Would you say that when a soul has lived many lives and experienced all sides of the equation regarding a particular life experience - whether that be good, mundane, or unimaginably terrible - rather than incarnate yet again with a different set of challenges to learn about, they can instead choose to act as a spirit guide and assist those people that are trying out or healing from those same experiences for the first time?
The compassion I feel from my guides suggests that they have been there, done that, got the t.shirt/halo/wings - because only from experiential knowing can we guide others effectively. It seems like a necessary aspect of evolution.
I loved this article and I always gain so much insight! I have been seeing an energy healer for almost 10 years and during sessions she has picked up some of my past lives which parallels a lot of my life experiences now. But I have some unanswered emotions that have been with me for my entire life. (68 years) that person you recommended in your comments does he do online work for us in Illinois? If not could you recommend some past lives hypnotists who work in the north’west’ern suburbs between Woodstock & Sugar Grove Il area? Thank you for sharing your incredible work with all of us. lin
As always, thank you for taking something so simple and fun, such as a song by the Indigo Girls and making it into a thought provoking and teachable moment for me.
I feel like everything in life always comes back to personal responsibility, albeit not in a judgmental way...in a quality of life way. There is so much to learn and discover that we could never possibly fully understand anything about who we are in one lifetime. Don't you think?
I have said in the past to myself, I can't wait to learn all of my life lessons so that I don't have to come back here anymore. M. Scott Peck said it best in his first line of "The Road Less Traveled" when he said 'Life is difficult." I think we're so conditioned to think about a beginning and and end, that we don't rest in the infinity of life. That being that we actually exist outside of time and that time is actually an illusion.
I sometimes challenge myself to think....what if I learned all that there is in the discovery of living a human life and I no longer have to come back to earth....would I choose to come back just to help others if that was an option? These days the answer is mostly yes, (some days is an absolute and resounding NO though, I'll be honest). I suppose because there is something really beautiful (albeit difficult) about the human life that I absolutely cherish and am grateful for.
In this lifetime, I am a big bucket of mushy empathic emotions and have spent the majority of my life trying to understand them, learn from them, and most importantly not become a slave to them. Be the observer, be grateful and without judgment and allow for the possibility that I may never understand who I truly am in this one lifetime, so just enjoy and stay in the moment. Sometimes, I want so badly to "finish the test", "complete the race" so to speak and move on to the 2nd grade (slow learner ;O). There is just something so unsettling about not having all the answers. There is a certain confidence (borderline arrogance) in being confident in your belief system, but when it's always evolving, you really can't get comfortable in your beliefs, can you? Maybe that's the point....to always be reaching and wanting to learn/experience more.
A few years back I posted the following excerpt from an article for my meetup group "Your Ego is Not Your Amigo" - I think it brings the point I'm trying to articulate home:
-------------------------------------
A few years ago, I read a really great book entitled “Rebirth” by Kamazl Ravikant. The book is basically about a man’s search for meaning and purpose whereby the protagonist (named Amit), embarks on a journey of the "Camino de Santiago", one of the oldest Christian pilgrimages. Just for a brief history lesson, the Camino de Santiago is a real-life spiritual pilgrimage that begins at Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, and travels 500 miles through four of Spain's 15 regions, ending at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galiche. It is meant to be a highly spiritual journey whereby the pilgrimage ends at the resting tomb of St. James. It is traveled by a few hundred thousand people each year.
Although the book is fictional, it brought many truths to light (at least for me) and in the very first pages of the Prologue it tells a story that brings up a question that comes to the forefront of my mind nearly every day. The Prologue starts out with Amit visiting Dharamsala, which is located on the edge of the Himalayas. It is where the Dalai Lama’s monastery is located, and Amit is visiting there to ask one of the residing monks a question. He sees one of the monks, bows to him and the story continues below with Amit asking the monk this question:
He is solemn for a moment, then smiles the biggest, warmest smile. Behind him, far in the distance, are sharp-edged mountains. I feel like they must when sunlight envelops them after a cold, winter night.
“Simple,” he says slowly. “Simple question.”
I grin. “Not for me.”
“Where are you from?”
“America.”
He nods thoughtfully, as if that explains everything.
“I say ‘yes,’” he says. “To all that happens, I say ‘yes.’”
Saying yes to everything is the answer to the question for me these days. Just allowing the experience to happen and then being OK with not having all the answers. Just like in the Indigo Girls song....maybe it also has something to do with what T.S. Eliot said when he stated
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Not sure about any of it...but am sure thankful to be a part of it.....
Loved this article especially your take on the purpose of past lives... that each incarnation is an experience to learn and grow but not a test we can pass or fail. My thoughts are each incarnation is simply an experience to learn and evolve on our journey back to source.
Thank you Bob for another insightful article.
I wish you peace joy love compassion abundance and happiness 😊
Joan
Would you say that when a soul has lived many lives and experienced all sides of the equation regarding a particular life experience - whether that be good, mundane, or unimaginably terrible - rather than incarnate yet again with a different set of challenges to learn about, they can instead choose to act as a spirit guide and assist those people that are trying out or healing from those same experiences for the first time?
The compassion I feel from my guides suggests that they have been there, done that, got the t.shirt/halo/wings - because only from experiential knowing can we guide others effectively. It seems like a necessary aspect of evolution.
I loved this article and I always gain so much insight! I have been seeing an energy healer for almost 10 years and during sessions she has picked up some of my past lives which parallels a lot of my life experiences now. But I have some unanswered emotions that have been with me for my entire life. (68 years) that person you recommended in your comments does he do online work for us in Illinois? If not could you recommend some past lives hypnotists who work in the north’west’ern suburbs between Woodstock & Sugar Grove Il area? Thank you for sharing your incredible work with all of us. lin
Hi Bob:
As always, thank you for taking something so simple and fun, such as a song by the Indigo Girls and making it into a thought provoking and teachable moment for me.
I feel like everything in life always comes back to personal responsibility, albeit not in a judgmental way...in a quality of life way. There is so much to learn and discover that we could never possibly fully understand anything about who we are in one lifetime. Don't you think?
I have said in the past to myself, I can't wait to learn all of my life lessons so that I don't have to come back here anymore. M. Scott Peck said it best in his first line of "The Road Less Traveled" when he said 'Life is difficult." I think we're so conditioned to think about a beginning and and end, that we don't rest in the infinity of life. That being that we actually exist outside of time and that time is actually an illusion.
I sometimes challenge myself to think....what if I learned all that there is in the discovery of living a human life and I no longer have to come back to earth....would I choose to come back just to help others if that was an option? These days the answer is mostly yes, (some days is an absolute and resounding NO though, I'll be honest). I suppose because there is something really beautiful (albeit difficult) about the human life that I absolutely cherish and am grateful for.
In this lifetime, I am a big bucket of mushy empathic emotions and have spent the majority of my life trying to understand them, learn from them, and most importantly not become a slave to them. Be the observer, be grateful and without judgment and allow for the possibility that I may never understand who I truly am in this one lifetime, so just enjoy and stay in the moment. Sometimes, I want so badly to "finish the test", "complete the race" so to speak and move on to the 2nd grade (slow learner ;O). There is just something so unsettling about not having all the answers. There is a certain confidence (borderline arrogance) in being confident in your belief system, but when it's always evolving, you really can't get comfortable in your beliefs, can you? Maybe that's the point....to always be reaching and wanting to learn/experience more.
A few years back I posted the following excerpt from an article for my meetup group "Your Ego is Not Your Amigo" - I think it brings the point I'm trying to articulate home:
-------------------------------------
A few years ago, I read a really great book entitled “Rebirth” by Kamazl Ravikant. The book is basically about a man’s search for meaning and purpose whereby the protagonist (named Amit), embarks on a journey of the "Camino de Santiago", one of the oldest Christian pilgrimages. Just for a brief history lesson, the Camino de Santiago is a real-life spiritual pilgrimage that begins at Saint Jean Pied de Port, France, and travels 500 miles through four of Spain's 15 regions, ending at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galiche. It is meant to be a highly spiritual journey whereby the pilgrimage ends at the resting tomb of St. James. It is traveled by a few hundred thousand people each year.
Although the book is fictional, it brought many truths to light (at least for me) and in the very first pages of the Prologue it tells a story that brings up a question that comes to the forefront of my mind nearly every day. The Prologue starts out with Amit visiting Dharamsala, which is located on the edge of the Himalayas. It is where the Dalai Lama’s monastery is located, and Amit is visiting there to ask one of the residing monks a question. He sees one of the monks, bows to him and the story continues below with Amit asking the monk this question:
____________________________________________________
“I have a question.”
“It’s okay,” he says, his voice a whisper.
“How do you find peace?”
He is solemn for a moment, then smiles the biggest, warmest smile. Behind him, far in the distance, are sharp-edged mountains. I feel like they must when sunlight envelops them after a cold, winter night.
“Simple,” he says slowly. “Simple question.”
I grin. “Not for me.”
“Where are you from?”
“America.”
He nods thoughtfully, as if that explains everything.
“I say ‘yes,’” he says. “To all that happens, I say ‘yes.’”
____________________________________________________________________
Saying yes to everything is the answer to the question for me these days. Just allowing the experience to happen and then being OK with not having all the answers. Just like in the Indigo Girls song....maybe it also has something to do with what T.S. Eliot said when he stated
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." Not sure about any of it...but am sure thankful to be a part of it.....
Thank you again for all you do for us Bob!
In deep gratitude always,
Leasa
Loved this article especially your take on the purpose of past lives... that each incarnation is an experience to learn and grow but not a test we can pass or fail. My thoughts are each incarnation is simply an experience to learn and evolve on our journey back to source.
☮️❤️🌟🙏
Randy