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where is the memory stored? and other technical questions

Ligeia

New Member
hello!

i've been thinking about the topic of reincarnation for a long time, and there are some things which seem illogical to me, or just haven't been talked about by anyone i know. it would surely help me a lot to hear what you have so say about this.

i think, my first question has to be this: when does the soul enter the body? at birth? i don't think so. what about caesarean delivery? how would the soul know when to enter the body?
i rather think, at the moment ovocyte and spermatozoon meet, a gate (or whatever^^) is opened, and the sould enters the body at that very moment. because at that moment, everything about the body is decided (looks, etcetera) and it would explain why sometimes people look similar, or have special physical traits during several incarnations.

then, my next question is, where is the memory stored? if i am right about the soul entering moment, couldn't it be that there is actual memory in the brain, actual neurons and synapses, which contain past life memory? because when the soul enters, it sort of brings the memory with it. like someone decorating a new home, or whatever. (strange comparison, sorry^^)
or is the memory stored in a non physical space like the aura or just any sort of energy field around the person? if that is the case, it must be made physical somehow, in order to remember, am i right? or are we capable of thinking with something else than our brain? surely we are, but i think being in a human body, the brain is necessary for every thinking process.

do we decide where we are born, or does someone else decide it? like a god, or spirits or whatever? i belive it's a mixture of both, what do you think? what happens, if several souls want to be born to the same parents? who decides who goes first?

is everyone enlightened? i absolutely don't think so. what happenes when we die? it would be a shock for the ordinary person, to suddenly be disembodied and in a totally differend world than earth. maybe there is a world between worlds, or several layers of haven (or whatever word would fit), and right at the bottom, it doesn't feel so much different than living on earth.

thanks for reading and maybe helping me understand :)

ligeia
 
Just my own opinion (and really that is all anyone else has to go on either):


I think it is a mistake to equate what is temporal with what is eternal. Temporal things are like the handful of dirt you might pick up and let slip through your fingers, it is here now but hasn't always been here. The "event" that gave rise to the creation of the dirt and everything else that is physical is eternal to us because it is the thing in which we exist, it was here before anything else. The soul or spirit is eternal and exists apart from the human body which is temporal. The human body exists in time while the spirit exists outside of time, it exists always. The two - spirit and body - can't be simply tied together in anyone's philosophy and the best that we can do while existing as humans on this planet is to speculate and form ideas about what "we" really are and why we exist at all. Perhaps that is our task in the temporal world, to make sense of something that seems to be beyond our understanding.


Memories are probably eternal also. There is no reason to think that memory is stored in the DNA between lifetimes, although it may be - I don't have knowledge of that and I don't think that anyone else does either. All we have to go on is speculation by others who have taken the time to develop their thoughts on this and put it down on paper. I think that science can show that behavior is inherited but I am not sure that it is possible to extrapolate behavioral "memory" into unique memory and we should be wary of those who do so.


Many people think the universe is like a hologram in that whatever exists anywhere exists everywhere. It is like taking a holographic picture of yourself and the "projection" of that holographic image would be an image of you. When you break the picture up into pieces, all of the pieces would still be an image of you and you would think how can I be everywhere and then you realize that you don't exist everywhere physically but the pattern of you exists everywhere in the non temporal universe. In the temporal world, you are a three dimensional projection of the unique pattern that is spiritual you. Memory is probably the same thing - in fact everything that we see and touch is the same three dimensional projection of "the pattern".


All you can ever be sure of is your own personal experience and that is why we seek enlightenment. We begin to question the "why" of our existence and perhaps that is part of the pattern also. I sometimes think that the lucky ones are those who never feel the need to ask why.


When you depart this life, you will not be shocked. You will remember that which you have forgotten. Shock is a human emotion and it is like most human emotions - temporal.


Just my personal thoughts, fwiw.
 
Hi Legeia. These are all good questions. I'll try to give them my best answers. : angel


Birth - I don't think there is any specific time in which the soul is required enter the body. I've heard of the soul entering in right at birth, and I've heard of the soul being present for months. I've also heard of the soul entering and exiting the body periodically right up until birth. Perhaps each soul has their own way of preparing for birth.


Memory - My personal feelings is that the memory is not stored in the brain. Science may measure which areas of the brain engage when the subject is remembering something, but that doesn't mean that is where memory is stored. Obviously the brain is required for our interaction with the physical world. I see it like this. If you are going to watch a movie on dvd. The movie is stored on the dvd, not in the dvd player. I see the soul as like the dvd, and the brain as like the dvd player. To say memories are stored in the brain is like saying the movie is stored inside the dvd player. Even if you don't believe in reincarnation, to say that memories are stored in the brain is to say that memories die with the body and are not carried with the soul to heaven or wherever.


Choice - My personal feelings is that choice depends on the soul. I've heard of soul having no choice and souls having up to 7 or 8 lives to chose from. I think maybe how advanced the soul is dictates how much choice they have and how much karma is involved. More responsibility is granted to those who have earned it, and have proven they can handle it. I guess that would answer whether or not everyone is enlightened. My guess is no, but how advanced we are depends on the growth rate of the soul.


Of course all this is simply my humble opinion. ;)


I've gotta run. I hope this helps. :)
 
Hi Legeia,


Regarding where is memory stored - you might want to read Roger Woolger's books and this page regarding Deep Memory Process. Part of his premise is that we also hold memories within our body. In other words, the body remembers; not the physical body but the ethereal. ;)
 
Ligeia said:
at the moment ovocyte and spermatozoon meet . . . everything about the body is decided (looks, etcetera)
This is not always true. Spontaneous genetic mutation can occur at any time. For instance, the mutatuion that causes Mosaicism occurs in the zygote stage.


To your question: I think the soul enters the body when the soul is ready.
 
Hi Leigia,


I wanted to add another possibility about memory and how we store it. I was talking to my mother a few years ago and in conversation she was telling me about my grandfather -my fathers dad passed away a few years before this. In 1990 Mom had had many visions of my dads past life in the South during the Civil War and the relationship between my dad and his father - back then. They were father and son in the 1860's too. Dad was the son of a very wealthy plantation owner and befriended many of the slaves -(behind his fathers back).


But what interests me is the father (my grandfather now) insisted that the son go to war -that he fight for the South and defend their rights to own slaves. The son (my father now) of course went off to war.


My mother describes a gun that was hand held and rested on the shoulder -a mini cannon type gun that she later researched through archives and with Civil War historians to find there was such a gun and they were rare. The gun she said exploded in the son's face, dislodging his eye and placing him in a comma. His body was sent home -- and he died in route. The historian said -- that is exactly why the gun was rare -it would explode in the face of the person shooting it. So they stopped making the gun.


My grandfather in his mid 50's got cataracts at a very early age and had vision trouble even earlier on. It was the same eye as the son who was killed in the previous life during the Civil War. The last 20 years of his life he was totally blind in that eye.


So, here is a possibility that physical ailments are not due to your own PL trauma or body pains/illness/ injury - but due to the guilt or feeling of being responsible. Consciousness is a very powerful thing. ;)
 
I started recalling my childhood and there is a memory that resurfaced that my Dad used to ask me about a great deal. When I was a child of four or five - my Dad said I used to talk about 'waking' up in my physical body on the day I was born.


My Dad was shocked by my telling of it at the age of 4 or 5. He approached me about it when I turned 18 and of course - I couldn't remember my conversations with him as a child. I was fascinated by his 'telling' of the tale.


I told him things at the age of 4 that no one else knew about. My Dad said I described it as if I had been there. I told him that I had been outside my body - waiting to come inside it. I told my Dad how he had held his breath when the Doctor was slapping my behind and trying to get my body to breath. I told my Dad (at 4) that I was waiting to get into the body and was watching him hold his breath.


I then told my Dad that when the body started breathing - I went to sleep in my body and woke up with a different 'mind.' I told him my other 'mind' was asleep inside of me.


My Dad said that I opened my eyes (as a newborn) and winked at him. He had never told anyone about that 'winking' part because he thought it was just bodily reaction without thought or reason. He was totally shocked that I reminded him of the day and told him about winking my eye at him. (There were other things going on outside that I told him about.)


I couldn't remember it in my past - but it is one of the memories that have resurfaced. I can recall vividly being a newborn and opening my eyes long enough to wink at my Dad.


So - according to my testimony as a child at the age of four - and what I have recently recalled - the spirit doesn't enter the body until the body takes it's first breath.


Having had many NDE's during childhood and early adulthood - the 'spirit' departs when the 'loss of breath' occurs.

Genesis 2, "...And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; "
The Hebrew word for breath is related to 'spirit.' Both the Hebrew and Greek word for spirit is related to 'breath.'


I found this connection after my memory of my pre-birth and day of birth - returned to me. It matches up with my own memories and understanding.


Sincerely,


DK
 
I love hearing everyone's opinions and experiences. I haven't really formed a solid opinion myself, so I really enjoy reading everyone else's. :thumbsup:
 
There are cases of people being hypnotised and taken back to time between pre birth and birth in Helen Wambach's Life before life, and also if you search helen Wambach there are variety of sites with information about her researches.


In Carol's book , page 138 Return from Heaven says Four year old Courtney announced how busy she had been in heaven: When you go to heaven , you have little time to rest,......You have to start thinking about what you have to learn in your next life. You have to start picking your next family , one that can help you learn whatever it is you need to learn next.


On page 142 of Return from heaven,you read about Planning a life and then Choosing parents and Good plans, Bad plans, No plans.


I would recommend Return from Heaven and Children's past lives by Carol. You will get a lot of information about pre birth planning and etc coming from little children.
 
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