Ancestors/Past Lives/Cultural Memory?

Well I tried to write this thread and realized it's difficult for me to put into words what I'm thinking, mostly because it comes off too much about , me me me, although I don't want it to. So I'll just try and sum up the feeling that I've recently had, and maybe some other folks here have had the same or similar feeling, so we can discuss it:

The feeling is a connection, almost a spiritual or supernatural one, to certain things I've been fascinated with my whole life but don't know why exactly. Example: In kindergarten I apparently wanted to be a mapmaker, and since I feel like I came out of darker time in my life, my feeling and fascination with maps, terrain, geography, etc. has come back.

Also an ancestral influence that has been socially and culturally cut off. My family doesn't really look back on it's roots or countries from which we came (I'm part German, Maltese, English, Irish, Native American, and possibly a bit African). It's very sad that I know almost nothing of the ancestors or their culture from which I came. It's just the nature of my family and how we lived and grew up. But I can identify certain feelings and thoughts which are still very much derived from these places.

The strange thing, I feel my strongest characteristic is the very small amount of Native in me. I say this because of my love of nature and living in nature, and also the dreams I have, and the nature of them. I have a lot of dreams of shape-shifting animals and encounters with what seem to be something like a spirit guide?

I'll just stop there on my personal experiences not to bore, but has anyone else a feeling of, I've been thinking this all of my life, now I realize my ancestors have something to do with it (aside from genetics and culture passed down directly through stories and family members).

I'm not really sure if this is a clear thread, I guess just a discussion about how anyone here interprets the thread as it is...seeing where it goes.

I have been thinking a lot about this subject lately and have always been interested in reincarnation and what activities in life are learned or re-learned. Things like taste in music, favorite foods, talents, and other things you are born with would make more sense to me if reincarnation could be proven. Great topic though and don't worry about talking about yourself, the fact you are aware of it at all usually means you aren't as much as a narcissus as you think.

I'm English but since playing the Dynasty Warriors video games, I have a strong fascination with the Three Kingdoms period of ancient Chinese history. Whether it means I may have had a part in a past life or it's just normal human interest I don't know but I am the first in my family (that I know of) to have any musical ability and also the ability to write to the point I've been told to pursue not just music but also novel writing as potential careers.

Again, whether it's pre-destined or down to luck and my own natural ability coming through I don't know.

Being a pro wrestling fan too, I've always been capable of analysing the matches, figuring out how the moves are performed without causing (much) injury, natural ability to book and be creative around that area which also plays into my writing thing too where a few of my ideas seem to have been lifted and used on television by a few companies or agreed by other fans I talk to as apparently "great ideas that make a lot of sense" in their words.

Nature vs nurture or something more I couldn't tell you.

I've never really felt like I belonged anywhere though, like I have a higher calling and a destiny yet fate holds me back and keeps me isolated with all this creativity, talent and intelligence forced to be hidden as if there's a plan perpetuated by fate to release it all when the time is right. Call me crazy all you like but I'm as sane as the next person but always felt that.

Again, past life? No idea but I'd give regression a go if I could.

There are elephants who can travel hundreds of miles to find water sources that their ancestors visited, but that they have never been to. We experience deja vu. I think it would be silly to deny that, at the very least, we have genetic, ancestoral memories buried deep within our brains. Perhaps this could explain the "we only use 10% of our brains" myth? The other 90% is ancestoral memories?

Hi.

Ever since I was about 4 years old (I'm 51 now), I have wondered about where i was before I was alive, and where I go when I die.
I first saw a pack of Tarot crds when I was 7, and became fascinated with various aspects of the Occult ever since.
It often intrigues me as to whether I had some experience in this field in a previous existence, which led to an interest in reincarnation and ancestors etc.....

I don't consider myself to be religious, but I do have a strong interest in the mysterious and unexplained which no other member of my family seems to share.

Like the previous poster, I feel that our likes, and dislikes etc, may carry over from a previous experience of things pleasant or otherwise.

I have no other explanation as to why I would be attracted to all the cryptic symbology of the occult, as it was discouraged whenever I mentioned it during my childhood.

I do have a really strong relationship with my Ancestors, who I talk to, and am aware of all the time, but I don't regard it as spooky or anything like that.
It's just a kind of familiar friendly type of thing, a bit like going to the pub and chatting and joking etc.

Nice thread, by the way.

I think I may have outdone you in the 'talking about me me me' sense, so don't worry about that.

reply to post by skylightsintheillions


It seems like what you are describing is called anamnesis. Sort of like a DNA based form of memory. Try googling it. Also, the book Valis by Philip K. Dick deals with this, and other phenomena. I hope this info helps.

I can see what you are saying with things like talents and tastes.

For alcohol, I prefer good strong beer and red wine (Germany and Malta, respectively).
For food, my favorite by far is Mediterranean food and seafood (Malta)
My favorite parts of nature are the forests, deciduous forests, fishing, camping, fire building, etc.
I still feel like dreaming is my strongest trait which has been somehow passed onto me, or something I've returned to being since a past life.

My fascination with ancient and lost civilizations is very interesting because of the kindergarten map making thing.
Also in elementary for some reason I had a strange obsession with the name Sven and wanting to learn Swedish, to the point where I tried to self teach on the internet (back in the dial-up days).
It's interesting to me that the Scandinavians ancestors are often thought of to be the first explorers of our world as we know it. Most likely they would be the first to create accurate maps. Malta happens to be a place which comes up in Atlantis debates, I don't believe Malta was Atlantis but I do think there is something to the place, very interesting caves and what-not.
I believe in Agartha and the paradise that somehow lies under us, below us, inside the earth (whether physically or spiritually) and this is a common belief among native americans, from what I hear.

It has been postulated that early man, perhaps even the Neanderthal too, had some kind of hereditary memory, similar to the "Lesser Animals", such as can be witnessed in the example of elephants given above.

Carl Jung believed in a "Collective Unconscious" where resides all fundamental Archetypes - the metaphysical embodiments of every human ideal, there for us to subconsciously reference.

Freud was of the same opinion, although his ideas were more psychosexually orientated.

In Sanscrit, there's the Akasha Records which is said to contain the collective experience of all life past, present and future.

I personally theorise that the term "To be in Christ" is a reference to "Christ" being terminology for this "Collective knowledge of everything".

The idea of a "collective" metaphysical 'library' of all events, thoughts, feelings and experiences has always been around. I'm more than confident there's a lot of truth to it, I truly am.
I mean, if little old me can arrive at the same conclusions as the likes of Jung (I'd developed my own theory of a collective subconscious before ever hearing of another similar theory), then there must be truth to it all.

reply to post by skylightsintheillions


This is something I feel very much! I have a lot of Native American in me and it absolutely makes me sick to see nature destroyed in any way at all. There are a lot of logging companies near me and it physically makes me ill to see a forest stripped bare and just left to recover or die on its own. These companies just see dollar signs and nothing more. They don't care what becomes of the land once they've made their money. I have a little more respect for those who replant trees after logging, but it still bothers me. Another thing that really bothers me is how the natives were just forced from the land.

I always jokingly said that I must have been royalty in a past life. When I was younger, I felt like I should always have someone waiting on me... like I shouldn't have to do anything on my own and that everything should be done for me. Yes, this was selfish and I grew out of it, but when I actually traced my ancestry back, it went straight back to royalty in England and France and it all made sense! Now, I don't think it was a past life. I think it's just in my blood, lol. I don't want servants anymore though, ha ha!

The one period in history that I feel like I have the biggest connection to is the Civil War. I'm a reenactress, but there's something about the lifestyle that I almost "miss," yet at the same time, the thought of that era disturbs the hell out of me. Was I there in another lifetime? I don't know. But I definitely have MANY ancestors who were in the war. I often wonder if my connection to this time period is so strong because it is the most recent and as far as genes and such go, I would be more likely to remember something that was more recent or would be more likely to have genes from people that aren't too far back there?

There are a few other things as well, but these are the ones that stand out the most. I've always loved Ireland and the Irish accent and found out that a big chunk of my family was from there. I just found this out during the last few months, but I've been fascinated with it my whole life.

I've had an odd fascination with railroads and trains for much of my life. My great-grandfather, who I never met, worked on and helped build railroads. I even distinctly remember seeing old locomotives as a child... that's the only kind of train I remember seeing when I was little. Did I really see them or did my memories come from elsewhere? I'm only 34 so I shouldn't have seen them, but I guess it's not impossible.

Thanks for this thread. It's a very interesting one. I have to say that it really did surprise me to find out that I had many ancestors involved in the things that I always found fascinating or that just really held my attention for one reason or another. I never met any of these people and my interests developed before I even knew of them. I think there is a lot more to cultural memories and such than we actually realize!

Originally posted by gemineye
reply to post by skylightsintheillions

 

I have to say that it really did surprise me to find out that I had many ancestors involved in the things that I always found fascinating or that just really held my attention for one reason or another. I never met any of these people and my interests developed before I even knew of them. I think there is a lot more to cultural memories and such than we actually realize!

Yes me too! That's exactly how I've been feeling, random things I felt connected with my whole life are showing a lot more meaning.