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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

 

Reincarnation On Trial

Spirit-Guide Abu, on the other side for 3500 years, speaks out against the 'absurdity' of both compulsory reincarnation and the 'puny and petty' Earth as unique classroom

 

 

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  • Editor's note: The following testimony is from Spirit-Guide Abu, transcribed from CD #14.

 

I have said that in my experience [3500 years on the other side] there is no compulsory or universal reincarnation from any spirit-sphere of which I have knowledge. I have also said that where there is a specific end and purpose to be served – and it will be an end and purpose, a worthy one, one which finds favor in the eyes of those who direct, to some degree, the spiritual workings of the world, the universe, and the Earth, where such an end and aim is in view, then, a reincarnation for that purpose may be permitted.

 

  • Editor's note: Abu concedes that ad hoc special-mission reincarnation does occur, but these situations are rare.

 

In such an event, the one who is reincarnated will be aware of the vocation which is self-chosen… fully aware of the vocation… an aim in the Earth-life… Further than that I do not think it is possible to go, for, as I have told you, these opposing opinions [concerning reincarnation] continue even upon the spirit-planes… [however] in my view and opinion it is not the fact [of the matter, and does not occur for the average person], for… I can see no reason and no purpose at all in a return to conditions which can provide nothing which we here in spirit cannot provide.

 

 

Editor's note: William Stainton Moses was one of the great psychic-mediums of the 1800s. His books, Spirit Teachings and More Spirit Teachings, are important sources of afterlife-information offered by a team of Spirit Guides. Many subjects were discussed including reincarnation.

The Guides spoke of various “spheres” of “probation” and “purgation, in which the soul was developed and perfected," which, for some, may be a necessary stop-over before entering Summerland; but, having emerged from them, then, “never (except in rare cases) to return” [to the Earth or any probationary world].

On another occasion, a further question was asked about reincarnation:

“Whether in the eternal counsels of the Supreme it may be deemed well that a particular spirit should or should not be again incarnated in a material form is a question that none can answer, for none can know, not even the spirit’s own Guides. What is wise and well will be done.

"Reincarnation, we have already said, in the sense in which it is popularly understood, is not true. We have said, too, that certain great spirits, for certain high purposes and interests, have returned to earth and lived again amongst men” [but this does not happen for the average person].

 

Editor's note: On the “true self” page I offer a listing of dozens of teachings concerning the importance of “going within” and “knowing oneself.” The Guides of Stainton Moses are quoted there, very strongly emphasizing the need to explore the inner riches of the soul. Here’s what I’ve learned. Any Guide or spiritual teacher who is fiercely adamant about “knowing the true self” is not likely to be promoting “R.” This happens not by coincidence.

 

 

Any lessons which must be learned by the spirit who aspires to soar and to mount the eminence [of sacred evolvement] can be learned in spirit at least as well as in the confused conditions existent upon the Earth-plane.

 

we do not come here primarily for information, experience, or to learn how to love

The Earth-plane is not a school of learning to prepare you for your future life in spirit. The Earth-plane is but one of the spirit-planes. [After your time here] you shall leave your present plane of living and come to live here where so many of your dear friends are already living, happily, contentedly, and you will find circumstances, the general circumstances, of living [in the spirit-world], so very similar [to that of the Earth] that you will wonder why it would ever be suggested that there would be necessity to reincarnate upon one particular spirit-plane [the Earth]...

But it [that is, the Earth] is the plane of individualization. As far as I am aware only upon the Earth-plane is this process of individualization carried out. And therefore, largely therefore, it is an evolutionary plane to a much greater degree than the others.

 

Editor's note: See the introduction of "Prometheus Denied" for further discussion by Abu concerning the Earth as a specialty-world for individualization.

 

For upon other spirit-planes, subsequent to the Earth, evolution will mean transition [to a better, more beautiful world], for as your spiritual status shall improve, so shall you find yourself in changing conditions and circumstances -- but that is not the case upon the Earth.

 

Editor's note: Abu is saying that, in future worlds, our environment, good or bad, will directly reflect our spiritual advancement or lack thereof. It's not that way on Earth. Here "bad things happen to good people." Our purpose in coming to this difficult planet is not one of attaining material prosperity; some will, some won't, even if they're good people. We came here for a different reason.

There are many philosophies, religions, and self-help movements which preach that we, our positive thinking and good intentions, might surmount any obstacle here on Earth. I call this the "health and wealth gospel." There's an element of truth to it, but, fundamentally, it's flawed as we did not come here to be happy and materially successful, as such; we came here to "wake up," to individualize, to become a person. Becoming a "good" and successful person is step two, largely to be realized in a future world. See my article addressing this common error.

 

Upon the Earth, you are, as it were, as far as spirit is concerned, almost in a pre-natal condition.

 

Editor's note: By "pre-natal" Abu means that we come here not individualized, not true persons in the full sense of the term, but, during our time here, just "babes in the womb," so to speak. But the jarring polar opposites of this world -- the good and evil, the hot and cold, the pleasure and suffering, the abundance and poverty -- like a splash of ice water in the face, jolts us into a higher level of consciousness. It's not always pleasant or pretty, but it gets the job done. We open our eyes in the process. The good news is that we need do this only once. When we become "awake," a real person -- not necessarily a "good person" quite yet -- our new-found sentience makes us ready for what comes next in the future worlds.

 

There is a confusion, a struggling, a mingling and a mixing [on the Earth], which does not occur elsewhere, for it is the plane of individualization, and it is there that the individual, subject to his environment, subject to his learning, will build for himself a personality, a character, which will determine his pathway when he shall have left the Earth-plane. It is not a unique place of learning, but it is a unique place of individualization. And since the incarnated spirit is not to be re-individualized, for that process has already been gone through, there is no point at all in returning the [individual], compulsorily, to such a condition [by reincarnation], and so, in my view, it does not occur.

[Confusion on the reincarnation topic occurs because we are too Earth-bound in our thinking and point of view. We are not the center of the universe, spatially or philosophically. Only human arrogance and myopia would ascribe undue importance to the Earth.] Come, as it were, with me to a height far above, [come and accept the vantage point of the spirit-world,] and look down upon the puny plane of Earth, and then the thing will be seen in better perspective. For the Earth is not the originating [archetypal] sphere. The origin [that is, the real life and the real world] is above us, transcendentally above us, vastly removed and yet immanent [“within” us, as we are connected to the origin], for the Earth is but a dim and pale reflection of that which issues forth from the [archetypal] source.

How then can an Earth-dweller, [mired in limited perspective, correctly] view his own spiritual condition, and the conditions of the spirit-world in general, if he will insist on going to the “bottom of the well,” and gazing upwards upon the tiny point of light, [that is, knowledge of the far-away spirit-world to one who is Earth-bound in thinking, as this “tiny point of light”] is all that he will see, when, from above [in the spirit-world], all is clear. And when it is appreciated that the Earth-plane is not the lowest but one of the lower planes of spirit, then it will not surely be maintained that it is a unique spot, the only place, where… God, who is love, can work his will and his wish.

Is [God] then impotent [to mature us] upon the [higher] spirit-planes, approaching nearer and nearer to the Godhead – indeed, and indeed, it were an absurdity even to suggest such a thing…

 

Editor's note: Abu becomes animated on this point. Essentially, he says, "What a stupid idea! To those who intractibly proclaim that we must come back, over and over, to this little dot of a planet in the vast-ocean universe as the only place to learn love or important lessons, I say the idea is patently absurd. God is the God of love and s/he is well able to teach love any place divine purpose might select."

This cock-eyed notion that "the Earth is special, and, therefore, we must return here, over and over, because there's no other classroom," reminds me of the arrogant position of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, insisting that the Earth is the literal center of universe. The "pomp and revenue" (Thomas Paine) church-elites wanted to be cosmic head-honchos in charge of God's world at the dead-center of everything, and it just wouldn't do to run operations on a backwater planet, on a forgotten cul-de-sac of the Milky Way, just a measly speck among untold billions of similar orbs. Where's the glory in that?

 

[You must adopt this higher view and see things from the perspective of the spirit-world.] Bear in mind that the Earth, whilst a unique place for individualization, is but one of the spirit-planes, and a lowly one at that. And it will readily be seen that when a person shall have left the Earth-plane of individualization, whose sole, real purpose is to permit the individualization itself to occur, it is not until he shall have left it that his spiritual progression can really commence.

 

Editor's note: When we leave here, having become a person, then we can properly begin work on becoming a "good person." But, for extensive discussion on the possibility of becoming a "good person" right now on this planet, see my four articles under the "Spirituality" icon.

 

Yes, you can attain spiritual progress whilst upon the Earth-plane, and why not for it is but a spirit-plane, and you should, and we should all endeavor to progress spiritually wherever we may be. But it were an absurdity to suggest that one who shall have attained any eminence at all upon the [future] planes of spirit … must thereafter return to a plane so much more lowly, where there is so much less spirituality, where there are “wars and rumors of wars” – no, it is a proposition which will hold no water no matter how it is viewed.

 

this ancient Spirit Guide says that reincarnational theory is an insult to God

I am sorry to be so dogmatic … for I feel a little strongly upon it, for, to me, it is mildly insulting to … God to suggest that the spirit which is [of God] cannot learn what must be learned – and that is love and spiritual advancement – elsewhere than upon this puny and petty spot [which is the Earth] where you must crawl for a while until you may spread your wings and take flight into the realms which are truly your home.

You are as yet but caterpillars, my children – and the butterfly does not again return [to the “pre-natal” chrysalis state].

 

the purpose of the brain is to filter out, from universal consciousness, anything not correlating with the body’s perspective; in this ‘step-down transformer’ process, separate egos, with separate personal identities, emerge

Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, PhD philosophy, PhD computer science, for many years worked at CERN, the large hadron collider in Geneva.

“… the function of the brain is to localize consciousness, pinning it to the space-time reference point implied by the physical body. In doing so, the brain modulates conscious perception in accordance with the perspective of the body.

a brain that filters implies the existence of unbound mind, a universal consciousness

"When not subject to this localization and modulation mechanism, mind is unbound: it entails consciousness of all there is across space, time, and perhaps beyond. Therefore, by localizing mind, the brain also ‘filters out’ of consciousness anything that is not correlated with the body’s perspective… like a radio receiver selecting [a particular station], among the variety [with] all other stations being filtered out and never reaching the consciousness of the listener…

"[T]he filter hypothesis implies that consciousness, in its unfiltered state, is unbound. As such, consciousness must be fundamentally unitary and non-individualized, for separateness and individualization entail boundaries.

Editor’s note: Father Benson from the afterlife speaks of a being, formerly mortal, five billion years old, so advanced as to enjoy awareness of all life-forms in the universe; in this, we see the future of the ‘unfiltered’ mind. Read More on the “500 hundred tape-recorded messages from the other side” page.

the filtering brain creates the illusion of separateness, of disconnected personal egos

"The emergence of multiple, separate and different conscious perspectives or egos, is a consequence of the filtering and localization process: different egos, entailing different perspectives on space-time, retain awareness of different subsets of all potential subjective experiences, the rest being filtered out. It is the difference across subsets that give each ego its idiosyncratic vantage point, personal history, and sense of personal identity.

Editor’s note: A brain designed to filter, and reduce to a trickle, experience does not substantively support a theory of reincarnation which exalts much experience. We do not come to this planet to gain experience, as such, but to individualize, to transform one’s tiny sub-set of universal consciousness into a personal ego. With this, we become ready for what comes next in the afterlife, even if we are not yet “good” persons, which can be accomplished later, but only after one becomes a person in one’s own right. Read More on this need for individualization.

"The subjective experiences that are filtered out become the so-called ‘unconscious’ mind of the respective ego. Since each ego allows in only an infinitesimally small part of all potential experiences … the ‘unconscious’ minds of different egos will differ only minimally… As such, the filter hypothesis, unlike materialism, predicts the existence of a ‘collective unconscious’; a shared repository of potential experiences that far transcends mere genetic predispositions of a species…

the likely origin of the mystical experience

"[A]nd most importantly, the filter hypothesis predicts that one can have experiences that do not correlate with one’s brain states. Since here the brain is seen merely as a mechanism for filtering out experience … when this [filtering] mechanism is interfered with so as to be partially or temporarily deactivated, one’s subjective experience could delocalize, expand beyond the body in time and space, and perhaps even beyond time and space [giving rise to what is called the mystical experience]…”

READ MORE of Dr. Kastrup's work on the “quantum mechanics” page

 

 

See more discussion of the Earth as a primary school or kindergarten; afterlife testimony from The Great Brahma and The Buddha.

 

 

Editor's last word:

In discussing these concepts with a friend, the question was asked, “What about people who die and go to the Dark Realms? It would seem that their trip to the Earth didn’t help them.”

According to the afterlife reports, 75% of those transitioning to the other side spend some time in dark detention. As such, it’s clear that most people do not become “good persons” for their time on Earth. But becoming “good” is not why we come here. We come here to wake up, to become a person.

While it’s regrettable that some will choose the road of evil, it’s a temporary detour. They can leave dark detention any time they want to. But, in the meantime, their primary mission to the Earth will have been fulfilled. In order to make yourself into a “bad person” you first have to become a person. Mission accomplished, case closed on that. Stage two is advancing to “good person” status.

Abu himself, according to his own testimony, had engaged in criminal activity during his time in ancient Egypt. He was murdered by cohorts, stabbed, thrown into a ditch, and ended up on one of the lowest levels of the "rat cellar." Later, in his sufferings, confusion, and self-pity, in dark detention, it took him a long time to decide to become good -- but, today he's a leading teacher of righteousness over there.

As he preaches to us (his name means "teacher"), we don't have to take the long, winding road home as he did. That's not necessary, but it's our choice; in this case, a bona fide choice open to us, unlike some others which are not possible choices for us.