Reincarnation

Reincarnation is one topic which has been covered in many books by many authors over and over again. For me to bring it up again , there is a reason for it, for within some mystic groups resides a corpus of teachings which crucially depends on the validity or otherwise of this theory. I deliberately call it a theory as we cannot prove in scientific terms that we have lived in the past ans will,some time in the future, live in environments similar to what is available in our material world. In the western world, the concept of reincarnation has for decades, been an extremely controversial topic,particularly within the spheres of religion, philosophy and mysticism. There are extreme and very strongly held view, and it is this reason mystical orders, despite its official position on the matter, never pushers its opinion too far.


 Thirty or forty year ago, the mere mention of the word reincarnation was bound to raise a great deal of animosity, particularly from people within the great Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition. But,times certainly have changed,and even with this great family of religions, there is now an increasing awareness of the sheer logic and justice involved in a theory such as that of reincarnation, that one finds clerics here and there, openly breaking with the office dogma, and supporting thoughts what would once have regarded as heresy, and which in past centuries brought many devout mystic to be burned at the stake.


 Certainly this is subject of much speculation at present but there is still a great deal of confusion about the true nature of reincarnation, even amongst members of mystical orders.This is primarily due to the sometimes very crude version of the theory as expounded in many popular books. Whereas they serve the purpose of popularizing the concept of reincarnation, they certainly do not do much for enhancing its reputation as a solid and verifiable fact, rather than a mere intellectual theory.


 Mystics of all ages have accepted reincarnation not merely as a religious doctrine, but as an immutable Cosmic law, a matter of fact rather than mere theory,and this acceptance has been and still is bases on the confidence brought about through direct experience and intimate recall of events from past lives. Although the concept of reincarnation has its roots firmly embedded in the great religions of the east, it is nevertheless, not a purely Eastern doctrine.


 For centuries,and possibly many millennia, many in the western world have accepted that we do live repeatedly in different physical bodies in circumstance not too different from one another from one life to the next. This philosophy of life after life in human form on this earth has been experience as a fact rather than a fanciful theory by many past and present day mystics. Without a doubt though, with most people reincarnation is still a belief rather than an inner experience, something that they have intimately experienced as being fact rather than fiction. This has always been the case, for a recall of events from past live is an extremely difficult thing to trigger.


 It is also not necessary the most desirable of things to re-experience events from past lives.To be sure, the first events that anyone experience are almost always something which left a strong emotional and psychic imprint upon ourselves, and invariably such experience were not particularly pleasant at the time and without great spiritual maturity, and would even today be very difficult to deal with, even just as memories.


 Nevertheless, a confident acceptance of reincarnation as at least the most logical of alternative concerning life and what follows it, is the one thing which could break down barriers to what would otherwise be very superfical and purely material lives for millions upon millions of people throughout the world. Nothing reveals to us more of the fallacy of the deeply material from of thinking we are brought up with nowadays than the doctrine of reincarnation. Nothing fits in as well with out innate sense of justice than the notion that we will return to this or some other world similar to it, to answer for absolutely everything that we have thought, said and done, every second of every life we have ever had.


 If we believe in universal justice, then surely we must believe that we will have to compensate for both the good and the bad we have done;and what other way could such compensation be accepted other than through the material realm, and in circumstances much as we know them today. Reincarnation and the law of karma upon which it is based are absolutely fundamental to any true mystical knowledge and development. It is fitting then that we spend some time analyzing a few of the more important points of this belief.


 Reincarnation can be defined as the 'cycle of birth ans rebirth in material reality of the soul personality'. in a sense, it is the process of purification of the ego part of humanity's consciousness, an ongoing transforming of the ego into the essence of Cosmic consciousness. Through the experience of life, the ego evolves into the elevated thoughts of the consciousness of God. This process of transmutation occurs of necessity right here on earth as it is here in the lower realms of awareness that ego has it's greatest expression and hence it's greatest opportunities for change.


 By incarnating into this material environment and by passing through countless series of experience, the ego of the soul personality gradually change, gradually attaining a higher and higher state of awareness which for want of better words we can best describe as God or cosmic consciousness.


 Who knows what the real purpose of the existence of material reality is ? Indeed, purpose can only apply to consciousness, that is, an awareness of a goal to be attained. And what consciousness are we speaking of ? why, none other than our own, very imperfect awareness of the universe about us. So, if there is a purpose, then it must be one which we can perceive, and that immediately implies that the "purpose of existence" that so many yearn to find, is relative to the mind that conceives it. There are no two identical purpose of existence.Whereas the ultimate and deepest reason for our existence in material reality no doubt will forever remain a mystery to humanity, the effects of our repeated incarnations on earth enable our soul personalities to reach a state whereby in the cosmic realms, in the realms beyond our material reality, we can eventually exist harmoniously with multiple levels of the consciousness of the Creator, and not merely on the level of material reality.Real life begins in the Cosmic realm; kindergarten in here on earth.


 It is through our own effort that we advance in our realization and attunement with Cosmic Consciousness. We can voluntarily speed up or slow down our personal evolution; this is purely a voluntary action. Through ignorance and a simple lack of understanding, by far the majority of people on earth progress extremely slowly.Without doubt we all progress, whether or not we try. The law of Karma ensures that we learn from our successes and from our failures. Gently and ever so slowly and thoroughly, the law guides us to a final inner realization that we are ultimately the creators pf our future. When at last we consciously take full responsibility for our lives and our thoughts and actions, we move immediately into the fast track of inner evolution.


 We can only refine our baser nature here on earth in the environment in which it was born.However, as spiritual beings of profound mystery we go through aeons of experience on the Cosmic plane in realms quite incomprehensible to humanity. Amongst other things, these experiences help us to realise our shortcomings on earth and eventually highlight and place in clear perspective, the problems which impede our progress. Upon realizing this, the soul personality is driven to the only real alternative it has, to return to material reality, to incarnate again on earth.


 We gravitate to this earth much as rain falls to the ground. Life on Earth is truly sacred, for it is the greatest opportunity that we and all species of life on earth can have to evolve. Clearly then, we must make the most of it, and take every opportunity to enhance life wherever we find it; not only our personal lives but even the lives of our feathered and furry fellow travelers in this wonderful world. Every idle and thoughtless moment is a waste of precious life. We have a duty to all creatures on this planet, our temporary home, to make the utmost of the very short span of time we have on earth. Who knows long we stood in the queue for incarnation into material reality? Who knows what great personal sacrifices we had to undergo in order to gain the privilege of incarnation in human form?


 This planet is the world we know intimately; we know it so well, for it is the world that we have incarnated into countless times in the past, the world we love more than any other material reality there is . In this world are creatures, animals and humans we have interacted with in the past, creatures we have loved and have hated with passion,creatures we will interact with again and again till we master our destinies and finally, reach the stage where we are ready to leave material reality for all time. As mystics, many of us have found a path to greater light and are keenly aware of our duty to pass on some of the knowledge we have received. At the end of each sanctum period let us truly feel what great responsibility lies with us ever to be aware of the sacred light with which we are entrusted . Let us also never forget that not only is the light entrusted to us, we have a duty to retransmit it wherever darkness exists.


 We have the ability of truly assisting countless desperately seeking souls to find the way to a more highly developed consciousness. Once the desire for inner evolution has been kindle, everything that the aspiring adept needs is right here within our beloved order. I do not advertise the Order merely to increase membership. I have no wish to dilute the aims and high ideals of the Order by admitting sundry and all simply in order to expand our numbers. I spread the knowledge of the Order's existence and what it has to offer purely to attract those sincerely seeking souls who are at the threshold of realizing their true potential. This is why i have pride in our order and seek at every opportunity to let people know what we are about. Life changes so profoundly, so totally and dramatically for the searching soul who finds a path to illumination. Within the Order we have such a path, a well trodden path which has existed since antiquity and has proven its worth time and time again.


 A deep and sudden realization of oneness with the Cosmic is a most profound and moving experience. Nothing in this beautiful world can even remotely compare with the spiritualised awareness of God within, our master and dearest Friend. Our soul personalities are purges and purified by the trials and tribulations of earthly experiences. It is therefore in our deepest interests to attempt to gain some understanding of the reason for the major events in our present and past circumstance. A clearer understanding of this enables us to cooperate with the law of Karma in gaining that knowledge and experience which each of us needs most to transmute the baser element of our awareness into a higher, more beautiful expression of Divine Consciousness.


 We cannot accomplish the perfecting of our soul personality in one or two short lifetimes on earth. Rather, several varied lives are needed to round out the character and personality. We need the varied experience of life on earth to assist us in purifying ourselves of all hindrance to further evolution. Emotional harmony is acquired by passing through disturbing events, whether pleasant or unpleasant,events which through the subtle and constant application of the law of karma in our lives, help us to understand the countless lessons we have learnt and still need to learn.


 Being aware of past incarnation reveals traits of characters which do not always seem consistent with our life and training in the present incarnation. Quite often, deep within the innermost recesses of our Being, are character traits which reveal aspect of ourselves of which we were never aware. The revelation can be stunning and pleasant, but also sometimes very painful. By perceiving event from past incarnations we can bring these traits back to life where we will again be presented with the opportunities of further developing and eventually perfection our past abilities.


 For, example, you have been a master carpenter, trader, sculptor or tailor in the past, or you may have been something less savoury, lets us say perhaps a buccaneer or a professional thief. Whatever you were, you learned from your experience than and would benefit greatly to have the hindsight of those experience now;provided of course that you have the maturity to accept without undue harshness that you may not have been as good as you previously may have thought. upon deep reflection, these tendencies from past lives will reappear, whether they are good or bad for you and you will need to be ready to deal with them, firmly , unemotionally, and justly.


 If we take a new interest in matters from a past incarnation, and if we do so as mystics filled with compassion and understanding for the faults of all humans, including ourselves, we are presented with golden opportunities to re-develop those hidden abilities which are beneficial to our inner evolution. With maturity and understanding, a mystic can then either accept and further develop such traits,or discard to the garbage heap of history, trait which have hindered our development in the past and are likely to continue doing so in the future. Few mystics upon experiencing events from past incarnation are anything short of deeply grateful and humbled by the privilege of re-experiencing such events, no matter how unpleasant they may be. It is nothing short of astounding at what lies in our past, what depth of being we have in fact already experienced. Fortunately, we have the freedom and the ability to develop our psychic consciousness to the extend necessary to pierce the veil and re-experience events from past incarnations. What tremendous power we have with such knowledge!


 Experiencing past incarnations should, however, never become an obsession. We are, after all, primarily concerned with the problems of this incarnation. Our present incarnation should be the one that interests us most. A careful analysis of our inner tendencies greatly assists us in setting the scene, so to speak, for a successful foray into the past. It is always best to rely on our own inner resource when dealing with past incarnations ans we should never blindly accept what others say in merely a quick fix, an indication of laziness on the part of the believer. We must experience the matter firsthand and nothing else but firsthand experience will do. Our past is in the realm of recall to a certain degree depending upon our inner awareness and psychic development. Let us use it, and use it well to amp our future.


 As already mentioned, we soon realize why the strong impressions left in some of our past incarnations are so disturbing and have such a strong effect on our present lives when we consider that the strongest memories are usually those which were deeply impressed upon us because of the traumatic experience associated with them. When we regress in time, these traumatic experience are likely to be the first that come to the fore. We have to rocognise that most of us were not high potentates, royalty or well-known historical figures. The majority of us probably lived pretty mediocre lives perhaps interspersed with the occasional highlight, but on the whole we might be very disappointed to learn who we were. There is nothing to be disappointed about; that person was after all you, the very same you reading these words, the very same person who has traveled this far on the path to perfection .


 Indeed why, for other than egoistical reasons, should anyone wish to believe that they were some important personage. After all, people who, for one reason or another, were well known,have been very few in number compared to the billions of soul personalities that have existed on earth. Is it not odd, that so many popular authors detailing their experiences in previous lives, were not ordinary people, but almost always people of great worldly importance: pharaohs, emperors, religious leaders, war lords, scientists, literary geniuses, etc.., the list goes on and on. To be sure, virtually none of these authors speak of genuine experiences and their primary purpose for sharing their thoughts, is no higher than to make money through sales of their books .


 Reincarnation is indeed a deeply fascinating subject, but it is only in fairly recent times that the general public has become interested in it on a wide scale. Few of course, are willing to engage in a deep study or investigation of reincarnation as their interest lies only on the surface, only with the dramatic and ego-boosting possibility of having been someone great in the past. Today however, more than ever before, people are sincerely becoming aware that there is more to life than a few mortal years. There is a general trend towards greater acceptance that there is much more to life than what we see on the surface. This will be very helpful to them when the light of a greater life, a much longer and more noble series of lives, is brought to their attention. The personality and character as we now express them, are very much determined by our past lives. although parts of our personality are hidden from view, we can, through inner reflection, become aware of what that past has to reveal to us. Our main concern though,should always be the depth of cosmic awareness that we have thus far attained.


 We are constantly evolving and adding to our attainments. Although we may not be aware of what we have attained at times, we can be sure that it is never lost; forgotten maybe, but always dormant, just waiting for our application and use. We should ask spiritual development in everyday life. The answer is always that we must use our attainments in the most natural way possible, for this is as nature works. When we are faced with a problem, we should endeavour always to meditate briefly upon it first and before we take any definite action. By raising our awareness to a level where we can get knowledge of what is best for us to do, we find that our thoughts are greatly cleared up. The problem diminishes in size and is placed in a broader perspective, one where the true worth of the problem and nay associated action is revealed. At the same time, we raise our consciousness above the often disturbing emotions associated with problems in life.


 Our experience of life on earth is truly a great preparation for what follows. It is here that all cosmic laws and principles are fulfiled and demonstrated.If we can apply ourselves to the teaching of mystical orders . we will surely find that cosmic mind and it host of manifestation in the form of intelligent life both in material reality and out of it, are eager to do our bidding and indeed to assist us to eventually command all nature.Above all, let us remember that our thoughts and actions day to day determine what out future brings. Let us therefore raise our thoughts daily and firmly establish only the very highest ideals in our heart, so that our future lives may reflect the peace, love and harmony of the Cosmic .