Do I have to incarnate again? (Blog)

[Erin Pavlina]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Erin Pavlina's blog:

Do I have to incarnate again?

[Alan!]

Don’t forget you’re never on the ride alone. Scream if you must, throw your hands up in the air to maximize the thrill, but always remember you are safe. And if you ever find the ride is going too fast or you’re too afraid and want to get off, don’t jump. Just raise your hand and the ride operator will bring the coaster to a safe and gentle stop.

Really?

What a profound and powerful outlook.

I know Steve has said something along the lines of "you either feel safe, or you don't" and that happiness (and life) is based on this feeling.

I think I'm still stuck on this issue though. I just don't think that this is a safe world. I don't watch the news, I don't think I'm paranoid. I would certainly like to hold the view that I am safe (and I actually don't have any proof otherwise), but I don't believe that. Probably time to overcome some ingrained belief.

How?

Thanks Erin, your writings are often timely and synchronistic. And always insightful.

;-)

Alan!

[Kazeko]

Just raise your hand and the ride operator will bring the coaster to a safe and gentle stop.

I don't understand that metaphor. How can we "raise a hand" to stop our "life coaster" gently?

[lasti]

Wow, I love this "life is like a rollercoaster"-comparison!

[Erin Pavlina]

How to stop the ride...

You know that saying, "God (or the universe) never gives you more than you can handle"? If you ever feel like you've got too much just take on what you can and give the rest to God/Universe.

"God, enough! I've had enough! Ease up on the challenges and let me catch my breath." (or something to that effect).

Like a roller coaster, perhaps you feel like you got on a ride that is just a little beyond what you're comfortable with. You'll either have a growth experience and realize you could stretch to meet the challenge, or you may have a little breakdown. That's alright. Get off that roller coaster and find one more suited to your current state of mind. Just don't stay on the kiddie coaster your whole life because that gets boring and there's no growth

[Adelina]

Can you please elaborate?

If we choose not to incarnate again,
what do we do?
Do our souls still exist independently, on another plane?

Or do we choose to not exist as individual souls altogether, and just merge back into the ether?

[Erin Pavlina]

Either or.

There's a lot of growing to do on the other side as well. Or you can help guide others.

Or you can merge your consciousness back into Consciousness.

Again, you won't be deciding anything like that until you're back.

[Adelina]

What about 'karma'?

If it exists in the traditional notion,
what happens to that polarization or energy?

If we construct a new life, does it depend on that energetic balance,
or are all parameters of the new life completely by choice?
Or if we merge into the ether, where would the karmic energy go?


==
btw- would be nice to put a 'search' function on your site, to read your take on a certain term.
also to have the top banner click back to homepage.


thanks!!

[Erin Pavlina]

There's a search box on the blog which contains 98% of the content of the site. And there's a "home" link right at the top of the blog

I'm going to have to do a separate blog entry on karma because a lot of people don't have the idea quite right. Stay tuned for that.

[parag]

Hello Erin,

I have been reading your blog for a while now, though this is the first time I am posting on the forum.

I enjoyed reading your blog on incarnation. However, I would like to present a slightly differing view.

I most (actually all) eastern philosophies (Budhism, Hinduism, & Jainism), the view is that we incarnate as long as we have pending karma. When we do not have any pending karma, we attain Moksha (Nirvana), where we have totally merged with spirit.

a goal of many spiritual practices is to eliminate karma so that we can merge with the universal consciousness and not incarnate again.

Many years back I had gone for a 10 day Vippassana meditation session. The goal of Vippassana is to observe every sensation and thought as is, without judging it. I think the understanding is that every sensation that comes to us in this moment is because of our accumulated karma. The only way to stop this rolling ball of karma is to not react (especially negatively) to the current sensations or situations we are going through. This way by simply observing we slowly work all our karma and attain Moksha.

--
Regards
Parag Shah

PS: Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts on your blog. I enjoy reading it a lot.

[daj]

If incarnating is a "conscious" choice, why then can't the majority of us remember the contract we supposedly signed.

[Erin Pavlina]

The drawing of the veil (forgetting) is all part of what we agree to when we incarnate. But you can tap into your purpose and your karma and all that anytime you want to.

[Kazeko]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

How to stop the ride...

Erin, thanks a lot for clarification!

And, yep, I've returned to "the kiddie coaster"... (remembering how intuitive you are, I won't ask "how did you know" ) I just love those cups, spinning peacefully on water. However, I hope, I'll get back eventually to that crazy ride, that made me sick last time. It's just "not yet", as I need some skill building Steve describes.

[Brendon Colby]

Your writing on this subject makes complete sense to me. It seems logical that we choose our parents and circumstances and can decide if we'd like to come back or not.

[Mew3692002]

Wow, I was just about to think of karma when I was reading that article but someone beat me to it. That's what I was wondering too, people emphasize karma (even if their view does have some major things wrong with it) in their views of the paranormal and I was wondering what role karma really had to play in choosing to incarnate.

[Rachelle]

This totally reminded me of comedian/shaman Bill Hicks, and I thought I'd share one of his routines:

The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly coloured, and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question - is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us. They say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride.' And we...kill those people. Ha ha ha. 'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride. SHUT HIM UP! Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and family. This just has to be real.' It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter because: it's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings, and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourselves off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what you can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defence each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, for ever, in peace.
Bill Hicks

[Erin Pavlina]

Gosh that's beautiful. Exactly! Well stated.