Who Was I In My Past Life?
There is an old saying: To know who you were in a past life, look at how your life is, now. To find out who you will be in a future life, look at how you are living that life.
This adage applies aptly when you want to know who you were in a past life. It is best not to trudge through the remnants of a distant past, slogging through random moments in order to discover little gems from bygone eras. Rather it is good to know that somewhere buried in your subconsciousness lies the memories of pivotal moments which have shaped your personality and have guided you towards the lessons that you are encountering in this life.
You can think of time like a river; running forward, always into the future. But, with the right contraption, let’s say a boat which can traverse such waters, one has the means to travel upstream, against the currents and backward in time. With such a boat, you would be able to rediscover events from the past. They would replay right before your eyes. All you need is a map to locate these pivotal moments.
Mapping Your Journey
Fortunately, that map is something that you carry with you across lifetimes. It is contained within your subconscious and finding a relevant point on that map begins with a simple question. What is the origin of something which you are experiencing in this life? It should be something that you have an emotional attachment to, as that emotion binds your current state with that moment from the past. Let’s say you want to know why your shoulder has had a strange pain for most of your life. Your question could be, “What is the origin of the pain in my shoulder?” Perhaps you want to know why you have such a strong bond with your life partner. You could ask, “What is the origin of my relationship with this person?”
Be aware that you will not have any conscious or rational recollection of this distant point in time. Rather you will have an emotional connection to it. Let that emotion be your compass and lock on to that feeling throughout your journey to come. Soon, what you seek will come to light.
Taking the Journey Across Lifetimes
A simple process for discovering who you were in a past life is below. Read through it a few times, to allow yourself to memorize the process. Or, you can record this in your own voice and play it back like a guided meditation. If you choose to record it, read it slowly and pause for a moment between each line; allow yourself time to experience each section. When it comes to the big reveal, allow a long pause, say a minute or two, so that you have ample time to reflect upon the event transpiring.
Now, Let’s Begin
For this exploration, it is easy to imagine that you are taking a journey backwards, along the river of time. Just close your eyes, let yourself get comfortable and take a few deep breaths to relax. For this exploration, allow your imagination and your emotional connection guide what you see and experience.
With each breath you take, let your conscious mind drift away, and give your subconscious mind permission to take over. No need to think or analyze. Simply oversee and remember.
To begin your journey, imagine that you are standing upon a dock next to the river of time. Perched at the dock lay a boat set and ready to take you on a journey back in time, up the river.
When you are ready, simply step into the boat, sit down, and will it begin to move away from the dock. Your journey has begun.
In your boat, follow the river back through the events of your past. See various events from your childhood that you do remember. As the boat continues to flowing upstream, you will move past the moment of your birth – a time you may not remember.
Now, just up ahead, you will see a tunnel approaching.
As you enter through a tunnel, the boat begins moving at incredible speeds – this tunnel is your conduit between lifetimes. Now is the time to hold on to the emotional connection to what you seek. Feel that emotion and restate the question which has sparked this journey. Why are you here, now?
When you emerge from the tunnel, and into the light, you will see a scene playing out that is from a time previous to your birth in this lifetime.
As the boat comes to a stop, take a few moments to allow yourself to watch the event as it unfolds.
Notice the people in the scene, how they are dressed, what they look like, the colors – you will even notice different sounds and maybe even smells – just take a few moments to observe without judgement.
Do not interact with the scene, nor attempt to understand anything that transpires. Merely observe and remember.
When you are ready, you can set the boat back into motion downstream and back toward the tunnel. When you reemerge, you will see scenes from your childhood of this life progressing forward. As if in fast motion, you move forward in time, past the events you remember, until you reach the present moment. When you have returned to the dock from which you departed, exit the boat and return your awareness to the room you are in.
Finally, when you are ready, open your eyes and quickly write down what you have observed in your experiences on this day.
There you have it. This is very simple and gentle exploration of who you were in a past life. It is important to write down what you experienced as soon as you open your eyes. The longer your mind lingers in the present moment, the greater the chance of details slipping away.
Continuing the Exploration
Do not fret if nothing comes about your first few attempts. This may be a new process for you and building the temporal connection with your subconscious mind is a cumulative effort. Meaning the more you do this, the easier it gets. Feel free to follow this process several times, taking notes and comparing them from each experience. Not only is this a great way to relax, but you are building a connection from your present everyday self with the parts of you that are spread out in various time periods.
If you want to go deeper, a trained professional can help you to explore certain events to a more detailed extent. Sometimes, you may need to unravel unresolved issues which may be causing complications within this life time. It is not recommended to attempt these alone, as one’s own personal biases can further complicate the issues. Seek an independent, trained professional to help you resolve these difficulties. This journey is merely presented as a means of bringing about awareness of the past, not to resolve any lingering issues.
In the meantime, enjoy your exploration, take it lightly and make it fun. You may be surprised what you learn about yourself and the life you have been living.
About the Author
How a Near Death Experience Enhanced My Consciousness
There’s no doubt that consciousness is rapidly expanding throughout the human race. My coffee cup is about to start talking to me. A lot of what was once considered ridiculously paranormal has now been empirically-proven and popularly embraced. In fact, the human race is clearly now a race between the realization of how expanded consciousness plays in the creation of our world and the destructive consequences that ignoring it has caused and continues to cause every day.
Consciousness as an Elemental Force
So what does that have to do with near-death experiences (NDEs)? Well, now it seems even science is converging on the ancient—but currently revolutionary—concept that consciousness itself may be an elemental force: a field, like gravity. It might be an eternal quantum field of being, necessary for the formation of material life – rather than the other way around (this idea is nicely, and controversially, proposed by Dr. Robert Lanza, of Wake Forest University). And what are NDEs but further testimonies of the continuation of consciousness beyond physical life?
Co-Creating our Reality
The rapidly growing Near-Death Movement, based on thousands of testimonies of people who have experienced consciousness beyond the limitations of our physical life, is yet another example of humanity’s spiritual potential. It’s additional evidence of our ability to co-create whatever reality we participate in, be it on the earth right here, or in that sweet hereafter.
I’d never given any of it much thought until the power and meaning of my own three NDEs arose and compelled me to write a book that put me into the hub of the hubbub. I’ve since discovered that the community of near-death experiencers ranges somewhere from five to fifteen percent of the general population globally. Now that’s a whole lot of non-ordinary reality!
Consciousness – and Individuals – Are Unique
Naturally, I have less reason than the average Joe to doubt the veracity of all that testimony; but I have found plenty of reason to ask this question: why is it that near-death experiences are all so different? If we’re all governed by eternal, invisible machinery, why do we see such a range of afterlife options, all tailored to the individual participant? Shouldn’t we all go down that identical tunnel into the light and meet Grandpa in the shimmering fields of Elysium?
Some near-death returnees report celestial extravaganzas. Some tell of organizations of elders and angels, structured in an elaborate cosmic framework. For others, it’s a hellish nightmare, complete with every infernal cliché. The reason for all these differences can be simply explained if we consider the way we’re always participating in the field of consciousness, how we are always creating our own individual realities.
The Continuum of Consciousness
My own NDEs were humble by comparison, but they all had one glorious factor in common; that I did not lose consciousness when I lost consciousness. In fact, all three times, I experienced an enhanced consciousness, seamlessly uninterrupted from this life to the next.
Skeptics suggest this sense of continuity is the result of a still-active mind – a mind not yet fully “dead.” And they’re right. Since consciousness is a field we eternally participate in, our minds never do die, they simply join a greater mind. The Hindu Vedas suggested that thousands of years ago. Dear old Dr. Jung described it too, way back in the 20th century. The mind continues working.
“Memory ensures that nature creates individual forms that are copies of the primal universal forms.”
The Hermetica
And as for the differences, well, imagine someone dying, and awakening in this world. What would they experience? The war in Syria? A recital by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Perhaps a high-powered business lunch, or that visit to Grandpa’s? In this elemental context, we all imagine the life we are living and live it. We all enter into the life we need to experience. This is the mystery of any incarnation, and it will continue to be the mystery from this life to the next (although NDEs do generally suggest that things are better explained over there).
The Unharnessed Power of the Mind
And what if all bets were off when it comes to our greatest potential imaginable – the unharnessed power of mind? What if our imaginations were released from the obvious limitations of this physical form? Almost anything is possible here and now––how about a world where your imagination is set free to manifest reality without material limit?
In “the next world,” as in this one, our imagination is like the clay; consciousness is like the ever-spinning potter’s wheel, and the source of power is like, well, The Source of Power. Welcome to every life (and afterlife) you will ever live – and remember, whatever life you’re living, always look for the love!
Article originally published Oct. 4, 2014
