With this first post in this theme, I would like to make this record: Since late April 1988, I have been a reincarnationist, based initially on an extraordinary astrological reading I received from a very gifted practitioner, Phyllis Firak-Mitz, who once again resides and practices in Denver, Colorado (www.astrologerphyllis.com). In that session, she spontaneously revealed information about my most recent past-life experience, which, in one fell swoop, served to explain many anomalies of my childhood in my current incarnation. It was, as they say, a seminal revelatory experience, which launched me onto a path of metaphysical exploration that transformed my worldview, indeed cosmology, quite dramatically.

For anyone seeking compelling ready validation of the reality of our souls experiencing multiple physical lifetimes on this Earth, I would commend to them, in this reading sequence, the book Soul Survivor, by Bruce & Andrea Leininger; the books Children’s Past Lives and Return from Heaven by Carol Bowman; and the website www.iisis.net. The last is the creation of Dr. Walter Semkiw, a San Francisco physician who has compiled an extraordinary book of evidence, both old and modern, for the past-life phenomenon grounded in and based on the revelatory efforts of Dr. Ian Stevenson, a famous researcher and professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia. I can promise, at the least, that the reading of any of these sources will start you aponderin’ your own life’s significance in a brand new light, and in very short order. There are many other works worthy of attention in this arena, but these will get anyone into a “right frame of mind” quickly.

I decided to silo this theme of Para/Normalcy with the theme of Geo/Politics on this one blog site because of my realization that the two are inextricably intertwined at a metaphysical level, rather like Newton’s laws and quantum mechanics both accurately, concurrently reflecting our common physical reality. When we contemplate our individual past lives, we appear to live from lifetime to lifetime with exquisite design and purposes. The famous poem of William Shakespeare’s that “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages . . . .” (As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII) would seem to suggest as much; to me, it expresses a deeper and profounder truth of transcendental significance.

We are all temporary sojourners on this planet – being born; maturing; having a life of work, play, relationships, and challenges; and then leaving physical existence for a mysterious next phase of some sort. Thus and so, none of us can really get attached to our physical personage because, no matter how smart, talented, beautiful/handsome, accomplished, rich, or famous we are or become, the music and dance eventually stop and we go Home, removed to somewhere else – and with an unabrogated awareness. When I came to recognize, in epiphanies, that this life of mine was simultaneously the most important and least important thing in “my world,” it served to reframe my life experiences, whether “good” or “bad” per my own valuation, into a new paradigm. “Most important” in that my life presents a grand opportunity for deep learning and soul growth, and “least important” in the sense that it is but one chapter/episode in the saga of my eternal soul. So, it’s about perspective, my brother, perspective. Don’t get attached. Do your best, love yourself through your experiences, treat your fellow sojourners with decency and respect as best you can, and leave them to their own paths and devices when not able to do so. Learn to sincerely forgive your own trespasses and those of others. Protect yourself if you find yourself in a “gravest extreme,” whether it be emotional or physical. Sound at all familiar?

For my Self, I perceive this particular lifetime to be about a healing of my self (forgiveness) and a transformation of spirit — and, just perhaps, redemption. The 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once averred that, “That which doesn’t destroy me, makes me stronger.” (His original: “Das was mich nicht umbringt, macht mir staerker.”) Inspiringly, G-d being in Me, those strengths are vitalizing with every passing year. Gratitude, my brother, blessed gratitude.

William Pippin
The Rational Empiricist