Eternal existence: having access to all your soul has ever experienced, how do you feel about it?

[Skyhaven]

I can imagine that a long life of eighty to over a hundredth years can seem as a very long stretch. I think I understand a little why old people tend to grow tired after so many experiences within reach of their awareness. But what if (future) life was such that all the memories of the past remained in between lives?

Wouldn't it be a burden to carry everything a long for so long? I personally feel some kind of relief in the prospect of having all of it erased once in a while. How do you feel about this?

[Craig]

I on the other hand would love to remember past lives and have that experience with me, I am not a fan at starting again. But it's good to see it expressed from your point of view as well

[Spiral of Light]

I consider the challenges overcome, the loving relationships cherished, and the lessons learned in this life to be the primary reasons for living it. This lifetime has seemed to be like a learning experience for my soul.

I imagine that all of those other lives I've lived were full of the same types of challenges, relationships and lessons, and I really would love to be able to remember them because I think my soul would be much more well-educated with all of those memories intact. I might even have earned a Ph.D. by now!

Great OP, Skyhaven.

[Sunny-side-up]

Knowledge of past lives as in the actual knowledge, not the individual experiences!

IE. the knowledge of how to do things without new training needed!
Knowledge of how to be more than material body etc!
Knowledge of past-long gone realms etc!
Those I would like to remember and or take to any new life, if new life if for me to come.

[Shadowself]

Posted by Skyhaven (here)
I can imagine that a long life of eighty to over a hundredth years can seem as a very long stretch. I think I understand a little why old people tend to grow tired after so many experiences within reach of their awareness. But what if (future) life was such that all the memories of the past remained in between lives?

Wouldn't it be a burden to carry everything a long for so long? I personally feel some kind of relief in the prospect of having all of it erased once in a while. How do you feel about this?

It is a burden.

Full access to all memory is access to ALL. That would include death. Remembering your death or that of a loved one is not all it's cracked up to be. Be careful what you wish for.

Access to future life memory again is not all it's cracked up to be. It's burden alright. I've learned certain things cannot be averted no matter what you remember or see coming down the pike.

Probably the only thing you can change is your attitude toward this life and how given that knowledge you would proceed. Now THAT might avert and change a general direction given that prior knowledge as to how to proceed.

Cherish what you've got while you're here and live it to the fullest. Eternal is in this physicality a long time or no time. At least here you have a beginning and an end.

In eternal we never outlive the longing

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=k1inZ4DjEWc

[blknwhite]

Interesting subject. This statement by J. Krishnamurti helped me immensely as I felt myself growing weary of life's sometimes runaway train of experiences.

"You cannot live without dying. You cannot live if you do not die psychologically every minute. This is not an intellectual paradox. To live completely, wholly, every day as if it were a new loveliness, there must be dying to everything of yesterday, otherwise you live mechanically, and a mechanical mind can never know what love is or what freedom is."

[Joanne Shepard]

I just watched this on past life memories yesterday. I did a little more research on it and it seems that many many people have even more than memories of past life experiences.

I think its very interesting and very real.

I think that a little bit of the memory from a past life wouldn't hurt anything,,,,,,,,,,,,,, but to much memory could possibly distract you some,,,from progressing though this life, if you allow it to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mKG...layer_embedded

[TrumanCash]

I think the most significant thing that I have gained from recovering the memories of many past life incidents is knowing who I am. By this I mean who I am as an eternal spiritual being.

Also, memory does not ever get "erased". This includes past lives. We can shove it back into a closet or sweep it under a rug, but it's still there.

I have also released a lot of negative, emotional baggage in the process of recovering traumatic past life incidents that I will no longer carry into future lives. However, the memories are still there so I have that knowledge without being adversely affected by it. Also, it has cleared a lot of cobwebs from my awareness--like the feeling of getting really dirty, sweaty, muddy, wet, cold (or whatever) and then taking a nice hot shower. It makes you feel really clean inside.

It has also given me the knowledge of how the matrix works.

TLC

[Skyhaven]

I think however there's great forward movement coming from having a clean memory slate. If one had bad memories of certain experiences one would probably avoid them right? While it maybe best not to. Maybe you got caught in some very bad circumstances and died of it, then when you come around again and the memories are still there, you might have a lot of trouble dealing with them when coming into a totally new environment.

The more I think of the implications the more I start to think there's some intelligent reason behind the loss of memory. Not in a negative way though... I somehow don't believe the memories are wiped out on purpose to get us in some kind of bad starting position. On contrary I can see a loving gesture in it.

[sirdipswitch]

I remember it all. What an absolute blast it is. Yes I know who I am, where I came from and all that I have done. My biggest, most coolest life started with a blast, as I remeber with VIVID clarity, how tough it was to climb out of that egg. ccc.

Learning of my past, brought a whole new meaning to the term...

Blast from the past. chuckle chuckle chuckle.

Burden??? Hardly!!! Absolutely LOVIN, all 433 Trillion Years of it...

TRUST Me... it will change yer perspective on... stuff. ccc.

[Milneman]

Posted by Skyhaven (here)
I can imagine that a long life of eighty to over a hundredth years can seem as a very long stretch. I think I understand a little why old people tend to grow tired after so many experiences within reach of their awareness. But what if (future) life was such that all the memories of the past remained in between lives?

Wouldn't it be a burden to carry everything a long for so long? I personally feel some kind of relief in the prospect of having all of it erased once in a while. How do you feel about this?

*The question asked requires that the premise of reincarnation be true. As of yet, I do not believe there is any empirical evidence to conclusively support this hypothesis. As such, the speculations that follow are just that...speculative.

[sirdipswitch]

Posted by Milneman (here)

Posted by Skyhaven (here)
I can imagine that a long life of eighty to over a hundredth years can seem as a very long stretch. I think I understand a little why old people tend to grow tired after so many experiences within reach of their awareness. But what if (future) life was such that all the memories of the past remained in between lives?

Wouldn't it be a burden to carry everything a long for so long? I personally feel some kind of relief in the prospect of having all of it erased once in a while. How do you feel about this?

*The question asked requires that the premise of reincarnation be true. As of yet, I do not believe there is any empirical evidence to conclusively support this hypothesis. As such, the speculations that follow are just that...speculative.

You should watch the video that Joanne Shepard posted. It's one of the better ones on reincarnation. Even the first 15 minutes is quite compelling. Definately gives one something to thinkabout. I enjoy reading about small children, that continually come up with things they could not possibly know, without being in that past life. There is tons of information pointing towards the reality of reincarnation when one chooses to look.

[chocolate]

I was meaning to write here yesterday, but better later than never .

I could start with laying out what I think about the popular notion of reincarnation and so on, together with what I think our memories are, and why there are there. But that will make everything quite lengthy, so here's the abbreviated version.

From my current perspective our memories are not exactly ours. They are more like acquired memories based on resonance, and some other specifics. In that sense what we think we remember is a very malleable concept.
Thinking in general is a process of dealing with some type of energy existing outside of our brains and beings. Thinking is both an internal and an external process. And can be influenced from outside forces, entities, energy, etc. Memories as a by-product of thinking then has most of its properties - can be influenced, edited, changed, etc.

I just read this morning one article about memories, and how they could not be what we think of them:
Your Memory May Be Edited

Our memories are inaccurate, more than we’d like to believe. And now a study demonstrates one reason: we apparently add current experiences onto memories.

Study subjects examined the location of objects on a computer screen against a background of an underwater ocean scene. Researchers then showed the subjects a fresh screen with a different background, this time a photo of farmland. And the subjects had to place an object in the same position it was in on the original screen. And they always placed the object in the wrong position.

If one is acquainted with the concept of the different spheres of existence, physical as the most dense, existing inside of all the others ( also called astral planes ), it becomes evident that the realm of thought and thus memory is a sphere of itself, with rules of existence and engagement.

As of right now what comes to me as a valuable skill is the one of change. I had to change a lot of what I was assuming to be correct, and incorrect, or should I say I had to return to my initial stage ( before entering this lovely forum ) of testing the water before sipping from it.
Having this in mind I 'think' we should detach from our understanding of what reincarnation, past lives, past memories are, based on all of what our 'spiritual education' has given us to date.
I lack the latter, and that made all the difference for me when dealing with the subject.



I will break my post here, but will come back.

[chocolate]

I have no doubt we are eternal. I also have no doubt we live in a multi-layered way, all at once ( past, present and future), all of the above mentioned influencing one-another.
I have certain type of knowing-ness that doesn't have a logical explanation, and that is considered in popular terms to be the soul experience, the memory of which cannot be changed/influenced.
I also have glimpses of other knowledge and experience that is not mine, of that I am sure.
Based on that, and other facts and factors from my current life, I am certain I have lived other lives, but I have come here without the memories of them.
If one has the knowledge of the ~growth and development in the realms of soul life ( putting here only as a note what has been discussed as the ' higher-selves ' ) ~, then it becomes only natural to understand that it is possible that mentioned soul life to develop in cycles. After the completion of each one of them follows another, and at those points, I think, we are experiencing what some believe to be 'no memories of past lives', but having that certain type of knowlege and knowing-ness of which I wrote above. But at the same time all of the above comes with different needs, so that each life serves its purpose.

It is widely accepted that some of us, having more experience in the realm of spiritual practices, also called ' the awakened ones ' , , retain their memories after death in a type of a body ( see here Ancient Egyptian concept of the soul for reference) .

But that is, in my view, a double-edged sword, which at one point might become a bit of a destructive tool to have.
That is why it is also widely discussed, here and everywhere in the true spiritual communities, the practice of living with certain level of detachment.

So, in short, I think some of us need to detach from the desire to retain memories of/from past lives, even the concept of having such memories/lives, for the sake of their own personal development onward.
And on another note, I feel we need to also detach from the desire to uncover memories of past lives during this life, because it is tricky, and makes quite a lot of mess, which might be only confusing/destructive at this point.

In one TV series the main character said:
" Every-body wants to be 'some-body', but in fact 'every-body' is a 'no-body' (loose quote).
I think there's great wisdom in that sentence with regard to this discussion we/you are having here.

For me, and from my point of view, there is no clean-slate start in the way mentioned in above posts.
There could only be a 'clean', in terms of clean and clear awareness, state of being.

---

Sorry, but again it became a long post.
( I have to practice briefness, may be )

[TraineeHuman]

The way I understand it, who/what we really are is very, very different from what most imagine. This makes the question of: Do "we" reincarnate? a tricky one. Does that question even make sense if one doesn't know who/what one is? I claim to know that as a matter of fact yes, "we" do, but next time around maybe the being who's reincarnating will acquire a better understanding of who/what s/he really is in the first place -- rather than having barely a clue, which certainly seems to be the case for the majority of the population.

[Skyhaven]

I know, It's really tricky to reason about these things because the truth of it all might be beyond our perspective. We have a linear mindset, and as such we tend to interpret things in a linear fashion. Then there is the notion of individualization for instance. We think all our experiences are individuated because our Ego can't stand the fact that all of our experiences might be just a facet of a collective base of experiences.

[chocolate]

"That which you can see you cannot know, and that which you can know you cannot see"

For me it is not tricky (to reason) as much as it is firstly a matter of subjective perception, and then a matter of perspective.
Some of us have a more wide way of thinking, linear just being one part of it.
And I also don't especially enjoy the notion of the 'Ego' as it is widely discussed on the forum, and elsewhere. It has its own existential purpose, and trying to negate it shows a desire to be 'above' creation occupying (still) a human body- a bit of an existential contradiction.

Every time when someone tries to put the Ego label on someone or on me, makes me want to leave the conversation.

The way I have experienced gaining knowledge of my 'eternal experiences' is by just knowing that they are with me at all times. That is the part of me that feels a certain spark of inspiration around people, places, activities, etc., and also brings the feelings of heaviness, darkness and unpleasant sensation/perception around other (people or situations). If one's personal sense of self is finely tuned (which I am starting to think I have managed to accomplish to an extend) those type of small indications are what can be a part of the wisdom of the eternal soul, so no memory of a past life (per se) is required for me to feel 'eternal'.

Wondering 'IF (it is there)' or 'IF NOT' just puts an emphasis on lack for me, something that can happen when visiting a forum of this type.
Here there has been a lot of discussion of the existence of a higher self, connection with that and so on, but that in a way is more of a confusion than of actual help. That which has been called a 'higher self' and often referred to as the source of eternal wisdom/memory/etc., has been constantly present in my life, as I've mentioned in one PM not so long ago. The awareness of it being close-by is what has been changing with time. I think this is valid for everyone.

But on the other hand there are also a lot of other sides connected with having some knowledge about other lives as part of the conversation - in the areas of clearing health issues, drawbacks, talents of the lack-there-of, etc. At that point delving a bit deeper in what is considered a past life experience might be necessary/beneficial. But again, depending on who is doing the 'regression' and how, the search for truth may become dangerous and confusing. And that is why at this stage I was brought to the point where it was revealed that the only thing that matters is the personal perception and the personal feeling about a certain matter, heath or otherwise.

The sense of smell, my visual perception ( using the physical eyes ) and music, used sometimes all at once, are my tools to get in touch with the inner core, or the eternal self. In most cases the experience of drawing from that core is only beneficial, until another human decides to do the thinking for me, and then it gets to another stage where everything becomes a bit more transcendental. To use a fashionable term.

[animovado]

Posted by Milneman (here)

*The question asked requires that the premise of reincarnation be true. As of yet, I do not believe there is any empirical evidence to conclusively support this hypothesis. As such, the speculations that follow are just that...speculative.

Maybe you get a glimpse if you look at the empirical evident findings of quantum mechanics.


Skyhaven, i believe as well that it's our linear mindset and the lack of detachment to our imprints and memories that makes it so difficult to deal with those ideas.
As long as we are just carrying or endure our life it will be a burden and therefore, the "cup of forgetfulness" might be quite useful to avoid further stress.

But it might be that the vibrational patterns of two "localities" match very well and they come together, hence we remember situations of our current or another current live, we're having a déjà vu and experience synchronicity.

[Skyhaven]

Posted by chocolate (here)
The way I have experienced gaining knowledge of my 'eternal experiences' is by just knowing that they are with me at all times. That is the part of me that feels a certain spark of inspiration around people, places, activities, etc., and also brings the feelings of heaviness, darkness and unpleasant sensation/perception around other (people or situations). If one's personal sense of self is finely tuned (which I am starting to think I have managed to accomplish to an extend) those type of small indications are what can be a part of the wisdom of the eternal soul, so no memory of a past life (per se) is required for me to feel 'eternal'.

That's what I think too! For me the details of memory aren't that important at all. Having memories erased doesn't mean that one loses the experiences, on contrary its all there just beneath the surface. It shines through in everything a person does, its embedded in a person's spirit.

[rgray222]

Posted by Skyhaven (here)
I can imagine that a long life of eighty to over a hundredth years can seem as a very long stretch. I think I understand a little why old people tend to grow tired after so many experiences within reach of their awareness. But what if (future) life was such that all the memories of the past remained in between lives?

Wouldn't it be a burden to carry everything a long for so long? I personally feel some kind of relief in the prospect of having all of it erased once in a while. How do you feel about this?

If reincarnation is true and each of us has lived multiple lives than the question really begs to be ask...........when does it end. What is the ultimate destination of living all these lives. I can see the value of each life, no matter how great, sad, depressing, violent etc that each life can have.... but there must be a final destination. There must be a point when every lesson is learned, every consequence has been dealt with. Where does it all end up?