The Concept of Reincarnation

Christianity has never served as a champion of the doctrine of reincarnation. For this we can thank the later leaders of the Church who were too indoctrinated by the ways of earthly life and who had not the slightest inclination of spiritual existence. The doctrine of the resurrection was pure and simple as it was taught by Jesus yet they turned it into a major complication. Resurrection was never a major doctrine taught by Jesus as it was already a well established part of the Pharisee belief structure and only the Sadducees did not believe in the doctrine. The differences between the Eastern concepts of reincarnation and the Pharisee resurrection were only slight, hindered only by a lack of comprehension, and it is only on the building of this comprehension that Jesus worked upon.

During our modern times the Church’s decline of influence upon the masses has caused many to drift away toward Eastern concepts of the “soul”, its eternal aspects, and reincarnation that went with it. The concepts of eternity and reincarnation proved a better substitute then the teachings of damnation, hellfire and brimstones. Having never been taught the proper principles of the resurrection, so also have the masses now blindly accepted the doctrine of reincarnation without fully realizing the implications that go with it. They fail to realize that the Eastern doctrines have their own versions of damnation, hellfire and brimstone. Having finally escaped their future prospects of roasting in hell they can now look forward in living an exciting life as a dung beetle or maggot to compensate for the wrongs of their lives.

If we are to accept reincarnation as a fact within our lives, then we also need to realize that the past has played a major role in fashioning the personalities that we are today. Even though we are simply the products of yesterday, new age gurus have set themselves on a tangent in claiming that knowing ones past lives will interfere with the present, and to focus upon past experiences will result in reigniting past karma. These gurus are only partly right. Such claims are usually only made by those who do not understand the concepts and lack all aspects of experience which teaches the proper applications. These so called gurus usually suffer from emotional hang-ups with the belief that we all suffer from them. Yet they subscribe firmly to the old saying, “Know Thyself”, yet shun the steps to attaining this “knowing.” The believing that one is “soul” or “spirit” is not enough in the knowing of Self.

Your personal autobiography

If reincarnation is to be the fundamental doctrine of truth in our lives than the first question we would be compelled to ask is – how old are we and how many lives have we actually lived? Are we a thousand years old…several thousands…or several millions? If we are, for instance, a million years old, how many life experiences were necessary to get us to the point of where we are today?

In the light of spiritual wisdom, to accept the possibility that we are one million years old would be a confession that we are mere babies yet held within the arms of eternity which has no boundaries of time and space. Those of us who have experienced past life revision have come to the conclusion that each cycle of incarnation occurs every 75 years after the in-between experience. In other words, we take a 75 year break before once again reincarnating, though this cycle is often subjected to individual needs and determination. Without specifying a specific cycle of incarnation, one can well imagine how many lives one may have experienced within that one million year span of existence.

Where our own personal autobiographies are concerned we may well say that each life time of experience equals one chapter within the book, which by no means is near the stages of completion. This autobiography is your own personal book of wisdom written by no one but yourself and a guaranteed best seller had you ever the means to put it into print. It would become the world’s greatest mystery novel, its hallowed pages endowed with love, romance, achievements and disappointments and enchantments that defies our current logical understandings.

Lets assume that your autobiography, while in its present state of incompletion, has already accumulated 500 chapters, and, by simply having an insight on the current chapter, the 501st, can you ever attain a reasonable conclusion of who you are, where you have come from, where you are intending to go, or what has brought you to the present theme of the chapter you are now busy writing? You cannot possibly have any conceptions on who the heroes are and who are the villains in your story. You cannot “know” the present without a revision of the “past”.

For instance, let’s assume you are in a relationship – how is it possible for you to determine accurately the sincerity of the person you are with? You only have a few pages of an incomplete chapter to form any sensible conclusion, to either decipher him, or her, as either being a hero or a villain within your story. You have no insight whatsoever to help you in determining what has brought this person into your current chapter. What part does this person play in the entirety of your book? Has this person appeared in other chapters – if so, what was the fundamental influence of this person? Why was there a need for the person to appear in your book…and for what reason? What plot does the person play in the betterment of your book?

Questions, questions and more questions but few answers – but such is the reality of your life. It even becomes more complicated when you realize that your autobiography is linked to the autobiographies of many others - all busy trying to decipher where you fit into their books and how best to use you in their stories. How do they consider you – a hero or a villain?

Our personal scripts upon the stage of earthly life

There is an old saying that says that the earth is a stage upon which we all must play a part. This statement couldn’t get any nearer to the truth. Meditating on this statement can help in the gaining of insight on life itself. In many ways we are all actors playing out our lines according to the script for which we have been chosen. The problem is, most of us are so involved in the drama that we get carried away and have forgotten that we are only following a script, and that this script is not based on reality, but on temporary involvement.

In this scenario its best to visualize the earth as the stage. This stage would be lit up by powerful lights to focus upon the actors, or participants, where that beyond the stage is reduced to semidarkness, and usually unseen by the actors on stage. Within this semidarkness there is absolute silence: here the directors and assistants watch on with other helpers busy with the things that they do. Sometimes, during the performance on stage, other actors not yet scripted in the appearance, but soon to be, attend for casual observance before they actually participate.

Lets just assume that in this play you are playing the part of Betty Swollentoes who plays the part of a struggling housewife whose sole intention is the upkeep of the house and making sure the children are fed. Your stage husband, well…he is a bit boring but he suites the part to fit your expectations. Deep inside you know you can play better parts but you yet need to convince the directors. Fortunately for you, the famous actor Henry Silverknight had an interest in you and so had arranged to play a small part in your play to assist in you gaining more experience and at the same time gaining more favor from the directors. You would love to play the leading lady beside Mr. Silverknight but know that such a script may be beyond your means and level of expertise as you are too used to playing the misfortunate struggling housewife. Better scripts had already been offered but which you had refused and this is some concern to the directors that you may be incapable of playing the part, or even walk out half way through. So unless you can gain more confidence and experience you can never play the leading lady within a film of high investment and must remain content with minor scripts.

As in life, the stage is your place of performance, the area beyond stage is the astral plane experienced during times of break; here you partake in coffee and snacks which are not available during play, and also get advice and guidance to the performance of your play; whereas beyond the confinement of the studio, the outside, is the heavenly state, to which you cannot return until the play is done. 

Reincarnation and the Bible