I am wondering if anyone here has come across this idea, which I will explain in a minute, in any ancient texts ? I've read a fair amount but may have missed something.

There are traditionally around 3 firmly established notions of what happens after you die :

1. You go to heaven or hell
2. You spend some time reviewing this life then reincarnate
3. You die, don't go anywhere, and must await physical resurrection and judgement

Now there is actually a 4th concept which to my knowledge is not mentioned in any belief system. I call this "conscious immortality". It goes something like this :

I die, I cross over and maintain my sense of self. I am still "me" with all my memories of the life I've just left, but at the same time I am an expanded "me" as am now fully in the spiritual world. I suspect this is a common sensation for most people who cross over, but if they get led into or choose the reincarnation option all memory of this "self" is forgotten.

In my scenario, instead of reincarnating, I maintain my sense of self (now a kind of super-self) and at will can chose to materialize on all sorts of different worlds, in a fully grown body. No need for starting out as a baby, no forgetting everything I've done and experienced in the life I just left. I can go where I want, as I want, creating bodies for my self . When I am tired of a certain world and need a rest, my soul would find a "recharging" station. I would spend some time there then reanimate, all my memories of all lives since Earth still in tact. So I would be a bit like Connor McCloud from Highlander, only not stuck on one planet and able to have rests between worlds and experiences . But I repeat, NEVER losing conscious access to my memories of other lives.

You read about how one can practice certain methods in an effort to remember past lives but of those who purport to have done so, most of the time the memories are in isolated fragments. There is no proper, full access. We arrive on Earth and as we grow and learn to question, we find ourselves utterly clueless as to why we are here, how we got here, where we go when we die, etc. Reincarnationalists tell us we are here to learn, to improve on mistakes made in other lives - but if I can't recall anything about my other lives how can I hope to make any real progress. I would not sit a Maths exam without studying the subject yet here I am, utterly clueless about all those other "me's" I might have been over thousands of lifetimes and the lessons I learnt in them. It's not good enough to have some time with the Akashik records - what's the point when my brain can't access in THIS life anything I might have read there ??

Personally I view the reincarnation cycle as an astral matrix. We talk about the matrix on Earth but only a few people ever seem to consider that the matrix might continue in the astral. We are taught that we are imperfect and must perfect ourselves and living endless lifetimes is the way to achieve this. But just as science is lending weight to the idea of the holographic universe, I view myself as OF the source, not outside of it. I, you, and everyone else on the planet is a part of the whole and as the whole is perfectly in balance then so are we, even with all these "imperfections". We are perfect in our imperfectness so to speak so there is not some "better self" to aspire to over a million lifetimes when I am what I have always been been - a perfect child of the cosmos. Nobody needs to spend a lifetime meditating in a cave to realize this nor have a thousand lifetimes to get "rewarded" with this insight !!

I do not buy into this idea of having to tread the reincarnation wheel for aeons before I can realize what I am. I do not believe my soul wants or needs to suffer in order to grow and learn. I believe the reincarnation cycle is very real but I am suspicious of it and who might have created it . I want to remember who I am, I do not want my memory wiped every time I experience a new life.

So, I like to think there is a 4th option - this "conscious immortality". If you think about it , it's actually a much more attractive option...remember the character in Deep Space 9...DAX....it's something along those lines I am talking about only without having some parasite in my belly !

So it is curious to me that the reincarnation concept is so dominant - as if it is a "given" this is what occurs. What, because some "holy" looking being arrived on Earth and told someone so and so off they went to start the new religion ? Seen in the cold light of objectivity the reincarnation cycle is just a prison for the soul that perpetually confines it to this little planet in this dimension in this universe in these weak and illness prone bodies which are on a suicide mission to die once you hit young adulthood. All the knowledge you accumulated in other lives is wiped from your mind so that every time you come here you are just as lost as ever you were a million lifetimes ago.

I think there is a better option than this so why does it never seem to get mentioned in the ancient texts or even more modern works ?

[edit on 22/1/10 by cosmicpixie]

Originally posted by cosmicpixie

I think there is a better option than this so why does it never seem to get mentioned in the ancient texts or even more modern works ?

[edit on 22/1/10 by cosmicpixie]

Because the absolute truth does not need to be written down at all, it is simply accepted and understood to be natural laws of existence. Anyone who's trying to get you to read a book, or listen to their sermon, is simply trying to dissuade you from the truth. When the time comes, what has been forecasted by all our hearts and inscribed in our DNA, will reveal it's pure essence to us all and everything will all make sense at this spiritual level of consciousness.

Wow !

Nice thinking !

I think something else, but it's a little bit like yours.

I thing there is a creator. A source.
A way of living it created, to learn about itself.

A Universe we are all part of same origin, A holographic universe !
When we die. We will seize to exist but we have taking part to a greater self awareness of the universe.

This would also explain why we are able to see, witness and even remember other lives an experience. We are all one.

Personally, I do believe that you reincarnate.

But you choose the circumstances for your incarnation to help you learn specific things.

So rather than being forced to incarnate, you choose the specifics and you choose them to learn.

I also think that you put limits on yourself when you incarnate so that you don't remember things that would subvert the lessons to be learned.

I don't think you always choose how you reincarnate, otherwise we'd all be making the same mistakes perhaps, there's gotta be higher consciousness', perhaps either working between the planets or whatever that choose the exact OPPOSITE of where we want to go.. in order to keep the gears of pain/pleasure/sudden knowing/utter confusion going within the cosmos. You cannot learn by yourself completely without the help of a benefactor "forcing" you to do that which you do not want to do..

like running away from your "negative" memories. The back burner has a knack for demanding your time and spiritual energy at the wrong times... which are right for it... I know, it's the price i pay continuously for not knowing what's best for me sometimes and flitting like a butterfly from subject to subject.

[edit on 22-1-2010 by thaknobodi]

I've got to get to bed now - really tired . Thanks for all the interesting replies, I'll check in tomorrow to see how the discussion has developed. Night all

I think, or like to believe, or prefer to believe, that when we die, our conscious continues on a higher plane, just like others here on the thread have stated. I think this is the growing spiritualism that most people embrace these days.

My belief is that our current conscious continues on, but when our physical body dies, we return to a higher plane, where we are able to communicate with out higher conscious. We can communicate with out higher conscious while we are physically living, but the signal is distorted.

I think we have three levels of consciousness. the trinity seems to be such a communal concept I think it is probably a natural state. To me, we live her in the physical plane, and so our conscious exits in the physical plane with our bodies. We also have an emotional conscious, which is our spirit. Then we have an intellectual conscious which is our soul. I think that only our soul has a chance at immortality.

Our physical conscious is too absorbed by the physical world, to communicate with our higher conscious, it is tied tightly to our physical sense of the world, which is an amazing place. Life is great thing to enjoy and to learn from.

Our spirit is more closing tied to our higher intellectual soul, but still tied to the physical world. Our spirit gives us our drive in life, our passion, it enables us to enjoy life. However, our spirit can be harmed, it can be broken, and it can be killed. This is why we have to look out for our emotional well being.

Our soul deals with further more distant, less recognizable areas of this world that our physical conscious has trouble grasping. The guidance provided by our higher conscious is usually passed down through instincts and emotions. It is our soul that guides us through the higher plane.

Physical life as we know it is very finite. Maybe in the next few generations they will unlock the secret to aging, and our grandchildren, or maybe even our children might be able to live several hundred years. I have heard many times that life is too short, but I didn't really get that until I hit my forties. It seemed like I was just getting my act together, only to have to start facing the long slow deterioration of my body.

The spirit, I feel, lives through several physical incarnations, and may live as long as the soul, but is vulnerable. . I could say more, but that is the important part.

Our soul is here on this physical plane for a purpose, which I believe it to learn and grow. In this physical plane is where we experiment with life. We live these lives with the purpose of growing into a better self on the higher plane. I don't think we die and go to heaven, I think we die and go to a higher plane where life is more complicated, but of course also has far greater possibilities.

Of course, there is always the possibility that when you die physically, your conscious dies, the memories are wiped, and the only thing left is the deeds you left behind.

Carpe Diem, is my new years resolution.

Hmm I have been thinking about your "another way" ever since I've had a life changing experience. I have come to the conclusion that life must be limited to be fun from a God/Source perspective. So we need all those constrains and nature is doing that for us. I agree with you in the matter that I don't want those anymore. I want to be free to explore and not be bound to this planet forever.

I see some problems though.

1) How do I escape the forced incarnation? I don't know if I would be able to choose whatever I want. What I hope is that "they" need my consent and that any choice involving my return here would be because of their's persuasion tactics

2) What if I am able to free myself - but there someone here, I am connected with, that isn't?

Number 1 is simple. No choice means forced comeback.

Number 2 is tricky. At least for me. All my life I've known I'm waitting for someone. I've spend many years with that felling (along with a felling of impeding doom, but that's another story ). I've finally met that person. I've known that since the very first moment. The other side told me the same

That is why I am not sure if I would leave this dreaded cycle knowing that my beloved (whom I am almost 100% sure I've known in many other lives) is choosing to stay.