Considering Reincarnation, Karma and Compassion

“I think I was ten different people in this lifetime.” I hear words to that effect quite often and share that sentiment. Looking back on some of my beliefs, things I’d said and done, it’s hard to believe it was me. Who was that guy? How was that possible? I’m so far away from being those people I can’t imagine they were ever me. The really confounding part is how easily long-time, seemingly solid, core beliefs and values could have been ignored, set aside to accomplish a goal, bend the truth, rationalize a behavior. It just goes to show, not only can we change, we do. Sometimes dramatically. When we acknowledge that “life is a work in progress,” the emphasis is always on looking ahead, but some of the more important and lasting lessons are encountered by how we respond to past mistakes and failures, including those of others. Do we ignore them, blame them or suffer the guilt ourselves? Is peace of mind even possible?

It’s been said that both the “saint” and “sinner” reside within us. I’m not a theologian or spiritual teacher, but after eighty some years of sampling spiritual perspectives, I’ve done a lot of connecting the dots. Like a mountain climber who stops to rest and observe the view, I offer a metaphorical sketch of what I see.

Prior to incarnation the soul makes a plan, specifying lessons carried over from previous incarnations, and those yet to be addressed on the ascent toward realization. It also makes a contract with other souls who agree to provide a mutually beneficial circumstance or experience to create the best opportunity for their plans to be fulfilled. Of course, at any point, free will can intervene and halt the soul’s advance.

Now consider an unimaginably enormous and steep mountain. I’ll call it “Love Mountain,” because that’s its substance, and as we go up it expands to become all-inclusive—divine—at the summit. In the valleys below the climbers are absorbed with its features, which are both beautiful and treacherous. When they become discontent feeling separate from Source—God, The Ground of All Being, Infinite Intelligence, Nothingness or whatever you want to call it—they begin to climb. All around the mountain, the flanks are rough and rugged with slippery rock surfaces, mud, boulders, gravel and dense vegetation that provide the full range of earthly experiences. Considered as a whole, the journey for each climber is an evolution in consciousness leading to the realization of their True Self at the summit. The irony, according to Eastern mystics, is that Divine Love is already fully present within all the climbers, but the terrain is so engaging their attention is on the ground in front of them.

 Along the way, climbers become so exhausted they stop and shed their bodies. Those on the Eastern side of the mountain largely believe that their climb, which includes both progress and backsliding, has correspondingly positive and negative consequences, which will carry over when they inhabit a new body and return to the mountain where they left off. They consider it a law of nature. Those on the Western side of the mountain also believe their actions have consequences, referring to an ancient precept that says, “Whatever you sow, you shall reap.” These climbers believe that when they reach the summit, the supreme being will judge them according to what they consider to be right and wrong, good and bad.

 Being one who climbs on both sides of the mountain, with respect to this idea, I prefer the former because judging is inconsistent with this climber’s understanding of unconditional love, which is ascribed to the Creator. Aside from these beliefs, there’s near universal consensus that actions have consequences. Had I as a climber really understood that, or thought about it early in this lifetime, I would have saved himself a lot of backsliding. Then again, mistakes and failures are part of the process of the growth while climbing the mountain.

 That being so, what would be the better response to past mistakes and failures, including those we observe in others? Is there a way forward? Judgments are natural and necessary. We make them every day. But thoughts and speech that amount to “judging”—a negative perception or opinion about us or someone else, perhaps to blame or condemn—get us mired in the “mud.” It can hold us back spiritually. This contemplation was prompted by my fascination with the feeling that, looking back, I have been many different people.

 For me, one way to unstuck is through thoughts of “compassion.” The Mirriam-Webster Dictionary defines it as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress, together with a desire to alleviate it.” In the mountain analogy I believe a compassionate response to  mistakes or failures would create a solid step up on the otherwise rugged and slippery slope, because compassion is a demonstration of love. On Love Mountain it provides sure footing. So also with the other virtues, particularly those that formed the core of Jesus’ teaching and example, including humility, gratitude, generosity, truthfulness and forgiveness. Each in its own way reveals and externalizes more of our True Self (divinity) to ourselves and others, which in itself is a certain level of realization.