Our bodies and our minds are the masks our real self—the soul—wears in the physical world. When we die, we remove our masks and we rest in our natural state. There is no disappearance, no oblivion. We simply take off our masks, our clothes, and other outer coverings, and we return home to the spiritual realms.
Here we are renewed and restored. Here we reflect on the lessons of the life that we have just left. Here we are reunited with our soul companions across the centuries. Here we plan our next lifetime on the earth. When the time and circumstances are right, we don new masks—a baby’s body and brain—and return to the physical state. With a refreshed energy and outlook, we continue learning our spiritual lessons until the need to reincarnate is no longer necessary. Then we can continue to help people from the other side.
It is important to remember that we are the souls, not the masks.
As we gain a higher perspective and understand that our present lifetime is one of a myriad of lives that our soul has experienced over eons of time, the sense of expansion, timelessness, and joy that we feel can be palpable. We can let go of guilt, of despair, of feeling trapped and rushed. We have an eternity of time to learn our lessons. Our symptoms and fears have probably carried over from previous lifetimes.
There is always hope for us once we realize that we are more than just a particular body and brain.
Our greatest lesson is love. Remembering the causes of our afflictions allows us to kill them. In doing so, the recognition that we are loving, spiritual beings comes more and more into focus. This strips away our anxieties and fears. It removes the barriers to comprehending our real nature. Then we can reach our highest potential, healing ourselves and our world.
Understanding can be immediate: a sudden perception of the meaning and implications of these ideas, a clear and intuitive knowing. Understanding can also be slow and deliberate, a percolating awareness as the veil of ignorance is gently lifted. Whether with Zen-like immediacy or the gradual dawning of the sun on a foggy day, the results are identical.
Many obstacles block our clear understanding. We are often force-fed specific belief systems, both cultural and religious, when we are too young to comprehend, to reason, and to make decisions for ourselves. We may become closed-minded to alternate beliefs and systems. Information cannot enter a closed mind. Nothing new can be learned.
Fortunately, personal experience can be more powerful than belief. Once you experience, then you know. For this reason, having a past life memory, whether through regression, in a dream, or meditating, or even spontaneously, can be compelling enough to unlock a closed mind and to release it from the fetters of skepticism. Now questions can be asked. Now beliefs can be examined and re-examined, accepted or rejected. Now real learning can occur.
