How are we supposed to learn a lesson in each life if we dont know what it is?

[Kristopher]

I'm currently reading "Same soul, many bodies" - Dr Brian Weiss.

His clients that come to him seem to have all struggled to overcome the same problem in many of their past lives as what they're struggling with in the current.

Even Dr Weiss said himself, if they didn't go to him to have the regression, chances are they would have spent many more lives trying to pass their lesson.

So, how can we pass or fail in life if we don't even know what that life purpose is? and when we pass one lesson, does another just pop up? Maybe Weiss explains this further on in the book, or maybe I have not read a key point he made properly. However, I'm interested to see your opinions on this. :thumbsup:

 

[Raptor95]

Hi Kristopher


Great question


I have wondered the same thing. The only thing I can think of is that if we know all about our past lives, we might be bored in current one. Or the other thought is “then what is the point of living again and again if we already know it all". But this does not keep me from wanting to know more about my past lives anyway. It sure would help settle a lot of questions about this current life


Are we supposed to know all? Are we supposed to learn a little? Why is it that some get a chance to get PL memories so easily and other never do?


There are a lot of really good people here that can give good insight and opinions. And I look forward to hearing from them. #G^H

 

[Sister Grey]

I know, right? That drives me nuts, actually, because the lessons that people say they’ve learned are so contradictory to each other.


I don’t know, am I supposed to be more self-reliant? Or depend on and trust in others more? Tolerate and embrace miscreants? Or boot them out of my life? Be humble and self-effacing? Or go for the glory and be loud and vibrant? Speak my mind? Or remember that silence is golden? Do as much as possible to help others? Or let them find their own path? I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure these things out and as far as I can tell, it could go either way.

 

[Nightrain]

So, how can we pass or fail in life if we don't even know what that life purpose is? and when we pass one lesson, does another just pop up?

I labored for many years under the mistaken assumption that life's purpose was some kind of singular mystery to be solved by only one singular solution -- that is, until I realized that every time I solved some very minor little problem, I was actually fulfilling some purpose, however mundane. It's rather like doing dishes. If we choose to continue living normally, there will always be another batch of dishes to wash.


There have been many times that I marveled how fortunate I was to have solved, or to have been provided with a solution to some problems that might have continued to plague me and cause significant embarrassment for many years to come. And there have been many times that I lamented not being provided with solutions for other problems that have plagued me and caused significant embarrassment for so many years. There have been other times that I just got tired and let the sink fill up with proverbial dishes.


When a person writes a book about all the problems he has solved over the years, I'm sure that he he will likely leave the impression that those people he has helped would have remained in the dark for many lifetimes to come. However, I believe that every solution comes in its own time; and, if his treatment had not provided some catharsis, there would have been something else to lead those people to an eventual solution.


I also believe that such problems -- however monumental they may seem -- only constitute a tiny milli-fraction of all there is to learn, which is why we have so many lives to live. But, thinking about them all at once would be like piling up all the future dirty dishes of our lives into one monumental big kitchen sink. So, instead, life does us the favor of spreading them out and letting us think that each singular problem is all we need to worry about. We are allowed to forget the majority of problems and the many mysteries to be solved, so that we can deal with them one-by-one as the need arises.


When we begin to investigate Reincarnation and realize that solutions for some of these problems don't arrive within one or more lifetimes, we also begin to feel a sense of frustration, because we are still viewing these problems through the lens of our limited experience. We still want to solve everything before we die, as if we still think that we will never have another chance.

 

[crystal_44]

I have a vague memory of in between lives. I was taken to a certain place to have time to reflect upon my life, what I had done right, what I had done wrong, and what I needed to do better the next time around. I was instructed what I needed to learn in the next life, I suppose by a soul guide of some sort.


I believe that this is what everyone goes through. You may not remember what lessons you were told to learn in this life, but somehow you just know. Whether one lives up to the challenge or not is up to the individual.


But that is just my take on it

 

[Delonada]

I think the problem many people tend to do is think that the lesson must be learned in one lifetime as if you were racing against the clock. It's a bit like living as if you only have one chance at life.


If you read through the books, whether by Weiss, Newton, Backman or even the Michael Teachings you will see that the common thread is that at every stage/lesson you will spend a few lifetimes overcoming it. Sure, there might be some that jump right over an obstacle and onto the next, but that's not necessarily the right way to do it. Maybe you were supposed to savor the education like you do a fine wine, no matter how badly it tastes. Maybe if you do you might actually be much stronger for it than the person who leapt over the hurdle like there was no tomorrow.


Just a thought.

 

[gettinglucky]

Hi Kristopher
Great question


I have wondered the same thing. The only thing I can think of is that if we know all about our past lives, we might be bored in current one. Or the other thought is “then what is the point of living again and again if we already know it all". But this does not keep me from wanting to know more about my past lives anyway. It sure would help settle a lot of questions about this current life


Are we supposed to know all? Are we supposed to learn a little? Why is it that some get a chance to get PL memories so easily and other never do?


There are a lot of really good people here that can give good insight and opinions. And I look forward to hearing from them. #G^H

Being born without memories of a PL is a defense mechanism. Not for ourselves, but towards our enemies. Imagine meeting your enemy again this life. A lot of bloodshed and violence may result if you suddenly knew who that person is and what they did last time.


The problem is, a lot of us can't be trusted with that knowledge. If we were all good angelic human beings, none of us would need to come back here again.

 

[gettinglucky]

I know, right? That drives me nuts, actually, because the lessons that people say they’ve learned are so contradictory to each other.
I don’t know, am I supposed to be more self-reliant? Or depend on and trust in others more? Tolerate and embrace miscreants? Or boot them out of my life? Be humble and self-effacing? Or go for the glory and be loud and vibrant? Speak my mind? Or remember that silence is golden? Do as much as possible to help others? Or let them find their own path? I’ve spent most of my life trying to figure these things out and as far as I can tell, it could go either way.

Not contradictory. More like, in the proper context. Imagine doing as much as possible to help other evil people out, only you didn't know that they are evil. Or, giving spare change to beggars on the street to encourage them to continue to be lazy and beg for a living. Or, how about you give yourself away easily so much, you have nothing left to give to your S.O. Or, how about you support a regime that includes high taxes, so bums on the dole can continue to leech off the government. Or, how about you donate a large sum of money to your local library to install wireless internet services, only b/c it is a public service, it gets infected easily with worms, meaning any poor soul who brings their laptop to the library to access the FREE internet there gets their computer infected with trojans and viruses just for being online, etc...


Guess who gets to collect karmic debt as the result of being the accomplice to crime/evil in all those scenarios? You guessed it, the donator!

 

[Kristopher]

I labored for many years under the mistaken assumption that life's purpose was some kind of singular mystery to be solved by only one singular solution -- that is, until I realized that every time I solved some very minor little problem, I was actually fulfilling some purpose, however mundane. It's rather like doing dishes. If we choose to continue living normally, there will always be another batch of dishes to wash.
There have been many times that I marveled how fortunate I was to have solved, or to have been provided with a solution to some problems that might have continued to plague me and cause significant embarrassment for many years to come. And there have been many times that I lamented not being provided with solutions for other problems that have plagued me and caused significant embarrassment for so many years. There have been other times that I just got tired and let the sink fill up with proverbial dishes.


When a person writes a book about all the problems he has solved over the years, I'm sure that he he will likely leave the impression that those people he has helped would have remained in the dark for many lifetimes to come. However, I believe that every solution comes in its own time; and, if his treatment had not provided some catharsis, there would have been something else to lead those people to an eventual solution.


I also believe that such problems -- however monumental they may seem -- only constitute a tiny milli-fraction of all there is to learn, which is why we have so many lives to live. But, thinking about them all at once would be like piling up all the future dirty dishes of our lives into one monumental big kitchen sink. So, instead, life does us the favor of spreading them out and letting us think that each singular problem is all we need to worry about. We are allowed to forget the majority of problems and the many mysteries to be solved, so that we can deal with them one-by-one as the need arises.


When we begin to investigate Reincarnation and realize that solutions for some of these problems don't arrive within one or more lifetimes, we also begin to feel a sense of frustration, because we are still viewing these problems through the lens of our limited experience. We still want to solve everything before we die, as if we still think that we will never have another chance.

Well said, Nightrain. I also noticed Weiss say that people cant do good deeds just for "brownie points in the spirit world". If this is so, then people who have regression to find out what the purpose is in their current life would be wasting their time in a way. If they change their behaviour only becuase they know what they're supposed to do in this life, wouldn't that just mean they would have to repeat a similar life again? If we are supposed to do these acts without expecting anything in return, finding what they are would maybe "slow us down" in terms of progressing in that life.

 

[Nightrain]

Guess who gets to collect karmic debt as the result of being the accomplice to crime/evil in all those scenarios? You guessed it, the donator!

I've spent much of my life involved in the philosophical debate of what constitutes morality or correctness; and I know how confusing things can become when we consider the existential outcomes of our intentions, decisions and actions. As Gettinglucky indicated, it is possible to do what we think is good, only to find out that we only managed to enable something very bad. I'm very familiar with this conundrum, because I have been personally involved in decisions that were meant to defend my religion, my family, my country and my friends -- each time doing what I thought was moral and correct, but finding myself in the middle of immoral outcomes. I know there are times that we are damned if we do, and damned if we don't.


In view of this experience I have searched long and hard for some kind of greater understanding that has not been available through religion or philosophy. Since discovering the possibility of Reincarnation, however, I have been exposed to the possibility that what really counts is intention. In other words, if our intentions are good and our courage is willing to carry those good intentions through, all outcomes are the correct ones, even if they are bad.


One of the most inspiring stories, in one of the shortest books ever read, is the story of Prince Arjuna with his adviser Krishna in the "Bhagavad Gita", in which Arjuna is looking out over the camp of his enemy and considering the violence and bloodshed that he must face the following day. In that camp among the enemy, who wishes to vanquish his rightful place as ruler, are the uncles and servants who loved him and helped to raise him. Certainly there is much that seems so very wrong about what he feels forced to do; but as Krishna advises him, he must do what is expected of him in this life, for the sake of history as well as for what is ultimately right. Nothing is clearly right or wrong, for there are elements of both mixed in together. But, to do nothing would be the greatest offense. Besides, said Krishna, life and death issues in this one lifetime are as nothing compared to the thousands of lifetimes yet to come.


Ultimately, Arjuna won the battle and maintained his position becoming one of the great leaders of his time, as well as being a great inspiration for others facing the same kind of decisions. Many people died, and many generations suffered the painful effects of that war, as with other famous leaders and other horrible wars. But, consider also the consequences of shrinking from those decisions. Perhaps our purpose is simply to be who we were born to be, whether right or wrong. Perhaps, there is really no clear right or wrong. Perhaps, having the courage to be just who we are is the greatest objective there is.

 

[usetawuz]

To tie in with Nightrain's comments, pre-birth into this lifetime we plan to play specific roles for ourselves and our soulmates in conjunction with immutable events that will occur during our earthly sojourn. We play those roles with free will along with our intuitional choices based on that un-remembered plan, and in so doing put the grand show into action.


The lessons are not like learning how to read and write, but rather learning how to choose wisely and well and in accordance with our internal guidance or intuition, in any circumstances we find ourselves...finding the lesser of evils or the best of a bad lot and sensing the highest and best choices for all involved. There is no set of directions or instruction manuals but the closer we come to understanding ourselves the clearer our planned direction will become and our choices will be made in accordance with what we "know" inside us to be right. Having the confidence to listen to that internal voice is half the battle.


I agree with Nightrain's comment: "Perhaps having the courage to be just who we are is the greatest objective there is."

 

[usetawuz]

Guess who gets to collect karmic debt as the result of being the accomplice to crime/evil in all those scenarios? You guessed it, the donator!

I see this from a slightly different perspective. Say the role you were to play was to kill the human who is your primary soulmate in that lifetime. This causes various other actions to occur as a result and the combined lifeplan, in all its intricate beauty, allows a waterfall of various repercussive events which enable difficult decisions to be made by many other incarnated individuals who benefit from those events.


Karmic debt, to me, is not a retributional result of poor choices, but rather a default balancing of energy allowing us to benefit from both sides of any action. As another thread herein mentions, it is like a "memory" of what one has experienced or inflicted and the opportunity to learn the opposite side of that same experience.


In my opinion our incarnate lives are not the culmination of our existence, but rather a small thread in the tapestry of our soul's experience...our soul seeks to obtain as much information as possible through the events and opportunities we undergo. If we can somehow disconnect the weight we place upon our daily existence and realize that we can enjoy this for what it is instead of the difficult, tragic, dishonest place it can appear to be, imagine how we might be able to live our lives.

 

[Green26]

In ancient Norse mythology, people saw the universe as a tree of life, much like many other spiritual traditions such as Kaballah. At the top of the tree there lives an eagle, at the bottom of the tree there lives a snake and a cheeky squirrel runs up and down the tree between the eagle and the snake.

The eagle and the snake are actually best friends, but their only method of communication is the squirrel, who spends most of his time running up and down the tree, taking messages from the eagle, distorting them, then telling lies to the snake about the eagle. In Norse mythology, the eagle is representative of our non-local consciousness, the snake is representative of the local consciousnesses in these human bodies and the squirrel is representative of our brains.


My own experience has been that the "lessons" talked about by Newton, Weiss, are quite possibly distortions of the person's brain under hypnotherapy, or misinterpretations by the hypnotherapist. I have experienced something vaguely akin to a lesson/karma, but it really isn't anything in the sense that Newton or Weiss talk about, to such an extent that calling them lessons really is quite inaccurate, which reminds me of the Norse tree of life. The role of the "squirrel" cannot be underestimated in past life regression, clairvoyance, mediumship, remote viewing or any other sort of psychic phenomena IMO

 

[usetawuz]

Soul "lessons", like soul "contracts", do not adequately define the activites involved, and often convey an entirely different meaning (like the squirrel/brain). I like your Norse analogy, Green.

 

[Totoro]

from my own philosophy, life is a series of actions and reactions. This interactions causes us to form habits, which then lend them selves to assumptions, about ourselves, the universe, everything.


The trick, is to be mindful, that is to take yourself out of the issue and step back and see it as if you were moving out of a 2d picture to view it in the 3d world. Balancing mindfulness with humility will lead to self control, which will break the cycle of action and reaction and move you onto one of action / non action.


Our souls age and grow over lifetimes, just as we do over one lifetime. We carry emotional baggage from life time to life time that needs sorting out too.


However finding out what those issues are can be difficult and is a personal journey. there's quite a few resources on this site to help you find your way.

 

[gettinglucky]

I see this from a slightly different perspective. Say the role you were to play was to kill the human who is your primary soulmate in that lifetime. This causes various other actions to occur as a result and the combined lifeplan, in all its intricate beauty, allows a waterfall of various repercussive events which enable difficult decisions to be made by many other incarnated individuals who benefit from those events.
Karmic debt, to me, is not a retributional result of poor choices, but rather a default balancing of energy allowing us to benefit from both sides of any action. As another thread herein mentions, it is like a "memory" of what one has experienced or inflicted and the opportunity to learn the opposite side of that same experience.


In my opinion our incarnate lives are not the culmination of our existence, but rather a small thread in the tapestry of our soul's experience...our soul seeks to obtain as much information as possible through the events and opportunities we undergo. If we can somehow disconnect the weight we place upon our daily existence and realize that we can enjoy this for what it is instead of the difficult, tragic, dishonest place it can appear to be, imagine how we might be able to live our lives.

Suppose I were to put a dent in your car b/c somehow I wanted to experience what it would be like for someone to put a dent in my car. So later on, b/c of karma, someone does put a dent in my car when I least expected it. But that person has just incurred karmic debt, so later on someone else will have to put a dent in his car, and next victim after that and the next victim after that ad infinium. All in all, I've just started a perpetual cycle of car dent putting for the selfish reason that I've wanted to learn about it...


Now, expand this a little. Say, in each life, each one of us begins 100 new perpetual karmic cycles so we could "learn" more about the other side. There are how many people in the world? 7 Billion. So, each generation add 700 Billion perpetual cycles of karma to the world "system"... Thus, as the world grows older, it becomes more and more "evil" for the added karma it has... At some point, it becomes necessary for God to step in and destroy the world (like Noah and the Arc story), so the world can start afresh with 0 karmic debt cycle...

 

[Nightrain]

At some point, it becomes necessary for God to step in and destroy the world (like Noah and the Arc story), so the world can start afresh with 0 karmic debt cycle...

Although this is an interesting thought experiment, I am personally convinced that Karma doesn't operate this way at all. In your theory experiencing and propagating negative experience is similar to some very early atomic theories in which some physicists predicted that the atomic bomb would just continue to explode as long as there was matter to keep on interacting with until the whole world would be destroyed. They thought that once the reaction started, it would never end. However, they didn't take other issues of physics into account.


In the same way, we fail to take into account the fact that we are able to "feel" the effects of having our automobiles dented, as you put it, without actually having our vehicles dented, and without choosing to dent someone else's. In other words, we don't have to live every experience in order to experience it, for we are so very connected to each other. Nor does the Karmic law of cause and effect necessarily doom us to be always treated in the same way that we may have treated others. In other words, if I caused the death of millions of people in some lifetime, I shouldn't expect each of those people to kill me in future lifetimes, thus propagating an infinite cycle. Yes, there may be a cycle of some sort, but our ability to make mistakes and realize our errors is far more powerful than the cycle, which does eventually dissipate -- just like atomic reactions and black holes.

 

[Lilmsmaggie]

I think the problem many people tend to do is think that the lesson must be learned in one lifetime as if you were racing against the clock. It's a bit like living as if you only have one chance at life.

I believe Delonada's point is well taken.


Consider another analogy, the stages of grief:


Denial


Anger


Bargaining


Depression


Acceptance


As with the stages of grief, the pitfall many of us fall into is to think life lessons are linear. There is no rule that says that there is a set sequence of stages or lessons to be learned and some stages (life lessons) may be repeated.


As well, there may be a possiblity that in learning a life lesson or in fulfilling a lesson, we may inadvertently trigger circumstances that in turn spawn new lessons to be learned.


As in Nightrain's pile of dishes analogy, the life lessons to be learned is dependent upon where we are in our spirtual development, or maturation of the soul. The life lesson may only present itself, if and only if, we are ready. And even at that moment of maturation, there may be blocks of the human mind that the spirit mind may not be able to overcome, or because of challenges the soul faces in the physical realm resulting in newer life lessons.


Hence, the lesson failed to be learned is presented again and again until we have learned the lesson. But as Nightrain's pile of dishes analogy points out, the dishes (lessons) keep piling up. We must consider that the lessons are not presented to us in a linear fashion but only when we are spiritually equipped to handle and/or reslove them.

 

[crystal_44]

Nothing is clearly right or wrong, for there are elements of both mixed in together. But, to do nothing would be the greatest offense. Besides, said Krishna, life and death issues in this one lifetime are as nothing compared to the thousands of lifetimes yet to come.

Ooooh, I love the Mahabharat!


What I get from this story, and from reincarnation in general, is that by hurting our enemies, we are only hurting ourselves.


Although Arjun wins the battle, he loses his children and many loved ones in the process.


The universe is not a closed system; our actions against our enemies will come back to us. We are all in this thing together.


Maybe that is the ultimate lesson? I admit, being human, it is not alway so easy to follow this. And that's why we come back for a second try

 

[kenikeli]

Genetically, we exist merely to perpetuate the gene. We survive and reproduce and are therefore successful. Life exists in one form or another throughout the universe, particles, atoms, subatomic particles, etc, are constantly being created, rearranged, being disassembled or annihilated.


Even our bodies are millions of years old, all the elements heavier than iron that exist in our bodies came from stars which exploded billions of years ago, life's no more miraculous than simply coming into existence as we always have done. (I may revisit this point, I don't think I'm putting it across properly!)


Perhaps there's no lesson to be learned, we live purely because that's the destiny we all have regardless of the lessons we think we should have learned.


Life is the most natural thing there is, simple!

 

[Green26]

oh goodie!, so I'm not the only person on this forum who doesn't think we are on this earth to learn lessons! The purpose of life is probably to experience, and probably for its own sake, not for a higher purpose (soul growth/karma etc)

 

[Delonada]

We can learn simply by living. I find the notion that we are always learning some specific lesson to be very narrow. By simply living we are perhaps learning hundreds, if not thousands, of things at a time and not in any specific order or method.

 

[usetawuz]

We can learn simply by living. I find the notion that we are always learning some specific lesson to be very narrow. By simply living we are perhaps learning hundreds, if not thousands, of things at a time and not in any specific order or method.

This resonates for me...we are making miniscule adjustments or refinements to our ability to deal with each action/decision/thought that comes into our awareness.