Exploring Reincarnation – Part 1

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Guest Post by Riley Carson

Introduction 

This article reviews some of the fascinating research documented in the book Exploring Reincarnation by Hans Tendam. The book stands out among others of the genre in several ways. Tendam starts with the observation that, at the time he was writing (1987), there were already over 10,000 recorded instances of reincarnation experiences. He decided there was sufficient material to take an evidence-based approach to the subject. 

Numerous books have provided excellent stories and anecdotes, and a few more included some analysis of larger data sets. But Tendam set out to canvas everything written he could find, in several languages, and to draw tentative conclusions that could form the basis of a deeper and more thorough understanding of the whole subject.

The author also brings in his extensive experience as a practicing past life psychotherapist and trainer in past-life therapy. The book may be dated, but few if any others match its depth, breadth, and insights. As metaphysical researcher Colin Wilson wrote in his forward to the book, “This is, I think, the great definitive work on reincarnation; it is hard to imagine it ever being superseded.” 

The book is a massive collection of information— too much to be properly covered in a review like this. And it’s written in a textbook style that could be dry to some readers. My approach is to choose some selected topics, and present them in a question and answer format that hopefully will bring new and interesting insights to those interested in this captivating subject. 

Q1: What is the process of reincarnation? 

I will leave aside the deep question of what ultimate divine or cosmic purpose is being accomplished by having souls “come down” and go through the reincarnation cycle. There are a number of theories, but they are beyond the scope of this essay. 

So here we all are in the midst of our incarnations. As we go through our many lifetimes, what does the evidence say about the process? Tendam identifies three. 

The first is evolution. We learn from our experiences, even when we are unaware of it, and even when we resist the learning. There is no escaping the learning, for resistance itself is a learning experience! Even suicide, from the reincarnation perspective, is just another learning experience. We try, we stumble, we learn, we improve. In other words, this is the trial-and-error approach. 

The second process is education. This includes the teaching, guidance, support, and encouragement we get from others. The teachers are our fellow travelers on the journey who have gained more understanding than we have. They help us accelerate the learning process. They may be incarnate friends, family members, coworkers, leaders, acquaintances, or highly evolved teachers who work with us between lives and through inner guidance. 

The third process is self-development. Freedom means making mistakes. We start our journey with little self control, reacting ineptly to challenging events, often ignoring the advice of our teachers. We culminate the journey as masters in control of our own destiny. Through trial-and-error, avoiding challenges, and sometimes ignoring the advice of our teachers, we err. But still we grow and develop. 

Q2: What are the specific qualities we aim to achieve through reincarnation? 

Tendam identifies three primary developmental objectives and two conditional ones.The primary ones are Love, Wisdom, and Competence. 

The two conditional ones come into play during the process of planning for an incarnation. The first is adapting the aim of an incarnation to the options available, such as character, circumstances, and karma. The second is planning for necessary corrections for past life mistakes. 

Love encompasses attentiveness, good will, empathy, compassion towards others, including towards animals and nature. 

Wisdom is the development of knowledge, insight, ability to see the big picture, accurate judgment of situations. It includes developing the intellect. 

Competence is the collection of diverse abilities, talents, and skills that differ for each person. Such competencies become important beyond our Earthly lives. They prepare us for our unique missions as spiritual beings, and draw us to others of similar backgrounds who can become our coworkers on higher planes of existence. One becomes a talented artist, a gifted healer, an effective leader, a great parent, through the development of competence over many lifetimes. 

The three primary aims support each other like the legs of a three legged stool. Love without wisdom can be a smothering sentiment, or be blind to healthy boundaries. Wisdom without love can be sterile, and neglect empathy. Both love and wisdom are more effective in practice after acquiring skills to apply them well. 

Q3: Are there any patterns on how long our intermissions are between incarnations? 

There appear to be three patterns based on how much an individual has progressed in their development: 

• Population 1 are beginners. They are mostly learning through general evolution, the trial and error approach. These individuals do little planning for the next incarnation, and not much reflection after one. Apparently their prime directive is to simply accumulate diverse experiences. Their intermissions average about eight years. 
• Population 2 consists of those with life plans that set personal development goals and personal relationship goals prior to their next incarnation, to aid in their own development as well as efforts to settle personal karmic relations. They seek some guidance from teachers while planning their next lifetime, as well as do some life reviews after each lifetime. Their intermissions average about sixty years. 
• Population 3 are those with the most experience. They are polishing off their cycle of incarnations, and this shows in their careful pre-birth plans that include setting specific developmental goals, conscious deliberation, and consultation with their spiritual guides. Being unburdened by a lot of unresolved karma, they have greater freedom of choice as to the time, location, and associations of their next incarnation. They appear to have intermissions of roughly 230 years.
  
  Any individual from any of the populations can have intermissions lasting much shorter or longer than their group average, due to a variety of variables, such as the world population of available births, or individual needs and opportunities. The planet’s population explosion over the past several centuries has allowed for more frequent rebirths for everyone.
   

Q4: Given all these different personalities we become during the course of our incarnations, what are we like during intermissions?

The person we are during intermissions is typically the personality we were during our most optimal incarnation, but greatly enhanced by having access to all the other personalities we identify with, including the sum of their accumulated experience. As to how we appear to others, we can acquire the ability to change our appearance at will. This is often done by spiritual guides when they greet an individual returning from an incarnation.

Even so, most souls reach a point where they can see through these disguises. They recognize each other regardless of outer appearance.
It should be said here that each successive incarnation is not necessarily an “improvement” over the prior one, when viewed from the physical life. Even though the soul within is progressively more developed, in each incarnation we select specific lessons to learn or tasks to accomplish.

For example, we may have focused too much on the intellect in a prior life, then choose to focus in this life on the development of humbleness through what would outwardly seem a regression in our development. A former university professor, when he arrived on the other side of death, was shocked to find that his servant was far more developed than he was, and the professor became the humble student of the servant.
 
Q5: How much flexibility is there to deviate from our life plan after we incarnate?

It’s clear from the evidence that no life plan is completely determined. The plan sets forth the major outline of what is to happen, and we fill in the details as we proceed. For example, a woman who was raped had not planned that specific experience. Her plan just indicated she would make herself vulnerable to a personal tragedy of some kind that would be a life changing event. While planning her life she was not particular about the kind of tragedy she wanted to experience. 

Q6: How do the three primary life aims play out when planning for incarnations? 

Tendam showed the results of one large survey as follows: 

Aim for the coming incarnation	Primary or Conditional Quality	Percent
Spiritual growth and helping other	Love, wisdom	27%
Special developments	Competence	12%
Learning love and compassion	Love	18%
Karmic relations and obligations	Necessary conditions	18%
Supplementary experience	Competence, wisdom	25%

A number of respondents said they specifically chose to incarnate in the 20th century because of the historical transition from a religious to a scientific orientation, which they saw as more enlightened. The irony here is that the scientific minded person is often the least likely to hold beliefs in immortality. I think this illustrates how inaccurate it can be to think that, say, an atheist is less developed or “spiritual” than a more pious person. 

This ends Part 1. Part 2 turns the focus on karma, and what Tendam’s research reveals about the subject.