Reincarnation and Karma ~ March 24, 2013
I have always been one to believe in reincarnation. I don't really know why, it just made sense to me and therefore resonated well with me. I never understood the dynamics of it, but even as a young child I believed that I lived prior lives before. Growing up, I even had "dreams" or perhaps recollections of these prior lives, sometimes as men, sometimes as children, sometimes as older women. I don't know how to explain how these dreams just "felt" different than others, therefore I knew they were glimpses from past lives. I have read about lots of different accounts of reincarnation and watched videos or news reports about people who remembered uncanny facts about their past lives. I even read Edgar Cayce's transcriptions of his recordings regarding past lives and how sometimes the same people would come into a new lifetime with different roles with one another. It wasn't until I started studying Kaballah that I started questioning certain actions and karma and reincarnation. I have always been apt to over think things, and sometimes that makes me skeptical about a lot of things. There have been many occasions where I look at the facts on both sides and honestly don't know what to believe so I walk away with uncertainty about a subject matter. I have had many discussions with well-read and very spiritual people who all have their own theories about reincarnation and karma. When I read about different scenarios of karma and reincarnation in my Kaballah studies, it made me question the cycle of things and why they happen.
Consider the story told in both Yehuda Berg's and Karen Berg's books about a student who asks his teacher about karma. The teacher tells his student that if he wants to learn about karma, to go and sit by the tree across from the bench in the park. The student goes and soon sees a man sit down on the bench with a brown paper bag. The man looks at his watch, quickly gets up, alarmed, and takes off leaving the brown paper bag on the bench. Another man comes along, sees the brown paper bag, opens it up and pulls out wads of money. He is surprised and takes the paper bag and goes running away. A third man comes along and sits on the bench. The first man comes back with a look of worry on his face and starts yelling at the man on the bench and asks him the whereabouts of his paper bag. The third man states he knows nothing about a bag, but the first man beats him up anyway.
The student goes back to his teacher and tells him of the day's events. He tells his teacher that he does not understand what a man losing his money, another man taking what is not his, and a third one getting wrongly accused and beaten for it has to do with karma. The teacher replied, "Ahh, but you see , in a past life the first man stole money from the second man and the third man was the judge who declared the first man innocent."
A good story; however, it leaves me with questions. The first one being: Does this make them all even? Will these men cross paths in a future life and have karmic repercussions that have to do with taking money that does not belong to them and for beating up an innocent man? Does the cycle continue? Who determines when all is even? God? Is there a special angelic committee? Is there reincarnation for every wrong you have ever made in each life and you have to come back to fix them all? Is there an age cutoff when transgressions start to count? If we can ask for forgiveness of our sins, like some religions believe, then do we still have karmic lessons in the next life? I am sure I won't find the answers to these questions while still in our earthly form, but it sure is interesting to ponder these questions. It is for me anyway.
What are your thoughts, Readers?
Thanks for reading my rambling...
Blessings to you,
Crystal
I have always been one to believe in reincarnation. I don't really know why, it just made sense to me and therefore resonated well with me. I never understood the dynamics of it, but even as a young child I believed that I lived prior lives before. Growing up, I even had "dreams" or perhaps recollections of these prior lives, sometimes as men, sometimes as children, sometimes as older women. I don't know how to explain how these dreams just "felt" different than others, therefore I knew they were glimpses from past lives. I have read about lots of different accounts of reincarnation and watched videos or news reports about people who remembered uncanny facts about their past lives. I even read Edgar Cayce's transcriptions of his recordings regarding past lives and how sometimes the same people would come into a new lifetime with different roles with one another. It wasn't until I started studying Kaballah that I started questioning certain actions and karma and reincarnation. I have always been apt to over think things, and sometimes that makes me skeptical about a lot of things. There have been many occasions where I look at the facts on both sides and honestly don't know what to believe so I walk away with uncertainty about a subject matter. I have had many discussions with well-read and very spiritual people who all have their own theories about reincarnation and karma. When I read about different scenarios of karma and reincarnation in my Kaballah studies, it made me question the cycle of things and why they happen.
Consider the story told in both Yehuda Berg's and Karen Berg's books about a student who asks his teacher about karma. The teacher tells his student that if he wants to learn about karma, to go and sit by the tree across from the bench in the park. The student goes and soon sees a man sit down on the bench with a brown paper bag. The man looks at his watch, quickly gets up, alarmed, and takes off leaving the brown paper bag on the bench. Another man comes along, sees the brown paper bag, opens it up and pulls out wads of money. He is surprised and takes the paper bag and goes running away. A third man comes along and sits on the bench. The first man comes back with a look of worry on his face and starts yelling at the man on the bench and asks him the whereabouts of his paper bag. The third man states he knows nothing about a bag, but the first man beats him up anyway.
The student goes back to his teacher and tells him of the day's events. He tells his teacher that he does not understand what a man losing his money, another man taking what is not his, and a third one getting wrongly accused and beaten for it has to do with karma. The teacher replied, "Ahh, but you see , in a past life the first man stole money from the second man and the third man was the judge who declared the first man innocent."
A good story; however, it leaves me with questions. The first one being: Does this make them all even? Will these men cross paths in a future life and have karmic repercussions that have to do with taking money that does not belong to them and for beating up an innocent man? Does the cycle continue? Who determines when all is even? God? Is there a special angelic committee? Is there reincarnation for every wrong you have ever made in each life and you have to come back to fix them all? Is there an age cutoff when transgressions start to count? If we can ask for forgiveness of our sins, like some religions believe, then do we still have karmic lessons in the next life? I am sure I won't find the answers to these questions while still in our earthly form, but it sure is interesting to ponder these questions. It is for me anyway.
What are your thoughts, Readers?
Thanks for reading my rambling...
Blessings to you,
Crystal
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