I have had an awakening,
an epiphany, if you like. And so, with a sudden need to believe that this life
can't be the only life I'll ever live, I embrace reincarnation as my end of
life view.
I need to believe that I
will have an opportunity to experience the life that I missed out on, this time
around. I have felt a restlessness these last few days that I attributed, at
first, to the grey skies and constant threat of a storm after a winter of
basically sunny, blue skies and an absence of snow. But today I can admit that
my blue mood has been the result of my approaching birthday, a birthday that
marks the passing of another decade. Reflecting back on my life, I find it
lacking…and unfulfilled, and am distressed with the realization that the future
years are now more limited.
In a 1928 interview with
the San Francisco Examiner, Henry Ford stated his belief in reincarnation. Why
would you not, he asked, for “...if there was a chance” wouldn't you embrace
that “...time was no longer limited.”
Reincarnation comes from
Hindu-Buddhist philosophy that believes that one's soul moves from body to body
in an ongoing birth-death-birth cycle. They believe that the status of each
successive body is the direct result of the quality of life that soul led in
the previous body. So if a soul lived a 'good' life it would move on to a
higher quality form, and if it lived a 'bad' life it moved on to a lower form. This
can really get interesting, as they believe that not all souls move on to
another human form but may move on as an animal. That should make some people
very leery of where they might spend their next life, after all, what goes
around, comes around.
Such is the Law of
Karma, the central foundation of Hinduism and other eastern based philosophies.
Karma teaches that good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds punished. The ultimate
goal is to progress to the highest level of existence, to become one with the
universe and...you have unlimited chances to get it right.
Reincarnation is not in
line with the dominant doctrine of Christian faiths, Catholic or Protestant but
I feel the concept of reincarnation is as substantial as the concept that you'll
'get your reward in heaven'. I don't want to sound as if I have no faith, for
my Protestant upbringing has stayed with me even if my regular church going has
not. Living a good life so one can get into heaven, or living a good life so
one can move on to a better life, not much difference in my opinion. Both
require a faith in something, some form of afterlife.
Even New Age
philosophies, such as the Wiccans believe in a form of reincarnation. Their
belief is that the soul is moved to a place called Summerland, to rest and prepare
for the next incarnation. Once reincarnated, they believe that you continues to
do so, until you've experienced all that there is to experience and move to a
higher plane of existence.
The thing is, none of
this can be proven, there is no evidence that reincarnation actually happens. It's
a leap of faith, and faith, in whatever form, is what gets you through the day.
Too many years have
passed, not all of them kindly, and I am left with the regrets that I didn't live
enough, didn't love enough, didn't risk enough. It is too easy to get weighed
down with regret, with missed opportunities and with lost dreams.
I am reminded of the
poem “Warning” by Jenny Joseph, when I am an old woman, I shall wear purple.
Having felt trapped by convention, by responsibility, for most of my life I
look back and see all the wasted years and regret that it is only now, in my
senior moments, that I am brave enough to wear purple.
I hope when I move on
from this earth that my soul will have it better. May it find a new life full
of fun, may it not be so serious and may it not be lonely. That is what I wish
for my soul, for us, and that is why I want to believe in reincarnation.
PS I searched the internet and found bits and pieces of information when I wrote this. Today as I was posting, I remembered that I have readers from many parts of the world. I apologize if this information is inaccurate. The intent at the time...by writing about my thoughts and feelings I got all those negative thoughts out of my head, there was no offense intended..
1 comment:
My wife believes in Karma. Apparently her belief is that I was very, very good in a previous life and my reward in this life is to be married to her.
She also sincerely regrets whatever it was she did in her previous life that now she's paying her penance by being married to me.
That Karma's a tricky thing, but I have to say, it works for me!
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