Just about every day, I stop in my local Goodwill book shop. If I’m lucky, I can usually find 5-10 books related to some spiritual subject. And of course I come across a ton of New Age books. Especially those dealing with some form of connecting to some higher vibration or intelligence. Now, I’ve dabbled in a few of these kind of books. And I’ve found most of them valuable. However, I attribute that to being pretty discriminating in what I read. For example, a few months ago, I read the reincarnation classic “Journey of Souls.” And in it I found an explanation of life, the universe and everything, that that has made the most sense to me. In it, multiple people went through past life regressions under hypnosis, and all painted a picture of the reality between lives. And one thing they say is that we go through multiple lives on this planet…and others…in order to learn lessons, overcome challenges, and progress spiritually. And often we take on one challenge or lesson at a time. And we choose earthly-life circumstances (with our spiritual guide’s help) that will help us best take on that challenge or lesson. So for example, during a break between lives, in order to learn patience and forbearance, we may choose to be born in a particularly challenging life of some sort. Now I’m not saying I belive this 100%. But I am more comfortable with the thought that my life is challenging because I chose a challenging life, rather than my life being challenging because some supreme being deemed it so. Or because this world is a “fallen” world. Also, I grew up Christian, and for most of my life assumed I was going to heaven and would see the loved ones that passed before me. But as I grew older, I believed less and less in the afterlife. Well, even though I do fear that my consciousness will cease at death, I still hope that this is not the case. And when I hear sensible…and compassionate explanations of the afterlife, I have more hope. Of course such explanations are not empirically provable. But I’ve recently been trying to give the universe the benefit of the doubt. And I’m consciously…and humbly… accepting that there may be things going on that are beyond our senses and understanding. In other words, I still want to believe in magic. And though my atheist friends would disagree, I find life in this world more fulfilling that way. This “learn a lesson” outlook has had another effect. It makes me wonder what my lesson…or lessons might be. For example, in this stage in my life I believe I need to learn to be more patient with my wife…and my coworkers. AND I believe this patience must largely be learned by every day, down to earth means. That means willpower. That means perseverance. That means soul searching. Or counting to ten. Or talking a peaceful walk on the beach. Now those in other religions might turn to means outside this mundane reality to learn patience. Christians might pray to God and ask him to grant them patience. Pagans might do some kind of patience spell or meditation. And New Agers might hold some kind of crystal. And I don’t fault any of that. But lately, I myself have been thinking in this fashion. IF we chose to incarnate specifically on this earth to learn a batch of lessons, then we must have done so because there are things on this earth that we cannot experience beyond this earth or between lives. And my theory I that those things are both the beauty…and challenges…of a limited, physical reality. Thus, since we chose a physical world as a classroom, our best option to learning our lessons is through physical means. Now this doesn’t mean I’m against prayer, meditation, magic or the like. But I wonder if we depend touch on any of these means, we’re missing the whole point of incarnating into a physical world. Back to the New Age books. Yes, I’ve read a few. And most of them have helped me. But since many of them theorize…or may even get right…the metaphysical makeup of the reality behind our reality, to me, delving into these theories too much is kinda akin to “cheating.” I’m not the first to think this way, but I sometimes think of life as a game. A particularly challenging game. And often, when we come up against hardship, we want some help. If we’re playing a video game, we might look up hints in a strategy guide. But, if we don’t get too many hints, it might not ruin the overall experience of the game. But, some of us find and enter a cheat code that might make our game character invincible. Well, what’s the point of that? Same with life. If somehow, we really did clue into such magical powers as flight, telekinesis, clairvoyance or alchemy, we could probably live an easier life. But what if we purposely chose a challenging life..and also purposely forgot that we did so in order to keep it challenging? Yes, many people turn to these kind of books… be they religious, spiritual, Pagan or New Age books…because they are sad, anxious, or just lost. And I don’t fault them. This life can be tough, and as long as it harms none, I believe people can turn to whatever helps. But for those who feel that they have it pretty good…what about facing life on life’s terms. Not explore the underpinnings. When you’re decided to play a particular game, it only makes sense to play by that game’s rules. And knowing who created the game, or the reason behind the game, isn’t really going to help you win the game. I know this is all a little New-Agey itself. And like I said before, this is just a metaphysical model that I am currently comfortable with. But I wonder if anybody else gets this, whether you belive in multiple lives or not.
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