Notable Past Lives

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    My favorite books on reincarnation:

    peter
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    Post  peter Sun Sep 27, 2009 1:05 pm

    "Winged Pharoah" by Joan Grant

    "Many Lifetimes" by Denys Kelsey and Joan Grant

    Anything by Ian Stevenson (I would especially recommend his last one "Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects Volume 1: Birthmarks"

    "Reincarnation: Phoenix Fire Mystery" by Joseph Head and Sylvia Cranston

    "The Reincarnation Workbook: A Complete Course in Recalling Past Lives" by J. H. Brennan

    "Looking for Carroll Beckwith: The True Story of a Detective's Search for His Past Life" by Robert L. Snow

    "Return of the Revolutionaries" by Walter Semkiw
    Cherubino
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    Post  Cherubino Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:25 am

    Thanks Peter. I've read Winged Pharaoh. I need to look into the others!
    peter
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    Post  peter Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:23 am

    For what it's worth, the Ian Stevenson and the Semkiw books end up being sort like the state of the art yin and yang of what we know so far.

    Stevenson's cases tend towards the unhealthy and unhappy. Most of the people seem to have no idea of the process and are like lost souls, or they're homesick for the past incarnation. Semkiw's cases are at the other end of the spectrum. His main hypothesis, (which he helpfully states in the first chapter), the cases he cites, along with several of his own associations are pure gold. The few incorrect connections he makes don't change the intellectual audacity or the veracity of his general drift.

    However, both are oblivious to the social policy implications of what they're reporting IMHO. But being concerned with the social policy of reincarnation is so rarified... I may be the only person there right now... Rolling Eyes Very Happy
    Cherubino
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    Post  Cherubino Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:55 pm

    Could you explain what you mean by "social policy"? I think I know, but I want to make sure.

    Thanks!
    peter
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    Post  peter Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:17 pm

    By social policy I mean the implications of widespread acceptance of reincarnation as a stated fact which has enormous potential for misapplications. Most of what I'm thinking I gleaned from the history and current political situation in Tibet. They have rival incarnations wrangling for political power right now. There are people in prison or maybe even dead over it.

    We already have everything from King Herod looking for the baby Jesus to enough reincarnations of Marilyn Monroe to open in Vegas. I'd prefer that Herod not locate said baby Jesus and one reincarnated Marilyn is quite enough, the rest are getting on my nerves. If you start identifying iconic political types as Semkiw has, the potential for abuse is incredible.

    Telling the world that John Kerry is the reincarnation of Andrew Jackson is probably innocous enough. Most people don't know enough about Jackson to either hate or fear him. But what if somebody tells us who the current incarnation of Judas Iscariot or Hitler is? That could turn into quite a little witch hunt for the person in question if anybody takes it to heart.

    I can give you a real example:

    I have been wondering for years now if Michael Jackson was the reincarnation of Kaiser Wilhelm II. I've kicked it around with a few people, but I am a scientist about it. I'm not planning on burning his records, avenging the innocent victims of WWI or anything like that. I'm just trying to see and understand the give and take of world-class karma. Nothing I've seen about him since he died makes me less inclined to think it either. Yet, I doubt that would have been ethical to publicize such a theory. If you happen to believe me, it could cause serious harm to the subject's reputation and quite possibly interfere with that person's karmic purpose in life. Naturally I'm less worried about this since he died, hence my willingness to mention it.

    Semkiw thinks greater recognition of reincarnation will assist world peace. Well, based on my own experience, overcoming the hatred I brought into this life hasn't been easy and I'm a decent, kind person who has spent a great deal of my life's energies working on it. I see no reason to assume that overcoming all that hatred and fear would be easier for anybody else, let alone all the many people who don't even realize they have a spiritual purpose let alone share my belief that hatred and fear are ego states that ought to be overcome.

    There, I hope you're not sorry you asked. :-) I've truncated my original post a little. I didn't mean to go on a rant or be confusing. I'm quite interested in what other people who've experienced soul memory think about what this stuff. :-) I just want to talk it over with others as I could use a fresh point of view on it.

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    Susanna
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    Post  Susanna Sun Oct 04, 2009 12:02 pm

    I've never believed that it was right to project an incarnation on another person no matter how much you believe that person to be who you think they are. I believe very strongly that my brother in this life was my brother, Stephen Storace, in my notable past life in the 18th century. But my brother is a devout Christian who doesn't believe in reincarnation. No matter how much I believe it, it's not my right to impose that on him.

    I strongly believe that Barack Obama is the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln and I have a mountain of evidence to support it. But I would NEVER come out and declare it publicly for a number of reasons, the most profound being spiritual. His eternal soul, his incarnations, etc. are none of my business.

    P.S. Steph and I strongly believe that the Kennedys are the Claudian Caesars. Because they won't give up their lust for power, they keep repeating the same mistakes and they are "cursed" with misfortune.
    peter
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    Post  peter Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:26 pm

    It sure does seem like awfully personal information to bandy promiscuously about.

    I have a whole list of past life associations I started in the late 1970's. When I discovered Dr. Semkiw's first book it just lit me up. For one thing, he was independently replicating my own observations. That's the gold standard scientifically speaking. For another, I wanted to do the same thing with my own list. Publish, make the talk show circuit, become a celebrity. But I just couldn't put aside the uneasy feeling I had about the whole thing. I now think that the concerns noted above are exactly why I hesitated.

    I still wouldn't mind doing it a little. But I'd have to have the direct consent of anyone I mentioned beforehand. It could have drastic consequences if too many people believed me. All it takes is one unstable person who thinks they're supposed to provide instant karma... !

    You're take on the Kennedy's is very interesting. I always thought they were redolent of the Roman empire myself. They're so... patrician. I'm not sure I grasp the personages of emperial Rome well enough to pick people out very well though. Now that I'm older, they all seem so much shadier than I remember them from my youth.
    Susanna
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    Post  Susanna Sun Oct 04, 2009 2:54 pm

    Well, we most certainly believe that Ted Kennedy was Claudius, and Joe Kennedy was Livia. But other than those two, I couldn't venture to say. But if you study the Claudian dynasty it does have numerous compelling parallels.
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    Post  peter Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:33 pm

    Darn! Claudius was my favorite of the lot (at least as played by Derek Jacobi). My partner and I walked by Teddy in Washington D.C. one day and that makes me wish I'd imposed on him enough to walk over and shake his hand. I don't think he wanted us to bother him though, he looked a little drunk.

    I'll have to think about what you've said though because it makes a lot of sense. Personally, I think I'd prefer to avoid excessive political power. It seems nearly impossible to stay harmless, which I consider of paramount importance under ordinary circumstances.

    I'd love to hear why you think Obama was Lincoln. I'm sitting about two or three miles from Mary Todd's house as I write this. The only vibe I got off him was Egyptian. When he was standing in front of that Springfield courthouse in the evening (or was it morning) sun on MSNBC when he accepted the nomination, something about the way he looked and the incredible shade of orange on the courthouse wall combined and I could just see him addressing a crowd in the same position in front of a temple on some Egyptian afternoon (or morning).

    I find Lincoln tough to fathom, I've read a couple of books on him and I still don't quite know what to think of him karmically or personally. His life seems unusually ill-fated to me, as if he was primarily paying back some past wrong, but I have no clue where or when that might have occurred.
    Lulu
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    Post  Lulu Mon Oct 12, 2009 1:55 pm

    Very interesting! I was planning on writing a little operetta libretto just on one aspect of this "social policy" of reincarnation. It would be about if one day in the future reincarnation became so widely accepted that laws could be created to protect the rights of former incarnations, so one would be able to collect royalties on their past life's work. However, all these people have to prove who they were in a court of law in order to collect their royalties, so one day you have 20 people trying to prove that they were Shakespeare, 15 people trying to prove they were Bach (unless you're Tom Cruise and think you were both of them! Might have to throw in a character who claims to be all three of them then.) It would be a rather silly musical, but it has serious implications. I hadn't thought about this idea in conjunction with politics, but it makes sense that smudge campaigns would start saying things like, "We found out that this guy running for president was actually Hitler in a former life. Do you really want to vote for Hitler?"

    However, even if western society was to accept reincarnation as an accepted fact it doesn't mean that one's claims of precise former incarnations would be accepted the same way. The person who remembers clear details and verifiable information about their former lives is very much in the minority, especially information that can not be explained any other way. Plus, I agree that it's not up to us to make the final call on who someone else was in a former life. Only that person can know for sure, and even then they probably never will be able to dispel all doubts even in their own mind.

    Nonetheless, I too am curious as to the Lincoln/Obama link. I was reading "Hospital Sketches" a few months ago (probably the first thing by Louisa May Alcott that I actually enjoyed) and was struck by her description of the streets of Washington DC on New Year's when the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. It was exactly like the streets of Seattle when Obama won the election! The thought that I was lucky enough to witness both of these events in respective lifetimes was pretty mind boggling to me.
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    Post  peter Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:35 pm

    How nice to hear your story Lulu!

    I have no clear idea WHO Lincoln is now or if he's even here, but I think Alan Grayson is more Lincolnesque. If he were about 30 or 40 pounds lighter, he'd even resemble the young, pre illness Lincoln. I was watching him banter, kind of off the cuff this weekend and I kept getting that impression. He has a down to earth frankness and razor sharp wit that I think were Lincoln's greatest political assets.

    Semkiw says he thinks Obama was in Lincoln's cabinet. As above, I have no idea whether I actually believe that or not. I need to research a little more and I haven't had time. Needless to say, I am watching what happens with both these theories in mind.

    For what it's worth, I think Obama resembles Lincoln's posthumous reputation more than the actual person. Lincoln's reputation keeps such a respectful distance that the actual person can be hard to make out.

    Lincoln was Byronically romantic, materially impractical and even disorganized and could be quite mean towards his political opponents. He actually had a duel with the Treasurer of Illinois when he was in the state congress because of a (hilarious) poison-pen description he published in a Springfield paper under a pseudonym. Lincoln was also notorious for telling obscene and vulgar stories, and overindulging his children, and his wife. Lincoln also made a surprisingly large number of bad political and military appointments. I've thought for years that his inability to appoint effective military leaders prolonged the war unnecessarily.

    Of course, Obama might have a side he doesn't show but what I can see sure doesn't remind me of anything like that. Naturally, it's to early tell about the ability to pick effective appointees, but it's already clear that Obama's organizational acumen is phenomenal and he appears to have impeccable political instincts about a lot of things. He really doesn't seem like much of a cut-up either, even though he obviously works at it.

    I'd love to hear Susanna's reasons for thinking Obama is Lincoln. I definitely need more information on the matter.

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