I believe we existed before birth. I do not know if we reincarnate or not. It seems likely. However, I have problems with much that I have heard from people who firmly believe in it.(The following is not knocking you Ashara as I do not know what your take on the subject is.)
The belief that what happens to us in this life is retribution/compensation for previous lives. This allows many people to justify or ignore suffering. It also blames the victim. A huge argument broke out within the Spiritualist National Union paper because a person desribed as 'highly enlightened' wrote that people who had been abused as children 'richly deserved it' because of past life sins! In our national papers another huge row broke out because Glen Hoddle, a football manager, said that disabled people were disabled because of past life sins. Of course believing this gives the believer a sense of safety and superiority and also takes a way the fear of uncertainty that not knowing brings.( last night John was telling me about his friend and ex work coleague, retired, who is being treated for stomach cancer. John and been talking to his wife about this and they both thought he got this deisease beacuse of had been very stressed and held his 'feelings in'. I pointed out that was just another way of balming him for his disease and that it made John and the man's wife feel better because both see a counselor, do not hold in their feelings and thus will not get cancer! We love to blame others and we do so out of fear. Nowadyas anyone who has heart disease, cancer or whatever, is blamed for it because they must have not eaten right, suppressed their feelings, didn't exercise or whatever) There are those too who believe that we choose our lives, or rather what happens to us. This belief also allows people to justify/excuse suffering. It also is a belief that has not been followed thru with any intelligence. If we choose events and these events are 'ordained' then people who commit horrendous crimes of child abuse or murder or whatever are actually following God's plan, doing Her will. Ridiculous. It also means that the people who do these things are pre-programmed to do so. Where lies responsibility? I heard a woman tell a very painful story in a group only for the group leader to say' well of course you chose it'. that was his only comment. It was cruel and heartless. I felt like I had been kicked in the guts so how that poor woman felt I can only guess. I think we existed before conception. Bear in mind I said I think. I am not saying I believe this as Absolute Truth.(I believe nothing as Absolute Truth-how can I when I only ave my meaning structure and ideas and interpretations to go on. Those who say that something they have read or been told is the Absolute Truth have absolute faith in themselves, not in anything else.) I came to this idea because I was thinking about 'free will' and how children do not have it. At least not to the extent adults do( and even adults have limited free will according to their experience and meaning structures). Children are totally at the mercy of their carers. They are taught by their carers and their meaning structures form accordingly. A young child who is treated badly by their carers cannot choose to leave or even to think that their carers are bad. No they believe they themselves are bad because to believe their careers are bad is impossible because that would induce too much fear and their self would be annihilated. So I thought then we muct have existed before and chose to come into physical being. However, that does NOT mean we chose what happens to us. No. I think it means we just chose to be born and had no idea what would happen. Perhaps we choose the circumstances we are born into-family, country, race, gender, sexuality etc but not the actual events. I don't think anyone is here by accident. i don't think anyone is more or less worthy than another, regardless of actions., I don't think anyone is 'worthless' and I think we are all important. I think what we think is important and that we all affect everyone else by our thoughts and actions. As adults we do of course 'choose' our lives. Because we choose our thoughts and this is what produces our life. Our thoughts determine how we see the world and how we feel.(one reason why we all inhanbit different worlds-none of us thinks the same, shares the same feelings or experiences). The trouble is often we have very limited knowledge about the choices we can make and thus we have little to choose from. Coming from a fundamentalist , abusive dysfunctional background, my choice of ideas was severely limited. Freedom and health came to me by discovering other ideas, thinking different thoughts. This is not easy. Not at all. It is very difficult to change one's thinking. Fear, guilt and shame make it extremely diffiuclt. The desire to be accepted and be part of the group(or family) make it difficult to go against group(family) thinking. Hopefully integrity and desire for health win out. Being ready to change one's ideas is also a requirement for authentic living. Gripping on doggedly to ideas, despite all evidence that they are harmful, not only causes pain to oneself but to others too(look at the Middle East, the USA, UK, in fact almost anywhere). All conflict arises from one person or group trying to force their ideas onto another person or group. Power is only the ability to force other people to see the world as you see it.( although of course you cannot force another to think as you do except for children) And thus we are back to children who are at the mercy of those who are forcing the child to see the world as they see it. Children are taught sectarian hatred, racial hatred, sexism, homophobia etc. Thses things are very difficult to undo. Of course, back to the original point about reincartnation, it could be that all this, life, was just an accident, the result of a Big Bang, that life is meaningless, that life is just a diffcult time for everyone(which it is) and that when we die that is the end of it. And one day the world itslef will not longer be, it will just eb a cold dead planet and all our thoughts and ideas and love will amount to nothing. on that happy note....... bw colin
