This will be a short post…because there is so much emotion involved right now when I speak about the earthquake that occurred in Haiti on January 12, 2010.

I have many friends and family that live in Haiti, and there were a few days of trepidation while we waited for news about our loved ones.  Thankfully, they were all safe, but 150,000 of their neighbors and fellow Haitians did not survive the 7.0 earthquake.

And those of us who are distant from the cleanup and have no contact with the souls that still suffer in Haiti–we sit with idle hands and wonder…why?

Despite Pat Robertson’s absolutely inhumane remark that Haitians “made a pact with the devil” in order to be freed from French rule, these devastating tragedies occur in order to bring attention to an issue that has been overlooked for decades.  With its corrupt government (check out pictures of the President’s home before the quake), lack of aid from other nations due to its inability to provide any useful resources in return, and deforestation that precludes much farming by the natives, Haiti has had a really bad rap for far too long.

Now I could never justify the multitude of deaths that occurred, and I cannot imagine how horrible the mourning survivors must feel, but perhaps God can.  If, in his grand design, these souls had given up the remainder of their lives in order to bring Haiti’s plight to the world, then they were truly angels on earth.

Suicide is ending one’s own life. Simple definition, but not a simple decision, I’m sure. If you’ve never read my main blog, KimberlyDarwin.com, I address living a guilt-free life despite all the guilt we throw at ourselves and others.  But here, I want to discuss suicide from the perspective of reincarnation.

One of the main tenets of most religions that support a belief in reincarnation is that we come to our physical bodies in order to learn lessons, which will improve the integrity of our souls.  With this in mind, what happens to one who has ended his own life?  After all, suicide is performed as an escape from life’s difficulties (terminal illnesses aside–that’s for another post).  So during life’s lessons, the mind inside a body feels disconnected from others, from the Universe, and feels that ending this existence is the only way to end that loneliness.  According to the Youth Suicide Prevention Website:

“[Youths]  tend to believe that all of the unhappiness they are feeling and experiencing will go on forever. Everything that is happening to them is in the ‘here and now’ and they can’t begin to think that there might be a brighter future just around the corner.”

Although this was written for teens, I believe that it applies to adults too.  And where the youthful mind may not be as self-aware as most adults, the emotions are the same.  Failed relationships, parental issues, social struggles, peer pressure.  Issues that nearly every adult experiences in life, however the perspective for those who consider suicide is of course shifted.

So how does this affect the next life?  Well, if we continue with our thought process from earlier, we are here to learn lessons.  And if we don’t learn them in this life because we chose to escape them, then what do you think we will face in the next life?  The same lessons once more, I fear.

Tonight I watched a documentary on Stephen Hawking, whose brilliant mind has unraveled many possible theories about why we are here.  A visual description was presented that explained the vastness of our universe.  A Cambridge professor stood in the University’s library, which was enormous in its own right.  He likened the library to our universe, and drilled down to our little galaxy, which was represented by the period in one of books on one of the shelves.

Now from our standpoint, our galaxy is enormous, seemingly boundless.  Yet if this metaphor was close to correct, we are simply specks of dust in this giant conglomeration of rocks and space that is our universe.

With this comes the question of reincarnation.  It would be narcissistic for us to believe that we are the only living beings in the Universe–the odds are completely against it, even considering the different atmospheres and living conditions necessary to sustain life on other planets.  Yet there are simply too many heavenly bodies in our universe to surmise that only one of them exhibits these perfect living conditions.  More likely, there are billions that do; and if we have found traces of water on even the planet NEXT to us, consider the possibilities further away.  And if we reincarnate, could we decide to where we return?  Could we reincarnate to life on a planet 2.5 million light years away in the Andromeda galaxy?  And if so, would we experience a completely different set of life lessons due to the technology that exists there or the alternative challenges that face its population?

I would like to think that living in another galaxy would afford us even more opportunities to discover Who We Really Are.

I just finished reading The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel by Garth Stein.  Great book to open the discussion of the purpose of animals in our world.  In the book, Enzo is a dog who has reached his last animal incarnation, and his next life will be that of a human.  The book is sweet, if somewhat predictable, but its main premise is that animals are of a lower intellectual caste than humans.  Yet Enzo thinks as a human does, with an awareness of his emotions, right and wrong, and the relationships between those he observes.  Do our animals do this, or do we simply assume that they react merely out of instinct and external stimuli?

Interesting thought.  Comments?

I believe in past lives. I believe that we choose our lessons to learn when we materialize in the physical world, and since God gives us free choice, sometimes we forget, or choose not to, learn some of those lessons. So what happens to those lessons?

They reappear in the next life until we get it through our thick skulls that there’s something to learn here! I could hang here all night with examples: the girl that continuously chooses the same kind of partner that she knows is not good for her (aka the loser); Taking the same type of non-fulfilling job we’ve had before thinking that its duties, although exactly the same as the last job we had, will somehow be more fulfilling in the new surroundings; eating the same bad food that made us fat in the first place.

I don’t think it’s God that rains these lessons down on us, so no need to fear him–there’s enough in ourselves to fear, for heaven’s sake. If we simply opened our awareness, and paid attention to what’s happening to us over and over, and what actions we take in response, maybe we can actually create a different outcome with modified behavior.

To quote Albert Einstein: We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

So if you have recurring issues, then think back–way back–and decide if you want to experience the pain and anguish they cause you repeatedly. If yes, well, heck, rock on! But if you are ready for new lessons, then reconsider your previous responses when these issues resurface, and try something different. That’s how we grow.

The subject came up in my circle about therapy and what it does for us. If you believe that you bring your old issues back with you time and time again until you resolve them, then therapy may be the key. Now therapy may be defined in many ways–pet therapy, aromatherapy, physical therapy–but here I mean therapy of the psyche. This entails opening yourself up to a complete stranger, which to me at least is easier than exposing my nasty skeletons to someone I actually LOVE and fearing their judgment. When you work out your issues with a stranger, the relationship lacks the emotional bonds that allow non-partial investigation of the issue itself (countertransference aside).

I have spent years in and out of therapy, but each time I enter another round of it, I peel another layer away from the onion that is me. It’s not so much that the therapist fixes me, but rather she guides me to look in the corners of my psyche that my ego tends to hide. And with that introverted perspective, I learn something new–why I react in certain situations, why it is that I repeat the same harmful actions again and again.

Someday I hope to return to a life where I have no issues; simply living every day in the joy of the moment is a wonderful goal to have…but then would life end because the lessons have all been learned?

Conquer Today’s Challenges. Take Control Now.

Do you ever have deja-vu?

Do you have flashbacks from a different perspective?

If you have ever wondered if there is more to this life than the one you’re currently in, then I recommend reading Enid Hoffman’s book, Develop your Psychic Skills.

Things I have done with Enid’s book:

• Invited my father, who died when I was 5 months old, to a meeting at the beach.
• Regressed back to my last life and learned how unresolved issues resurfaced in this one.
• Used telekinesis to move objects without touching them.

Enid’s book was made for those who would like to develop the skills we’re all gifted with. Her simple, no-frills explanations guide you through a myriad of exercises in psychic development.