The Way Toward Health - May 26, 1984

May 26, 1984

Many proponents of reincarnation believe most firmly that an illness in one life most frequently has its roots in a past existence, and that reincarnational regression is therefore necessary to uncover the reasons for many current illnesses or dilemmas.

There is also a rather conventional stereotype version of karma that may follow such beliefs.  Therefore, you may be punished in this life for errors you have committed in a past one, or you may actually be making up for a mistake made thousands of years ago.  Again, all of a person’s reincarnational existences are, indeed, connected – but the events in one life do not cause the events in the next one.

I must remind you once more that all time happens simultaneously, so the confused belief about punishment now, in retaliation for past action would actually be meaningless, since in simultaneous time all actions would be occurring at once.

You may have overall reasons for a particular illness, however, that have nothing to do with crime or punishment, but may instead involve an extraordinary sense of curiosity, and the desire for experience that is somewhat unconventional – usually not sought for – exotic, or in certain terms even grotesque.

Each life, regardless of its nature, possesses its own unique vantage point, and an individual may sometimes take an obscure or a long-lasting disease simply to present himself or herself with experience that most others would shun.  An individual might seek such a vantage point in order to look at the universe in a different fashion, asking questions that perhaps could not be answered if asked from any other position.

Another life, for example, might deal with exquisite health and vitality, and as mentioned, still another life might be devoted to the arts of healing – but overall, few people take health problems per se as frequent reincarnational themes, though they may be implied strongly in situations where one is born into a large populace of poor, underprivileged people.

If you do have health problems, it is much better to look for their reasons in your immediate experience, rather than assigning them a cause in the distant past.  The reasons for maladies are almost always present in current life experience – and even though old events from childhood may have originally activated unhealthy behavior, it is present beliefs that allow old patterns of activity to operate.

If you are concerned about any given problems – mental, emotional, or physical – there are certain facts you should hold in mind.  I have mentioned most of them elsewhere, but they are particularly vital in this context.

You must realize that you do create your own reality because of your beliefs about it.  Therefore, try to understand that the particular dilemma or illness is not an event forced upon you by some other agency.  Realize that to some extent or another your dilemma or your illness has been chosen by you, and that this choosing has been done in bits and pieces of small, seemingly inconsequential choices.  Each choice, however, has led up to your current predicament, whatever its nature.

If you realize that your beliefs form your experience, then you do indeed have an excellent chance of changing your beliefs, and hence your experience.

You can discover what your own reasons are for choosing the dilemma or illness by being very honest with yourself.  There is no need to feel guilty since you meant very well as you made each choice – only the choices were built upon beliefs that were beliefs and not facts.