-AK6
​Past lives are not role play.
A verifiable past life does not create a stereotype by which all other possible past lives are measured. Human personality is as varied as us humans, ourselves. Our current selves don't fit into single paragraph compartments let alone our past selves. We may choose to repeat certain themes out of familiarity and comfort. Living a life in a certain role doesn't stereotype us into that same role for the rest of our lifetimes.
Past lives don't give right to presume knowledge.
You've still got to go to school even if you were once a renown genius. Past lives aren't permission to unduly criticize, assume expertise in advice, draw conclusions without the foundation of research, etc. Remembrance of past lives can be a first-hand experience into history and humanity. Then again, your memories may be wrong.
Past lives don't presume accomplishment.
You may have been great and accomplished many great things. You still need to get out of bed and make a living. It's difficult for accomplished people to live off past success in their current lives regardless of recognition. Daily bread is bought with daily income. Past lives aren't substitutes for personal mediocrity.
Past lives don't follow formula.
Past lives are not algebraic equations where we know C and B but need to know A in order to find the correct answer. Our past lives don't conform to our currently accepted moral systems. Our past lives aren't perfect as our current lives aren't perfect. There is no discernable black and white demarcation line especially dealing with far distant past lives when current morals were unheard of or considered immoral. We can't redo past lives. Past lives are as an equation that has been answered. We can't expect to do the same things over and over expecting different results each time. That's insanity.
What Past Lives Don't Do
Past lives don't prove religion.
Whatever your chosen religious belief is, that's just fine. Past lives are experienced by a wide variety of individuals with different religious/atheist backgrounds. Past lives don't provide proof of a single religion's doctrines nor need to fit within parameters established by a particular religion in order to be true. Past lives exist regardless of personal philosophy.
Past lives don't suspend disbelief.
Belief in past lives doesn't obligate the believer to believe anything other than the existence of past lives. If we choose to believe in whatever we fancy to believe in, that's fine and dandy. However, it is not our right to shame other believers into buying our particular world-view. We have every right to use the same means that verify our past lives to verify any other system of belief.
Past lives aren't proof of guilt.
The doctrine of Heaven and Hell has sometimes been melded with past lives in reincarnation circles. The reason we live multiple lives, so says such philosophy, is because we sinned in the past and need to repent. In other words, we screwed up and need to learn better. What is it that we need to learn? It depends on who believes this philosophy. The fact that we cannot come to mutual agreement to what divine law is makes it difficult to define sin in the first place, let alone designate it to each other. Past lives, in turn, don't provide evidence of past sin.
Past lives don't preclude us from average human identity.
We are human. Period. We act as humans, think as humans, feel as humans, perceive as humans, anything that has to do with humans has to do with us because we're humans. We all have the same basic instinctual drives regardless of spiritual growth. We all forget. We all are vulnerable. We all screw up because we're human. Past lives are a part of our humanity.
Past lives are not a casting call for the famous.
Past lives are sometimes played like the lottery where many people clamber for a famous life but one walks away with the memories. Past lives are sometimes used as a role-call for the famous. Given the population of Earth combined with the time line of history and the average life span of human beings, chances are greater that we were once notable or lived through notable periods. Regardless, suspicion of past lives should be based upon memories. Not upon the popularity of certain historical periods or figures. Not upon the absence of claimants from certain historical periods or of certain historical figures.
Past lives do not supersede accurate research.
If any past life is to be reasonably believed by reasonable persons without active bias, then accurate research is essential. History sources can be far from accurate. That is a poor excuse for ignoring them all together. Your case may not be believed no matter how much research you do. Your case certainly won't be believed if you do none.
Past lives are not contests of spiritual growth.
Past lives are what they are. They are not indicative of the spiritual height of the individual remembering. They are not ammunition against conventional organized religion. Past lives can be means of personal awareness. However, this doesn't presume enlightenment nor the eradication of internal negativity and struggle. We are all equal in human struggles from the least of us to the greatest of us. There are no shortcuts to personal greatness. Shortcuts are designed to win out over others. A personal journey is something we ultimately walk alone.
Past lives don't presume authority.
If you were the boss in a past life, good for you. Now you're not. Deal with it. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first, says the phrase. Death changes many things. Although you may remember power, retain talent for authority, or carry a powerful presence, it doesn't give you position. Position is given by the will of the people. Wether minority or majority, your position to rule was allowed by others. The passage of time changes the rules of the game. If you're no longer willing to play by them, don't expect position. Pulling rank only works when you have rank to pull.
Past lives don't grant eidetic memory.
It doesn't necessarily follow logic that past life memory is any better than current life memory, even under legitimate hypnotic regression. More often than not, human memory is fragmentary and follows no deductive pattern. Human memory is a basic biological function and is triggered just as basically. If past lives exist, it is logical to assume that they would be remembered along with current life memories in such a fragmented and non-systematic fashion. Research is to verify that such memories occurred, and that recent memories acquired by similar means occurred, and to verify past identity if possible.
Past lives don't provide invitation into other people's past lives.
There are many reasons to feel a connection with another human being that have nothing to do with past lives. These may include hormonal attraction, repeating life patterns, charisma, admiration, fame, even outright manipulation from abusive parties, among other things. A human being has a physical and a psychic boundary. When the physical body dies the mind does not, hence reincarnation. That same psychic boundary remains intact and should be respected if healing is to take place. Past lives are not role play. Role-play involves the creation of an imaginary psychic boundary with imagined trauma. The player can leave that personality behind at will. The truly reincarnated personality cannot. Wounds from violations of psychic boundaries remain until healed. It is not the right of any believer, no matter what the intent, to create a past life in conjunction with another to explain feelings of connection. If memory and familiarity remain after all other possible explanations are exhausted, then, with respect to the other person's boundaries, it is right to heal past issues. Such healing may or may not involve the other person.
Past lives aren't proof of insanity.
If you want the audacity enough to diagnose other people with mental disorders, get a degree, a medical license, and charge by the hour. That's how the professionals do it. Even they will concede that psychiatric knowledge is changing with new information provided by better techniques in brain technology and pharmaceutical practice. The greatest minds in history have banged their heads against the wall, metaphorically speaking, attempting to discover and prove the nature of the human mind and spirit. It may be that a belief in past lives and any other belief in the incorporeal is a remnant of earlier human psychological function to explain an unknown and intimidating outer world. It may be that we are no different and that reincarnation provides believers with a sense of purpose and recognition of existence in the face of an unknown and intimidating cosmos. That's not insanity. That's human nature. There's nothing wrong with a leap of faith. These same leaps of faith are what drive us to discover the unknown.