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Do our PLs influence our passionate interests in this life?

tiltjlp

tiltjlp

A Recycled Soul
I wonder just how much our most pronounced interests are linked to, or influenced, by our past lives? I’m asking in regards to hidden past lives, and interests not brought about only by PL memories; in other words, long-term, on-going interests. For example, I have always had interests in the American Civil War, The American Old West, Atlantis, both American and British Victorian eras, WWI, and most strongly, the King Arthur period and specifically Merlin and Alchemy. My heritage is a mixture of Native American Indian, Irish, and German.

All of these subjects have interested me since I was a boy, and helped me develop a passion for reading, and at one time I read a book a day, a habit that lasted until the past 10 years. Because of eye problems, normal aging, and arthritic pain I’m a much slower, but still an avid reader. I have learned about a number of past lives, all through meditation, and those lives do fit in with my life-long interests. Since finding this forum, I’ve also gained an interest in learning more about experiences others have had, and broadening my knowledge and awareness of several related fields, but that new found interest doesn’t have same intensity as those life-long interests/passions.

Writing this I just realized that although I have had new interests over the past 35 years, the only ones that have lasted more than a few months are those seemingly inborn interests. So my question is, do our pasts lives influence our present life’s interests, or is it mere coincidence, and I’m putting more importance in my life-long interests than they deserve?
 
...do our pasts lives influence our present life’s interests, or is it mere coincidence, and I’m putting more importance in my life-long interests than they deserve?
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I think they influence us to some degree. There area few threads on "talent" from life to life floating around here. In that instance, it seems that "talent" can stay dormant in one life and rise up in another. I don't see why the things we've "done" or experienced and enjoyed wouldn't stay with us as well.

For instance --I adore painting, and feel that I should be able to pick up a brush and create exactly what I see in my mind -- but, unfortunately it looks more like something my nephew did. :o I also feel the same way about the violin -- like I should be able to just pick it up and play.

My interests are very different from others my age. I adore opera and classical music. I also read a lot as a child. The household I grew up in wasn't one that encouraged the pursuit of these interests -- so how did I come to love them?

I definitely think it is past life related. ;)

Ailish
 
I hadn't really thought much about one's talents or abilities Ailish, but you make a good point. My only true talent, as I see it, was my writing, and that was so finely honed I could write almost anything asked of me, from farcical humor to poetry to nostalgia. I was always told I wrote such wonderful letters. I haven't been able to write professionally for five years because of worsening arthritis, but finding this site has sparked an interest to resume writing poetry.

My only other talent-related interests I have are music, and painting and drawing. I've always wanted to make music, from a harmonica, an ocarina, and a slide whistle as a boy to a clarinet that I played horribly in a high school band. I did try my hand at drawing with colored pencils some 10-15 years ago, and while you could recognize what I had drawn, I was far from being good.

I wonder if my talent and natural ability for writing were so dominant, rewarding, and time consuming, that I never made the effort needed to develop my other interests to a higher level. One thing that has always annoyed and amused me is that as a writer and editor, my grammar skills are very good, but I'm a horrible speller, and a worst typist. I have to spellcheck every message before I post it. Thanks for giving me a lot more to think about.

John
 
...but finding this site has sparked an interest to resume writing poetry.
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That's great to hear, John! :D I've been writing poetry since I was a wee girl. It's always been my personal way of purging my deepest thoughts. A pen and an empty journal always hold great appeal for me -- and I am unable to pass up the opportunity to fill those empty pages. ;)

I wonder if my talent and natural ability for writing were so dominant, rewarding, and time consuming, that I never made the effort needed to develop my other interests to a higher level.
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I think that could be a possibility. In this life I am focused primarily on ballet -- and I have pursued that avenue diligently, to the point of shutting out most other activities. Yes, I have other interests -- and they are important -- but the need to dance burns from within. I know that I have had previous lives where ballet played an important role, and I believe that in this life I chose to achieve what I previously did not.

Maybe next life I'll pick up that paint brush -- or the violin. :D

Ailish
 
I think John's original question is a really good one and would love to hear what you're all thinking when you read it. (yes -- even you lurkers, come on in, register and join in! :D )


Ailish
 
I think passionate interests and talents are even a better validation in some aspects of a Pl than a memory.
Interests and talents are good to discover the country you lived, the language you spoke, the profession you had, everything general. Then, for the personal story we need the memories.
The interests have to be long time interests we had from childhood, otherwise we could have developed them though this life experiences. For example, we start loving a special country because of a band or a movie. We have to watch genetic heritage too because if, for example your grandfather was a lawyer maybe he passed that interest to you by genetics.

In conclusion: If we watch closely the interests we had since childhood and don`t find a reason for them they`re probably Pl related.

Although there is the possibility that if we arrive to the conclusion that our interests are genetically inspirated is because we chose to born in that kind of family due to Pl experiences.
 
tiltjlp said:
I wonder just how much our most pronounced interests are linked to, or influenced, by our past lives? I’m asking in regards to hidden past lives, and interests not brought about only by PL memories; in other words, long-term, on-going interests.
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Just found this.....

My most pronounced interests from an early time have been the following: reading, storywriting, singing and medieval anything.

I learned to read when I was 3 or 4, started writing stories or playing make believe with the "people in my head" when young (writing as soon as i could), singing has been around me my entire life and i began singing on my own as soon as I could figure out how to make things work. The medieval world has been an interest since i was in preschool....particularly Robin Hood.

Also related to singing, I can sing and play piano by ear, have perfect pitch, and cannot read a note of music. I've been a mimic and improviser since i was a baby, and before I was supressed in 5th grade for "being too loud" I was a cut up, stage stealer, and entertainer...on my own. But as far as I can remember I've always had stage fright....

No idea what any of that means, but....lol My 2 cents.

~Lys
 
I've no idea what any of it means either Suloreth, but I find the responses I've gotten interesting. Not surprising, a lot of us share life long interests and talents. While none of this may prove anything, it does make for fascinating reading.

John
 
We seem to have some parallels. My heritage is much the same as yours, as are my interests. Lately (in the last 5-10 years), I've had more and more of a pull to the victorian/arts & craft era and a bit of WWII era. I've always "been attracted" to things from those eras, but in the more recent years, I've had an almost aching and some objects *almost* trigger memories. Actually, I think some have, I just can't quite get the full scope of it. Lately I've noticed it's not just the material objects, but I've been really weighing the pros and cons of that time frame to this time frame. I very literally "miss" having communities like there used to be, when you could walk to the corner drug store, butcher, grocer, baker, hardware, etc. when there was milk delivery, diaper service, and such. I miss "neighborhoods" where everyone looks out for everyone and you didn't have to worry about locking your door. I miss common courtesies. It seems people today find it "okay" to be nasty to one another. I miss "home cooked meals" at school - - my kids' school ( as 99% of all public schools do), serves pre-made, chemically "ehanced" crap to my kids. My kids have no idea what it was like to get *real* food for lunch at school, or what it was like to have a milk break. I dunno - - it's hard to explain, but I find my current interests linked with these things. I know life certainly wasn't great in those eras, but I'm not sure all of the current pros outweigh the cons.
 
First I'd like to say that I believe our past lives influence our interest quite a great deal, especially at a younger age. I know my cousin, who is just about four has been so into trains since he was able to play with them, and I'm still young enough to be greatly influenced by my past interests.
Ailish said:
I've been writing poetry since I was a wee girl. It's always been my personal way of purging my deepest thoughts. A pen and an empty journal always hold great appeal for me -- and I am unable to pass up the opportunity to fill those empty pages. ;)
Ailish
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Poetry was and has been one of the biggest parts of my life. well I guess writing in a whole, but mostly poetry. I haven't been writing as much lately, but I started writing at age 7 and have been for about 9 years now. other interests that have followed over are deffinetly acting, russian/mayan/irish/spanish/english culture, sewing (I barely use a machine, but handsew mostly), ballet, cooking (although I wasn't really a great cook in my most recent lives :o ), animal rights, and just a long list of things. But I'm pretty sure that I'm begining to find new interests and things specifically from this lifetime that might be carried on later.
 
MoonDansyr, what I find interesting is that you are mourning for the exact life I had as a boy. Three times a week my mother and I would make the rounds to every store you mentioned, and more. Every merchant knew every customer, but as a friend. And yes, as you said, it wasn't and isn't so much about the material things, but the mindset.

Elese, I agree with you that interests all through our lives propel us both backwards as well as forward. Possibly as you finish high school, you'll redefine your interests, as you prepare for your adult, work-a-day world. Your impressive list of interests since early childhood seem to be a mix of past life influences, and maybe new ones, so that you can become an individual.

If you'd like to share your poetry, or just to read the work of some wonderful poets, follow the link in my signature. I'd love to host your poems.

John
 
tiltjlp said:
MoonDansyr, what I find interesting is that you are mourning for the exact life I had as a boy. Three times a week my mother and I would make the rounds to every store you mentioned, and more. Every merchant knew every customer, but as a friend. And yes, as you said, it wasn't and isn't so much about the material things, but the mindset.
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John~
Do you miss the way things were? I did get to experience some of it to an extent; I turn 40 in a month. Things had already begun changing when I came along, though. "Mourn" is the perfect word.

I found myself beginning to ramble about it all, but decided it had nothing to do with your post.

As an aside, my talents and interests are vast and I do have a sense that they are deeply rooted in a past that existed before this body I now inhabit. Things that I get strong sensations about are herbalism, wood carving/wood working, cooking, sewing, art and music.
 
Moondansyr reminded me of my interest in wood working too. It is strong enough that when I get to do some my whole vibration changes to the point that even my wife notices it. Unfortunatly due to so many other priorities this life it doesn't play the role I would like it to. So it is being held in reserve for another lifetime.

Jack
 
As far as my interests are concerned, I can get into anything and everything. The one that I know is from a past life if my interest in the Luftwaffe. All of the German pilots from WWII are absolutely amazing to me. I seem to have taken a particular liking to those of the Eastern Front, the area I believed I served in.

I also have a strong interest in language, particularly German. My ability to pronounce words and pick up concepts is at times astounding to other people. The only one I'm so far having trouble with is Russian. I understand it to some degree, but if you ask me to say anything, all I can do is suck up.
 
Life-long interests

tiltjlp said:
I wonder just how much our most pronounced interests are linked to, or influenced, by our past lives? I’m interests over the past 35 years, the only ones that have lasted more than a few months are those seemingly inborn interests. So my question is, do our pasts lives influence our present life’s interests, or is it mere coincidence, and I’m putting more importance in my life-long interests than they deserve?
Click to expand...

Like yourself, I find that life interests that have been with me always are the ones which don't go with age and life experience. Reincarnation is an example: I disregarded it in my youth but has steadily come back with time.
I think it has to be with the essence of our souls.
Monica
 
Hi John, great thread.

In thinking about what you said I can relate to several things.

First as a child I was consumed with being outside. At an early age I was up at 4AM and headed for the river to fish. My passion was sitting beside the water, feeling the crisp air, smelling the earthy scents, and daydreaming. I was "at home" in the wild. Often I would build crude shelters and sit in them, feeling secure and content. I was a true country boy, free to roam. My knowledge of the wild was some how innate. It does not surprise me now. I still am drawn to the wild, and the solitude of the open country where I live. In my past I know I was native to this place, now called Kansas. I am very passionate about this land, about the people who lived here hundreds of years ago and the way they hunted, survived and simply lived.

Second, I am passionate about memories. I am a romantic. Not in the sense of love, but in the passion for the spiritual, for the numinous, for the mystical. I feel that comes from my love for a woman in another life. That powerful relationship then, drives me now. My heart, soul, and spirit are driven by a passion I can't even begin to describe. In other words, I loose myself, sometimes, in an emotion that happened 100 years ago. I look at life from that intense perspective still today.

My passion for reincarnation comes from the passion in those lives. They compound and grow as I progress on the journey. I see the forum and the people here as apart of it. There is a lot more I could draw direct relationship to, but the essence of simply living in this knowledge, feeds my soul.

The Tinkerman
 
Thanks for all the wonderful replies. I find it interesting that all my past lives I have recalled have been creative in some way. And most of them have involved writing. In this life writing has been easier than it should be, and I seldom ever change a word. Whenever I write anything, it flows as quickly as I can type it, often without any conscience thought of the actual words. Possibly, through many reincarnations, we all have destinies to fulfill.

John
 
I've been thinking about this more. My interests are so vast and I never seem able to completely excel at any of them. It's not because of lack of capability or extreme desire, which makes it that much more frustrating! But I've often wondered "why?"

It just occurred to me (yesterday) that maybe I died young in some of my more recent previous lives, snuffing out the time it takes to become really proficient - - proficient to the point of being able to make a career from it. Or that I have had to work so hard at survival alone that I wasn't able to focus on anything more.

I don't know, but I do know that I currently feel frustration from it.
 
I don't know if it had anything to do with a previous life, but when I was a little boy, I had an avid interest in flintlock muskets and pistols and would always be drawing them and writing about them in my excercise books. I would also go to see any film at the cinema that featured this type of weapon, including Walt Disney's Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1956, when I was nine) and The Deerslayer (1957, when I was ten). I certainly had a great interest in these types of weapons. Fifty years later, I certainly don't have the same interest in them. But it makes me wonder why I was so gone on these things as a kid. Perhaps I had something to do with them in a previous life.

One other remarkable thing is that I love to write and I am very good at it. This is all the more remarkable because, due to childhood illnesses, I only went to school for about four years out of ten between 1952 and 1962 and left school with absolutely no qualifications whatsoever. I actually left school at 14, because my 15th birthday fell during the Easter holidays. So I'm far from academic (for instance, I'm pretty hopeless at maths and still have to count on my fingers like a little boy, which isn't suprising, as I wasn't at school very much).

In fact, when, in 1996, I was asked by my local paper, The Sentinel, to do a film column for their monthly nostalgia magazine, The Way We Were (how I came to be asked to do it is a long story), I did it successfully for six years. My column, eventually spread over two pages, was very successful and I used to get fan letters from all over the world, as the magazine had a wide distribution.

The staff on the paper thought very highly indeed of my contributions and were amazed to find that I had never hardly attended school; I had never once taken an exam; I had never done any homework as a schoolboy; I had never been to college or university as they all had and yet I was just as good if not better than most of them. They couldn't understand where I had learned to read and write so well, but the fact was that I had. Perhaps my talent has been brought over into this life from a previous one. Who knows? But to all intents and purposes, I shouldn't really be able to write as well as I can. It seems I just have a natural flair for it.
 
That's wonderful about your writing David, and I'd agree that it probably is past life related, as mine seems to be. While I had more schooling than you, I also have written all my life, and it's never been a chore, but a passionate love. I seldom have to search for the right words, hardly ever change a word, and never edit my work. I've also been able to master every kind of writing I've attempted. Is there a link you could provide to any of your work?

John
 
Unfortunately, tiltjlp, I finished writing that magazine column four years ago and I doubt that the links on The Sentinel's website go back that far. But my column was called "40 Years Ago At The Cinema This Month" and I remember someone asking me how could I write reviews as good as that for such old films and I replied that I had been doing things exactly like that as far back as 1958, when I was 11 and when the films were new and I'd just been to see them. It was just that in those days, I used to use a Biro and an excerise book and my articles in the magazine just looked neater because they were printed by machine instead of being written by hand. But essentially, the content and the style were the same as they would have been in 1958, or 1960 or 1962, ect.

I suppose the best that could be done is for me to scan a couple of the pages in the glossy magazine and send them to you as an attachment, or, if I've still got some of them on my hard drive, to paste one in here. But I don't know of any way to post them on this fourm.

Hang on, I just found one I did for the June, 2002, edition of the magazine:

KING OF KINGS (Capitol, Hanley, Sunday, June 3rd, 1962, for seven days, Super Technirama, Technicolor).

Samuel Bronston’s magnificently told story of Jesus Christ is directed by Nicholas Ray and remains the best film ever made on the subject. Simply told, but on a truly grand scale, the film is greatly enhanced by a superb Miklos Rozsa score. It begins with the Roman conquest of Judea in 63BC. This was long before Jesus was born and, in a tour-de-force of narration spoken with quiet authority by an uncredited Orson Welles, words, images and music are expertly blended to explain the historical background to the world that Jesus was eventually born into…a world of Roman occupation and subjugation of the Jews. The narrative then takes us through the Christian story from the nativity to the resurrection and explains the Christian faith. The film’s two big set pieces, employing thousands of extras, are undoubtedly the disastrous attack by Barabbas and his multitude of followers on the Roman Fortress of Antonia in Jerusalem (an easy victory for the highly disciplined Romans against the terribly uncoordinated rebels) and the Sermon on the Mount.

Jeffrey Hunter, chosen to play Jesus, said later of this sequence in the film that it wasn’t until he was filming it that he realised the enormous responsibility of the part he had undertaken. When he appeared in his robe, the 7.000 extras dropped to their knees. They knew he was only an actor playing a part, but to them he was still a living representation of someone whom they had regarded from childhood with sacred awe. Among other notable parts are Robert Ryan as John the Baptist and Hurd Hatfield as Pontius Pilate. Frank Thring plays Herod Antipas, lusting after his sixteen years old stepdaughter Salome, who, as portrayed by Brigid Bazlen, is the sexiest Salome ever seen on the screen.

Harry Guardino plays Barabbas, freed instead of Jesus from a Roman dungeon. He has the best line in the film and one that reflects the views of those who do not understand the Christian faith as he looks up at Jesus on the cross and says. “That man is dying in my place, Why should he do that? I never did anything for him.” The script keeps fairly close to the Gospels and the overall effect is one of a difficult task successfully carried out.
 
This is significant. I'm constantly meeting amateur historians with a fascination for a period. A yearning from beyond this life draws them back. Interests in a specific era in history are often matched by artistic preferences; people interested in an era will often like the music, clothes, architecture, art and literature of that era.

Anyone else getting that?

My library and CD rack are testimony to this - heaps of books and music from and about the period 1935-1955.

Michal
 
Well, Michal, with my having been born in the 1940's, I would obviously be interested in the music and films of the period I grew up in. But I do remember as a child feeling very close to two particular periods in history. The medieval period and the 18th century colonial period in America (I can't refer to it here as the United States, because there was no United States at that time). These feelings of historical association were very strong in me as a child, but they have long since faded away. Although I do still remember having those feelings of association at the time.
 
David, thanks for posting your work. It is wonderfully written, and as you said, much better than your level of education should allow. As an editor, I wouldn't change a word. I can uderstand why your articles were so well regarded.

John
 
Why, thank you very much, John. Those kind words are much appreciated. The editor of The Sentinel didn't edit my column, either. All the instruction I had from them was how many hundreds of words to submit (no, I didn't count them...my computer counted them for me). I reviewed about six films each month. That particular month, King of Kings was the top featured picture.

I recall someone there asking me if I had either passed or failed my Eleven Plus exam and I told them "worse than that...I was off school ill at the time and I never even took it!" and they said, "Just think where you'd be now if you'd gone to school every day."
 
tiltjlp said:
So my question is, do our pasts lives influence our present life’s interests, or is it mere coincidence, and I’m putting more importance in my life-long interests than they deserve?
Click to expand...

I would say that yes, they do.

Not everyone has the 'luxury' of doing a personality analysis of their last incarnation. I was able to determine that at least 90% of my personality, including all of my interests, and most of my skillset, are not original to this life. I'm still myself, just in a new body, and until recently-an amnesiac. Not all of these things were original to my last incarnation, it's been an ongoing developmental process.

That realization made me very angry at the time, but I've learned to live with it.

Phoenix
 
I too have concluded that past lives really do drive us forward. The strongest PL memories I have all focus on writing in some way, as a writer, poet, scribe, or a book seller. And that would explain my endlessly wide-ranging interests, since writers not only do research, but also are usually well read.

John
 
Just reading for days in this forum, so glad for all these wonderful posts, I deceided to share some of my experience.

My PLs passionates rule my present life. From early childhood on I am crazy about horses. I have been a horsetrainer / Rittmeister in the time of barok and at the review of this I had an intensive deep pain because I knew that it would take hundreds of years till I meet these horses again.
In this life I actually hated sport in school and was really bad in all sportive activities. My family had had no horses and no money for riding lessons but I managed at the age of 16 with a lot of asking and being a nuisance to ride on some ponies in the neighbourhood. To the surprise of my friends I learned riding very fast - just like "overnight". I had only 10 lessons in a riding-school in this lifetime, but I am able to train and ride every horse- even those ones nobody can or wants to handle. At the age of 17 I bought my first horse- now- 26 years later, I have got my own collection. My absolute favorites are Spanish horses - those were the most wanted race in Barok time.
I am also interested in art- I had been a not really good :D painter of portraits about 200 years ago and a curver in beginning of Barok time. Today I work as artist.
I have got a great passion for the past centuries, especially gothic, rennaisance and barok. Born in the 60ths I absolutely disliked my parents home, the modern furniture and the modern dishes and so on. All of my furniture in my rooms are at least 80 years old, I never would buy modern style stuff. But I always want the newest PC and so on.
I had been a female singer in rennaissance and have played flute . As I was a little child, I sang a song just for me, my mother heard this, was asthonished- she found it so beautiful and praised me- from this minute on I refused to sing any more when someone listens- till now. Music lessons in school were pure horror to me. I also do not play an instrument yet. The greatest horror for me is when somebody sings for me :eek: - I just want to escape at once or try everything to stop the singer. But I love music and love to hear my favorite cds all day long.
 
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