Mari Swa:
The point is that even though we may not want to reincarnate again while we are alive, we may very well want to once we’ve crossed over. Then some questions arise, for example, why we don’t or wouldn’t want to have another experience in the physical. And the answer may be because we associate the physical world with suffering, but only while we are alive. But when we are on the spirit side, we see an incarnation with all the good and bad events as one whole awesome experience we want to repeat or to have another. Being that, as far as I can remember and as far as I have also researched, it is very peaceful in the spirit world. And that is great, and that is what we may want while alive. But from there, it looks like what we desire is more action.
Another factor is that when we are in the spirit world, we are perfectly conscious that an incarnation in the physical is only of a very temporal nature, that we do not lose our identity, and that there is nothing that can ever happen to us in the world of the living that can truly harm us. While we are alive, we may see everything in a strong emotional and dramatic way, but when we cross over, we see an entire incarnation as just a ride and just one more of many we’ve had and we will have. With this, leaving the desire to not incarnate anymore as only an insignificant side effect of experiencing pain, especially emotional pain, while we are in the world of the living—something we expect and we disregard as not having much importance once we are in the spirit world, as it is only part of the experience and a consequence of having a body.
Looking at the problem from another angle, what does the next concept tell us? That there is nothing in the material world that we take with ourselves once we cross over into the spirit world. We cannot take our money, our art collection, our car, our house, nor any of our material possessions. The only thing that we do take with ourselves when we die is our experience, all what we’ve learned through our lifetime and all the spiritual growth we could achieve. What does this mean? It means that nothing in the material world has any value in itself from the point of view of a life experience a soul is having, except for the experimental value the material object can give the soul. And if we add this last concept to another one, to the fact that if you accumulate too much of anything (some things more than others, of course), the things will start to own you and not you them. This is because you must sacrifice much of your life in order to tend to the needs of the things you own, and with it, acting in detriment to your life experience.
All this would mean that what really matters during a lifetime is the experience we accumulate and not the material things we can uselessly pile up, being this last thing a symptom of identifying too much with having and not with being, thinking that the material world is all what matters because it is all there is. So as I see things, what really matters is self-improvement, and in every possible manner, but especially spiritual growth, where who we are inside, our values and our ethics and our actions are far more important than what and how many things we own during a lifetime. I’m not saying we must neglect our need to own things because, as I said above, they do give us experimental value that nurtures our spiritual growth as well, although this would depend on the needs and wants of each individual during its life experience. But things do have their place, but we do need to watch them so they don’t take over our lives.
As a meaning to life, I’d say it is to realize we are the creators of our circumstances. And the reason we continue to reincarnate over and over again is because we feel we have not yet mastered the knowing how to give the correct value to each one of our lives’ experiences. I certainly don’t believe there are any entities or devils of sort that force us all to reincarnate. I firmly believe we do so because of our own attachments and ideas of unfulfillment of all what we think we have left undone. So once more, learning to let go, to forgive others and especially ourselves, and to appreciate what we have and who we have, all in gratitude, brings us closer to not needing to repeat yet another incarnation, or at least would help us prevent repeating the same last one, giving us the opportunity to move on.
Another factor that I feel also makes us come back into the physical is the need to feel that we can create a wonderful life despite any hardship or unwanted experiences, a life we would want to repeat only with variations perhaps, or to learn to create countless different positive and fabulous lifetimes full of contrasts and spiritual growth. And with it, being able to synchronize the meaning of life our souls may have from the physical point of view and from the spirit side’s point of view as well. The more we can synchronize our values congruently, the more whole we can become as beings and the more control we can have over our lives.
What are we alive for? Perhaps it is to learn to be happy despite everything else, perhaps even dissolving all negativity, as it is only an interpretation that changes as we see it from different angles. Seeing life as something hard, as it is hard no matter who and where you are. As I see it, life is about staying alive as long as you can and as well as you can, perhaps even seeing it as if life were a game where the whole point is to see how long you can last there, how hard are you to kill. And one of the keys is to persevere, to march on no matter what, to insist in what you want and need, and never give up.
And then, perhaps as souls, we can finally come to see that being in the spirit world or in the physical side is all the same, being that contrast is only another expression of duality and only an interpretation. As from the most expanded point of view we all desire to attain, there is no duality between the spirit world and the material world. There is only spirit world. The material side, however compelling it may be, is only an illusion. They are both only a set of ideas, values, and interpretations in one great soup of pure consciousness.
I know it hurts to be alive. It hurts here too, and that physical and emotional pain cannot be denied. It is a true experience. But remember, it is all based on interpretations and points of view, and no matter how bad things may seem, they aren’t in the end. Your life purpose is to spiritually grow to the point where you can create a heaven for yourself wherever you are, alive or not, in spite of everything that surrounds you that you may interpret as blocking or not letting you achieve that state. The experiences, the good ones and the bad ones, are what you are looking for when you decided to incarnate. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Remember, the toughest judge is yourself. Be kind to others and be kind to yourself. But always take care of yourselves.
With much love,
Mari Swaruu
