Reincarnation?

[bilko]

should be a safe one mods ( last words...)
Ok, so i have been having memories, well more feelings realy.
If i ask you to remember a time when you were walking in the woods and the sun was shining you will more than likely get a feeling which encompases everything about such an event. this is what i mean when i say i have had memories.

Stay with it, it may be freaky but i find it interesting.
During my lifetime i have had several vivid dreams , all of which i remember and fully expect to come true one day. parallel to this i have what i call past life memories from as young as i can remember. But the memories are sparked by something, a smell, a colour, or the way the light falls on something. They involve a completely different family in totally different circumstances to anything i can remember doing. I know it is me in the memories but i never actually see myself ( well you wouldn't would you? ). More the essence of me which i recognise as myself.
The closest i can describe it is as having periods of extended dejavu.
But today i had about 3 of these as opposed to the normal 1 or 2 a year.

I have to say that it gives me hope in that we may get another chance of life but of course the trick is to remember the mistakes you made in the last life. So, i desperately try and remember but with small success. I have the feeling that i am learning the things that need to be learned in this life. i notice things occasionaly that make me bookmark my life so to speak.

Anyway, any strange or similar experiences?, i love to read them. From shimering light infront of you right through to wardrobes with secret worlds attatched. Or do you belive in reincarnation?
I have been careful to keep religion out of it.

 

[Toddy]

You have Bilko, but the fact that you felt the need to mention it kind of re-inforces my own thoughts that it's going to be damned hard to keep it out of the thread.
It's really, I suspect, more of a round the campfire of an evening conversation.

atb,
Toddy

 

[John Fenna]

Yeah - no religion please!
I am a spiritualist - not a religion as it has no dogma - and strongly belive in our having more than one life. Slipping between lives/ages is sometimes described as "timeslip" or "lifeslip", when the barriers between lives is thin enough to penetrate.
I have experienced this kind of thing myself, though not as often as you!
Enjoy it and explore it!
If you are worried see your local - independant - Spiritualist Centre and see if they can help clarify things.
John

 

[ArkAngel]

Ok no religion in this one (although i shall be keeping a sharp lookout for the men in white coats )
Not really reincarnation just a hint that there may be something more to life

My one and only experience of this was with a friends dog. Seems strange it was an animal but i don't really care much for people (we are an unpleasant breed).

My friend had a collie cross for many years, i loved the dog like it was my own even though i didn't see an awfull lot of the dog. His parents had some more and to be honest they had a pure breed collie that was my favourite out of the 4 of them.

As is the nature of life the Elsa grew old, became ill which was diagnosed as a heart problem, naturally my friend was upset and did all he could. But her time had come and he told me the day before this happened that he was back at the vet the next day and if he could do no more he would have her put to sleep as the dog was in discomfort.

I worked as a chef at the time in a nursing home in the country. About half an hour before he rang me to tell me she had been put to sleep i suddenly had the strongest smell of dog in the kitchen. It was the strangest thing, like there really was a dog very close to me.

I was in commercial kitchen (definately no dogs allowed), there was no dog in the home at the time, no dog in the grounds of the house. I hadn't smelt anything previous to that or after that, just 10-15 seconds of "dog smell".
I dismissed it and it was only when my friend rang me later upset to tell me she had been put to sleep that it got me thinking.

I did tell him later on over a beer one night, he just smilled and said "yes, she always liked you. That would of been about the time she was put to sleep, she was just saying goodbye"

I am not a religious person in any way my thoughts on the matter are very undecided, i have no 'spiritual path'

did get me thinking though............

 

[John Fenna]

Nothing strange in that in my eyes...but then some folk find my understanding of life VERY strange...but it works for me!
John

 

[Ahjno]

You see Toddy, we can do it - we are big boys!!

Personally I don't believe in anything, including reincarnation. Though my Mum does ... and she thinks I'm not properly 'erased'.
Normally, if reincarnation does excist, you don't see a trace of a former personality. She thinks I'm not properly erased because of the extremely diverse of interests I've got ... anything from bushcraft to heraldry, sports, science and what not more ... Normally people tend to stay in a certain circle of interests ... And no, I'm not schizophrenic - well ... we think we are not ...

As for strange experiences ...
My granny died in 2002. She fell, broke her hip, went to hospital but had to wait for surgery as she wasn't stable (heart probs, and some other things). She also had cancer (liver) for a few years, which we were aware of.
I visited her 2-3 times, but was extremely bussy with uni and she told me I didn't had to come, so I had more time to study, etc.
In the end she died

A few months later I had a very vivid dream of her.
We were in her old house (she had moved house 5 years before) and I was playing a game with my nephew, which we did when we were youngsters. She walked by, looked at me and waved ... walked on and disapeared ...
Mum says it was her way to say goodbye.

Mum is a bit into these sort of things ... reincarnation, life after death etc., ...
She sometimes sees a man (a good guy, she says) sitting in a chair in the living room, or someone walking out in the garden (imagine my dad: jumping up, runs to the garden, all lights on to find out there's nothing to see, not even footprints or other tracks ...).

My 2p to keep this thread clean

 

[Toddy]

You see Toddy, we can do it - we are big boys!!

I never doubted that
It's just such an emotive subject, with heart felt opinions and beliefs, that it can all too quickly become contentious.
Present company though appears to be on a happy wavelength.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

This has reminded me when I was a child, I could understand modern german. Up until I was six I used to have terrible dreams of loading people on to trains, I used to tick the names off on a clip board. Being the good little catholic that I was I prayed to Jesus to get rid of the dreams. He told me 'not to do it this time' I promised and the dreams stopped. When I was eleven I was reading passage in german class. After I had finshed the teacher asked if I spoke german, I said no. She then commented that I not only read the passage like I was fluent but that I had a leipzig accent. By the time I was 18 my understanding of german was as bad as any other person reared in britian.

A more common expiriance I have as adult is when you are out and about, is feeling the foot steps of your ancestors. I am sure this really common you know the very strong profound feeling you get when you doing something that has be done since the last ice age. Like for example picking bilberrys it starts to rain so you shelter under the rocks. You sit there eating bilberries with the kids and know that some woman wearing elk skins ate bilberries with her children sheltering from the rain in the same place.

 

[gregorach]

All I'm going to say is that profound feelings or impressions are not necessarily an accurate guide to reality. The brain can play some very strange tricks. A mate of mine was once absolutely convinced that (a) a person he had just met was reciting his exact thoughts, in a foreign language, and (b) she worked for Mossad, who were out to get him. Neither of these things were actually true.

 

[Wayland]

As human beings we are bombarded constantly with images on TV, film, advertising, photographs and paintings.

These are things we see and remember. Even if we do not think we remember such things these experiences are often there just waiting to resurface.

I was stung by a wasp when I was less than a month old in my pram. It put me into a coma for about 24 hours but I cannot recall this event in any conscious manner.

This incident was never related to me until I was into my twenties.

I have over the years handled all sorts of creatures including snakes and tarrantula spiders but have a guess which creature I have, to this day, a mortal fear of?

As a clue, it's not snakes or spiders.....

Now which is more likely?

1. I am a reincarnation of some poor soul that was stung to death by wasps?

or 2. A memory that I am not even aware of, has had a significant impact upon my life for over 40 years?

Tough questions huh....

 

[PhilParry]

Wierd but true - as a child I used to have a recurring nightmare of being at a camp fire in the middle of the forest and suddenly having an axe planted in the middle of my back.

The odd thing was that I used to wake up with the physical pain between my shoulder blades, absolutely terrified. :yikes: The dreams lasted well into my 20's.

Needless to say I sleep with my SFA now when camping out!!! :AR15firin


Phil

 

[BorderReiver]

The human brain is a horribly complex organ which we are only just beginning to understand.

"Memories" of things that have actually happened can change over time.No two eye witness accounts of the same event are ever the same.False memories have been planted in the minds of intelligent experimental subjects fairly easily.

Dreams are an amazing function of the brain.Sometimes we can work out what sparked off a particular dream sequence.More often there is a trigger so subtle that our conscious brain doesn't bother to draw it to our attention.

I was surprised to hear recently that a fair percentage of "normal" healthy individuals hear "voices" in their heads in the same way that schizophrenics do but without the compulsion to act on what the voices say.

The smelling the dog phenomenon can be explained rationally in that you were obviously aware that the animal was near to death at the time and another smell may just have been similar enough to remind you of your friend.Don't forget that coincidences happen all the time;we just note the ones that we notice as being "special"

Interesting thread this.

 

[Martyn]

I have to say that it gives me hope in that we may get another chance of life...

I think that's the nail on the head. People so desperately want to believe that there is something more, that lifes continues insome way, that they are prepared to sidestep rational thought.

My personal belief is that there is no such thing as reincarnation, ghosts, spirits or god.

The human brain is an amazing organ. Our understanding of the world around us is based on organic sensors, which transpond physical stimuli - sound, light, pressure etc, into electrical signals which are decoded by our brains. Dreams are electrical signals, so are hallucinations. Somehow we can work out "reality" from this - but sometimes the decoder goes wrong. We are just organic machines. We do what we do, we live our lives as best we can and then we die and everything we were is gone except for some organic remains which re-enter the carbon cycle. We are mortal creatures, animals, nothing more. Be great in life, because death is most definitely, the end!

That is the frightening, harsh, stark truth! Is it any wonder the human species so desperately wants to deny it? Ironically, once I accepted this, it bought a kind of warmth. There are no excuses or second chances and you dont get forgiven your sins in an afetrlife, god doesnt have a plan for you and there is no higher reason for the bad things that happen. This is it folks, so make it count because good or bad, it's all that there is.

 

[xylaria]

Humans are very complicated creatures. Dispite of what I wrote earlier, I am very sceptical of anyone who can hand on their heart say they are re-incarnated. Because I can't. It is an experiance of early childhood, but not proof. It does provide some comfort as when s*** happens, the rules of karma stop me mardeing about why it has happened to me.

I am pracitsing hedge witch but I am very sceptical of any one that sees fairies at the bottom of the garden. I can understand why being detached from celtic or icelandic understanding of nature spirits can lead to misunderstanding. But to see little girly things with wings must require some detachment for reality. I am sorry if have offended anyone strongly held beliefs but I feel like I am in position where I cant discuss my own beliefs with fellow pagans because of nutters. I am normally very open minded.

It is also an interesting point that complete atheism is rare. 95% of the population have a religious belief. I truthfully believe that praying, mediating, casting works and is good for you. The actual belief is irrelavent. The problem with any belief system is that some people lack grounding, and end up believing to point where they become lost not found.

 

[BorderReiver]

That is the frightening, harsh, stark truth! Is it any wonder the human species so desperately wants to deny it? Ironically, once I accepted this, it bought a kind of warmth. There are no excuses or second chances and you dont get forgiven your sins in an afetrlife, god doesnt have a plan for you and there is no higher reason for the bad things that happen. This is it folks, so make it count because good or bad, it's all that there is.

I don't find it at all frightening either Martyn.When I die I am gone.No worries about what might happen afterwards.It is a very comforting thought.

 

[Martyn]

It is also an interesting point that complete atheism is rare. 95% of the population have a religious belief.

Karl Marx explained this well, whether you believe in the crocodile gods of the amazon or are a Catholic, we all share some things as a common species. We mark significant events in our lives with ceremonies, unexplained bad things happen to us and we fear pain, suffering and death. Religion ...any religion, brings some meaning and comfort where there is otherwise none. But the harshness and cruelty of life, does not require the existance of a god. The explanation is simple, life is harsh and cruel.

I agree though, that meditation is a good exercise for mental health.

 

[Martyn]

I don't find it at all frightening either Martyn.When I die I am gone.No worries about what might happen afterwards.It is a very comforting thought.

Yes, exactly. Odd isnt it? We are what we are. It provides it's own explanation and leaves no questions. It's a very grounded place to be.

 

[havingagiraffe]

I was surprised to hear recently that a fair percentage of "normal" healthy individuals hear "voices" in their heads in the same way that schizophrenics do but without the compulsion to act on what the voices say.

"Only listen to the sensible voices."

 

[demographic]

As human beings we are bombarded constantly with images on TV, film, advertising, photographs and paintings.

These are things we see and remember. Even if we do not think we remember such things these experiences are often there just waiting to resurface.

I was stung by a wasp when I was less than a month old in my pram. It put me into a coma for about 24 hours but I cannot recall this event in any conscious manner.

This incident was never related to me until I was into my twenties.

I have over the years handled all sorts of creatures including snakes and tarrantula spiders but have a guess which creature I have, to this day, a mortal fear of?

As a clue, it's not snakes or spiders.....

Now which is more likely?

1. I am a reincarnation of some poor soul that was stung to death by wasps?

or 2. A memory that I am not even aware of, has had a significant impact upon my life for over 40 years?

Tough questions huh....

The hammer struck the nail firmly that time, IMO reincarnation is a load of old tosh.

To those who want to believe in it? Fair nuff,do what you want, just don't expect me to swallow it without thowing up
Theres scientific explanations for most things in life, some times science just hasn't worked it out yet.
People who avoid a rational explanation because it doesn't fit into their "faith" seem to me to be missing something.

The worlds cool enough without having to make up imaginary friends and previous lives to make it seem better

This is it, but its pretty good

 

[Goose]

I think it was Spike Milligan said that if any religious group came round with a collecting tin he gave to them all.........






.................................One of them MIGHT be right!