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There Are No Goodbyes
PART 2
Guided by Angels
My tour of the spirit world
Paddy McMahon
Contents
Title Page
5. Reincarnation
6. Spirit Guides at Work
7. Opening Our Minds
8. Looking Forward
9. A Place of Our Own
10. Earthbound Souls
Copyright
About the Publisher
Chapter 5
Reincarnation
Reincarnation is a concept that has continued to intrigue humanity since the beginning of time. It remains a common belief among Eastern religions and philosophies, and was an integral part of Christian faith until it was removed by the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 AD. Since that time it has never been officially accepted by the Catholic Church – or, indeed, any of the major Protestant churches – although there can be no doubt that many Christians continue to believe that reincarnation exists.
There is something both exciting and frightening about the idea that the soul of a person whose body has died may be born again into another body at another time. In some ways it represents a second chance. For some people it explains feelings, instincts or characteristics that they have, which don’t make sense in the context of their current lives.
Although not used on his tombstone, Benjamin Franklin’s epitaph for himself is an interesting example of the belief in reincarnation. Benjamin Franklin was a printer, and one of the founding fathers of the USA. He wrote:
The body of B. Franklin,
Printer,
Like the Cover of an Old Book,
Its Contents Torn Out
And
Stripped of its Lettering and Gilding.
Lies Here,
Food For Worms
But the Work shall not be Lost,
For it Will as He Believed
Appear Once More
In a New and more Elegant Edition
Revised and Corrected
By the Author
Benjamin Franklin seemed sure that he would be back.
Returning in the future
Perhaps it’s not surprising that when the subject of reincarnation comes up for discussion some people dismiss it on the basis that it boosts self-importance. Many people would probably feel rather grand if they believed they were kings or queens, or equally important people, in past lives.
Obviously, some people will have held important positions in past lives; however, those people may also have held servile positions in other lifetimes. My experience, through dealing with people and through what I’ve read about regressions (undergoing hypnosis in order to access information about past lives), there have been few instances of anything other than very ordinary existence. In truth, the only significance in finding out about previous lifetimes is their relevance to the present ones, for example, in helping people to be more tolerant in their dealings with others.
Margaret Anna and my other spirit guides state, without equivocation, that reincarnation exists. They present a picture of a soul evolving through a succession of physical lifetimes and, ideally, growing in awareness in each one. Of course, because our lives are dictated by our own free will, ideal growth may not be achieved in some lifetimes.
So what if reincarnation didn’t exist? What if a soul is created for each new body and continues to exist after the death of the body, waiting around for Judgment Day when it will be reunited with its miraculously resurrected body? Is this a point when ultimate fate is decided – eternal happiness with God or eternal punishment with the devil? This is largely what many people have been taught to believe, and it presents a rather different picture to the idea of the soul evolving through a series of lifetimes.
There is, of course, a third option – that there is nothing beyond the death of the physical body. When we die we simply stop existing. Many people hold this belief, but for me it’s a dispiriting one.
I have no doubt about the option of reincarnating as, ideally, a method of growth in awareness. I have been given many proofs of continuing life, some of which I have already outlined, and others that I’ll describe later. In any case, as the woman in the bus said to me, I’ll know soon enough.
If the prospect of being reincarnated is at all frightening, it’s worth remembering that we have options and choices. The spirit guides have reassured me constantly that free will is always exercised when our spirits leave our bodies. In fact, free will is sacrosanct. No soul is forced to do anything it doesn’t want to do, including reincarnating.
In fact, once any one of us accepts the fact that life continues, and in the way we wish it to, it seems nonsensical that we could be judged for eternity on the acts we undertake in one physical life. Our lifetime is merely the blink of an eye in ‘eternal’ terms. What’s more, there are huge inequalities in the conditions in which we are born and we live. How could people be fairly and equally judged unless those considerations are taken into account? So rather than being fearful of the idea that we go on – and live again after our physical life on earth – we can rejoice in the idea that there is no Judgment Day looming, that the mistakes we made can be rectified to the best of our ability, and will not come back to haunt us.
Remembering the past
So why can’t we remember our past lives, or even some of them? I have met people who remember whole swathes of earlier lives, and others who have odd memories that are clearly from a different lifetime. There are many recorded examples of cases where young children retain past-life memories. Over thirty years, Dr Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia has done extensive research into children’s spontaneous memories of past lives. His work provides details of about 100 stories of past-life reports from all over the world, which he followed up and found to be irrefutable. It seems that as children grow up the memories fade.
However, most people
