Month: November 2019

Reincarnation

Western spiritual traditions have three major blind spots: the need to overcome ego, the way karma works, and reincarnation. This blog will discuss reincarnation, rebirth in a new body or other form of life, the idea that we live multiple lifetimes. This idea is generally disregarded in Western circles, some believing that when we die we no longer exist as a conscious being, others adopting the conventional Western view that an invisible spirit leaves the body to reside in a heaven or a hell, depending on our conduct when alive.

Objections to reincarnation include:

  1. No part of the human body is able to generate thought, speech, or movement after it dies and disintegrates. This is true, but science has not yet identified 95% of all that exists or the source of consciousness, so the possibility that there is an invisible spirit residing within the body is not ruled out.
  2. The Bible says there is no reincarnation. This not true, there are numerous passages in the Christian Bible referring to reincarnation, such as Matthew 17:10-13 which says John the Baptist is Elijah returned. Many Christians believed in reincarnation until the idea was banned by a council of churches over 1000 years ago. The dogma of resurrection of the human body still persists. Scriptures and oral traditions of many other current and ancient religions describe reincarnation in some detail.
  3. No one remembers past lives. This objection is not true. Many people remember past lives. Some can supply details and identify past places and objects. About a quarter of Americans believe in reincarnation. The experience of “deja vu” may relate to past life memories.
  4. All people claiming past lives remember being famous people, so it must be wishful thinking. This is not true, most people remember ordinary lives. But famous people usually did something memorable, so those lives are easier to identify by name. Also, people who surrounded famous people may mistake their past life with the one they can identify. There have been tens of thousands of famous people, and each had dozens of associates. Finally, with few exceptions, famous people are just like the rest of us, nothing special there.
  5. Multiple people claim the same past life, so it must be false. This reflects lack of imagination by critics. According to Buddhist beliefs, enlightened beings can emanate in an infinite number of incarnations. Perhaps multiple personas can inhabit one body, as with multiple personality disorder. This might explain how some people have more charisma, they may house multiple souls. Perhaps actors are actually expressing multiple personas. Buddhism leaves open the possibility that one person could reincarnate as more than one person. We just don’t know.
  6. Reincarnation is for people who can’t face the idea of dying. Actually, for those of us who believe in reincarnation, there is no rest in heaven or oblivion until we find a way out of living multiple lives. For many of us, reincarnation is far more terrifying than non-existence. That is why Eastern religions have methods to escape from reincarnation.

Reasons to believe in reincarnation include:

  1. Many people experience “deja vu,” the feeling that they have seen a place or done something before, but have never seen or done that in their present life.
  2. Many people remember past lives and can recall details that can be verified.
  3. Many children within the same family come into this life with personalities very different from each other and their parents.
  4. Many very young children say they were a different person or an animal before this life.
  5. Some children come into this life with skills that require years of practice to develop.
  6. Many people have fears of things or events that have never harmed or happened to them in this life.
  7. Many people have seen ghosts, one of the many different forms reincarnation can take. Eastern religions call it rebirth to encompass the many different ways that beings continue to exist.
  8. Most people believe in some form of an afterlife, be it heaven, hell, resurrection, ghosts, souls, or similar concepts. The concept of reincarnation is not that different. Wouldn’t it be comforting to believe we have more than one chance to “get it right” rather than the idea we get one shot at life and then are judged, no matter how bad the hand we are dealt? Wouldn’t it be better to believe we have to care for this world, because we have to come back to live in it?

So what do you think? Is reincarnation real or not?

Discussion of Tantra and Western Tantra

The purpose of this website is to try to restore the true meanings of the terms “tantra” and “Western Tantra” to their correct meanings and to promote the practices of tantra in the Western countries, modifying tantric practices as needed to be compatible with Western thought.

True tantric practices arose out of the Hindu and Buddhist religions in order to accelerate spiritual development. Typical spiritual practices involve study of scriptures, meditation and contemplation, prayers, and performing devotional rituals designed to transform adherents’ thoughts and behavior into patterns established by the founders of religions. At best, the process of transforming humans in this way is very slow. At worst, religions often turn out intolerant humans whose behavior bears no relationship to the founders of that religion.

Tantra aims to speed up spiritual transformation and improve its effectiveness by reversing the process of transformation. Instead of studying to try to become more like our revered spiritual archetypes, tantric practitioners visualize themselves as if they have already become one of humanity’s revered spiritual archetypes in thought, word, and deed. By visualizing themselves in this way, and behaving as that archetype, they relatively quickly change their thinking patterns into that of their selected archetypes. In effect, the tantric practitioner becomes a version of the eyes, ears, and hands of our most revered archetypes in the world.

There are two main misconceptions about tantra that are found here in the West. The most common misconception is that tantra is mainly about sex. Many tantric sex manuals are available, but these typically use spiritual terms to justify having more sex. As if anyone needed an excuse for that! Having more sex without the well-established visualizations and methods of true tantra is not likely to result in spiritual development.

The other Western misconception about tantra is that it is an occult practice. This misconception comes from the Eastern religions that portray gods, goddesses, bodhisattvas, and buddhas in forms and images that appear to Westerners as demonic. Eastern people have no issues with seeing images of beneficial divine beings with animal or multiple heads, skull decorations, fangs and weapons, or crushing opponents. They have different mindsets, and these things are seen as symbolic. Without knowledge of the symbolism, Westerners see these things as worshipping evil. When tantric practitioners visualize themselves as divine archetypes and work soup kitchens, serve in hospitals, or help at disaster sites in order to emulate their heroes, occult practices could not be farther from their minds.

Hopefully, without these misconceptions, more Westerners will try tantric practices. What do you think?