Hello JMG! You wrote that "Reincarnation has been a standard part of occult teaching for a very long time, and a large part of the reason is that many people remember glimpses of previous lives, especially once they practice meditation for a while."
I recently had a dream in which a voice said "You died in ____" (place name), or maybe it said "I died in _____. I googled it when I woke up, and there really is such a place. (It's in another country, where there was a genocide a century ago.) I wish I could ask it more details.
Anyway, this makes me wonder things. Like, what precisely is my connection to the person who died? It is easy to say that I am him / her reincarnated, but on the other hand, the situation could just as easily be described by saying that I am only receiving messages from the dead. Either way, there is a sort of spiritual connection--it doesn't necessarily have to be a soul that hops from body to body. Or maybe my whole idea is a kind of psychological symbol, like in Jung or Corbin, and not to be taken literally. Maybe I "resonate" with this time period, without literally having been there. That might better explain all those people who had past lives as biblical characters, or other famous people. I know that you recall some aspects of your past lives. How did you make sense of the experience? Or did you just know?
I also wonder what kind of karma is going on. The whole idea of karma assumes a certain set of ethical values, that in turn assume human biology (life and death and so on). Maybe genocide is wrong even if death is not the end, because of these values. But if we are all bound within a single karmic system, and are subject to the same rules / values, this is kind of like the traditional God who judges people. And if "you create your own reality," then that would apply to karma too, no? I know you're a polytheist--what's your take on this?
It occurs to me that my ideas are molded by certain 19th-20th century occult traditions about reincarnation. If I had gravitated towards other ones--Shinto ones, perhaps--I would have very different preconceptions. Can we ever really transcend our milieu? (Except by dying, I mean!)
Thank you very much for whatever insight you can offer.
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branchandroot
Reincarnation
Date: 2025-05-19 05:14 am (UTC)I recently had a dream in which a voice said "You died in ____" (place name), or maybe it said "I died in _____. I googled it when I woke up, and there really is such a place. (It's in another country, where there was a genocide a century ago.) I wish I could ask it more details.
Anyway, this makes me wonder things. Like, what precisely is my connection to the person who died? It is easy to say that I am him / her reincarnated, but on the other hand, the situation could just as easily be described by saying that I am only receiving messages from the dead. Either way, there is a sort of spiritual connection--it doesn't necessarily have to be a soul that hops from body to body. Or maybe my whole idea is a kind of psychological symbol, like in Jung or Corbin, and not to be taken literally. Maybe I "resonate" with this time period, without literally having been there. That might better explain all those people who had past lives as biblical characters, or other famous people. I know that you recall some aspects of your past lives. How did you make sense of the experience? Or did you just know?
I also wonder what kind of karma is going on. The whole idea of karma assumes a certain set of ethical values, that in turn assume human biology (life and death and so on). Maybe genocide is wrong even if death is not the end, because of these values. But if we are all bound within a single karmic system, and are subject to the same rules / values, this is kind of like the traditional God who judges people. And if "you create your own reality," then that would apply to karma too, no? I know you're a polytheist--what's your take on this?
It occurs to me that my ideas are molded by certain 19th-20th century occult traditions about reincarnation. If I had gravitated towards other ones--Shinto ones, perhaps--I would have very different preconceptions. Can we ever really transcend our milieu? (Except by dying, I mean!)
Thank you very much for whatever insight you can offer.