I’ll check her out.

Stanley Bronstein
MrAchievement

I’ve done some meditation work in this area, but not as much as I would like to do.

I’ll check out the books you mentioned.

Thanks

Stanley Bronstein
MrAchievement

What a TREMENDOUS story.

I frequently like to look at the past to learn from it, BUT you are correct that one can get mired down with it if they focus on the past too much.

I heard a great saying the other day that sums it all up.

NOW IS WHAT YOU DEAL WITH ! THE PAST IS WHAT YOU LEARN FROM.

Stanley Bronstein
MrAchievement

So…I’m not sure what I think, as I have no conclusions on this subject, nor do I spend much time contemplating it. What I do know is this, my mother can remember (and I very vaguely remember) when I was three and she came into her room to find me staring at myself in the mirror with a strange sense of purpose. When she asked me what I was doing, I earnestly replied, “I can’t remember what I was before. Was I a boy or a girl?”

While some might wonder if I was having a gender identity crisis, my mother said that I went on to tell her that before I was her little girl, I was someone else.

Brought up in an amazingly loving and balanced Christian home, I grew up with a sense of myself as a child of God. In that context, I have always understood there to be a higher power. I also am a practicing Christian…maybe in the sense that I’m practicing to get it right and be a better representation of the Grace and Love lavished upon me. Regardless, the more I am in relationship with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit, the more I understand that there is much I can not begin to understand nor am capable of explaining.

When I have moments of Deja Vu, or when I feel that incredible–and rare–moment of having finally gotten through a conundrum, it does often feel to be part of some vast past experience.

Because I am blessed with parents who gave me the freedom to think and question things, and their unconditional love, I don’t look backward for answers as much as I work on handling the present. And I find lots of different resources for that journey. I find scripture to be a timeless guide (though a danger when taken out of context to justify a perspective!!) and Biblical history a testament to those who wrestled with their sense of purpose long before this age. I also often feel the guidance of those who love me who are no longer living. But I don’t need to delve into any of it. Rather, I just accept it as I do an unexpected rainfall in the desert…it’s something to get me through the now and that can empower me to move into the future. If I didn’t look at it that way, I might get mired in the past.

I do indeed believe that SOMETIMES our souls travel as a group, BUT sometimes they do not.

All I know is that I can think of 5 or more times in my life where I met “new” people, who were incredibly familiar to me, probably more than they should have been.

Stanley Bronstein
MrAchievement

I believe in past lives because it goes along with the conception of our lives being eternal. Our soul is eternal. And the body we have in this life, is just like a dress that we change from one life to another. Just like when we change what we wear each morning after waking up from sleep, I believe we (our spirit) changes bodily forms (whether it be an insect or tree or yet another human form) from life to life.

Our “karma” will determine what form we shall take. If all you do is eat, sleep, mate, and defend, karma says you will continue to do that in your next life, as an animal. If you try to achieve a higher sense of self in this life, perhaps you will be fortunate enough to continue your journey as a human again…

(Those are some thoughts I shared from previous discussions between my best friend and I).
My two cents.

Personally, I believe we all CAN learn from our past lives. AND, when you talk about leaving loved ones behind. I’ve had instances in this life where I met someone for the first time and I could tell they were a loved one from long ago with whom I instantly felt a connection.

NOW, here’s the scary part. These people with whom we reconnect can be BOTH good and bad.

That’s the scary part to me.

Stanley Bronstein
MrAchievement

And if we somehow have the ability to learn from past lives,
does that mean some of us never learn… (look at president Bush for example :p)

I believe that the rich get richer and the poor are doomed,
I wonder if that would also pass on into next lives… would it mean
the poor are doomed to be poor for al eternity?