When my spiritual “awakening” really kicked in and I began to investigate this whole spirituality thing in earnest, I constantly looked for validations of what I was hearing, if not outright proof. I had to remain a skeptic until my doubts had been satisfied – otherwise, my belief system would have been based on nothing (i my estimation, and I’m the one that counts). Some people can go willy-nilly and presto, they believe. I guess that’s good if it works for you. But not me.
Part of that process was to look for inconsistencies…between various belief systems, from one teacher to another, and even within the teachings of any given sage. There are many, if you’re paying attention. But they become
The Elephant in the Room!
less troubling as you come to realize that there are as many ways to express an abstract idea as there are people who comment on them. So, eventually you’re able to hold a rather broad tolerance (if not complete acceptance) for various concepts.
One of the most troubling conflicts that occurred to me early on was this: how is it that we can have “contact” with souls whose bodies have died…while those same souls are supposedly moving on to another incarnation? If Aunt Emma reincarnates and becomes Bill Smith the plumber, wouldn’t she be too busy to go back and be Aunt Emma just for our amusement?
People often have the experience of having “contact” with departed souls. I myself have had instances where I “felt” a presence of a departed loved one…and my friend Lindsay Curtis had an “accidental” contact with a recently-deceased dear family member in the course of doing a reading for me, and what she told me was incontrovertible. So there’s enough validation for me.
On the other hand, I also know that once we pass on, most of us eventually decide to re-incarnate our souls into another, entirely new body and life. The space of time between lives can be long or short from a human perspective (of course, the astral planes are beyond time as far as we understand it). But if you pass away in the times of the Pharaohs, and you come back and there are cellphones and computers? A big leap for sure. It would be more efficient to check in every hundred years or so to keep up and avoid a big culture shock for the soul. We do need to acclimate to whatever culture is in place when we get here. I’ve had clients who’ve experienced 100 lifetimes in the space of a few hundred years, which means that some of those were pretty darn short. It means that a sperm fertilizing an egg and then something going wrong might be considered a lifetime. Or if the particular period of history was a time with large infant mortality, the lifetimes might come and go quickly.
Anyhow...the elephant in the room and one of the things that nobody talks about is: how is this possible? How can we be talking to Aunt Emma while she’s off being Bill Smith the plumber?
I think the answer lies in the concept of multi-dimensionality. When we’re incarnated into a physical life, we deal with the third dimension (physical), the fourth dimension (thoughts and emotions), and the fifth (the spiritual or soul dimension). Those we can comprehend to some extent. But there are dimensions beyond that…versions and aspects of us that include the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, but also include other aspects existing at higher frequencies. Yes, we do evolve into these higher aspects of existence…but since those realms are timeless, those versions of us already exist. I know…this stuff can short out your circuits in a hurry. But it does have a logic.
Those higher, more-developed versions of us retain the lower aspects in all forms. Whatever our “ultimate self” is (God, ultimately), it includes and retains the experiences of every lifetime – that’s how we learn and grow. Therefore, a part of our larger Self remains Aunt Martha, while another part of us is busy going about being Bill the plumber. The experiences of being Aunt Emma cannot be erased – they have happened; and so, those experiences and that personality remain available for contact with us.
It’s worth noting that we’re not talking about earthbound spirits here. An earthbound spirit has no choice…it has somehow become stuck halfway between the Earthly dimensions and the astral planes, which is apparently a nightmarish scenario. I’m speaking strictly about souls who have legitimately passed on, but who can choose to make certain portions of their existence (Aunt Emma) available to communicate with us in one way or another.
Not to confuse the issue, but it seems appropriate here to also interject a bit about parallel lives. In the framework in which I work, we consider that in each incarnation, we actually lead six different lives simultaneously. There is a purpose for this: by leading more than one lifetime, the learning curve is more efficient because we get six times the experiences. These parallel lives take place in alternate realities…not to be confused with the vibrational dimensions mentioned above. (Incidentally, if in any given parallel lifetime we raise our consciousness high enough, we can become somewhat aware of these other lives and actually be affected by spiritual blocks and resrictions originating in that other world. This can be quite confusing…it’s like, “what did I do to cause this?” when it’s something that really has nothing to do with the life of which you’re normally conscious).
In summary: there really is no conflict between reincarnation and mediumship. It is rather odd, in my estimation, that the fact of a potential conflict in concepts has not been discussed anywhere I’ve seen up til now. Possibly it has been written about, and I’d love to see that discussion if my readers can provide any. Maybe the lack of discussion means that the question was too uncomfortable for most. Or maybe I’m the only one who brought that particular elephant into the room so that I could get him back out. One thing I do know is that any conflict left unexamined is a potential deal-breaker, for me, and this question was certainly one of those.
See above, Patricia. Time and spac and a whole lot of other things have no menaing in the upper dimensions. I gave it a shot and that’s my firm belief on the topic, but this is one of those things that you’re simply not ever going to be “clear” about.
I am still not clear on how we can communicate with a spirit/soul if he/she has reincarnated. Is it just a part of the soul that reincarnates? Sometimes I feel my loved ones presence, and can even hear them but if they are already reincarnated how is that possible?
Hi Monica,
Sorry you’re confused. I did _not_ say that anyone remembered 100 lifetimes. I said that they _experienced_ them – at the soul level. Yes, there is a veil in place and it’s there for a good reason. Imagine remembering the pain of 100 lifetimes at once…100 possibly painful deaths. Sometimes portals are open and we can experience past lifetimes. Usually this is not in our best interest, and I and others can help to close those portals.
Say you have incarnated on this planet 500 times. It’s likely that you’ve lived among trees and been a singer, and 498 other things as well. It doesn’t pay to get too wrapped up in that stuff…what matters is the here and now. To pursue knowledge of past lifetimes just out of curiosity is a form of escapism. We only need to get involved with that stuff when there’s a need to clear something that happened in a past life. That’s it.
This article was along the lines of explaining a seeming contradiction, nothing more.
Hi,now I feel like im confused about life. I read many places and was told by the angels(the angel books),that we all struck a deal. That when we are born, we are born with amnesia, and that we dont remember who we were in our past lives. So I dont get how your client can remember their 100s of past lives? I’ve been told I was a torch singer and a woman in a tribe who lived amoung trees. But I dont remember, would like to. Maybe that’s why I have the urge to learn how to sing? But yes i’m confused….and sorta lost in this. 🙂
Thank you for reading.
I like you fine – but we have a summer up here and only get so much playtime outside, so I don’t read as much. I suspect not everybody in the world reads my blog, ether. 😉
BTW, yeah – it’s probably a good idea to leave parallels to their rightful owners…if she’s a pianist who also happens to be an axe murderer. that might be a fence you don’t want to peek over.
If this “you” could “go” to another parallel, it would be a null result because being in that other universe you would not be this you…you would be the you in that other reality. Begs the question of what is “space”, etc. The point is to do one’s job here, and let the rest take care of itself. As the thirst for “knowing” things abates, the path is a lot more clear.
Anyhow all of this shit was answered in the original Star Trek series. Right? 😎
You must not love me anymore 🙂 – I touched on this slightly last week here: http://julielangdonbarrett.com/2012/06/13/how-do-you-connect-to-a-loved-one-who-has-died/
I really do struggle a bit with the terminology that we use (as you will see in the article) – is it “higher self”? Something else? Well, whatever it “really is”, I guess we need a common vernacular so we all know more or less what the other one is talking about, even if it may not be technically correct. Unfortunately there is no official authority on these things, as you say.
When I meet up with entities who say they are reincarnated already, they give me names of places that I have never consciously heard of before, but when I Google them, they do exist. They even describe how they are basically “busy focused over there” but came here “to help so-and-so with some answers. The QUALITY of the voice or connection is just so different from anything else I’ve ever experienced. Really can’t explain it more than that.
BTW in one of my “parallel lives” (or so I suspect) I am a pianist in Seattle. It’s really quite elegant there – much nicer than here – hope I am being a “good girl” and making up in the Karma department 🙂 It’s weird how you can peer over the fence like that. I wonder what it would feel like if you stood in the same space at the same time, or if that is even possible? Like is here really here or elsewhere??
Hi Linds,
The best way to visualize the parallel lives thing is like a bundle of strings. You have six strings and they’re all tied together at either end. Same time of birth, likewise death.
But in between, they could be all over the place in relation to one another. And the two ends are two of the rare exceptions to the rule of conscious free will in a sense….we determined those beforehand for the most part, and so they’re the same in all realities.
To put a fine point on it, I wouldn’t tend to think of them as parts of you; rather, as a single radio with six tuners each tuned to a different station.
I’ve been wondering this for AGES. Because my dad died 25 years ago, I always wondered: which is it? Is he here watching over us (his daughters and wife) he left behind, or is he reincarnated and is running around as an 8 year old little kid somewhere in the world now? Can it be both? It’s only recently that I’ve come to realize the answer is, well, both.
It’s a hard concept to grasp, really. Maybe it’s hard for our 3D minds to grasp, and that’s why no one talks about it.
The 6 lives at once thing…now that is perplexing. Would all 6 lives end on the same day? Or would the other 5 parts of me carry on even if I die here on earth?