REINCARNATION...REAL OR IMAGINED

Reincarnation…Real or imagined An interesting aspect of getting older is the tendency to spend more time thinking about what you believe, and is it real or imagined. Are they my beliefs or were they instilled as default information when I was I too young to ask any questions. The orphanages I was brought up in were all Catholic. Up until I was thirteen, my only reference for existing and correct behavior was based on the Catholic point of view. Over the years, I never gave it much thought, since religion was not an active part of my life. After fifty, even into my sixties, I started to recognize my mortality and spent periodic thought about life and death, nothing serious, just reflecting contemplation. Although early on I had rejected most religious concepts, I never really qualified why, just felt they did not make sense. My underlying intent was to one day figure it all out. Well, that day arrived. The seventies was like opening a door and being hit with a bright light. I suddenly felt a need to have solid answers, since the light at the end of the tunnel seemed to be getting a lot brighter. A number of years ago, I read some books about an individual who had a verified ability to correctly diagnose a broad latitude of physical illnesses. He was not a doctor and only had a third grade education, yet was able to lie down, go into a sleep like trance and recite the persons problem and how to cure it. Rather than spend time exploring the details of his abilities, the reader can goggle an overview of his history “Edger Cayce”. There is a research library, in Virgina Beach, that the medical profession, or the general public, can read all about his thousands of sessions. He died in the early 1940’s, so his capabilities are fairly current and can be studied by today’s scientific methods. Although I am fascinated by his many correct diagnosis of people who he had never met, the one thought that leapt out to me was his recognizing reincarnation as a common event. Reincarnation, no way. All my prior religious default settings triggered alarm bells. I do not remember reincarnation being part of the sequence of events from birth to death. You were born as a single spiritual entity, would die, go to heaven, limbo, purgatory or hell. Zip, that was it. How could the nun’s be wrong? However, after the alarms quit ringing, I stepped back and re-examined by beliefs and the source of the source. I will not go into details of my current religious beliefs, one, because they would be very hard to explain and two, they are based on faith or belief, rather than fact. Faith can be a fact to the individual, but only a theory to someone else. My main thought here is to share my thinking on reincarnation. The internet is a two edged sword, with positive and negative elements. One of the positive qualities is the ability to research any subject. I had heard of stories about reincarnation, but they were only unverified stories or beliefs. The difficult thing for me, is rejecting reincarnation after reading about episodes that exist in my lifetime and can be verified scientifically, rather than by faith (goggle reincarnation). It is very hard to be objective when the early religious teachings blur your thinking. Religious teaching is to develop followers, not thinkers. We were actually punished, at the orphanage, for questioning their teachings. After leaving that captive environment and having a few shattering experiences that forced me to rethink my early education, I realized I had to actually step back from everything I had learned and sift through it to discover my beliefs. My first discovery was that my beliefs were not my beliefs. I look back at it as if my early life, from birth to early teens, was a blackboard filled with someone else’s beliefs. My only reference of who I was, was to look at that blackboard. My next discovery was that it was OK to have that early reference, because I did not have the thinking, understanding or awareness of how special I was during my early adolescence. At what point, if ever, do you realize you need to question who you are? Mine was being arrested and facing prison and the other was a divorce. I will not qualify why I am not presently a religious person, but I do have spiritual beliefs. One of my beliefs is that I am a unique individual, unlike anyone else. My thoughts, feelings and beliefs are all based on one source….me. All outside thoughts, feelings and beliefs are only information for me to review, evaluate and accept or reject. No one knows how, when and why I think or do what I do. Opinions, judgments and attitudes have no value, unless I give them value. This detachment from outside influences allows my thinking to be more focused, clearer and not influenced with previous beliefs. I cannot say I believe in reincarnation as much as accept is very likely true. My logic and reasoning, after much study, tell me something beyond my understanding is occurring. If it does happen, what is the purpose? How many times do you incarnate? Do you have a choice in your incarnation? Is your spirit just transferred or are you a different spirit? Recorded instances of reincarnation suggest that the spirit stays the same, as well as the memories. I find this a very interesting subject since it has a direct bearing on what may happen after you die. I am searching for other possible answers that are not based on just faith. However, I know I will find the actual answer when I reach the light at the end of the tunnel.