Reincarnation

What is the Soul?

To really get how music can affect people strongly, the existence of a soul must be postulated. Rather than enter into a lengthy theological discussion, I wish to just mention the aspects of the concept of “soul” that are necessary here. There is a larger reality than the physical universe. You can call it the higher dimensions, or whatever you like. That is where your soul exists, outside of the confines of your physical body and its place in space and time. In fact, it experiences multiple bodies and lifetimes. Our souls began as sparks of consciousness, pieces of the original primordial all-encompassing awareness that existed before the universe, a concept virtually impossible to understand and not necessary to understand. You can call that awareness Divine Presence, All That Is, I Am, God, Creator, or anything else, and you don’t need to put any further religious implications onto it. Souls are individual and separate awarenesses made from the incomprehensible and undifferentiated first energy.

Archangels, angels, ascended masters, adepts, various teachers and guides, devas, and various lower forms of consciousness represent a hierarchy of intelligences that exist in a vast and complex spirit world, for those whose belief systems include those ideas. That large spirit world can also be, and often is, collectively called Divine Presence, All That Is, God, etc. It even refers to itself collectively as “God” sometimes. But for our purposes here we don’t specifically need a belief in that hierarchy.

Soul advancement and reincarnation

That original spark called a soul desires to grow in awareness of itself and everything outside of itself. Whether that impulse comes from within itself, or from All That Is, the soul chooses to use the reincarnation process as the mechanism for advancement, gaining in awareness and experience each time it enters a human body and returns. Every lifetime adds a new facet to the soul’s makeup and increases its magnificence.

The truth of reincarnation is accepted by most oriental religions and individuals, and is increasingly accepted by persons in Western society. Many people take it to be not just theory, but fact. There is strong unbiased evidence that we undergo a series of human existences.¹ Most of us on the planet have lived hundreds of lives, male and female, over many thousands of years of Earth history.

In The World Before, Ruth Montgomery quotes her guides as saying during a channeling: "[In the early days] there were giants of overwhelming goodness who lived for such a long time that they came to be regarded as gods by others. But when God saw that some of them were succumbing to temptations and staining their once-pure souls, he decreased the lifespan in order to prevent havoc on the face of the earth. This gave these wayward souls a period of meditation in which to review their errors and determine to make amends, and when they were ready to try once more, they again were given opportunity to enter a physical body...When in physical body the souls are beset with homesickness for that state which is perfection, and although the way is steep and difficult to achieve, many, many souls have followed the path and have once again rejoined God as perfected souls who need not return again to physical body."²

Each new lifetime is an opportunity to resolve leftover attitudes and balance out karmic situations. Each one is an opportunity to “find and follow your destiny.” Individuals enter each incarnation with a specific plan and a specific goal to be met, which generally are not in our conscious awareness but which impel us in certain directions. “Only after you extract yourself from karmic bonds by healing your own wounds, learning from both past and present, making difficult choices with healthier outcomes, can you return whole in spirit to the Creator. … Every being is a divine spark, a chip off the old block, as you might say. You are all essence of the Creator. The realization of this will give you the strength to summon your inner resources…”³

Soul advancement is characterized by clearer awareness of Self, of Others, and of Spirit. It is characterized by an increasing detachment from the world, of a sort, even as you seek to help those who need you. It is accompanied by the opening of successively higher chakras (energy portals in the body). And there is an increasing ability to resonate with highly-inspired music.

All of us are on a spiritual path whether we know it or not. All of life serves the purpose of evolution. People who aspire toward higher awareness have many tools available to them. Yoga, meditation, toning and chanting, singing in a chorus, being in nature, learning to dowse (in the largest sense of the word), “opening the heart” workshops, studying sacred geometry, studying earth energies, visiting ancient sacred sites, service to others, healing others, conscious loving relationships, unnecessary kindness, forgiveness, learning to live in the present moment and letting go of the past, nurturing gratitude, respecting the planet that supports us, true astrology (not the daily horoscope), manifesting what we want through intent, reading channelings from spirit, trusting guidance through intuition, and communication with spirit guides are some of the ways. Inspired music is one more tool to add to the list.

All beings incarnate on Earth are connected at the Spirit level, and share in the progress of humanity as a whole. The spiritual seeker John Nash says “Every time an individual acknowledges his or her soul, steps onto the path of return, allows consciousness to expand, and makes a commitment to caring service, the human race moves forward on its collective evolutionary journey.”⁴ That collective journey has been a rocky road, and has seen the fall of major civilizations, including Atlantis. But now in the Aquarian age evolution is accelerating, and every individual advancement advances the whole.

I close this section a little more poetically with an excerpt from a text that was allegedly channeled by the Spiritualists of the late 1800’s from a group in spirit called the Star Circle.⁵

“All have the germ of spirituality which is unfolded by compact with spirits. The better you make yourselves, the more will you attract to yourselves better elements of the spirit realm…You draw around you Spiritual influences which quicken the latent energies into activity, thus developing spirituality; and as you invoke those who are on a higher plane by your own higher aspirations, higher spirits come into your sphere along with better conditions inducing you to become better men and women...But some, by their conduct, exhibit low conditions and thus attract about them spirits of low conditions, producing manifestations of crudeness…

The first opening of the real Spiritual life of a person is like the tiny whispering of the birds in Springtime, and the first promise of Spiritual growth is like the first bursting of the tiny, fragrant wild flowers on the gleaming prairies! To first hear with the ear of the Spirit is like the sweet far-off flute-like notes of the chiming of a silver bell ! When a mortal has at last risen from the sluggard's couch of selfish aims and vain desires, and with a strong hand and noble purpose, shakes from himself forever the inclination to wound or tear the hearts of his fellow-men, then and only then is he fit to receive the manifold blessings of the Spirit. When you have reached a certain gradation of Spiritual advancement, you will not be able to see any real [evil] existing in the Universe.”

Next:  The Mystical Number Seven

Notes (see Bibliography):
1 See items 16, 17 in the Bibliography.
2 The World Before, p. 89.
3 Let the Standing Stones Speak, p. 257.
4 The Soul and its Destiny p. 278.
5 Aber, William W., The Dawn of Another Life. (www.forgottenbooks.org) (first published in 1910)