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Why do you want to know about your past lives?

startswithemm

startswithemm

Fellow Traveler
I'm extremely curious about why you have chosen to pursue knowledge of your past lives. What are your reasons?

I chose to explore my past lives because I feel that in order to truly know myself, I need to know all of myself. I don't particularly like the idea of having facets of myself that I am unaware of, even though I know that it is sort of the nature of human beings. I also recognize that knowing my past can help me grow and learn as a spiritual being in this lifetime.

Forgive me if there is already another thread on this topic. I couldn't locate it. :(
 
For some people, it seems to be less a pursuit to find out who they were, but more of an acknowledgement of what they already know. For some, it seems to involve intellectual curiosity, an attempt to understand the universe. For me, it's the latter, but there is an element of finding out why I have felt so persistently out of sync with the people around me. Since there is no "Island of Misfit Toys" where I could pitch my tent, I had to learn to be comfortable in my own skin. Reincarnation seems to make sense of a lot of inexplicable things.
 
I want to learn what I've done so I don't repeat any nasty mistakes. I have a problem with impatience that has apparently been plaguing me for several lifetimes. I'd like to know why it's such a mountain for me to climb.
 
...so persistently out of sync with the people around me.
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I would have to second this statement, BriarRose. I've felt like that all of my life. I believe that a greater understanding and healing will come from the uncovering and bringing to light the roots of the inexplicable things that felt like barriers, i.e. things that make us feel like we belong on the island. Also, like ShiftKitty says, avoiding the repetition of mistakes...
 
A friend recently sent me a taped interview with Dr. Michael Newton, in which he spoke about a patient who had been struggling with jealousy for 4,000 years. He finally conquered it, and had to start working on tolerance, because he was a terrible bigot! I hope the three of us will conquer our issues a bit more quickly than that! Frightening thought, isn't it? typing
 
That's funny, ShiftKitty! :laugh:


I'd say my trust issues stem from events that have occured to me in this lifetime. However, I suscribe to the idea of continual spiritual evolution which means that we must work on things like trust, impatience, jealousy, etc...evolving into more pure beings. In order to do this, we must be confronted with the issue and make the choice to work and improve on it. So...it follows...that I'd be confronted in my life with events that would breed mistrust. ShiftKitty would be confronted with events that require patients and so on and so forth. Perhaps I'm a slow learner (i.e. I've had trust issues for a long time) or I'm a fast learner (i.e. I've finished my previous "assignment" and am working on a new one.). Who knows?? :rolleyes:
 
I've had some really awful experiences. I couldn't understand why one situation happened for ten years. Now, I'm so grateful to the people who hurt me, I should write them thank you notes! What doesn't kill you, actually does make you stronger!
 
Initially, I wanted to find out about my past lives to prove to myself that consciousness (ie, myself) would survive physical death. After being told for many months by someone close to me at the time that there was no 'spirit' and that at death that was it, nothing more, I felt like that was wrong somehow (to be honest, it was terrifying) and did a lot of research that eventually lead me here. It is only in the last year or so that I've moved a little beyond proving that the spirit survives death (although I'm still looking for validation of my PL-hunches ;) ), it is now more about understanding myself, others and ultimately maybe understand something deeper about the universe. Now, I'm looking more at learning where have I come from, and where am I going :)
 
Like Helz, my immersion in Reincarnation had more to do with finding support for the belief that consciousness survives physical death. It was a gradual process involving the simultaneous investigation of near-death experiences, mediumship, telepathy, philosophy and religion—actually, anything involving mysteries beyond rational explanation. Initially, I had no inclination to believe that I had ever experienced a past life, nor that any of my memories could be anything other than dreams.
 
I very much agree with everything that's already been said in this thread. I can't really put it any better than helz did!


I've always been interested in the continuation of consciousness, I used to read so many books about the paranormal when I was a child. Late last year I got some details about a former life that actually checked out. Since then I've been very interested in finding out who I am and what has shaped me as a person and in exploring the relationships with my friends and family.


I've always been very interested in history and coming to realise that I may have actually been a part of it is something incredibly special for me.
 
Has anyone read the theory about reaching a high level of soul evolution, and merging with the "one"? I find the thought of losing my own "core" identity terrifying. Undoubtedly a sign that I have eons to go, before that becomes a possibility! : angel
 
Perhaps, BriarRose, it's a spiritual choice. It may be optional. We could choose to merge or choose not to merge. I like that idea.
 
Maybe we are all part of 'the one' already? Everything came from 'one' in the beginning (ie, the Big Bang), and if quantum physics is right, everything in the universe is connected to everything else at some fundamental level. And some physicists hypothesise that everything will become 'one' again at the end in a Big Crunch (but we have a few billion years to go, so no need to panic yet!)


if it turns out to be a case of merging and becoming part of something else, but losing 'myself' in the process, I agree with you BriarRose, thats scarey!
 
I've always wanted the greatest knowledge that I can get. I sort of started with science. That gave me a pretty solid foundation to my learning. I think it gives me a pretty good ability to easily dump the nonsense.


I did not stop with science, but continued to expand my knowledge. One day several months after learning how past-life memory works, I had a past-life death trauma re-triggered. I know this sort of trauma re-triggering had happened many times before in this life, but this time I was armed with understanding. Within 20 minutes or so I had connected with a past-life memory and had healed it!


It was wonderful. I felt very empowered. My house mate was astounded that I had gotten over it so fast. I realized that these previously not understood buttons could be healed and QUICKLY!!


I've healed several old traumas now and look forward to healing many more. I've also found some good ways to help others heal their old traumas even better than for myself. I'm suspecting that one of the people that I help heal will become quite psychic as a result of their healing and in turn help me heal many more of my old traumas.


I see this as the most wonderful and powerful thing to be doing!
 
BriarRose said:
For some people, it seems to be less a pursuit to find out who they were, but more of an acknowledgement of what they already know. For some, it seems to involve intellectual curiosity, an attempt to understand the universe. For me, it's the latter, but there is an element of finding out why I have felt so persistently out of sync with the people around me. Since there is no "Island of Misfit Toys" where I could pitch my tent, I had to learn to be comfortable in my own skin. Reincarnation seems to make sense of a lot of inexplicable things.
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This sums up my feelings quite nicely.
 
startswithemm said:
I'm extremely curious about why you have chosen to pursue knowledge of your past lives. What are your reasons?
I chose to explore my past lives because I feel that in order to truly know myself, I need to know all of myself. I don't particularly like the idea of having facets of myself that I am unaware of, even though I know that it is sort of the nature of human beings. I also recognize that knowing my past can help me grow and learn as a spiritual being in this lifetime.


Forgive me if there is already another thread on this topic. I couldn't locate it. :(
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Wholeheartedly agree with what you have written!To me, this is one of the central most important reasons.
 
Because it haunts me - and I want to know what is it that is haunting me.


The memories - especially the feelings are always there and I can't get rid of them. That's why I'm trying to at least understand them, to know why I have them. I think it's easier to deal with something if you know what is it and why is it there.
 
Hi Irina, Your beautiful name and avatar are "haunting". I don't know if my present life experiences will help you. I have found memories can be released, but the thing is, you have to "want" to release them. You may think " this is haunting me", but I think we hold on to memories for a reason, even the painful ones. The memory is serving some purpose, sometimes preventing us from feeling, and perhaps, remembering something even more painful, hence even less exceptable to our subconscious minds. I believe that past life memories live in our subconscious, and that is where the soul lives also. If you figure out why the PL memories haunt you, you might figure out if they are preventing you from dealing with something in your present life. Maybe nothing, these are just my opinions, based on life experience. I have found the subconscious uses physical symptoms to mask what it doesn't want us to feel, it might use PL memories in the same way. I hope that helps, a little. I think the concept of being "haunted" by PL memories implies pain, and I don't want you to be in pain. coffee Perhaps my thoughts don't apply to you, but if this is so, maybe I was guided to put them here for someone else - maybe even me !
 
Nightrain said:
Like Helz, my immersion in Reincarnation had more to do with finding support for the belief that consciousness survives physical death. It was a gradual process involving the simultaneous investigation of near-death experiences, mediumship, telepathy, philosophy and religion—actually, anything involving mysteries beyond rational explanation. Initially, I had no inclination to believe that I had ever experienced a past life, nor that any of my memories could be anything other than dreams.
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My exploration is similar to yours. It began slowly and has infiltrated many of the areas you mention and then some. I was hit with a number of major life tragedies not long after I began this journey so I feel it was not a coincidence. I needed to have this journey into understanding the survival of consciousness well under way at the time these tragedies occurred or I might have fallen to pieces. Now, some years have passed and the journey continues, with ever widening circles of connection and wisdom.
 
For me, I pursue learning more about my past lives so I can live a better life in the present. To go back and forgive the things that were left unforgiven, to go back a learn from what was ignored...
 
Everyone has brought up some excellent points. All of which I agree with wholeheartedly...

  • healing wounds/traumas carried over from past lives
  • needing an understanding of the survival of conciousness/continuation of conciousness
  • to truly know who we are as a spiritual beings
  • unlocking the potential for spiritual growth
  • obtaining knowledge of our spiritual connections
  • becoming "one" and spiritual evolution
  • acknowledge of what we already know


I'll add curiosity to the list. I've always found myself to be an extremely curious person and it comes as no surprise that I would be interested in something that's so spectacular. :)
 
I feel life is not without purpose. I want to know about my past lives in order for me to, a) put my fragmented memories together, so I will "know where I've been; to get where I'm going," b) to understand where my fears and insecurities developed, so I can leave them there and move forward peacefully, (healing) and c) to understand more fully my role and the roles of those in my life. Basically, I am ready to take huge steps in my spirituality and past lives are helpful tools for me.


Great question. Thanks for asking. :-)
 
I’d first just like to know whether I’ve had any past lives. I have no memories that are especially convincing, and most of the issues, for better or worse, that I and those around me have would seem to be the result of, or reaction to, events that have happened in this life.


Then, assuming reincarnation is real, I’d like to know if there’s any continuation from one life to the next, that is, if I do learn something in one life, will I carry that trait into the next? If I am compassionate now, will I be compassionate for all time? Is there one correct answer for the way we’re ‘supposed’ to be? I’d assume we’re supposed to learn to be nice, for example, but there are times when being nice may not be the best route. Or maybe sometimes we can best serve other people by being not so nice to them. I have learned useful things sometimes only when people flat out yelled at me.


Are the lives like chapters in a book, or at least like short stories in an anthology, or are they like cards dealt from a cosmic deck, completely random unless you just happen to get two aces?


And I’d also like to know if there’s some purpose to it all in the end? Yeah, I realize nobody has the answer to that.

A friend recently sent me a taped interview with Dr. Michael Newton, in which he spoke about a patient who had been struggling with jealousy for 4,000 years.
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I may well spend that long trying to learn to follow my diet.
 
Sister Grey, you pose so many excellent questions, I wouldn't know where to begin, even if I had a cosmic "crib-sheet." I am going to try to address them one by one, then hopefully others will wade in.


1. As to whether past lives are real, a friend made a remark yesterday that stopped me cold. He commented that it sounds like all the "believers" are playing a complex on-line game, like 'Dungeons and Dragons'. We support each other's suppositions, because it allows the "game" to continue. Since I don't believe in self-deception - mine, or anyone else's, I gave it some thought. I think there is enough evidence mounting up to support reincarnation, with evidence from children being the most convincing, that most doubts can be allayed.


2. I think that there is a continuous progression from one life to another, and nothing is random. I think we carry over tastes and affinities for people and places, so it follows that lessons in things like kindness would follow us also.


3. I think (hope) there is a purpose, or we would be pawns in some divine chess game. I believe the ancient Greeks posited that humans were just toys for the Gods. For now, how can anyone say?


Just an observation - lately I have felt like I was being used by the universe to teach a few people I know, needed, but unpleasant, karmic lessons. I made a conscious decision to be "used". That sounds unbelievably vain, but as I become more "aware" , I can almost feel the strings being pulled. As for the 4,000 year diet, I'm on it, too!
 
Briar Rose - Thanks for your input. Yes, your friend is astute, any group of people can create it’s own sub-culture and feed off each others beliefs, opinions, etc. From there it becomes a case of ‘in order for it to be true it’s not enough for me to believe it, you must believe it as well’, and they start filtering out anyone with a differing belief and the first thing you know they either won’t sit with you at lunch or are trying to slaughter you in a Holy War. It’s nice to be able to sort through one’s own experiences for the ‘truth’, as best we can. In the case of reincarnation I don’t have any memories so I have to look to other people’s experiences, and I agree that the accounts from children are the most credible sounding (some of the adults’ sound credible as well, of course). Although some children will make equally sincere sounding claims for previous lives in alien or fantasy places, so I have to filter them out, and I filter out the plethora of claimants for Henry VIII’s wives (what is it with him?!) or any of the long-suffering, tragically romantic chicks like Joan of Arc, Anne Frank, and Cleopatra. But of course in the end it’s still hard to know where to draw a line.
 
Sister Grey, Alas, everything you say is all too true. We will never have absolute proof of any of this. At least not until some "mad scientist" traps a soul in a bottle, and that's too horrifying to contemplate. For me, no absolute truth exists about anything. You, me, and the guy down the street will always see things differently. I welcome having my belief system challenged, as probably you do also. In the end, it may comes down to the Christian concept of faith. Either you choose to believe, or you do not. On my skeptical days, I think , "If St. Augustine can have a crisis of faith, why can't I?" Then, I soldier on, because that's what you do on the long march from the cradle to the grave. If you choose not to believe, I will still sit with you at lunch. ;)
 
Arynleigh said:
I feel life is not without purpose. I want to know about my past lives in order for me to, a) put my fragmented memories together, so I will "know where I've been; to get where I'm going," b) to understand where my fears and insecurities developed, so I can leave them there and move forward peacefully, (healing) and c) to understand more fully my role and the roles of those in my life. Basically, I am ready to take huge steps in my spirituality and past lives are helpful tools for me.
Great question. Thanks for asking. :-)
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I began to write a list of my reasons, but so many have stated things that hold true for me, and when I read again, other reasons come forward as well. So, today, Arynleigh's comments resonate for me.


And also, BriarRose's comments above resonate once more...though my 4,000 year issue is trust. I tend to be excessively trusting with good results...now I wonder if that is because I have been lucky, or if the universe is trying to tell me to trust and I will be rewarded, or if the foot is about to fall! I like to think "If we trust, those trusted will be equal to that trust". Sorry, another topic for another thread.
 
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