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Personal Identity (Read 14350 times)
tdalek
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Personal Identity
Feb 7th, 2007 at 4:56am
 
Hi, I am new to this so forgive me if this or a very similar topic has already been posted.
My question-

If we live many physical lives through reincarnation and as I read in the Q&A here we don’t lose our personal identity after death then that would imply that each physical life I have lived must maintain its own separate afterlife otherwise there is nothing “personal” per say about my afterlife identity at all if I were to have full knowledge and be influenced by all of those other lives. It would be a collective identity by definition. So can anyone explain how one would maintain the personality and identity of the life they just lived when there are hundreds and possibly thousands of personal identities from previous lives that we in fact MUST lose if we are to maintain the personal identity of the life we just lived on Earth.
It would seem from what I've read here that we do in fact lose our personal identity with each reincarnation and subsequent death unless as I said earlier each life we live maintains its own separate afterlife.
For example, Bruce says “he” was once a young girl in Central America. When he dies from his present life what will his personal afterlife identity be? That of who he was in his most previous life or that of the girl. IF it is of his most previous life than what has become of the personal identity of the girl. It seems her identity is old news and is just a memory now more than a living active personal identity. IF it is the identity of the girl then he has in fact lost the personal identity of the life he just lived and it has taken a back seat to the identity of the girl.

Another troubling question I have concerns the idea that we might be met by say a mother or father who previously died who may help us along in our afterlife. If I have lived a thousand lives then I could potentially have thousands upon thousands of mothers and fathers and sisters and grandmas etc. SO when I die which of the thousands of different mothers and fathers I have had will come to meet me. It seems I could find myself in a very crowded place with the hundreds of thousands of relatives from all my lives who may want to greet me and say “welcome back” upon my death.  Tongue

This is a lot to wrap my head around but extremely interesting to say the least.

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augoeideian
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #1 - Feb 7th, 2007 at 5:53am
 
Personal Identity - great question tdalek  Smiley if I may answer as best as I can.

Your EGO is your personal identity.  You are your Ego and it is your Ego which re-embodies in progressing earth lives and within each life your Ego, you, project one out of the 12 patterns of personalties keeping the core of you throughout.

You are re-incarnating at the same time, more or less, with other people (possibly part of your group - brothers, sisters, parents - we tend to swop roles) so although it may seem like thousands of sisters its actually the same old sister you had in the year 2500 BC.

I'm copy out a table I have from Rudolf Steiner's work which I hope helps further in understanding the complexity of us humans;

The make up of the Human Body

Physical Body– Earth, the sand or ground.
Decomposes following the law of physics.
Red charka, physical will to be, tuning into here and now.

Manas – the higher physical body – Thaliae
The Grace ‘Green and Fresh’ belonging to the seeds of music.
Orange charka, lower creative centre, reproductive and sexual energies.

*

Etheric Body– Water, waves from which she is born.
Life Body, Vital Force
Grows and rebuilds the physical body.  Reproduces the physical body.
Yellow charka, Self awareness, emotional engine room, clear thinking.
Cannot illuminate without light of consciousness (astral body) would remain in sleep.

Buddhi – the higher etheric body – Aglaia
The Grace ‘Splendour belonging to the Solar Sphere’
Spiritual body of Memory.
Transmits emotions.
Green charka, group awareness, higher love, balance.

*

Astral Body or Sentient Soul– Air, Wind blown tresses.
The consciousness that sinks into sleep and rises when waking up.
Seperates from Ether body.
Awareness of sense impressions, feelings and instincts.
Turquoise charka, higher creative centre of communication, linking with the mental body (intellectual soul), self-expression.
Astral body needs the permanence of I (Ego)

Atman – the higher Astral body – Euphrosynes
The Grace ‘Joyful’ belonging to the starry world.
Spiritual body of imagination.
Blue charka, perceptive centre of higher comprehension and overview promoting intuition.

*

Intellectual (mental) or Spiritual Soul
Thinking, consciousness of eternal truths.
Permanence of knowledge, mental image.
Memory process of perceiving earlier experiences at later points in time.
Memory does not come from inward observing but from what we experience in relation to objects and processes in the outer world.
Violet charka, spiritual will to be, self realization, calmness and peace.

*

EGO
Seat of control over the Will.
The Goddess of Beauty Venus.
Re-embodies in new physical, etheric and astral bodies in progressing earth lives.
Retainer of all memory.

*
The physical body would fall apart if the ether body did not hold it together.  The ether body would sink into unconsciousness if the astral body did not illumine it.  Likewise the astral body would repeatedly forget the past if the Ego did not rescue this past and carry it over into present.

Death belongs to the physical
Sleep belongs to the etheric
Forgetting belongs to the astral.


Ps:  Still nice to have a huge 'welcome back' party  Cheesy

Caryn.




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betson
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #2 - Feb 7th, 2007 at 10:47am
 
Greetings,

I'd like to mention more about Augo's 'same old sister from 2500BC' concept.  Smiley

  Bruce Moen, our host here, explains that same idea as a 'family' grouping, the numbers of which vary by various authors, but let's say one hundred to two-hundred souls. The soul who's your sister this lifetime may have been a neighbor or cousin previously. Some astrologists can plot out in zones along Earth's meridians where most of your 'family' is during this incarnation.

You grow from lessons learned during each incarnation. It's still you but your lives are set up to bring you closer to God through more loving, more knowledge, more courage, whatever. You are not who you were in grade one.

You'll get other viewpoints on this soon.  I hope you enjoy your visit here. Try reading Bruce's essays too that are listed at the very top of the page.

Bets
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There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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Kate
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #3 - Feb 7th, 2007 at 2:11pm
 
Desiny of Souls by Dr. Moody talks about this too, that your soul group stays the same but everyone will re-incarnate by way of different relations to each other.  If we came back every time as our Mom's son or our sister's brother, we wouldn't learn the lessons our souls are setting out to learn.  

I can't wait to see who's at my welcoming home party either.  Cheesy
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recoverer
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #4 - Feb 7th, 2007 at 4:20pm
 
In one of his books Bruce Moen speaks of how he retrieved a past self that went by the name of Joshua. Joshua got killed by a spear in his liver area. Bruce had a liver disease in the same area. After Bruce retrieved Joshua and Joshua got healed at the healing center, Bruce's liver disease went away.

Since Joshua was healed, it is quite obvious that when/if he reincarnated again, his liver ailment wouldn't be carried over. Yet it was. This leads me to believe that Joshua was a former self of Bruce in a disc/oversoul/higher self sense, not in the sense that Joshua's existence came to an end once Bruce incarnated. For some reason Bruce experienced the effects of Joshua's injury even though Joshua had yet to return to his disc.  When I read about this experience my spirit guidance was communicating to me in a way that is hard to describe. Whatever the case, I get the feeling that perhaps Bruce ended up with Joshua's injury, so some people might consider as I considered above. I've found that Messages come in different ways.

If you think of occasions when a hypnotherapist finds a hypnosis subject that has an injury that is the result of a prior life, wouldn't the injury of a past life be taken care of before another incarnation takes place?

When Robert Monroe meets his I-there/disc/soul group he asked for how long this has been going on. He was told for a very long time. He said that I don't remember. He was told that he wouldn't because he didn't exist.  When his I-there was ready to incarnate again, the necessary ingredients were mixed together and his life was created (from his third book "Ultimate Journey" not the exact words).

Bruce suggests the same when he speaks about how a disc creates probes (selves) according to need.

Ron Kruger found the same during his near death experience. Below is the relevant section.

"Directly in front of me, but slightly below, stood a group of spirits: less than 100, but more than 50. Each spirit had an identity of sorts, but they were part of each other–a single entity, a single awareness, all part of a single force. In the center of the front row were three oriental women. I realized that all of the spirits comprising the entity were my past lives, and that the oriental women were my most recent lives.

Their faces were clearly humanoid, but from their shoulders down, their forms blurred gradually. Their arms and legs dissolved near their ends. Hovering on the same level, in rows, they seemed loosely joined at the shoulders. Their identities were of both sexes and all nationalities. None were deceased relatives, and I recognized none of them from my recent life.

Each of the spirits had lived once, but the truth and experience and wisdom of each lifetime was integral to the entire group. When each soul returned, their lives were absorbed by all, so there where no distinctions between thoughts and attitudes within the group. Each of them shared completely every experience and every knowledge of every lifetime into a single conscience. Like spices and other ingredients added to a Mulligan Stew, each added to the mix, but the resulting flavor was one. I was them, and they were me. There were all of my past, and they were my present."

It comes from the below site. Search for "Ron K" alphabetically of the attached list. Individual experience pages don't post correctly so I provided the list.

http://www.nderf.org/site_index.htm

If I've interpreted things correctly, my spirit guidance has told me more than once that reincarnation doesn't exist in the way people commonly believe. Three other people who visit this site occasionally (one more often than the other) have received the same message from their spirit guidance.

Even Michael Newton's books suggest the same without his realizing it. For example, he speaks of a soul having two to three incarnations at the same time. What happens when each self returns? Are they told that their personality is going to be extinguished according to what their soul considers appropriate? Or will each self be considered a worthwhile existence in its own right, and be allowed the right to continue its existence as an individual soul?

Hopefully the standard viewpoint of reincarnation isn't true, that way a particular self doesn't have to go through numerous physcial incarnations which can be quite difficult at times. Not just difficult, but dangerous, because eventually a self might end up living a life that gets it stuck living in a hell like realm for a while or even indefinitely. Would souls be willing to take such a risk over and over again, if it isn't necessary? I say not necessary, because even sources which give the soul group viewpoint state that soul group members learn from each other. If this is the case, it might not be necessary to incarnate over and over again.  Especially since there are many ways to learn in the spirit World that don't exist in the physical World. Plus if you consider that there are a lot of spirit beings who evolve quite fine without ever incarnating physically, the need for numerous physical life times is squashed.

Perhaps there are some exceptions. For example, Bruce wrote of spirits who got stuck in hell like realms for a while, and after being retrieved had the choice of either improving themselves in the world of Spirit, or in the physical World. Bruce described the physical World incarnation option as a risk, because a self stood the chance of living another bad life and ending up in a hell like realm again after it dies.

Rosalind Mcknight's book Cosmic Journeys, which uses the soul group model, states that selves don't incarnate in the physical World numerous times. It isn't necessary.

In some ways the soul group viewpoint and the disc viewpoint seem to contradict each other. Perhaps both viewpoints are true. Perhaps discs combine with other discs to form soul groups.   I had a dream which was representative of my disc,  and it was occupied by numerous souls from other discs. I got the impression that discs interact with each other a lot.


 
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« Last Edit: Feb 7th, 2007 at 8:12pm by recoverer »  
 
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recoverer
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #5 - Feb 7th, 2007 at 5:16pm
 
I just read what Bruce states about reincarnation on the frequently asked questions section. He basically supports the common viewpoint even though his Joshua story contradicts this viewpoint.

If the standard viewpoint is true, here's how reintegration might work:

A smaller self exists within its larger self even when it isn't aware of doing so. When it returns to the spirit World it remembers itself more and more, until it finds itself to be its bigger self, with all of its past selves no longer existing.  Just the memories and the overall resulting personality.

Of course this would mean that Joshua was one of Bruce's former disc members, not a prior self; and Ron Kruger, Robert Monroe (going by what I posted above),  myself and a few other forum members are wrong when it comes to the answers we received about how reincarnation actually works.
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I Am Dude
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #6 - Feb 7th, 2007 at 8:39pm
 
Recoverer.

Your views on reincarnation are totally in sync with my own.  Thank you for bringing up these ideas, they convince me all the more that my thoughts on how reincarnation actually works are true.  Since I have no personal experience to back up my thinking on this subject, it is always helpful to hear others who support my ideas.
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But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
 
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augoeideian
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #7 - Feb 8th, 2007 at 4:41am
 
Endlessly we search for ourselves, we seek for the true wedding of our spirit with our soul. It is not a group, it is not a disc, it is not a planet, it is not a zodiac sign, it is not one big happy family.  It is just you and me weaving a celestial dance in and out.  You come down, I go up.  I come down, you go up. How long do we seek for one another – how long do we stay in the realms of matter until we join and become whole again and not need this matter, above and below, to matter and we can fly as free as the wind a go wherever we want?


Caryn's lament.
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betson
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #8 - Feb 8th, 2007 at 11:49am
 
That's lovely, Caryn.  Smiley

To emphasise its poetry, I took the opportunity of changeing the spacing. Hope you don't mind.

Endlessly we search for ourselves,
we seek for the true wedding
of our spirit with our soul.
It is not a group, it is not a disc,
it is not a planet,  it is not a zodiac sign,
it is not one big happy family.
It is just you and me
weaving a celestial dance
in and out. 
You come down, I go up. 
I come down, you go up.
How long do we seek
for one another – how long
do we stay in the realms of matter
until we join and become whole again
and not need this matter, above and below,
to matter
and we can fly as free as the wind a go wherever we want?

Caryn's lament.
---------

Interpreting it one way, you and your soul partner have been separated to enrich your experiences so that when you come together again, you will have more wisdom and loving to draw from. You won't regret these interludes apart, when the energies of yearning are met with the one yearned for.

Love, Bets
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Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #9 - Feb 8th, 2007 at 12:56pm
 
Good posts Recoverer!  Reincarnation as we conventionally think of it doesn’t really make sense unless we see our identities as part of a larger essence.  I think this is what Bruce’s disc points to.  In my own thinking I liken the discs to clouds that don’t have concrete boundaries but are more fluid and flow into and out of one another.  However, the image of the disc is very helpful in defining how our various identities relate to one another.  I think one difficulty in comprehending the concept is that we always want to think in terms of linear time. Yet we read in various sources that all time exists simultaneously or that consciousness exists in a place of no time and no space.  Hard stuff to comprehend from our physical body perspective on things.

Rob
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #10 - Feb 8th, 2007 at 1:48pm
 
You're welcome dude.


Rob:

I tried to figure this issue out from the no time perspective, and haven't been able to come up with anything conclusive.
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #11 - Feb 8th, 2007 at 9:14pm
 
Newbie alert!

I'm very interested in the nature of reincarnation. From what I've read on Bruce's site and the message board, it seems rather complex. This is proving to be quite an enlightening thread.

I very much want to contact some relatives who passed on a few years ago, but I am always unnerved by the nagging fear that they may have somehow reincarnated already, or are trapped in their own BST and that I will be unable to reach them. I am beginning to doubt the former, since from many of the retrieval accounts I have read, the deceased are frequently met by parents or other loved ones who passed on before them.

At the same time, I am anxious about my future. While the many retrieval accounts also seem to support my hopes of reuniting with family after death, I fear being separated from my parents, friends, and (future) spouse by some form of forced reincarnation. Bruce's description of the nature of the various centers around the Park lead me to believe that this is a voluntary process. Can anyone offer any further advice?
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augoeideian
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #12 - Feb 9th, 2007 at 4:09am
 
Hi ryuuko welcome.

Thanks Bets – yes the ultimate joining with my spirit partner.  If I may be pompous and give more arcane interpretation to my poem although it is a lament.

The true wedding is the Alchemic Wedding of our Spirit and Soul and here we can see many analogies.

The above outline of the human body I wrote out above shows the Spiritual Soul also called the Intellectual Soul as been separate from the other spiritual parts of the human body.

It is next to the Ego but as yet not joined.

The Spiritual Soul is the Soul – this is the women.
The Ego is the Spirit – this is the man.

We may think the Spiritual Soul or the Intellectual Soul is male however if we read Jung’s Amasia Uxor:

The Spiritual Soul is the Animus : the soul of a women, which is supposedly masculine and which concentrates in itself everything (historical and not historical) it experiences in relation to man.

The Ego is the Anima :  the soul of a man, which is supposedly feminine ie the Archetype of everything feminine experienced historically (and not historically) by a man.

In this way; love becomes a deep, numinous experience, with one’s own soul, with the Archetypes of the opposite within oneself.


It is my view the Alchemic Wedding is the joining of the Spiritual Soul with the Ego to become complete and therefore not need the cycle of reincarnation which develops the Spiritual Soul to attain the Alchemic Wedding with the Ego.

It is likened to;

The ultimate joining with Christ; the Bride and the Bridegroom.
The Sun (male) and the Moon (female) making love in the sky.

And with these great, symbolic analogies the ultimate joining of one’s Soul or Spirit Partner.

St. Valentine must be in the Air with this Love talk.

Sigh and lament!

Smiley
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #13 - Feb 10th, 2007 at 10:59am
 
Even going 'beyond re-incarnation' are other parts of our whole or group possibly incarnated in the physical at the same time of us. I listened to a channeler on the paranormal talk show 'Ghostly Talk' and the channeler told one of the hosts that he existed now in time and space and two other parts of his 'soul essence' were also incarnate on earth.

He was in Michigan whereas two other 'selves' existed, one in Italy and one in Russia. Ever since I heard that I'm really intrigued as to how re-incarnation might really work. Does anyone else see it like this. There could be other me's even in this part of tiime and space. If time and space is just a thought construct and not a reality then logically it isn't too hard to grasp that our 'whole self' may split into a few different physical entities even at the same 'time'?

Never say die,

Michael
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Re: Personal Identity
Reply #14 - Feb 10th, 2007 at 11:08am
 
Hi Michael,

You can also check through the book forum topics on this site for further discussions of 'bilocation' or split selves.  Bruce gets into this in his books quite a bit. What you just reported makes it seem quite natural.


Bets
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