Is there good reason for not remembering our past lives?

Each time we let go of one life and choose to move on to the next we face the fact that we will no longer recall our previous life once we become incarnated. Some people have memories leak into their present life from the past, but perhaps there is a reason we block that out.
Here is an exerpt from a recent article about a boy who had such strong recollections he is rejecting his present family.

The young man was born and raised in Canada but when walking through Jaipur, a city 300 kilometres southwest of New Delhi, became confused, saying, "This is the place, I was here before," the doctor recalls. Then 12 years old, he began to describe in detail the inside of a house where he had supposedly lived, and offered up other details of a life there. He stated that he had died at age 29 of a hole in the heart -- the lay term for a common congenital defect --had three brothers and a sister, and that his name had been Ram. Locals in the neighbourhood of Jaipur verified details about the house and said they recalled a family matching the boy's description, including a man named Ram, who lived there about 30 years earlier, said Dr. Gadit. The youth continued to be "haunted" by the memories after the family got home to St. John's. "It was a frightening experience for him.... The parents started appearing like aliens to him," said the psychiatrist, a professor at the Memorial University of Newfoundland medical school. The recollections were vivid but a battery of tests revealed no recognizable psychiatric condition. "He did not appear to be a person who had an altered level of consciousness or disorientation," said Dr. Gadit. Reluctant to prescribe medication for a condition he could not diagnose, he used psycotherapy, telling the boy that he might have had a previous life, but should now "forget about the past and live in the present." The approach seemed to work and the youth, whose family declined to comment for this story, returned to school and a relatively normal life, though he continued to have the memories, indicating to the doctor that he kept them to himself to avoid upsetting others. Dr. Gadit said the case did not convince him that reincarnation occurs, but left him open to the possibility. "There are so many things to discover in the world."

Link to the full article
Can you imagine what his parents must be going through and how emotionally trying it is for this boy to feel that pull for his previous family?
Perhaps we block the memories of our past lives to allow us to live each new one with a fresh outlook, a clean slate and the ability to enjoy that life and its experiences without the influence of our previous lives.
What do you think?

By good do you mean beneficial to us? Good or bad is just a perception we make when something benefits, or does not benefit us.

Existence isn't meant to be totally beneficial for one individual. Rather, benefit in this universe is shared among everything that does exist. One thing that is bad for us, like mosquito bites, is good for another (the mosquito). So basically, life isn't perfect coming from an individuals perspective. It is only perfect when you look at existence as a whole.

and in order for anything to exist, everything has to exist. Including an existence where you do not remember your past life. Which apparently is what is going on here.

So no, there is probably not a good reason for us not remembering our past lives, but that's just the way things are sometimes.

reply to post by NephraTari


Hmm... This is an interesting question. I'm not sure that it's a voluntary or mandatory thing to forget about your past lives, I think the amnesia is part of the rebirth. Plus when being reincarnated you're becoming a baby with only so much brain capacity and only so much of those past memories can fit. That said, most children remember their past lives, my Nephew used to ask questions about "When he was big before" and "When he died before" when he was about five but at a certain age, without any stimulation, those memories begin to fade so that they can be replaced by the memories of a new life....

I'm not sure why that is but I'm guessing its all explained during your limbo between reincarnations, or else when you finally reach an enlightened enough state to be one with the Universe...

reply to post by stevedel0


Come on , you know what I meant. I didn't start the thread to discuss the ideaologies of whether good and bad exist or what they mean. It was started to discuss how past lives could effect our present lives if remembered.

You took one word and derailed the entire subject of the thread into a philosophical discussion on good and bad. There is a seperate forum for that.. can we please discuss this topic?

I think it would be very confusing to remember parts of past lives. Imagine how unsettling it might be to remember dying, or to recollect being the opposite gender in a previous life?

imagine traveling somewhere and just feel that u been there before or remember everything from a previous life in an instant.

Originally posted by Charis
I think it would be very confusing to remember parts of past lives. Imagine how unsettling it might be to remember dying, or to recollect being the opposite gender in a previous life?

Noo!! It would be helpful.

Memory deletion is an incredible important issue. That boy’s story proves it is “technically” possible to remember. Many sources are trying to talk us into perceiving memory deletion as some kind of natural process. I wouldn’t be so sure about that. The more one ponders the issue, the clearer it becomes memory deletion is basically a DAMAGING operation, not at all a helpful one. If you strip souls of their memory (or of parts of it) you:

- delete the whole knowledge of a lifetime,
- delete any spirituality/morality acquired during that lifetime,
- delete all “lessons learnt”.

Even for “criminals” that led a “bad” former life the remembrance of it would definitely HELP trying to lead a better new life.

Let alone the stupidity of stripping “good” personalities of their past life's memory.

In other words, the ability to remember is actually crucial to mentally evolve. So, if you strip someone’s memory you actually PREVENT them from evolving….!! So, WHY???

Now, what about this: Some clues/sources suggest this “memory stripping” is an intentional operation to keep humans dumb, to prevent them from getting too smart …. Dumb slaves are good slaves ...

[edit on 30-5-2009 by WonderfulWorld]

reply to post by NephraTari

I had a past-life regression a week ago and found the whole thing very strange.You are totally aware of background noises but images come into your head that show quite clearly sections of a life before.
One of mine went back to a time of sickness and plague--may have been 1665, I'm really not sure
But it sure would'nt have been a time I'd have picked if I had a choice. I have never had any interest in this period of history.
Past lives do exist and accessin parts of them IMO don't do any harm.
Oh and I did die--but you don't feel it --I did'nt anyway.

reply to post by uk today


Did you feel like you were in a conscious-like state while being regressed or as if you had fallen asleep? Like snapping out of a deep deep trance? I'm just asking because I had one about a month ago and I'm just wondering if anyones technique is different.

Also as for reasons for forgetting. I think its quite simply that we could not handle it for various reasons:

1. Amount of information
2. Leak-through causing interuptions in our present..you know how its a struggle to live "in the moment" sometimes when you're thinking about something uncomfortable from last week? Imagine that x 10000+ lives

3. Unhealthy or distracting attachment to the time / people / memories etc.

4. Again I want to emphasize the weight of carrying life-times of guilt, fear, and all sorts of unresolved personal and karmatic issues.

A lot of people have issues with self-love / confidence and the like as it is... and they may be as we experience them to be, wonderful people... now imagine if you added on lifetimes where they committed horrendous acts and what that would do for their self-esteem, sense of peace etc...

It's just too much to take on, man.. unless we're mature and capable enough!

I think when we get flashes of past lives its for a specific reason / message.

If we wanted to explore more of them in even more depth well we could develope towards that. Perhaps by then we'd have the personal understanding to deal with the information that comes forth.

When I was in peru I took part in a ceremony and it actually made me feel a little uncomfortable when I felt the familiarity... of a different life, as a native... or a different level of existence. I thought I was totally open to it and i'm a spiritual guy, meditate every day type but it was still a bit wierd for me. I'm not sure I'm ready to take on the memory of every present life but for now I'm open to more glimpses as they come my way.

Originally posted by CavemanDD
reply to post by uk today

 

Did you feel like you were in a conscious-like state while being regressed or as if you had fallen asleep? Like snapping out of a deep deep trance? I'm just asking because I had one about a month ago and I'm just wondering if anyones technique is different.

I was aware of all background noises and it was weird cos I felt aware in a way but also in a trance state at the same time. My eyes felt very heavy.
If you're interested I've described the relaxation technique that was used on me over on BTS---NEED YOUR HELP ON REGRESSION is the thread.
I had 2 lives came thro by the way.

reply to post by uk today


yeah that sounds consistent with mine. I think if I had an audio recording I could myself do it alone. It seems very easily attainable in a meditation but its a matter of getting into the right mode I guess.

I also had 2 but had very little time to explore it as she found and was helping me get rid of some strange early childhood stuff like an entity. I still don't know how I felt about that which is why I have to ask other people. Well if the entity thing was with me since I was a baby then I guess I would have a hard time noticing it. Overall I don't know how I feel about it still. I recalled a life as a beautiful blond woman but I never explored that one, instead I went to a life I had a couple dreams about when I was younger, which is what I was hoping for so I think intent plays a factor.

I'll check out your thread later when I come back on.

reply to post by CavemanDD

Yeah I try it everynight to see if I can take myself back--but I always fall asleep before I can get to the light to access the past lives.
The process is just soooo relaxing.

Intent was defo not a factor though in mine--I would have picked the Titanic cos I have a fear of water, the dark and enclosed spaces.
Plus the Titanic fascinates me.

reply to post by WonderfulWorld

It's not about taking the knowledge and thats not what I am suggesting.
Retaining those memories may make it hard to live in the life you are.
If you retain all those memories, why would you want to live the life you are in?
As this boy has shown he wants to pick up where he left off, thus robbing himself of a new life experience.
In order to fully experience each incarnation we have to start it with a clean slate to have an unbiased view of that lifetime.

reply to post by NephraTari

You may retain those memories but they are embedded deeply in your sub-concious ,where they remain unless you choose to access them.
I feel no different now to how I felt prior to my regression.
The whole experience was surreal in a way

One reason I can think of would be that you'd probably end up insane after awhile.
Different lives, different experiences, different bodies.

My father has a view on reincarnation, that we do not go to heaven until you've experienced all forms of life.
It'd be hard to live a new life if you remember all of the old one.

I have always wondered who I was in a past life. I have always been obsessed with France and the culture and just everything about it. I swear sometimes I must have been French in a past life. Why else would I have such a strong feeling towards a place I have never been? My entire family says I have been this way since I was very little. I remember being in 2nd grade and telling my teacher I was going to live in France. Why I remember that I have no idea. I just have this feeling I must have been French before. Sounds odd but to me it seems right.

I can only state here my own reasons for wanting to remember my past lives. To collect myself. Because I am here again, I have a reason for being here, whatever I did not achieve in a previous incarnation. Some believe that parts of you (or your energy, whatever you call it) are scattered throughout time and various dimensions. Some also believe that by remembering these lives and various sometimes very emotional experiences that we can rid ourselves of negative energies, eliminate negative energies in other areas of the universe, shed light on our purpose for being here, and ultimately take control of our own power as we collect ourselves. I have heard of instances were someone has revisited and rescued themselves from being a ghost in another life so to speak. Basically where he found a soldier who was dead, that did not know he had been killed. He was able to help the soldier by letting him know he had been killed, to later find out that the soldier was himself. He claims to have visited many aspects of himself from different times, dimensions lives etc. Ultimately piecing his real self together. Make any sense? Pardon some of my expressions and terms if they are not technically correct. Imagine tragic events that may have happened to you in numerous previous lives and how those events are lodged in your subconscious and how they effect you today and for eternity. Ultimately if you could overcome and rid yourself of any of this negative energy it could be very positive. A really good and interesting book although it does not specifically focus on past lives that may shed some light were written by Robert Monroe who founded the Monroe Institute.

I never believed in past live's, yet there has been one event that made me wonder. Basically my brother has night terrors (talking and shouting in his sleep) , we were away on holiday and sharing a twin room. one night he started shouting in what sounded like russian or eastern european. there's no way he would know these languages but he was shouting off orders. very weird. Needless to say i got my own room after that.

reply to post by NephraTari


I suspect there may be a darn good reason for it.

For the past decade in particular, I had a series of profound co-conciousness....I don't know how to explain or validate what I went through - but I remember great emotional upheavals and the sense I had really done some rather horrible things in my previous life.

I'm terribly empathic in this one - and the thought of me doing some of the things that those experiences recollected to me were so extremely emotional that it began to interfere with my normal day to day.

Sometimes it was completely dehabilitating.

From the reincarnation Samsara perspective - if we know in advance why we are going through the payoff of Karmic debt, it wouldn't be as genuine.

That's just my two.

[edit on 5/30/09 by GENERAL EYES]