Emerging New Age concepts of the soul, ‘after-life’ and rebirth, and reports of Out of Body Experience and Near Death Experience begin to affect our conventional mind-sets slowly but surely, transforming the structure of our thoughts and beliefs.
The mind begins tentatively to accept the new concepts and inevitably they get embedded at conscious and sub-conscious levels, shaping behaviour, attitudes, priorities, outlook and even our world-view.
Reincarnation was always reassuring for those brought up in cultures that had belief in it for millenia. For those who began to share this belief, it also had a transforming effect. The understanding that we are not here just once and that our essence would continue in time, made life more meaningful and less desperate. The aphorism ‘ eat, drink and make merry for tomorrow we die’ no longer applied. There was a sense of relief and the fatality of death was less alarming, there being no finality about it. An ‘after-life’ where we had a chance to make corrections and try again, made the end less traumatic. The thought that our essence was in fact eternal was comforting. If we additionally accepted divinity in our essence, it became ennobling. On the other hand, if we did not, even then the evolution of a less than divine but empowered ethereal entity in our essence was no less comforting.
The premise that there was no judgemental hell waiting for us was also less alarming, though we as entities that judged ourselves, did not do away with the need to guard against excesses and hedonistic and self-centred approaches to life. We were after all our own hardest task-masters, for when you in clarity, sat in judgement on yourself, there was nowhere to escape.
Even in the course of the evolution of Christian theology, the acknowledgement of reincarnation was considered and upheld by many. The Gnostics, Clement of Alexandria, Origen and St. Jerome are cases in point. It was only in AD 325 that the Roman Emperor Constantine with the enthusiasm of a new convert, together with his mother Helena, erased all references to reincarnation from the New Testament. Later at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD reincarnation was declared a heresy. This was an attempt, according to some analysts to strengthen the church which felt threatened by the possibility that through the concept of reincarnation individuals would rely on self salvation, ignoring the church. Yet several esoteric Judaic orders like the Kabbalah and the Rosicrucians continued to believe in reincarnation.
New Age concepts of self-regulation by souls in ‘after-life’ through mutual reviews of conduct during past lives and through reviews with Councils of Elders, Masters and Guides and their reincarnation in groups as spouses, parents, progeny, relatives, friends and even as adversaries through considered choices to work out residual negative attributes, provided a novel and fresh perspective of the challenges we face in life through relationship issues. Good, bad and indifferent parents, as also good, bad and indifferent progeny, tests of friendship, sacrifices made and privations endured, sibling rivalries and jealousies and a whole range of relationship issues and challenging situations in life like being born with handicaps, were seen in the backdrop of clusters of soul comrades enacting dramas to work out and challenge their imperfections which had carried forward from acts of omission and commission in precious lives.
The closest and warmest relationships were confronted by painful turn of events to test their metal and moral fibre. The course of life was never intended to be an uncomplicated, smooth sailing journey.The perspective that the emotionally charged atmosphere of family life and the constant confrontation between individuals was an exercise in evolution ordained by souls prior to incarnation, had a transforming effect on those who cared to believe.
Inspired by such revolutionary thought, I composed a poem on the birth of a grandson, which I wish to share with you. It shows how new ideas can begin to fundamentally transform ones belief systems:
WAITING TO BECOME
From where have you come
Suddenly new face,
Smiling so fully with your gums,
First chalk on a new black board
Grandson?
Crawling about us with trust,
Recognizing us so instantly,
Being recognized at once,
As if you have existed always
Behind a secret door
Which has just opened.
Like our children
Who arrived before you in their turn
From the recesses of our minds,
Familiar from the first moment,
Or the wife who joined me
From the time we first met,
One by one we have become
Permanent,
And even if I rewind
To when there was no one else but me,
Yet they
remain in the shadows
Latent and familiar,
Waiting to become;
As if long ago we stood
Joining our hands together,
With the conviction
That we would come
As father, mother,
Daughter, son,
Grandson.
Congratulations on your Grandson!
LikeLike
yhanks, was some time back
Namaste
LikeLike
The poem touched me. And great post. Reincarnation, and global consciousness shifts are two concepts I hope for, rather than know for certain. But for me, and considering my background, open hope is progress.
For that hope I credit a shift in “beliefs”, from an evangelical christian paradigm, to belief in the divine ground and the collective divinity we all share, this owed to eastern transmissions. I have already been transformed, but by the building blocks that all reincarnation principals are built on: God is all, and in all, and we also are divine.
I no longer have biases against reincarnation, for example. I am only waiting for natural and internal confirmation. That should excite others, as it does me, because it means that fear and hate no longer rule me. My angry American friends (and I have several) could benefit from ideas even simpler and easier to digest for western minds than multiple lives in a single soul-arising, or the notion that ethereal forces are nudging us toward a shift in collective awareness, of the 11:11 variety.
Jim
LikeLike
thanks for your interesting comments and appreciation – the beliefs in themselves of course never matter, and i wonder therefore why in history millions of lives have been lost or people burned on the stake on account of belief!.sSch attitudes indicate a juvenileif not aboriginal mind set hardly civilized and if i were God i would squirm at the taking of lives in my name -so beliefs are useful as instruments of change in behaviour that they may impel – as you point out the freedom from fear, needless guilt and insecurity and desperation etc otherwise whether there is incarnation or not in your mind – the benign universe could’nt care two hoots.
best wishes
Indrajit
LikeLike
Indrajit,
Thanks again for another insightful post. Hope you have a lot of fun with your grandson.
Jerry
LikeLike
its not recent and now one is 5 the other 16 – such fun grandchildren are – different from children – thanks
Indrajit
LikeLike
thanks, just did in NYC now back home in India
Indrajit
LikeLike
[…] Effects of New Age Thought on our Psyche (indrajitrathore.wordpress.com) […]
LikeLike
There were references to reincarnation in the New Testament? Are there any references or proof of this? I’m not asking because I don’t believe you, in fact, it is the second time I’ve read this in less than an hour. I ask because I’ve always believed that the ‘Bible’ that we have today isn’t even close to what it originally was… and I am always on the lookout for proof of this. Basically, searching for proof that these feelings I have always had about there being more to the faith I was raised with than I was ever led to believe.
This was a great post, and a great poem! Thanks!
LikeLike
type ‘scriptural support for reincarnation’
and
‘the new testament and reincarnation’
and you will find all the material you need for exploring the subject.
LikeLike
i mean on the internet
LikeLike
Thank you 🙂 Perhaps what I find may help settle some of my personal conflicts I’ve been having!
LikeLike
I’ve just started the search, but I did run across this article that states that although people claim that it was removed, ancient texts, in fact, do not mention this whatsoever. Here is the link to that article… since you’ve done more investigating into this at this point than I have, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what they say.
http://www.christians.eu/reincarnation-bible/
LikeLike
thanks i will get back
LikeLike
the article appears well presented and researched and kind of conclusive – i am no authority on Christian theology and beliefs but i have read somewhere that are statements ( by Jesus? – cant remember) which imply reincarnation – i will get back on that – the day of judgement after death does however appear to rule out reincarnation ( would’nt you agree/0
LikeLike
I do agree… unfortunately. I was hoping that I would be able to find a bridge between the faith in which I was raised and the faith I wish to have.
LikeLike
you may like to search on the internet for:
references to reincarnation in the bible – the reluctant messenger
i found a series of quotations from the gospels and their interpretations in favour of implied belief in reincarnation – as i am not a chritian scholar i cannot comment but as you have been brought up as a practicing Christian you may be better qualified to see whether the claims in that article are tenable or utterly speculative and eben false. – do let me know what you think.
LikeLike