By Mark Pitstick, MA, DC
A lesson in the theory of reincarnation and the big picture of life.
Four prominent men believed in the concept of reincarnation. It just made sense, they said, and explained many mysteries of life. It seemed to be part of a universal plan that conserves energy and knowledge from one lifetime into another. They believed that never-ending, but periodically changing, lifetimes would assist soul growth. These men found that model to be a guiding light in their lifetimes. They are highly respected in American history, but you may not have known about their beliefs. Who are they? Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and General George Patton.
Reincarnation is the theory that we experience not just one, but many lives in the course of eternity. Although this concept may seem strange or foreign to some, it answers questions that people of all ages have wondered about.
When I was 10 years old, I sat in church and looked through the stained glass windows while the minister talked about heaven. “One day,” he said, “we will all walk on golden streets and play golden harps forever.” Even at that young age, I thought: “Wouldn’t that get old after a while?”
Think about it with an open mind for just a moment. How long could you play a harp—even a golden one—before you would be ready for a piano, guitar or even an accordion? Novelty and challenges make life more interesting and rewarding. A concept of never-ending, but sometimes changing, experiences seems so much more likely than a static state of eternal existence.
Once a word has become well-established in a culture, it is difficult or impossible to change its intrinsic meaning. I use various synonyms for “God” and “soul” because those words have such firmly entrenched and limiting meanings. The same challenge exists for the word “reincarnation”; it isn’t ideal for several reasons:
1. Some people associate the word reincarnation with the occult or cults. That term can negatively trigger those with conservative religious beliefs and those who haven’t researched the topic for themselves.
2. It implies a linear series of interrupted lives, deaths and rebirths. But some evidence suggests life is a seamless series of experiences amidst eternity.
3. It suggests that we experience being different people in chronological order and separate places. However, some evidence suggests otherwise. For example, evidence for parallel or simultaneous realities indicates that your energy does not have to manifest in just one place at a time. Part of it energizes your current physical body, but another part might be experiencing other formed or formless possibilities. In addition, part of your consciousness might never have left home/Source. From this vantage point—as the old children’s song suggests—life is but a dream. Reality may be more accurately understood as a series of virtual reality experiences as your energy visits other times and places.
As such, I will alternately use the following word combinations as synonyms for reincarnation: cyclical lifetimes, multiple lives, varying life experiences, and never-ending but periodically changing lifetimes.
Let’s discuss three common models about the nature of life, and then next month we will examine clinical and other evidence for this view of reality.
Model A: If you are like many people in Western cultures, you were taught that your life started with an earthly birth date. Your time on this planet can last from a few minutes to many years, and then you die. Then a long sleep in the ground until some judgment day, or an instant visit to the pearly gates. Finally, a judgmental God consigns you to heavenly delight or burning torment forever.
This model is full of problems. For example, how fair is it that your brief earthly experience determines your fate forever if you were: molested, raised by alcoholics or drug addicts, influenced by atheists, struggled with mental illness, or had organic brain damage? I consider this model to be a kindergarten understanding of reality.
Model B: The concept of varying life experiences throughout eternity makes more sense and is supported by contemporary evidence that will be discussed next month. A model of cyclical life experiences allows for the eventual evolution of all beings. We each have more than just this one earthly visit to learn and grow.
Reincarnation is a vast improvement over the conventional teachings of model A. To extend the analogy, model B is like a high school understanding of reality. However, this model appears to be only relatively true because it implies dualism and all that goes with that.
Richard Bach’s character in the book Running from Safety perhaps said it best:
“Do you believe in reincarnation?”
“No. Reincarnation is a series of lifetimes, isn’t it, one after the other, in order, on this planet? That feels a little limiting, it fits a little tight across the shoulders.”
“What fits you better?”
“An infinite number of beliefs of life experiences, please, some in bodies, some not; some on planets, some not; all of them simultaneous because there is no such thing as time, none of them real because there’s only one Life.”
Model C: This most accurate description of reality indicates that life is an uninterrupted series of experiences throughout infinity. All life is seen as sacredly interconnected with outward differences being trivial and transient. Ultimately, life is an eternal dance of energy as Creative Mind alternately manifests Itself. Each seemingly separate aspect of consciousness is like a single cell within One Mind. New scenarios and adventures are endlessly created as Life discovers its fullness.
In this model, physical death is not viewed as the beginning of a long sleep. Life is seen as an uninterrupted process as death opens new doors into the next phase of forever. Time and space are understood as being only relatively, not absolutely, real.
For those who are awakened to the big picture of life, death can be especially seamless—like walking from one room into another. Birth and death are realized to be no big deal, just commas amidst a never-ending sentence. We can best reveal our inner light and special talents when we realize our real selves are birthless and deathless. This is like a graduate school level
of understanding reality.
Class dismissed.
Author’s Note: Get ready for the second lesson. Next month we will explore evidence of reincarnation from past life regression therapy and the clinical work of researchers including Dr. Ian Stevenson and Dr. Brian Weiss.
Mark Pitstick, MA, DC is an author, master’s clinical psychologist, holistic chiropractic physician, frequent media guest, and webinar/workshop facilitator. He directs The SoulPhone Foundation and founded Greater Reality Living Groups. Dr. Pitstick can help you know and show—no matter what is happening to or around you— that your earthly experience is a totally safe, meaningful, and magnificent adventure amidst forever. Visit http://www.SoulProof.com for free articles, newsletters and radio interviews with top consciousness experts.