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Paintings, Photos, Etc. of Your PL Self

SeaAndSky

SeaAndSky

Senior Registered
There may be another thread like this out there, but for those who have located an image of what you think is your possible PL self, what does looking at it make you feel like? What does it bring to mind? How do you react?

I am capable of putting up a shield of objectivity, and can pretty well do so with regard to this image as well--but if I let it go and really look at the image as being me I get the beginnings of a lot of confusion and confused feelings that leave me having to back off rather quickly, especially as I can sense wells of even deeper and potentially more disruptive memories and/or emotions below. So, I'm a chicken--sue me!

Anyhow, I know some do have photos or paintings they think "were" them. I'm curious about how others react in this situation.
 
Well, my first thought was, "Holy s#!t! That looks like what I might have looked like." And then I noticed more details, that matched things I remembered.


And then, I had a near panic attack. A sick-feeling, heart-pounding, crazy rush of nerves, where I wanted to put the whole thing away, but I just couldn't. I had to dig more. It left me walking in circles, to the computer, then fleeing from it, and then back again 10 minutes later.


After an evening of this, I got over it.
 
It was weird for me at first because my sex and race was different in past life. I had to actually sit and look and look and once I finally got used to her face and did some angled comparisons, the similarities suddenly jumped out.


It's a weird foggy or ghostly feeling that takes a while to get used to, I will say that. However after doing much of my research I found a portrait of a life previous to hers and i was used to the whole thing by then. And that portrait was male though and it was so spot on, it looked like I had done one of those "put your face on a famous painting / statue" novelty pictures they do at fairs and stuff.


I thought nothing of it at that point, both because I was used to it and because it looked just like me.
 
I have often pondered lives where we have been photographed. It suddenly hit me, I have had the possibility of 6 lives between the American Civil War and my present life that are within the era of personal photographs. It is very likely that in all these lives I may appear in a family portrait, or just a photo of myself in uniform. Somewhere, in a dusty trunk in an attic or basement, or even hanging on a wall somewhere, there may be photos of me from a past life. Would I recognize myself in these photos if I came across them?
 
Keep in mind that most people could not afford to have their picture taken until after about 1910 or later. Before that most families could only afford 1 or 2 professional portraits. The only picture many had of their children was taken when the child died and was laying in the coffin. Mr. George Eastman made photography available to the masses the same way Mr. Henry Ford made cheap cars available.
 
argonne1918 said:
Keep in mind that most people could not afford to have their picture taken until after about 1910 or later. Before that most families could only afford 1 or 2 professional portraits. The only picture many had of their children was taken when the child died and was laying in the coffin. Mr. George Eastman made photography available to the masses the same way Mr. Henry Ford made cheap cars available.
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It depends on the type of photograph as well. New technologies brought the price of the new ambrotype (glass-backed) and tintype (metal-backed) emulsion plates down to between 25 cents to $2.50 in the Union states. The average Civil War soldier, who might make between $11-16 per month, could have afforded his own personal photograph quite cheaply and easily. It was more a question of finding a photographer than a cost issue, but since most armies spent a lot of time pulling garrison duty, more soldiers than not had the opportunity to have their portraits taken. Amos Humiston, a union soldier, found dead at Gettysburg (1863), was holding and looking at a photo of his three children while he died. His wife had taken the photo and had it send to him a few months earlier. Photos were cheaper and more common than people assume.


Mr. George Eastman's camera made it easier for the average person to take their own photos, but that does't mean photographs were out of reach of the average person before this invention.


The number of photos I have seen in family collections suggests that before 1900, a typical family could afford to have a portrait taken providing they had a job. One family I know have hundreds of photos of relatives that are pre-1900. Only down side, they have no idea who these people are because no one thought of writing descriptions on the backs. Somewhat of a wasted venture for future generations. I find most such photos haunting. Each person had a life to lead. Each was a soul.
 
My first reaction was surprise at how much it looked like me in this life now. It was really uncanny. It was also exactly how I imagined myself to have looked in my mind.
 
ZeonChar said:
My first reaction was surprise at how much it looked like me in this life now. It was really uncanny. It was also exactly how I imagined myself to have looked in my mind.
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Just curious... in your next life, would you look similar to your last if you were a man in one life and a female in the next?
 
PastPilot said:
Just curious... in your next life, would you look similar to your last if you were a man in one life and a female in the next?
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I personally believe facial features can carry over, even to different sexes. But I do wonder about why we are affected by some past lives as far as our outward appearance goes. When does that end? How many lives do we carry "baggage" from previous lives? Is it only the next incarnation?
 
ZeonChar said:
I personally believe facial features can carry over, even to different sexes. But I do wonder about why we are affected by some past lives as far as our outward appearance goes. When does that end? How many lives do we carry "baggage" from previous lives? Is it only the next incarnation?
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I have wondered that too. How long does such baggage last, at least appearances. I have no idea what I looked like in past lives. In this life, I looks strikingly similar to my maternal grandfather rather than my own father/family, but I am not an exact match. I do wonder if I have traits to myself in my most recent past lives. If I saw a photo of myself, say from WWII, would I see myself in that photo?
 
A lot of people report seeing a similarity in facial features between past and present lives, but some people don't find any. I don't think there's any rule regarding this when people reincarnate. I wonder how much of it has to do with genetics, especially if you are incarnating with a similar heritage?


I say this because my Grandmother bears quite a striking resemblance in her younger age with my PL self, but I am thinking genetics and ancestry may play a role in that because she obviously doesn't have the connection to my PL self that I do in a reincarnation sense. Unless she does and I don't know it.
 
I have to say that's something I've always been curious about. I've been able to find past life matches of my family going back to my grandparents, on both sides and they lived literally blocks away from each other. I'm really curious what mechanism drives reincarnation and where and when we incarnate; just how big are our soul groups?


I think the issue is a mix between genetics and the imprint we bring with out soul. If we consider (at least in my case, from my own research) we reincarnate along the same lineage (more or less), we should stand a better chance of looking like "ourselves", right?


I look nearly exactly the same as my male past life where there are noticeable differences with my female past life. Yes she was female and Chinese, but she had a different birth mother than the one I do now and previous to her.


It's a noodle scratcher for sure.
 
Didn't Dr. Ian Stevenson report in his research on reincarnation cases in India and Pakistan that there were a lot of cases where the child reincarnated into the same country and sometimes even the same village? There must be something to that. It does make you wonder if the soul decides to stick with a certain geographical area for a certain amount of time/ number of lives and then moves on.


I have remembered a life as a Native American and I have a strong connection to and a suspected past life in Japan and other people recall incarnating in many other cultures so we know it's possible and does happen. It would explain why on English-speaking forums we don't see a lot of reincarnations of Japanese soldiers from WWII or other recent wars. There could be plenty of them in Japan right now or even China since the two countries have so much history together for all we know.


I wonder if it takes us a while to "get over" a certain life and a way we looked since it was so integral to us that it imprints into our next life?
 
Blueheart/Totoro,


Your initial experiences sound a lot like mine. I can stay more objective at this point, but only because that is, well, what I am doing about the whole phenomenon. There’s something associated with that face that, if I let it, seems to want to drag me into some extreme emotions or something else I don’t want to face at this point (and maybe not in this life). I think there are some other female lives before and possibly one after that one which led me to the point of foreswearing ever being female again the same way that Deborah foreswore ever being male again and John Tat foreswore ever believing in God again. So, at this point, after having had the matter force itself into my consciousness in a variety of ways, I am content to maintain a bit of therapeutic amnesia. (Actually, avoiding remembering can sometimes be as difficult as remembering).


I believe PastPilot asked how you recognize a prior life image of yourself that is of the opposite sex. Well, to begin with, there is that shock of intuition or “knowing” that doesn’t have much to do with appearance. But after that, I saw in her face a very clear image of, and resemblance to, myself as a young child. It was as if one put together several pictures of my younger self, blurred them together, and then ran them forward along a program towards feminine rather than masculine adulthood. Male and female faces look the most like each other as infants and usually diverge more and more through childhood. This process speeds up and they begin to diverge the most radically in appearance beginning in puberty. My face is very different from hers now not only due to age, but due to the fact that as a male I have a more elongated face and more prominent jaw line and bone structure, etc.—all typical in male development patterns. But, I could still look at her and see the resemblance. I.e., the face could easily be the face of my female paternal twin.


Also, it definitely appears that some type of carry-over from past lives impacts our future physical appearance—else why the carry-over of scars noted by Stevenson. Genetics would also play a role, as would a bio-field of some sort as postulated by Stevenson, but I also wonder about a further factor: the impact of our pre-birth choices. According to Newton, we get to view our future possible selves and see what we will look like as each one prior to making a choice for incarnation. Could it be that most of us tend to also choose the one with an appearance close to our “preferred” or habitual appearance? We may just like to look a certain way and choose accordingly. So, we would be choosing the genetic and “biofield” (or whatever) combination that ended up looking the most like what we “like” to look like. This doesn’t mean that other factors would not enter into the choice, and we might choose to look less like ourselves in order to accomplish some other goal—I just think this could also be a factor in terms of the continuity of appearance.


Cordially,


S&S


PS—The last point might also help explain why we sometimes don’t “resemble” PL selves.
 
BTW--There is a photo of my putative PL self as a young woman part of the group photo at the top of the following article:


http://orthodoxhistory.org/2010/08/05/orthodoxy-and-theosophy-the-vera-johnston-story/


VeraCharlesHOlcottBlavatskyVZhelihovsky-photo.jpg



There is another photo lower down, but I am not 100% certain that it is of Vera Johnston.


Cordially,


S&S


PS--I'd love to see some other photos that other people have identified, suspect, or believe to be themselves in a PL.
 
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ZeonChar said:
Didn't Dr. Ian Stevenson report in his research on reincarnation cases in India and Pakistan that there were a lot of cases where the child reincarnated into the same country and sometimes even the same village? There must be something to that. It does make you wonder if the soul decides to stick with a certain geographical area for a certain amount of time/ number of lives and then moves on.
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It could depend on the goals the soul is trying to achieve. If their life ended sooner than expected, they may still have karma or promises to honor. I don't have a past life memory of being born in the same region or same family group. It could have been a choice to experience as much as possible and tying different lives in other regions provides an opportunity to do just that. Staying in the same village sounds to me that there is a specific goal in mind rather than just baggage. However, it is up the the soul and their guides.

ZeonChar said:
I have remembered a life as a Native American and I have a strong connection to and a suspected past life in Japan and other people recall incarnating in many other cultures so we know it's possible and does happen. It would explain why on English-speaking forums we don't see a lot of reincarnations of Japanese soldiers from WWII or other recent wars. There could be plenty of them in Japan right now or even China since the two countries have so much history together for all we know.
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I have read of cases where a woman had two sons who suffered from the same nightmares. Being hypnotically regressed, she discovered that her children were Japanese solders, both brothers, who dies on a Pacific Island during WWII. Their mother was not Asian. I do feel, we come back to a culture we are either comfortable with, or one that offers the best opportunity to experience.


In Helen Waumach's book, Life Before Life she noted with her hypnotic regression studies with her patients, most of whom were college students in California and probably caucasians, few reported to have had lives as Asians or in Asia.

ZeonChar said:
I wonder if it takes us a while to "get over" a certain life and a way we looked since it was so integral to us that it imprints into our next life?
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I read in Michael Newton's books and in Robert Schwartz's books that we get over things the moment we decide we need to change. In other words, once it is apparent we can learn more, or experience more efficiently, by changing ourselves, then we change ourselves. Its a deliberate act. This happens after about every 10 or so reincarnations. The changes may be minor or great. It can be from growing spiritually, or from just getting tired of the same-old-same-old.
 
Thanks for the recommendations PastPilot! Seems like I have a lot of books to catch up on.


I really like the idea that we change every so often based on our need to progress.
 
I read in Michael Newton's books and in Robert Schwartz's books that we get over things the moment we decide we need to change. In other words, once it is apparent we can learn more, or experience more efficiently, by changing ourselves, then we change ourselves. Its a deliberate act. This happens after about every 10 or so reincarnations. The changes may be minor or great. It can be from growing spiritually, or from just getting tired of the same-old-same-old.
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This is interesting because I think that is what my current PL memories are about, a series of choices that taught me something essential. In this life it seems I am changing patterns and using what I have learned instead of going over it from slightly different angles. (...or at least that's the theory. I struggle with overly-optimistic-sounding guidance, in part because I prefer to wait for experience to demonstrate the reality. It may also be that I just don't want to feel disappointment if things don't turn out that way. *shrug*)


I'm rather glad I don't have specific photos or records of my actual past lives. The historic details in my memories are enough proof for me, and I would probably become a little too focused on the past if I had more.
 
Somehow I believe that the older a soul is, the more likely it will experiment and be as different as possible in the next reincarnation. At that point, you sacrifice your sense of belonging and familiarity of your soul group, and go alone. Lessons are more intense that way, you have all this strange environment and strange people and you feel the contrast between who you really are and what your own truth is. At least, that's what my main lesson is in this life, which links back to my PL when I had to withold my inner truth... I believe that's what happened to me. Looking at my PL's photos makes me feel very nostalgic and glad, sometimes sad, and I have cried a lot about how I miss certain people. I look almost nothing like her, though, and the photos aren't that old. There's some video footage too, but I only ever heard her say two words ("carrot muffin" lol). I would compare to the eerie feeling of getting your long hair cut short, and you look at those locks on the floor, touch them and feel nothing, and they are no longer a part of you, but you know you created it, how it once felt, the weight. Like a snake's shedded skin. Her spirit feels like a mirror. I guess I'm not as spooked as I should be..?
 
Now personally several images of my past life self have come to my present self recollection. It is for myself always so interesting when I look at my past life selves. It is hard to put into words but in can be soooo mesmerizing it seems and hard for myself for to tear away myself from looking at these past life images. I find myself going back again and again and look at my former selves it seems. There are three former past life selves where I have come across photos and portraits of my former past life self and the similarities to this present life self is always so interesting and striking.


Now it was like a year or two or so ago that I had a dream in which in the dream, I saw one image of my past life self after another pass rapidly in front of my eyes. In the dream I screamed for the images to slow down so I could take a deep and long look at each one. But each of the images would pass rapidly in front and there were countless images from so many past lifes. Then it seems shortly afterwards where I came onto so much more info and personel recollection of these various past lives with photos from these various past lives. One of the past lives I had known for quite awhile of being a Northern Cheyenne Girl who had died young. Some years ago when on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, I had about walked straight up to where she was buried and I had never been there before in this life. I thought I would never come across a photo of this young Cheyenne Indian girl but I last year, low and behold I came across one.


And again when looking at these various images from it seems three of my former past life selves, how hard it is to put into words, but it seems to be so mesmerizing it seems. And how striking similar is various physical similarities to my present life self there is it seems.


Just my two cents worth for whatever it is worth. Wishing everyone the best.
 
Hi kmatjhwy,


If you still have access to any of the photos you mention, I'd love to see one or all.


On another note, and not particularly in response to your post, I have noted the search for resemblance that people engage in when reviewing these types of photos or paintings. I do the same thing myself and think it is understandable, but not enough by itself. E.g, I was struck by the following article showing fairly remarkable resemblances between unrelated folks in the here and now:


https://gma.yahoo.com/woman-freaks-she-meets-doppelganger-1st-time-ireland-151207108--abc-news-lifestyle.html


So, if we can have very strong resemblance in the present to someone, it seems to me that finding someone who resembles us strongly in the past--without more--is not necessarily proof of a PL. That is, unless it is supported by other factors of memory, etc.


Cordially,


S&S
 
I agree that it is very likely to find someone in the present that you look like due to genetics and that similarity of facial features alone is not enough to go on regarding past lives.


It just so happens that when you suspect you were someone and then find out that you also look alike, that is another layer to consider. Not everyone finds a picture first and uses that as a confirmation.
 
Now Sea and Sky, now I have saved these images to a portable harddrive I have but I have yet to post any of these images to my photosite where can post them on the web. For whatever reason I am hesitant to post them on the web right now if you understand. I personally do look at these images all the time and right now recollect on this just personally for personal reasons. Maybe one of these days will post, see what happens. But soon in several weeks it will be time for myself to go back into the deep back Wyoming wilds which I do every summer and enjoy life.


As for myself, how much of the time it seems do I put things on the shelf and let whatever prove itself thru time. Again maybe one of these days.


Hope you understand .... Wishing You the Best!
 
I know in my heart I have identified a past life identity of mine. Not only do I have numerous memories, I carry the emotions, feelings associated with the life and memories attached to that life. I have even been given many signs when asking for a verification. Things I recall, there is just no other explanation. That being said, I also look very much so like my past life self. I put more weight into the factors I listed before appearance, but having that near identical appearance to me just seems like more proof.


To answer your questions "what does looking at it make you feel like? What does it bring to mind? How do you react?" Looking at the photos (there are multiples for me) gives me a plethora of feelings. My first reaction is I'm just taken aback. I feel like I'm looking at myself. I look right into the eyes....they feel like my own. You get this overwhelming feeling, because you get a realization of sorts, that reincarnation truly exists. You know then there is more after death. You know you had lived before in another vessel. You realize, you are more than your body. These feelings stir up, do overwhelmed with emotion, some emotions asnd feelings you just can't describe. You are in awe. Speechless. But you have a sense of euphoria travel through you....because you're starting to unlock yourself, your true self. What is brought to mind when looking at the photos? Well...all I listed above but I also start to recall the photo being taken. I recall looking at the photo while I was still in that previous body. You recall seeing it, when you were a perfect reflection of your past self. I'd say I react I guess strangely, and extremely spiritual to a sense when I look at old photos, yet I also reminisce. It feels like when you look at old photos from your current life, you just reminisce of the old days. At first when I had come to this realization I did question myself as anyone should. There's no point in believing you were somebody you weren't. But anyhow, I found myself really thinking about things. I thought about how when I looked at photos you can see the day they were taken. It starts to play out, like you're there again. I pondered this, and figured this is a truth showing phenomena. I try to place myself, let's say I'm looking at a photo of Brad Pitt and he's on the Red Carpet....I can use my imagination to place me there but anything I see is fictitious. Since I've never been there I have no sense of the reality of him or where he is. I can't see him in person and know how he looks when he moves or speaks, it's all a guessing game. When I compare that to the past life photos...it's entirely different. I truly know how these people looked that I'm photographed with...the places too. I back up this claim by later noticing what I thought locations looked like, was accurate upon research. And seeing others, feels like when I reminisce about people I know currently.


I know I really carried on, but, these are all the feelings that are evoked in me when I see my old photos.
 
I know how you feel. It's one thing to believe in reincarnation on an intellectual level, and quite another to know that it is true.


This is a cool movie on this sort of topic. Worth a look if you can get hold of a copy.
 
Hi Tang,


I loved the movie trailer. It hits on something that comes up over and over again, with me and with others that have written on this thread and elsewhere: the eyes! The thing that strikes me most when I look at the person that I wonder/think/hope/fear was me is the eyes. When I look into those eyes I feel like I am looking into my own eyes in a mirror. I am shocked and set back, perturbed and intrigued, taunted and challenged. Perhaps, the eyes are the part that most closely tracks or identifies us from life to life. Maybe, as the movie seems to be saying, they are the part of us that truly remains identical (or nearly so) through each of our many and varied iterations.


S&S
 
Indeed. It is the eyes. It's not necessarily even the same eye colour, but there is 'something' about the eyes that seems to remain recognisable. Truly, they are the 'windows of the soul'.
 
tanguerra said:
Indeed. It is the eyes. It's not necessarily even the same eye colour, but there is 'something' about the eyes that seems to remain recognisable. Truly, they are the 'windows of the soul'.
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That statement is VERY true. I have seen videos, and photos of my past life self. When you look into the eyes, you just know.
 
TedB said:
That statement is VERY true. I have seen videos, and photos of my past life self. When you look into the eyes, you just know.
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Yes... for me, was the eyes, on "the" photo... and for several minutes i was "hipnotized" i just couldn´t stop looking... they were looking at me, or into me.
 
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