In search of the meaning of life

Have you ever wondered why you were born? How you would feel if you were a man instead of a woman? Or a woman instead of a man? Why you are drawn into certain relationships and experiences? Why bad things happen to good people? Or what happens after death?

These are questions nobody seems able to answer with certainty. In fact, the answers depend much on our individual belief system - on what we've been taught by history, society and religion, which we rarely question. An interesting approach is offered by the theory of reinca
ation, part of major Eastern cultures, but not yet widely known in our Western civilizations, which casts a new light on life's events and relationships.

For most people, life is a rather difficult experience we all must go through. However, if we consder the possibility of us living many lives, then the individual path we walk along and the lessons we learn, make a lot more sense. Reinca
ation seen as a cycle of living, dying and spiritual growth makes clear that we are personally responsible for our life and actions and thus could help us understand some of the "whys" we battle with.

For some people, the idea of reinca
ation might seem too radical and foreign to be accepted easily. Rather than questioning our current perspective of the world, we prefer to believe what we know and feel is safe to believe. However, those who are willing to challenge their conventional beliefs about life and death that they have been taught since childhood, and are open to new experiences, might discover a fresh and different perspective of their lives.

I became interested in the theory of reinca
ation in my early twenties following a "deja-vu" experience in Peru. Extensive reading on the subject and past life regression experiences kicked off a process of self-discovery that over several years induced me, slowly and rather reluctantly, to befriend or get used to the idea that some of my problems in this life, particularly with relationships, might have their roots in my past lives.

Of course, sceptical friends would point out to me that so-called memories of previous lives could simply be nothing but mere phantasies or figments of the imagination, intuitive information or things related to events I learnt and read about and have forgotten or be inspired by the hope to rob death of its finality. In any case, past life regression open up fascinating vistas and often lead us to reexamine the way we look at the world. If we consider that our reality consists only of what we can perceive through the filters of our physical senses, that almost all of the universe lies beyond the reach of our perception, that former generations would have thought to be witchcraft we now consider part of our everyday life (e.g. electricity, television, X-rays, aircraft, spaceships, cell phone, internet...), we cannot reject the theory of reinca
ation simply because science cannot yet prove its validity. You may find it exiting to test it for yourself. nnnn