My next life
 

It's the second day of 2020 and this year I will be 82 years of age - something I didn't expect to happen. This means of course that the train I'm on is slowly chugging into the terminus. I don't know if, after stepping out onto the platform, I'll be going on by bus, taxi, tube or bike, or maybe just disappear into thin air as if in an Agatha Christie novel.

But I'm starting to prepare, that is I'm making a list of where and what and how I don't want to be the next time round. According to 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead' I'll need to be very careful for the following 49 days after stepping onto the platform so to clarify the situation my ponderings have led me to the following conclusions. All of which by the way are based upon the information I have from the media in general, from newspapers, documentaries, television, radio and the like.

I certainly don't want to be re-born as a member of a reindeer-herding family in Siberia, Lapland or Canada.
Nor as a member of a pygmy tribe in the jungles of Borneo.
Nor do I want to be born in North Korea.
I'd prefer not to be re-born in Africa so that cuts out a lot of those horrible north African countries and also avoids starvation and persecution.
Nor do I see myself in Asia, with millions of people all looking over my shoulder, but at a pinch,yes.

Nor do I want to be a homosexual, nor a cripple, not a religious fanatic and I don't want to be chubby. I'd also like to avoid being anything other than human - so not a dog please, not a cat and so on - although I have nothing against a short period as say an eagle.

Having once again busied myself with Swedenborg I also have to add that I don't want to be re-born on another planet or in another galaxy, I know the choice is enormous but I've always been quite happy where I now am. It could be that life on another planet, one where one is pure slime for instance and oxygen is unknown would lead me to higher things - but I'm not ready for that yet.

There is a new couple who have moved in next door, still young and full of energy. I wonder if there is a possibility there? She is really beautiful and he is extremely handsome, so any offspring would be almost certain of a good start. Trouble is they have two big dogs and I'm frightened of dogs, so no, I have to be careful.

So that, more or less, is what I don't want. There are of course a few borderline cases; as a Finn I'd be stuck in darkness 6 months of the year, as a Peruvian (which could be very interesting) I wouldn't want to be a woman as I'd have to wear one of those silly looking skirts, nor would I want to be a Texan - simply because of those stetson things. And so on.

I'll have to ponder some more and think about what and who I'd like to be. Actually I'd prefer to start again where I am at the moment, but I would have to be very lucky.

I want to be a mountain.

If we do reincarnate the probability is high that we will not be returning to this world in the same condition which we left it.
Depending on how much time here on Earth has passed, we may be returning to a better world, or a world that is much
worst off than we left it. When we return Africa may have thriving nations and Europe, or the U.S., may have collapsed.

Busby, you are about 10-years older than me, nonetheless, I can relate to what you are saying. At age-72 I no
longer make long range plans. I do make travel plans for one year in advance but nothing over one year. I can say that I
have more time behind me than I do in front of me, but that may apply to anyone of any age because anyone can die at
any moment. The only difference is that elderly people know that the end is nearing.

There are a lot of people out there much younger than us dying everyday; most of them probably expected to live a longer
life. But I do hear what you are saying, and I feel it has allot to do with the aging of our physical body.

No matter how much a person may say that they are not their physical body, the body will demand your attention even more
in elderly years. Like you I have also had to adjust to all of the social, and other, changes over the decades. And I also feel
like I am now preparing myself for the great transition.

Jewish mysticism, as taught in the Kabbalah, talks about reincarnation and how we can prepare ourselves for our next lifetime
now. Basically it says to hold and image in your mind now of what you would like to be, or look like, in your next life, and
constantly nurture that image. The premise is that thoughts and feeling we constantly have here on Earth will contribute to
our next incarnation. This is paraphrasing what is said in the Kabbalah.

I do feel prepared for my own death and I don’t want to have any idea of what awaits me. My thing is to stay in the moment,
quiet inside, during the transition and not anticipate or expect anything. I have helped many people do this when they were
taking their last breath.

Every transcendent experience which I have had showed me and awestruck unimaginable incredible beauty beyond this physical
world, but I don’t know if that will be the case when I permanently detach from my physical body, and I want to go humbly
without expectations.

Peace and Good Journey My Friend:smile:

Busby might end up like a Mormon with his own World with him as its God.

***

:smile:

Whatever we don’t want, we may attract!

Best vaporise into an ocean of bliss here & now

***

To each his own. I watched my grandmother expect she was at the end of her life for the last 30 years of it.

I am making very long range plans. When I woke up last year, I regretted wasting so many years. I fixed that by getting an extension. icon_biggrin:

Z

Regrets are a waste of time. I used to tell my students "don't should all over yourself,"
because many of them would say I should've done this or that, etc. Any plans I make
I hold onto lightly because all plans are subject to change. In my opinion what we do
or don't do, is useful for our deeper growth and development. We can learn and grow
from any situation. But then again, to each their own.:D

Maybe a trip abroad is in order. Expand the horizons.

Some interesting thoughts, Busby. I'd agree that many places in this world are not the best ones to grow up in. To actualize our human potential it's IMO vital to grow up in a society where there is room provided for growth and self-improvement. A society where you can decide your own fate to a large degree (nature willing). This is why capitalism should be treasured, as it provides a reasonable decent life for the greatest number of people.

Thanks Starman for your fitting reply.

I'm not in the least worried about dying. Partly I suppose because I've had nothing to complain about in this life. Then there are other reasons too. Assuming a neutral position and accepting that billions of years went by when I wasn't here just sets me up for another few billions of years where I won't know anything either. So that would be no hardship.

But my life's experiences indicate to me that this world in which we live and this reality of which we are so aware is supported by an intelligence which we all share.
I agree with you 100%, those moments when 'the heavens' have opened to my mind have shown an unimaginable and majestic scene of beauty and unbridled expansion. These quick dives into this 'other' place are probably the basis of the word paradise.

I am fully aware too of the importance of the Buddhist advice that one's very last thoughts open the doorway to the next candle flame so I'm going to be very careful...