I believe in reincarnation. Not influenced by any religion, but scientific evidence. Many hypnotists, scientists, journalists and people with near-death experiences have written about it. I understand this challenges and unravels many people’s belief systems, which can be devastating. Chinua Achebe’s character Okonkwo, in his novel Things Fall Apart, knows this extremely well.
It took me many years to be fully convinced, after reading numerous books, hearing stories directly from personal friends and experiencing serendipities myself. Only now how the Universe works begins to make perfect sense to me.
My first understanding is our souls are eternal. Once our bodies expire, we return to spiritual “home” then come back as different persons and experience life from different perspectives. We can be born as a German farmer in one life and a Kenyan professor or Indian nurse in another. We might also choose to return to the same region or earthly family.
We are here to grow spiritually. Under the guidance of advanced souls, we take each earthly trip with intention to develop certain aspects of ourselves. We choose our families and circumstances to maximize learning. Ultimately, we develop qualities such as love, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, responsibility, and so on. Focus on worldly possessions beyond our needs in this life is a waste of time and energy.
Each of us is unique due to unique experiences from different reincarnations. We each has natural talents, certain propensities, interests and purpose. We each has unique challenges, destinies and paths of spiritual development. For this reason it is senseless to compare our successes and failures with others’. Like plants in a forest, whether we are grass, tulip or pine tree, we can only be ourselves – the best version of ourselves.
We are born with all we need. An apple seed is genetically programed to grow into an apple tree without intervention. So are we. We are born to create life of happiness, if we just let it unfold naturally. Happiness doesn’t come from external acquisitions but from appreciating what is within us. When we fail to recognize this immense inner power, we seek power externally and engage in power struggles.
We are all connected as part of the universe. Every thought or action has ripple effects. Prejudges based on caste, race, nationality, gender, religion, sexual orientation are creations of unconscious human mind for the purpose of divide and conquer. So one can subject others to submission of his power and exploitations. When we are separate from each other or hurt each other, we all suffer devastating consequence as a whole.
Challenges are gifts in disguises. We grow most when we overcome difficult situations. The universe provides us plenty of such opportunities. We are never given bigger challenges than we can handle based on our level of development. If a person is confronted with immense difficult situation, he is likely a mature soul. There is no fear-based incentives or punishment for failures. We will be given another challenge of similar magnitude to try again. When we have the same “bad luck” many times, it is because we have not reflected and learnt the lessons.
Everything happens for a reason, and is always for our long-term benefit. If we trust the universe’s process, we will surrender and live life with less effort. We will accept what we cannot control and focus on what we can control. To make the most out of life is to know who we are, what makes us truly happy, then express our truest and highest self with deliberate focus and inspired actions.
