Spiritual Perspectives
We’ve explored what past life regression is, and what it can do for you. Now we’re going to go a bit deeper and try to understand what is actually going on. Again, this is not as important as understanding how it is done or why it works, but being able to place it in the right context can be helpful in understanding yourself and to put the entire process in the right perspective.
When people think of past life, they immediately think about Hinduism. I am not an expert on Hindu philosophy, and therefore will explore the basic Jewish beliefs regarding philosophy. Nevertheless, from the research I have done, there are many parallels between the Jewish and Hindu understandings of the process (which then also aligns with Buddhism, since it evolved from Hinduism).
- We are comprised of a body and a soul. Both religions believe that there are two separate forces at odds with each other within the human being. The soul, is completely pure, and strives for spiritual growth and closeness with the Creator. The body on the other hand is a physical creation, and is attracted to the physical pleasure of this world.
A human being by definition is this combination of body and soul, as well as the ability to choose between these two conflicting urges. Choosing good (that is, spiritual acts) refines both the spiritual and physical aspects of yourself, choosing “bad”, acts that are defined as wrong in the Torah, the Jewish book of law, will contaminate both your body and soul.
- The world is temporary stage, an illusionary “obstacle course” created to allow for free will. Judaism believes that there is no inherent reality to the physical world around us and its temptations. They are the polar opposite of the creator, and exist only to allow us the opportunity to make choices and be complete masters of our destiny. The goal, however, is to realize the illusionary dimensions of our current realty and then choose the often more difficult and less comfortable path of spiritual growth and practices, as defined by the Torah.
The ultimate goal is for people to reach a level of refinement where they can live in total bliss in continuously growing relationship with the creator. This becomes much easier when, in the future, the world is destroyed and recreated without the strong pull and illusion of the physical; allowing the true, pleasurable spiritual reality to be experienced on a far greater level.
- There are mechanisms in place to allow mistakes to be corrected. In Judaism, it is acknowledged the attraction of the physical is far stronger, and it is expected that humans will make mistakes (i.e. they will make choices that make them more physical instead of spiritual). Several mechanisms are in place to help people remove the results of those negative choices and return to more spiritual state – with the ultimate goal to be refined enough to experience the pleasure of proximity to the Creator.
These include:
- Teshuva. Literally translated as “returning (to God)” and loosely translated as atonement, in Judaism, Teshuva can be done by anyone at any time, by regretting their past action, resolving to do better in the future, and confessing their action out loud (there is no need for a priest).
- Purgatory. I Judaism, there is a concept of hell (called Gehinom), but it is a temporary phase through which beings travel on their way to the eternal state of bliss. Some of compared it as a “spiritual washing machine” for the soul, a temporary, painful process that allows it to shed the physicality that it has accrued through the choices it has made.
Hell in Judaism is not a vengeful everlasting place to take revenge on the wicked. In fact, there are sins that can be committed in Judaism that are so great that one does not “deserve” hell and simply ceases to exist – considered a far greater punishment. Hell is perceived as a natural result of one’s actions – when we enter a world without the illusion of physicality, we immediately regret the negative choices we made and the lack of growth we achieved – this pain is itself the suffering of hell and serves as a healing process for the soul.
- Suffering. In Judaism, suffering can serve several roles: to inspire one grow spiritually, to give a person greater reward for any positive choices they made while they were suffering (the satisfaction one gets from one’s accomplishments are always greater if one worked harder to attain them), and, most importantly for our topic, to atone for our sins.
- Reincarnation. Finally, in Judaism there is a widely accepted idea of Gilgulim, the process of a soul being returned to the world to continue a process or correct a mistake that it made in a previous lifetime. Allusions to reincarnation are limited to the mystical Jewish books, with no mention being made of them in more practical manuscripts or the Talmud.
In these books, many famous biblical figures are said to be incarnations of others, for example, Moses is referred to as a gilgul of Noah. A person can also return to the world in a variety of forms, such as inanimate objects or animals, as well as humans. Being sent back to earth and given “another chance” is seen as a privilege, one that is granted to people who are deserving and need it – some people may not be worthy of the privilege, other times a temporary journey through Gehinom is deemed more appropriate.
When being placed back in the world, the person will be given a set of traits and placed in specific circumstances to best allow them to correct their mistakes. This fits well with the experience we discussed above where people notice individuals from their current lifetime in their previous ones – these can be seen as opportunities to correct past mistakes committed towards these individuals.
There is guarantee that a person will actually fulfill their mission during their reincarnation – they will always have the free will to use or abuse their gift. It is also possible that a soul might be sent to the world multiple times, each time to correct a different sin.
Understanding suffering
The concept of reincarnation also helps explain the troubling phenomenon of human suffering. We are often bothered by the bad things that happen to people who clearly did not deserve it – why do the good die young? Why are children made to suffer? Reincarnation places this suffering in a more global perspective, suggesting that a person might be made to suffer to atone for acts committed in a different life.
Thus, regardless of whether one deserves to suffer based on their actions in their current life, they still may need to experience suffering to correct their past lives. For many people, experiencing insight into these previous acts with the help of past-life regression can be very therapeutic, and help them gain perspective on the challenges they are experiencing in their life.
A caveat
Reincarnation is a fairly accepted concept in Jewish thought. However, there is no clear indication in Jewish sources that an average person would be able to access memories from a previous lifetime. This is still the most controversial aspect of this concept, which makes past-life regression highly unusual even amongst Jews who believe in reincarnation as a concept.
