Do we really chose our lives before we are born?

[Belle]

Originally Posted by SpiritualSeer

Hi,

Newbie here, I just wanted to share my experience. In the past I had therapy to help deal with childhood & emotional issues, started with hypnosis therapy , and late last year I had few session of past life therapy. My experience is that several of the challenges I went through in my current past ( and pastlife) I choose before I was born. The session I had were wonderful because it helped me heal and also understand and accept the challenges in this lifetime. Although I would love to say I did not pick my parents, I am pretty confident that I did in order to learn lesson and move on.

SS

Indeed, well said. And, whilst we "pick" our parents for lessons, they also "pick" us.

The lessons might be borne out of wrongs needing to be righted or further developments or something to share. Or, we might simply be being used to enhance someone else's development.

I happen to think that if we do not manage to learn the lesson, it is deemed less that we have failed but more a case that perhaps the lesson was too much for us. And rather than having it delivered back to us in a more vehement way, perhaps it is delivered back to us more gently - smaller and simpler steps.

Hi all, another noob here. This is an older thread, but I have found it really interesting.

None of us knows anything for certain, because we can't trust our senses to not trick us. What's real, what isn't... And is time really linear? Methinks it's not. I came from a very traditional Christian background that taught all things metaphysical, psychic, etc. - unless they were explicitly pro-Christian - were satanic in nature. This includes any mention of past lives. I have outgrown these beliefs and I feel that, if there is a higher power (which I choose to believe), the concept of reincarnation would explain quite a lot. It fits very well into things my heart believed anyway. Like, for example, why a benevolent god would banish His child to hell for not learning how to tie his shoes on the first go. We all make mistakes; giving us multiple opportunities to get it right - all by ourselves, because that's the way children like to do things - is the mark of a wise, compassionate, and infinitely patient parent.

I can't follow a god that I could improve upon...or that I could be better than! I would be deeply disappointed in God if this was really the case, so I will give Him the benefit of the doubt.

And this brought me to another question: who/what exactly IS God, and what am I to Him? I think perhaps the modern church's most blundering failing is its opposition to the Children of God stepping up and claiming their divine birthright, opting instead to tell them how unworthy, frail, ugly, horrible, shameful they are, how they should spend the rest of eternity on their knees in prayerful gratitude. The alternative is to stand up like the royalty we are and stop groveling. "Lo I stand at the door and knock." means the Christ consciousness is already within us; we have but to acknowledge it.

This may seem like a tangent, but I'm just trying to make a point: we are not puppets to be played with. We are a part of God and God is a part of us. I am not A god. I am a part of the THE God. Anyone reading this is immortal beyond the body, and has access to the Source of all Light and Goodness and Wisdom. This part of us - this Christ consciousness - is the part that makes us worthy. The more we identify with it, the closer to God we become. Children of God are not puppets who are played with to amuse some psycho deity on a power trip. We are to God what raindrops are to the ocean; fragments, but made of the same stuff nonetheless. As such, we have some say in how things play out down here. We get to work with other souls to enhance and compound experiences. Each lifetime lived adds to the collective consciousness that is God. It's like God broke off pieces of Himself and turned them toward one another like mirrors so that he could see Himself in their reflections.

*Sigh* Sorry! I know it's wordy, but it's a hard concept to explain concisely. I believe people do choose the lives they live. We choose our roles like we're writing a play, and we decide which characters we're going to be. The way children play pretend. But we're brave little things to take on a mortal life because it can affect us so deeply. It's like giving a 2-year-old a flaming chainsaw and hoping he doesn't kill anyone with it. We are running with scissors down here, people. Our best bet is to play nice. The good news is that the worst thing that can happen is that our body will die. No, scratch that: the worst thing that can happen is that we wound the soul - either our own of that of someone else. 2nd worst thing is that we die. Then we wake up on the other side and step outside of the holodeck. Our guides and friends are there waiting for us saying, "So how was it?" and we reply by saying, "Holy ****, you know I totally forgot it wasn't really real! Wow, those meat-suits are disorienting."

I have a theory about young lives that are cut seemingly too short. The thing is, souls don't have an age, so the length of a life doesn't really matter. The objective is to get what they needed out of the lifetime, not necessarily to live long and prosper. Some short lives - infants who die within days, weeks or months of birth for example - are souls who are just stopping by to say hello and to share a short time with their loved ones on earth, or maybe they just changed their minds and realized that they weren't ready for another lifetime as they thought they were. Their brief presence also gifts the parents with a life challenge (grief) which they can use to grow. Or people who die as children: perhaps they had a particularly difficult lifetime before this one, one filled with abuse. Souls who are brave enough to choose a life with an abusive childhood (which offers incredible opportunity for growth) may choose to come back to enjoy the one thing they missed in their previous life: a childhood filled with people who will love them, care for them, and protect them. And that may be all they need to heal the hollow hurt that previous lifetime left.

I think too much, feel too much, see too much. In my next lifetime, I will probably die young, or live my entire life with a mental/intellectual disability that makes it impossible to do anything but just enjoy life...instead of overanalyzing it. What a relief that will be. Karma isn't a bad thing. It's just a natural pendulum. We choose its lessons, because we're one with it. The Higher Self understands its truth and wisdom, and there probably isn't even a question as to whether or not we would choose to fulfill a karmic lesson. We do it because we need to get the full spectrum of the experience.

[Native spirit]

Well all i can say i am walking my final path i will not be back and im glad about that.i have no desire to ever come back again,my guides have made themselves known to me from an early age.as i was born with my gifts.but i have had far from an easy life. so no i dont believe we choose our lives or our parents i didnt get on with mine at all


Namaste

[desert rat]

I dont know if this was covered on this thread , I did not read all the comments . To quote Dic* Sutphen " wisdom erasses karma " . The point is to regress back to past lives see what is there . Let go of pain , beliefs , forgive and be forgiven .

Sometimes just understanding why we are struggling in our current incarnation is enough to release the pain and move on. I believe we choose our parents and our life plan. It just feels right to me. I know, in my case, I knew the moment I got pregnant with my daughter, and knew exactly what she would look like before she was born. I dreamed of her for a long time before my pregnancy. I have always believed that we chose this life together between lives.

Originally Posted by Mystik

I know a guy who says that we chose our lives before we are born. He says in your past life you make a choice or enter a kind of contract to determine what your next life will be. However, he says that we forget what it is when we are born but he says it's already been determined. He referred to a book called "souls journey." He is using this book as a reference for his beliefs.

So anyway, I asked him to explain my cousin who could not walk or talk(because he had CP)and died at the age of 44. He said he must have done something in a previous life where he had to accept a life that was not "normal" in the next life. I am very skeptical of all this to be honest with you. He admits that we don't remember making these decisions yet he insists that we chose it. I said how can we make decisions if a baby can't make a decision and before you are born you are younger than a baby. He said that it is your soul and your soul is transfered through your genetics and dna or something like that. So this would mean that your previous self knew who your parents were going to be. If your previous self was alive it would have been the result of different parents so then how could you transfer from one set of parents to the genetics of two completely separate parents. Please help me to understand this. Just wondering also, if anyone really believes in this. I don't believe in free will 100 percent but I don't believe in determinism 100 percent either. However, this whole idea sounds like the ultimate form of predeterminism. I can't just say out of the blue that I want to do something that I have never done before like paint or ride a motorcycle or whatever? And if I did do these things it would mean that I already made that decision before I was born. Right?

One thing that is possible is that he chose to take on the body he did because it offered him ascention. In other words, if he was willing to take on a body no one would really want, and do the suffering involved, he could pass through and go on to the infinite right after that life. I think it is irresponsible to say he did something bad. Because one of the things is typically the human realm will offer the ability to not only pay off karmic debit, but also achieve enlightenment. Obviously being brain damaged he could not achieve enlightenment, but he could still know love in such a position. Something to be considered. But there is just no way to know the cause. Like say a baby starves to death, or dies of SIDS. How are we to know the cause of such a thing?I wish I could offer easy answers, but I do think we choose, but it is a mystery as to why.

Originally Posted by Native spirit

Well all i can say i am walking my final path i will not be back and im glad about that.i have no desire to ever come back again,my guides have made themselves known to me from an early age.as i was born with my gifts.but i have had far from an easy life. so no i dont believe we choose our lives or our parents i didnt get on with mine at all


Namaste

I dont know if we choose the whole shebang, but I do think we have some choices perhaps beforehand. But I do agree with you - I am so bleeping done! Dont get me wrong, I love life. But deep in my core, I feel very exhausted, and I want my rest. I feel I have traveled many times and my spiritual path as of now is about moving to the next level. I will learn all the lessons I need to in this life and move on.

[krishna]

No one chooses a life to lead before birth.
Karma is the sole cause of your next life.
Your next life is the effect.
In pure light and truth.
Krishna.

[Kaere]

I feel that we choose parents and family and situations that will present the best opportunities to experience what we want to experience. I feel that I wanted to experience forgiveness, really and truly experience it and understand it... and so I chose a situation or "life" that would give me many chances to practice and learn forgiveness from both sides.

It's quite remarkable.

[muileag]

I'm not going to pretend that I have any answers, but I will share a brief experience I had that directly relates to the original poster's question regarding whether or not his cousin did "something wrong/bad" in order to live a life with physical handicaps.

My brother went into a coma shortly after his birth and suffered brain damage. He has had to take a lot of medication throughout his life (he is now 46). I was two when he was born. My parents were told he would never walk or talk, but my mother fought for services that didn't exist at the time, and he is now functionally independent with supervision.

Growing up, I experienced a love/hate relationship with him. I stuck up for him when cruel children called us both retarded on the school bus, but often asked "Why me?" I sometimes wondered, "Why him?" But for the most part, I felt sorry for myself at times.

Being only two when he was born, I "missed out" on my mother's attention and became her confidante and emotional support. His birth set me on a path of self-reliance and helped me experience unconditional love and compassion. If it wasn't for him, I would never have thought to volunteer in a special ed classroom as a middle schooler and attend the Special Olympics, and I would never have had the soul-stretching experiencing of learning patience, understanding, acceptance, and gratitude.

I learned so much more from having him in my family, but I started out wanting to share just a brief "Aha" moment I shared with him:

My parents used to travel to their home in Florida for a few months every winter. I lived five hours from them (and my brother's group home) but I would drive down every other weekend so that I could take him to my parents' home because he was used to it. One Sunday, as I was getting him ready to drive home, I noticed that his toenails were incredibly disgusting. After his shower, I had him sit down so I could clip his long, jagged, and green-tinged nails (ewww, TMI)... all the time I muttered, sputtered, fumed that they should take better care of him, that it was their job not mine, blah, blah, blah. My brother hadn't said anything, so I looked up and he was looking down on me with this serene smile and as our eyes connected I knew that he was a "stronger" soul than I...wise, beautiful, caring, perfect. If anything, I "side" with those posters who said that often these soul group members contract with the rest of us to help us rise above our egos while we're here. If my brother did do something "wrong/bad" in a past life and that's why he suffered the situation that he did upon birth, then I am grateful that he came into my family so that I could grow right along side of him!

My father past away a year ago, and my mother has had her bladder removed because of cancer. She has been cancer-free for two years, but I had promised to take care of my brother (though I now live many states away from him) so I'm feeling drawn back to my home state. This has caused me a lot of concern and stress. I'm putting it in the hands of the universe as to when I should move. I have an older sister who lives near them, but she doesn't take on any responsibility, or perhaps because of her psychological make-up she just can't. I'm not sure. I do find it interesting that my astrologist friend said that my north node (life path, soul lessons to be learned) center around siblings.