What About Reincarnation
"The idea of reincarnation is based on the belief in separation. The belief is that there are individual souls who must strive to make spiritual progress through countless lifetimes, in order finally to reach full awakening. This belief in an individual soul, however, is a projection of the separate ego."
"When you realize that we are each unique expressions of The Consciousness, then you see that there can be no separate souls. You are already complete and whole as The Consciousness. You don't need to make any progress. You don't need to experience growth or improvement. You are already IT. This IT, The Consciousness that you are, needs no fixing or improving. The conditional mind presumes that it can try to fix The Consciousness.
The only things that obscure your realization that you are IT are your beliefs and concepts. And so our spiritual process is one of cleaning the mud from our eyes to realize who we really are. It has nothing to do with making progress.
The intellect wants to preserve itself at all costs. It wants to endure. The belief in reincarnation satisfies this intellectual desire. And so we think, "It's OK if I don't let go of these beliefs and concepts now, because I have many more lifetimes to do so." The intellect can feel safe and secure as it holds onto its programming and attachments, because surrender is postponed until a later day.
The intellect thrives on drama, and reincarnation is another form of drama. "I've worked for hundreds of lifetimes to get to where I am now," the mind thinks. But who is this "I" that has done all this work? Who is this "I" that has made these dramatic achievements? There is no "I." There is no separate soul. And there is nothing to achieve or accomplish. There is no dramatic struggle that must be endured. There is only an invitation to surrender to who we really are.
Reincarnation is an example of cause-and-effect thinking: "I am this way now because of what I did in the past." That is such a diminishing belief! It brings to a halt the radical transformation that is possible for us in every moment. We are not who we are because of anything. We just are. And in every moment we are capable of being free of the past.
In the mind field, the memories of all human experiences are present. The memory of every lifetime can be found there. Each of us has access to the mind field. We think that because we can connect with these memories and experience them, they must be ours. We think, "I must have lived that life since I can remember it." But this is not true. Everything is connected. There is no separation. Because of this connection, we can access all thoughts and memories. We can connect with the thoughts and emotions of other people who are living now. We can feel their thoughts and emotions. Many of you have experienced this. Yet just because you can feel emotions that are floating around does not mean that they are your separate emotions. Just because you can experience memories of past lives does not make them your individual memories. You can identify with these memories if you want to. You can make them into a fascinating drama. But all of this prevents you from discovering who you really are.
When you drop the belief in separation, then you see that Life is an all or nothing process. Life is an opportunity to surrender all beliefs and memories now. It is an invitation to experience, moment by moment, our true identity as a unique expression of The Consciousness. Nothing else matters but this surrender. Concepts and beliefs, including the belief in reincarnation, are an obstacle to surrender."