Exploring Reincarnation – Part 2

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Guest Post by Riley Carson

Introduction 

In the second part of this topic on Exploring Reincarnation, which is the name of a book by Hans Tendam, we will continue a review of his insights, with a shift of focus to the subject of karma. The Introduction in Part 1 explains more about the author, and why his book provides many valuable insights on karma and reincarnation. His extensive research coupled with his expertise in past life therapy enables him to provide many evidence-based conclusions on these subjects. I will continue the style of Part 1 by using a question-and-answer format. 

Q1: Are we really responsible for everything that happens to us? 

It may sound unsympathetic, but the evidence shows this appears to be true. We are rarely if ever innocent victims, however unfair and undeserved we may think our predicaments are. In many cases, we are not even settling our karma. Rather, we chose the circumstances to learn from them. A woman who suffered from chronic health issues her entire life, discovered during past life therapy that her long-term spiritual goal was to become a master healer. She chose that life experience to advance her understanding of an important part of her training – what a life of chronic illness feels like. Soul has different priorities than the outer personality. It has little interest in beauty, health, wealth, and other desires of the human consciousness, except to the extent they further spiritual growth. 

Q2: What insights does reincarnation research offer concerning abortion? 

From the reincarnation perspective, a woman considering abortion may be helped in her decision by understanding how it might affect the discarnate individual intending to be her child. An individual planning for rebirth has a number of decisions to make. These include: identifying one or more potential mothers; Weighing past relationships with the mother and other family members, current challenges; and current opportunities that would result from their choice. Also, the potential child and mother may have agreed before either coming into their lifetimes to be in a mother-child relationship. 

Generally the mother doesn’t know any of this consciously, but it can help if she understands that there is planning taking place. Once a soul decides the birth it wants, the clock starts ticking. Some souls prefer to start almost immediately to experiment with entering the fetus for short periods of time, to get a feel for the new body. Others will wait until the end of the pregnancy. In either case, the mother is not killing a soul should she choose abortion. But the longer she waits, the more likely she is disrupting the plans of the incoming soul. 

The author Hans Tendam advises two things if you decide on abortion. Assume you can communicate with the potential incoming soul, and consider having a heart-to-heart discussion explaining why you have decided not to go ahead with the pregnancy. Second, if possible, avoid abortion after the sixth month of pregnancy. 

Q3: What are oaths and postulates, and why should we be careful with them? 

An oath in this context is a strong promise: “Someday we will meet again. Nothing can prevent this!” 

A postulate is a commitment to an inflexible belief: “All men are bad. I will never marry again!” 

The reason to be careful with such statements is that they settle deep into our psyche, and become self-fulfilling conditions for future incarnations. In the oath example above, a man was taken from his wife against his will. On departing, he promised to be with her again no matter what. Unknown to him, he had already settled his karma with his wife, but his promise drew him back to her in his next life. 

In a similar way, the woman who proclaimed the postulate above came back in her next life as a woman, and was lonely and frustrated by never finding the love she longed for. Oaths and postulates can be canceled or released after they are made, but not easily, as they are often buried in the unconscious such that we are not aware of them as the source of our troubles. They can work against the conscious intentions of the personality. 

Q4: What are the types of karma? 

Among the theories of karma, we find several contradictory beliefs: 

* Karma as a natural law: inescapable, automatic action-reaction, versus karma as one influence among others such as heredity, influence of teachers, or coincidence.

* Karma as a rigid spiritual law with no exceptions, versus karma being applied flexibly by ourselves and our guides to best facilitate spiritual growth.

 * Karma as determined exclusively by the deed, versus taking the intention of the deed into account. 

These different theories all disagree on the answer to one underlying question: Is the “law” of karma rigid or flexible? The short answer from the evidence says karma is flexible in diverse ways.

The record clearly shows that the analogy from physics, that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, is not a good one. If a person has intentionally caused harm to another, they have remedial options besides being harmed in like manner by someone else in a future life. 

They could, for example, with agreement from the victim, choose to become a loving and supportive parent of their victim in their next life. Also, if karma were to work with such mechanical mindlessness, the mayhem would never end, with chains of murderers getting murdered by someone else down the line forever.

The evidence also shows that the consequences of our acts accumulate in a sort of karma fund. It can’t be canceled. We are always accountable for our actions. But there are many ways be held accountable. The primary aim is to accomplish spiritual growth, and to restore balance and harmony among those involved. 

As to how much of the intent behind an act should be included in the evaluation of the act, it’s an age-old ethical question. It shows up in many of our laws, such as distinguishing among deaths due to reckless endangerment versus manslaughter versus several degrees of murder. We are here to grow in love and wisdom, which requires mastering and applying ethical considerations. If our intentions didn’t matter, ethics wouldn’t matter either. 

Conclusion 

This concludes my review of the book Exploring Reincarnation by Hands Tendam. I have tried to pick some useful points for consideration. The subject of reincarnation sits between religious faith and hard science. There is today a vast amount of data about the subject, enough to create at least the outlines of an evidence based theory. As so often happens, the more we know, the more questions we have. Answers are satisfying, but it is questions that stir the imagination to reach further.