What we know about reincarnation or Life after DeathI would like to say something in this article about reincarnation or life after death. I have to say straight away that I am not talking about this subject from experience. This is just second hand knowledge picked up from my reading of books. There are plenty of authoritative books on this subject that you can read if you are interested. I would recommend the following:
I would suggest that you start with Life after Life by Raymond Moody. Raymond Moody is a doctor and a man of science and this is a truly path breaking book about Life after Death and reincarnation. Moody met a number of people who had a Near Death Experience. These people had suffered clinical death in the sense that their bodies had died. But they were revived mainly through modern medical techniques. Although the bodies of the person who had this Near Death Experience (NDE) had died, their consciousness however was not extinguished. All of them had remarkably similar experiences in many respects. One common experience was that most of these persons who had this NDE witnessed what may be described as a flashback of their entire lives. They witnessed their entire lives as they had lived it till that date. And this flashback – if we could use this term – was remarkably detailed and even very minor experiences were remembered. Another common feature of the NDE was the witnessing of a Being of Light. This Being seemed to communicate with the person having the NDE without spoken words or even language – a sort of telepathy and a communication of meaning without language or words. The Light itself was bright but not harsh – unlike looking at the Sun. The Being of Light seemed to have some important questions for the persons having the NDE. It seemed to stress in particular on Love and Knowledge. It wanted the person having the NDE to tell it in what ways he or she had experienced or expressed Love in his or her life. And likewise, what had the person learned – how he or she had gained in knowledge. Love and Knowledge is as good a basis for leading your life as any other. If you read Bertrand Russell, " Why I am not a Christian ," he also stresses Love and Knowledge. Russell was a mathematician, philosopher and agnostic. He believed all religions to be both false and harmful. He would have looked upon reincarnation as a superstition. But the scientific findings I mentioned came up after his death. I have probably been more helped and more inspired by a reading of Bertrand Russell's books than the books of any other author or authors. Despite Russell's rationalistic and hedonistic views he himself had had a sort of mystical experience when he was a young man. And that experience gave direction to the rest of his life. He was inspired by three passions, a longing for love, a thirst for knowledge and an unbearable pity for the sufferings of mankind. I think that when Russell died – as he did in the 1960s – and met that Being of Light he must have found a kindred spirit. Anyway a reading of Life after Life should open your mind to the possibility that there may be life after death and reincarnation. I stress again – the author, Raymond Moody, is a doctor and a man of science and this book uses the reasoning process of science to reach its conclusions. It is noteworthy also that all of the common features of the NDE were described in detail in The Tibetan Book of the Dead. This book gives an account of what happens to a person after he or she dies and gives the authoritative view about reincarnation as per Tibetan Buddhism. It is a ancient religious text of Tibetan Buddhism and is the basis of many of their rites and rituals. So we now see that the conclusions of modern science are approaching that of ancient religions. Many Live, Many Masters by Brian Weiss is also an interesting book but not as scientifically rigorous and convincing as Life after Life. Brian Weiss was a mental health professional who hypnotized one of his patients – Catherine – to help her overcome her complexes. In this hypnotized state Catherine remembered many of her past lives and described them in detail. She also had the experience of meeting many masters or guides in the transit state after death and before rebirth. If we are to believe in her account we have to accept the fact of reincarnation. As I said earlier, this book is not as convincing as Life after Life but it was also well received by the medical and scientific community as well as the general public. This book is about reincarnation proper. Life after Life only describes the transit state after death and before reincarnation in a new body. Most ancient religions assure us that death is not the end and that life continues after the death of the physical body. As I have described in this article there are now some scientific reasons for reaching the same conclusions. At any rate I think that if you choose to make Love and Knowledge the basis of your life on this Earth, then you will never regret it. This is as good a philosophy of Life or reason for living as any that you could hope to find. I hope you enjoyed this article and that it will be useful to you. Stay tuned for more articles in this continuing series.
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