How does your belief in reincarnation influence your view of other people?
I am very curious about your thoughts. After having the experience of viewing several past lives and after reading a lot about the subject, I think I changed my attitude towards other people.
When I was still a girl living at my parent's house, the idea of reincarnation was not taboo. We could discuss it freely. My parents, especially my mom, were involved in spiritualism. I was not so active in this field, because I wanted to live a normal life, although I silently read all of their books. I didn't discuss those things with my peers because they were not open to these ideas and I desperately wanted to learn how 'normal people' interacted. I was very shy and silent and easily overwhelmed by the energy of others.
I often thought others were rude, insensitive, stupid, cruel, or mindless. I guess you can see the picture of little firefly.
I can't remember a moral judgment, other than that I didn't like those behaviors.
The next step was leaving my hometown and going to university. I was no longer silent and shy, but rather the opposite. I enjoyed student life. The topic of reincarnation popped up now and then. In The Netherlands, it is easily discussed among people of all kinds of religions or other backgrounds. It doesn't mean everyone is very involved or even a believer. Paradoxically, even non-believers enjoy the discussions and share some experiences.
I was mostly an observer, always interested in new stories. Mostly I was like: you do you, I do me. I wasn't even sure if reincarnation happened to all of us. I believed it had happened in my history but I can't remember me putting consequences for that in my daily life.
So, I became more involved when my two children both talked about reincarnation memories. I became more involved and I developed personal theories, and I became judgmental. Instead of embracing love, peace, and compassion concerning this topic, I became kind of harsh. I reasoned that if people chose to encounter hardship in life, then I'd better not help them. I couldn't fathom the idea of becoming a healer for other people. If it was their lesson to be learned, I didn't feel allowed to help them in any way. I still felt repulsed by stupid and cruel people and I made sure that I would never be a victim by any of them.
And life went on, and I came into positions where I needed help from others. And I was so grateful to those who gave it to me and my family. And my perspective on life and reincarnation changed gradually as well. Through Buddhist teachings, I became aware of the concept of compassion in a different light. The lamas showed me this concept as a way of being. Compassion without reflection, just immediate action.
I came to a point where I threw out all the assumptions about reincarnation and focussed on who I wanted to be, regardless of others, or dogmas, or theories. I no longer see progression throughout consequential past lives. When I see stupid people (I am not talking about IQ intelligence, I am talking about stupid behavior and harmful shortsighted decisions) I now assume that the veil of amnesia is much stronger in their case than in mine. So, in some lives the veil is thicker, while in other lives, the veil is thinner. The Soul seems to like some kind of experience which is only possible under certain circumstances.
My view on the concept of reincarnation has changed drastically. And it made me so much more compassionate. When I look around, I see people, but I also see beautiful perfect spirits hidden inside. We're thrown into this world to make the best of it. We bring some skills with us, we lack a lot of other skills, so we need to take care of each other to make our stay a pleasant one.
Now I have a different reasoning about helping each other. Maybe the higher reason is to help each other and enjoy that feeling of oneness between humans. Maybe the real purpose behind all of this is just to walk a path together for a short while.
A 180-degree different approach than before. I am still using logic to understand the meaning of reincarnation. And probably I will keep on changing my opinions until the day I die.
...
(Maybe I should add that I have never given importance to the concept of karma. I don't care about that, not a believer of karma. I don't go for earning good points or fearing bad points. I don't care for Heaven or Hell either. Deep down inside me, I know I will always be ok. And I want the 'bad' people to be ok too after this life or in the next life.)
...
This is how I came to change my opinions about other people during my life, from feeling too vulnerable to feeling indifferent to judgmental, to much more compassion towards others. The concept of reincarnation didn't change much, but my interpretations and conclusions went in all kinds of directions.
I am really curious how other people deal with all of this. I know that a lot of people on this forum strongly believe in karma and in soul contracts. And some people have always been compassionate from birth. And some people believe that souls are growing and evolving through their consequential lives on Earth. And some people knew their purpose in life from childhood.
So many variables that might give another outcome.
- For what reason do you help others? (other than your family members)
- Do you think it is important to do 'good' things for a better outcome in the future (next life, karma in general)
- Is doing 'good' a chore for you, even when you don't feel like it
- Do you judge other people for their bad circumstances based on reincarnation theories?
- Do you believe in a spiritual hierarchy among humans, from slightly conscious to highly evolved? Like from baby soul to enlightened soul?
- Or maybe you don't care at all and live your life according whatever pleases you in the moment?
I am very curious about your thoughts. After having the experience of viewing several past lives and after reading a lot about the subject, I think I changed my attitude towards other people.
When I was still a girl living at my parent's house, the idea of reincarnation was not taboo. We could discuss it freely. My parents, especially my mom, were involved in spiritualism. I was not so active in this field, because I wanted to live a normal life, although I silently read all of their books. I didn't discuss those things with my peers because they were not open to these ideas and I desperately wanted to learn how 'normal people' interacted. I was very shy and silent and easily overwhelmed by the energy of others.
I often thought others were rude, insensitive, stupid, cruel, or mindless. I guess you can see the picture of little firefly.
I can't remember a moral judgment, other than that I didn't like those behaviors.
The next step was leaving my hometown and going to university. I was no longer silent and shy, but rather the opposite. I enjoyed student life. The topic of reincarnation popped up now and then. In The Netherlands, it is easily discussed among people of all kinds of religions or other backgrounds. It doesn't mean everyone is very involved or even a believer. Paradoxically, even non-believers enjoy the discussions and share some experiences.
I was mostly an observer, always interested in new stories. Mostly I was like: you do you, I do me. I wasn't even sure if reincarnation happened to all of us. I believed it had happened in my history but I can't remember me putting consequences for that in my daily life.
So, I became more involved when my two children both talked about reincarnation memories. I became more involved and I developed personal theories, and I became judgmental. Instead of embracing love, peace, and compassion concerning this topic, I became kind of harsh. I reasoned that if people chose to encounter hardship in life, then I'd better not help them. I couldn't fathom the idea of becoming a healer for other people. If it was their lesson to be learned, I didn't feel allowed to help them in any way. I still felt repulsed by stupid and cruel people and I made sure that I would never be a victim by any of them.
And life went on, and I came into positions where I needed help from others. And I was so grateful to those who gave it to me and my family. And my perspective on life and reincarnation changed gradually as well. Through Buddhist teachings, I became aware of the concept of compassion in a different light. The lamas showed me this concept as a way of being. Compassion without reflection, just immediate action.
I came to a point where I threw out all the assumptions about reincarnation and focussed on who I wanted to be, regardless of others, or dogmas, or theories. I no longer see progression throughout consequential past lives. When I see stupid people (I am not talking about IQ intelligence, I am talking about stupid behavior and harmful shortsighted decisions) I now assume that the veil of amnesia is much stronger in their case than in mine. So, in some lives the veil is thicker, while in other lives, the veil is thinner. The Soul seems to like some kind of experience which is only possible under certain circumstances.
My view on the concept of reincarnation has changed drastically. And it made me so much more compassionate. When I look around, I see people, but I also see beautiful perfect spirits hidden inside. We're thrown into this world to make the best of it. We bring some skills with us, we lack a lot of other skills, so we need to take care of each other to make our stay a pleasant one.
Now I have a different reasoning about helping each other. Maybe the higher reason is to help each other and enjoy that feeling of oneness between humans. Maybe the real purpose behind all of this is just to walk a path together for a short while.
A 180-degree different approach than before. I am still using logic to understand the meaning of reincarnation. And probably I will keep on changing my opinions until the day I die.
...
(Maybe I should add that I have never given importance to the concept of karma. I don't care about that, not a believer of karma. I don't go for earning good points or fearing bad points. I don't care for Heaven or Hell either. Deep down inside me, I know I will always be ok. And I want the 'bad' people to be ok too after this life or in the next life.)
...
This is how I came to change my opinions about other people during my life, from feeling too vulnerable to feeling indifferent to judgmental, to much more compassion towards others. The concept of reincarnation didn't change much, but my interpretations and conclusions went in all kinds of directions.
I am really curious how other people deal with all of this. I know that a lot of people on this forum strongly believe in karma and in soul contracts. And some people have always been compassionate from birth. And some people believe that souls are growing and evolving through their consequential lives on Earth. And some people knew their purpose in life from childhood.
So many variables that might give another outcome.
- For what reason do you help others? (other than your family members)
- Do you think it is important to do 'good' things for a better outcome in the future (next life, karma in general)
- Is doing 'good' a chore for you, even when you don't feel like it
- Do you judge other people for their bad circumstances based on reincarnation theories?
- Do you believe in a spiritual hierarchy among humans, from slightly conscious to highly evolved? Like from baby soul to enlightened soul?
- Or maybe you don't care at all and live your life according whatever pleases you in the moment?