Life on Earth to Eternal Peace
Hebrews 9:27 states, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgement”. In other words, the soul will go to Heaven, Hell or Purgatory depending on whether their actions have been judges as being in accordance with God’s teachings or not. This biblical verse, among others, rejects the belief of a being living multiple lives on earth.
Though I do not believe in reincarnation, the idea of
it has always piqued my interest. In the last reading, we learned about Violet
Firth and her reemergence as Dione Fortune. She believed that this was by God
and not chance.
I began to think about the idea of reincarnation,
examples I have seen in the past that are extremely convincing and what I think
about all of it. First, to tackle my stance- My goal on earth is to live this “temporary
life” to the best of my ability and spend the rest of eternity in heaven. In
essence, reincarnation is impossible. Yet, there have certainly been instances
in my life where I scratch my head thinking about it.
A fundamental definition of reincarnation is: the
belief that the soul returns in a new body after death. However, Dion Fortune
had a slight twist. To her, reincarnation wasn’t simply about the rebirth of a
soul- it was a fundamental part of the soul’s ongoing evolution. The soul,
through repeated experiences across different lives and timelines, was able to
refine itself, learn lessons and move closer to spiritual truths. She believed that
these lifetimes allowed beings to deepen their understanding of the universe
and their own divine nature. One of her key components was on the concept of
karma. She did not look at karma as a punishment for past actions, but rather a
guiding force that shaped each incarnation. For example, an incarnate might be
born into a challenging life, but can use lessons learned in past lives to
overcome them.
Reincarnation examples today:
Above are some of my “head scratch” moments that got me thinking about reincarnation on a deeper level. Looking back, these are simply just lookalikes- but maybe Philip IV of Spain had the idea of Facebook and returned as Mark Zuckerberg to create the trillion-dollar company.
Thanks for reflecting on Dion Fortune and reincarnation, and for the amusing photo similarities. When I first opened your blog entry and saw Thoreau posed next to Ellen DeGeneres, I had to smile. I can't think of two more dissimilar people. But they are who their cultural moments allowed them to be. I can't speak on greater cosmic spheres. Maybe they do share kindred souls. What I do know--and it's little--is that people in the Euro-American world of the late 19th and early 20th centuries did not know a lot about Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which believed in reincarnation for centuries. Violet Firth's reading of Hindu or Buddhist texts probably influenced her. Interestingly enough Thoreau was also a deep reader of Hindu and Buddhist texts, though he jokes about reincarnation in Walden. I agree with you that we are tasked to lead the fullest lives we can.
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