Reincarnation

I was in a meditation group in the early 1990’s and one night read a statement in a magazine lying open on the table. It said that if there is an area that you don’t get right this lifetime, you’ll have to come back in another lifetime to try again. This was an interesting thought to me and has made me more conscious of aspects of my life that I’m not quite gelling in.

Reincarnation makes a lot of sense to me. I can’t say that I believe it, because there’s no way of proving that it is real. But whether or not it is the way things work, the concept can be used to explain so much about what happens to us. 

If we meet someone who feels familiar, perhaps there has been a past life connection. What might look like an unfair situation of someone receiving a lot of money leaving the other person penniless might be a karmic payback for a past reversal of fortunes. Phobias of heights, enclosed spaces and snakes could be the result of experiences in past lives.

The concepts of karma and reincarnation can help when we are overcome by strong emotions. If someone is no longer with us and guilt is playing on our mind, we can take comfort in the thought that there might be opportunities in future lifetimes to address any remaining issues.   

It doesn’t matter to me whether reincarnation is real or not. I look for karmic explanations of what is happening around me but generally don’t discuss these explanations with others. Karmic considerations contribute to a more peaceful mind which is what I’m looking for.