Reincarnation

WARNING: This post contains subject matter that is highly controversial, and might shake your beliefs. Please note that I offer my understanding with the purpose of helping you to clarify your thinking, and NOT to convince you of any new belief.

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Whether you believe in God or any particular religion such as Islamism, Hiduism, Christianity, etc. might matter less than whether or not you believe in reincarnation.

For example, Christians believe that if they lead a good life, they will be rewarded and go to Heaven. If not, well, Satan will be waiting for them.

Note: This is what I understand to be the mainstream or official doctrine of Christianity, although it might NOT be what Jesus himself was saying and teaching.

In other words, you get one shot at Heaven. If you screw up this life, well, you'll be spending Eternity in hell.

Reincarnation has a different twist; it's a cycle of birth and death, and until you are enlightened, you will keep going back to a physical existence in order to "learn your lessons."

Mother Teresa, for example, was a human being who became enlightened in her (last) lifetime, therefore she has freed herself from the perpetual birth and death cycle that most people are "trapped" in.

So reincarnation basically says that different souls are at different stages of evolution. Young souls that incarnate, don't understand much while older, more mature souls (who obviously have lived many more lifetimes) are wiser and understand more of life (although this understanding is subtle and unconscious).

This is why you might see a 30-year-old woman who is wiser than a 50-year-old man. It's not the number of years that counts, but the number of lifetimes they've incarnated (and the quality of learning during those lifetimes).

So it's likely that Mother Teresa was the incarnation of a soul that has lived many lifetimes before, and in THIS incarnation as Mother Teresa, she had enough wisdom and knowledge to be able to see through the body (of lepers) and see the reality of God. This enabled her to become enlightened.

So why does it matter whether or not you believe in reincarnation? There are two cases:

1. If you believe in reincarnation, then you would try to meditate in order to access the knowledge that has been learned and accumulated by your previous lifetimes.

2. If you do NOT believe in reincarnation, then you would try to read books and attend seminars to gain knowledge in THIS lifetime.

In other words, your belief or non-belief in reincarnation determines, to a certain extent, your learning strategy. Of course, meditating does not exclude reading books and attending seminars.

Perhaps more importantly, your position regarding reincarnation determines whether or not you fear death.

If you believe in reincarnation, then you necessarily believe that death doesn't exist because you are NOT your body. You are a soul that will survive the body and will reincarnate in another human body.

In other words, your body is like a shirt or dress that you take off, and then you wear another dress or shirt (and go to a different party).

So a person who died is simply a person who left a party, and is going to a different party.

For example, if a husband died and leaves behind his wife, then he simply went to another party and perhaps later on, his wife will go to that party too, and they'll be together once more.

Note: Of course, I wouldn't put it in those terms if I was talking to someone who just lost a dear relative or friend. Sensitivity to people's feelings is important.

So if you believe in reincarnation, you are more likely to NOT fear death, because you know the soul is eternal. Also, you are likely to focus on your spiritual evolution in this lifetime. Ultimately, if you are really serious, you want enlightenment so you really, really focus on your spiritual evolution.

However, if you do NOT believe in reincarnation, this means you believe that THIS life is all you got. So you would normally fear death more than the people who believe in reincarnation.

You would also focus more on having a pleasant physical experience because you believe that you will NOT come back to planet Earth. Once you die, you die forever.

What does all this have to do with "success"?

Well, success is defined by each person differently. Reincarnation believers might define success as "evolving spiritually" while reincarnation non-believers might define success as "accumulating riches and living a good, comfortable material life."

In short, reincarnation believers focus on "learning" while reincarnation non-believers focus on "earning" (money). The latter focus on earning money because only money can buy the stuff that makes for a pleasant physical life experience.

Of course, it's possible to learn and evolve spiritually WHILE creating prosperity, just as it's possible to focus on earning money while evolving spiritually.

My point is that reincarnation believers focus primarily on learning while reincarnation non-believers focus primarily on earning.

I wrote this post because up to this point, I talked about success secrets from the point of view of seeking abundance and wealth.

However, from now on, I will ALSO write about success secrets from the point of view of spiritual evolution. Yes, I care about your soul's evolution!

Obviously, spiritual evolution is far more important than financial wealth, because the spiritual knowledge and mastery than you gain in this lifetime, will positively affect your life experience in other lifetimes.

In other words, the spiritual treasure that you accumulate in this lifetime, will follow you in other lifetimes. The money you make in this lifetime, will NOT follow you in other lifetimes.

This doesn't mean money is not important. It is important, but it's critical to know that it's only relatively important, not absolutely important.