had died.
It was not commonly believed amongst the Jews that the same soul lived over and over again in different bodies, in different cultures throughout long periods of history.
Although the years have seen me turn a sharp corner on belief in the Bible, I am still fascinated by the fact that a belief in reincarnation persists in so many cultures throughout the world.
The belief in recurring lives seems native to the human imagination.
Or is it a deeper aspect in the soul, a part-remembering? I began a meditation practice over thirty years ago and have practiced chi kung and tai chi for about twenty years.
During these practices I have had a number of spontaneous experiences-insights and recollections-concerning my reincarnation in past lives.
These experiences are not uncommon among meditators and Chi kung can bring up and dislodge ancient energy blocks that have their origins in past-life traumas.
During these strange experiences recollections can be extremely clear and detailed or vague but accompanied by strong emotion.
We can intuit much from these glimpses and recollections but we must not lose sight of the fact that the most important life we have ever lived is this one, right now.
For this is the only moment, the only opportunity, the only chance for us to direct our progress through the joys and mysteries of life.
So, despite my belief in my reincarnation, I keep myself firmly grounded in the present.
There is no life so charmed or fascinating as the one we can cherish in the here and now.
I understand that my convictions concerning my reincarnation are by no means unique.
I have met many people who were reared in many different religious traditions who have, likewise, held strong beliefs in their own reincarnation.
The concept of reincarnation made its way into mainstream thinking in the western world during the last forty or fifty years.
Many people associate a belief in reincarnation with Eastern faiths that were brought to the West during the sixties and seventies, and, in fact, there was little teaching available on the subject until that time.
I remember when I was a very young Bible reader coming upon a passage that fascinated me.
I had not yet heard of reincarnation and wondered what was meant when Jesus' disciples asked him for an explanation as to why a man had been born blind.
"Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" We know that Jesus answered, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
" Thus arises an opportunity to debate the meaning and implications of Jesus' answer.
He said, "Neither," but he did not correct them for assuming that reincarnation could have been a logical explanation.
In other words, that the man's own sins from a previous life could have caused him to be born blind in a subsequent life.
If such an explanation was acceptable to Jesus, it would have made clear Jesus' own acceptance of reincarnation as a reality.
Perhaps partly because of this passage, without realizing it at the time, occasional thoughts of my reincarnation became a seed that would grow in my mind and heart.
Many years later, I became acquainted with a doctor in New York who was an orthodox Jew.
I took the opportunity one day to discuss the passage with her.
She replied that the transmigration of souls had always been a teaching of Judaism but that it was thought of differently amongst the Jews than the Hindus and Buddhists.
She explained that if a child died in a Jewish family, the next child born to the same family was thought to be the same soul as the child who had died.
It was not commonly believed amongst the Jews that the same soul lived over and over again in different bodies, in different cultures throughout long periods of history.
Although the years have seen me turn a sharp corner on belief in the Bible, I am still fascinated by the fact that a belief in reincarnation persists in so many cultures throughout the world.
The belief in recurring lives seems native to the human imagination.
Or is it a deeper aspect in the soul, a part-remembering? I began a meditation practice over thirty years ago and have practiced chi kung and tai chi for about twenty years.
During these practices I have had a number of spontaneous experiences-insights and recollections-concerning my reincarnation in past lives.
These experiences are not uncommon among meditators and Chi kung can bring up and dislodge ancient energy blocks that have their origins in past-life traumas.
During these strange experiences recollections can be extremely clear and detailed or vague but accompanied by strong emotion.
We can intuit much from these glimpses and recollections but we must not lose sight of the fact that the most important life we have ever lived is this one, right now.
For this is the only moment, the only opportunity, the only chance for us to direct our progress through the joys and mysteries of life.
So, despite my belief in my reincarnation, I keep myself firmly grounded in the present.
There is no life so charmed or fascinating as the one we can cherish in the here and now.
