Past Lives -- The Sojourn of the Soul

by Gregory Allen Butler

Past lives have always fascinated me. This fascination became most intense 22 years ago when I had an overwhelming sense that I was home again when I arrived in India on my first trip there. The experience was so strong that it brought tears to my eyes.

But what if I did have intimate details of past lives? Would it be beneficial to me? What are the pros and cons? There are some of each but it seems the negatives outweigh the positives.

If I was trying to reach a personal goal that I KNEW I had already achieved in my most recent past lives, it would make it easier to attain because I would KNOW that I had already accomplished it. Sometimes doubts about our abilities undermine our success. Knowledge of past lifetimes in such situations can be encouraging.

But that is about the only positive in knowing past lives. My sister's doctor says he knows many of his past lives -- 16 to be exact. He said that in one of them he killed his current son in a war. Sounds complicated. That's one of the reasons that I would never choose regression therapy. The only people I would recommend it to would be those people who lack conviction about the immortality of the soul. Then the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. But as a general rule, I say we need to become what we have come here for, not go back for what we were in past lives. We are here on this physical plane to move forward, not backward. I know readings of past lives is a big business. It sounds exciting and mysterious. There are a lot of people who, just as soon as they start believing in reincarnation, want to find out who they were in their past lives. But if you are serious about the spiritual path, it's a distraction from the task at hand, which is living consciously this very moment.

Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone's past lives were an open book? Death wouldn't be such a finality to your physical existence. It would be as if you didn't really die, you just went away for a year or so and came back as a baby. What if you still have your checking account and you still have the same debts? (Credit card companies would love that, wouldn't they?) You go back to the same family reunions. Hang out with the same friends, forever and forever. Sounds like a recipe for staying in a rut for a long, long time. Can you imagine the lawsuits?

My recently deceased ex-wife knew some of her past lives. She was psychic but her ability never brought her any happiness. Living with her was sort of like the movie, The 6th Sense when the boy says to his mother, "I see dead people." "Where?" "Everywhere."

One night, she woke me to tell me that there were over 70 spirits in our bedroom. That was more information than I needed and it wasn't conducive to getting a good night's sleep. Amy Tan's last novel, Saving Fish from Drowning, was inspired by her psychic writings. See my article Learning My Ex-Wife is Dead from Reading a Novel.

Living moment to moment this lifetime is challenging enough. I already have enough distractions. If I go and add several more past lives to process and detach from I might as well be back in one of those lifetimes. As a reincarnating soul, we have a purpose. And the purpose is to go forward towards the goal of self-realization. Why would you want to go backwards?

One person I used to work with at the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, the comics editor, had a real fear of death, and he had no interest in reincarnation unless he could remember his past life. He just wanted proof of life after death so he wouldn't be afraid to die. Reincarnation is one of those things you don't have to believe in. It works the same whether you do or don't. You still die. And you still come back, over and over again, until you get it right, sort of like Bill Murray finally getting it right in the movie, Groundhog's Day.

But say you did remember your last lifetime. Past lives become as clear to you as your memory of yesterday. Would you then want to know about the lifetime before that, and before that, etc, etc? It could become an addiction. Let's look at a hypothetical example: You. And I tell you it could become an addiction.

But you say you are a disciplined person, and you promise me and your family that you will only go back one lifetime. You find a hypnotist and get regressed and you see your most recent past life. And while seeing your past life, you see that your current spouse murdered you. Ouch! Time for therapy. What do you do then? Do you confront him/her? Do you demand a divorce, or an apology, or do you laugh it off. Can you trust your spouse ever again?

What you don't know is if that balanced your karma or was it just the beginning of a murderous love-affair spanning several lifetimes. Even though you promised to only go back one lifetime, you now are curious to know how this karma got started, so you go back several past lives before that. You then find out you were molested by your uncle who is now your best friend. Your current life is now a complete mess. You can't trust your wife or your best friend. You used to be a happy-go-lucky soul and now you are tormented.

Get the idea? Progress on the inner planes of consciousness happens through love. And that love is accessed by living totally in the present moment, connected to your source of being, infinite consciousness. Past lives are the past. If you need to know about past lives, your consciousness will make it possible. But until then, forget about it. Keep your marriage and friendships happy.

I asked my wife Maggie if she were to discover through regression that I had murdered her in one of her past lives, would she stay married to me. She said yes. But that I better watch out.

I think the value in having an understanding of past lives is that it puts life in perspective. It shows us that we are all spiritual pilgrims on a long journey. Our purpose is to discover our infinity, like rivers and streams, slowly meandering our way to the Ocean.