Past Lives

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November 18, 2004

Reborn in Many Cultures

I just finished re-reading "The 13 Original Clan Mothers" by Jamie Sams. I bought and read the book many years ago. For many (personal) reasons, I was drawn to it again over the past few days.

First of all, I would like to send a personal "Thank You" to her for writing the book. Perhaps through intention and putting this into the Universe of cyberspace, somehow the gratitude will reach her in some way, shape or form.

The first time I read the book, I learned quite a bit. But, they were lessons of the mind - since that is what I wanted and needed at that time. Even though I read the book, I held onto it through a number of household moves. The story that moved me the most was the story about how Firefly got his blinking light. The story of Forgets to Twinkle was one that I bookmarked and returned to many times. As you can see by the dates on the posts here, I sometimes forget to twinkle too...

This time I was drawn to the book for different reasons. I did not know or understand fully the pull towards it until I finished reading the whole book. I was drawn to it this time for healing. I was not in need of all 13 lessons and I can't exactly claim that I learned all 13 teachings. But, there were a number of 'ah-ha' moments where healing occurred and I was able to see some things in my life more clearly. And I send love and thanks to all that helped to bring that healing to me at this place and time.

The second purpose of this post is to reflect on something else that I noticed while reading. There were a number of times when past and future lives are mentioned. I didn't notice that before. As an example: "Like his sister, this little brother was one of the Ancestors who had returned to continue the next turn of the Medicine Wheel by walking in human form once again." I found a number of references to past lives like that throughout the book. It caused me to think and realize that many cultures have the concept of rebirth and past lives.

So why are so many people convinced that this present incarnation is the only one? Why is it so hard for some people to believe that they have lived before and will live again? Is it simply based on their inability to remember the previous lifetime? We should be grateful that we don't easily or consciously remember previous lives. Can you imagine the brainpower we would need to host all those memories?

To use computers as an analogy... The present incarnation is like the RAM in your computer. Those memories are current and more easily accessible. If the power goes off (i.e. you die), then all the data in RAM which has not been written to the hard disk disappears. But the soul lessons and lessons of past lives are like your hard drive. It's permanent memory. It takes much more power to retrieve the data from your hard drive than from RAM, but it is possible. Also, you don't store every keystroke that you've ever made on your hard drive. And when documents or programs no longer suit your purpose, you delete them.

The brain/capacity to remember is limited. Just like your RAM. You have maybe 256 MB to one gig of RAM. You have a MUCH larger hard drive. Your soul is your hard drive. That's where the permanent memories are kept. And if you try to open all the files on your hard drive at once, your computer crashes... You can only hold so much data in RAM/your current brain.

For those that think they remember everything about this life and nothing about past lives... Stop and think about how much you do and don't remember just about this life. What did you do last month? Ten years ago? Do you remember everything that happened when you were 5? But, on the other hand, I'm sure you remember the significant events of last month, ten years ago and your 5th year... That is one of the major keys to remembering. Is it significant to you now? If so, you'll probably remember if you put forth the power necessary to access prior memories (in this lifetime and others). If it's not significant or doesn't serve your present purpose, it's unlikely that you can remember - and even more unlikely that you would put forth the effort necessary to access the memory.

And if you can't remember something that happened 10 years ago, how likely are you to remember something that happened 500 or 3000 years ago? Sure, we like to think our names are important. We wonder why we can't just easily remember our previous names and then look up the rest of the information. Think of how many people you've met and how many names you've forgotten. Good friends from long ago.... That crush you had in the 2nd grade was everything to you back then. Now, it's just a vague memory. And when you think about it...is your name the most important thing in your present life? Or are your significant experiences and the lessons you're trying to learn the most important things in your life?

Live fully in your present life. And remember what you need to remember...

Posted by BlueWolf on November 18, 2004 12:24 PM