Reincarnation and responsibility; Why this is our dinner table conversation

Reincarnation is one of those conversation topics that, in the West at least, no one really talks about openly or in public. And certainly not to children. Or at the dinner and lunch table for that matter.

Why is this so? And why do we just accept it?

To answer this, we can backtrack and recall a few key moments from childhood and young adulthood. Perhaps others have had similar experiences. As a child, I heard adults allude to reincarnation only occasionally, and even then it was in passing or in dismissive tones with phrases such as:

‘She’s an old soul’ – to explain wisdom not befitting a child’s age
‘It must be a past life thing’ – to explain a coincidence, ‘odd’ feeling or inexplicable event
‘Don’t do that! You’ll come back as an ant! – when a child had been naughty
‘What an imagination!’ – if something reincarnation related was too close to the bone

There were also tantalising snippets of songs that casually referenced the afterlife or rebirth, but never gave full or satisfying explanations… I remember hearing Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll meet again’ and instantly ‘knowing’ those wartime soldiers, facing almost certain death, would not be meeting their loved ones again in that life… but maybe another?

As a very small child of 5, I felt that I was simply ‘waiting’ for my young body to grow up so I could be taken seriously and show all the arrogant adults I really did just ‘know’ about life. They did not need to painstakingly hammer it into me blow by blow, at home and then at school, university, work – you get the picture! I felt much, much bigger on the inside than the outside – but this did not matter at all in the ‘real’ world… Perhaps others have had this experience too.

But in the end, that ‘hammering’ is exactly what happened. Amidst a whirl of relentless school and social distractions, striving and parent-pleasing I simply forgot that Reincarnation mattered or was a fundamental part of ‘me’.

The fact of reincarnation was a feeling in my body that could be numbed but would just not go away.

Eventually, no amount of social taboo or schoolyard ridicule could quench my thirst. It would resurface when I visited various places (Northern Pakistan, Southern Italy), or read about epochs (Ancient Greece) where every particle in my body recognised the clothes, customs or language. Yet the libraries had no easy reading to hand on this subject – unless of course I wanted to learn ancient Sanskrit or become Buddhist… and neither of those options felt simple or appealing to my teenage self. Just a few symbolic Egyptian pictures and some wistful afterlife poetry were all I had to hang on to.

Then in my 20’s the internet arrived – Hallelujah! But to my disappointment the same dismissive or sensationalist attitudes regarding Reincarnation pervaded cyberspace as they had my childhood. Endless chat forums of people reliving snippets of past lives (none of them ants) provided a palpable sense of group relief – but not much more. Then there were the multitude of professionals like Dr Ian Stevenson quietly and earnestly researching hundreds of Reincarnation cases in both East and West for valued scientific publication.^[1] Again, never going into the how or why of it all.

And of course, who could miss the ‘trend’ of TV chat show Reincarnation stories of the 1990’s, peppered with tantalising details – but strictly for entertainment purposes only. No, in the early 21st century, movies like ‘Cloud Atlas’ (for adults) and ‘A Dog’s Purpose’ (for children) show plainly how it ‘might’ work, but shy well away from mentioning the ‘R’ word, or indeed linking it to any true responsibility.

So I started to ask:

Why was no-one putting reincarnation front and centre for humanity to seriously consider?
Why was it all being hidden in plain sight – only to be casually dismissed?
And crucially: Why no conversation regarding the true purpose of reincarnation?

This is when the penny dropped for me.

Surely if Reincarnation was true, our level of responsibility as one species, re-incarnating onto the same planet for aeons, would have to undergo a massive and sustained change?

And, if this were the case, as I felt it to be, not talking about it amongst ourselves or with our children would be an excellent way of avoiding both personal and group responsibility.

In truth it would be a foolproof method for keeping the status quo – so that individual and social waywardness continued abated and unexamined. A proverbial ‘Elephant in the Room’.

What if, as taught by the Ageless Wisdom, the cycle of Reincarnation is simply a loving way to re-learn how to BE and emanate Love in this multi-universe. And to truly BE the responsible embodiment of that Love – devoid of imposed ideals, beliefs or expected individuality. No alien theory, no insects, no sensationalism or human judgements. Just endless loving cycles of Space – and Time, our handy marker of choice – to get us back to a Divine source of energy we once separated from.

So… back to those dinner table conversations.

There are many examples of children who have connected with ‘past lives’ and communicated this to their parents. To use us as an example, we now have children who described past life experiences as toddlers before they could even talk in sentences. When this occurred, something in me just could not repeat the abusive cycle of lies, ridicule, cover-ups and non-verbal ‘permission denied’ signs I had endured as a child.

So we honoured their words when they recounted dreams, spoke of being ‘shot to death’ in a war, described places they had lived or feelings about people they’d known before. And by openly recounting my own past-life feelings, I gave them permission to consider more deeply the purpose of Reincarnation for us all.

What does talking about Reincarnation do for a child? It allows them to feel their ‘inside space’, the knowing that external education is not ‘it’ and that their true family is everywhere. It invites them to consider themselves outside of Time, within a bigger Cycle, which frees them from imposing expectations like ‘this life is all you get’. It lets them know they are not small, insignificant or helpless, for they have done it all before a thousand times over and more in different bodies, epochs and circumstances.

And the miracle is/was, that this simple act of honouring our children’s expression became the new ‘normal’ at our dinner and breakfast tables. The children naturally became aware of the responsibility that reincarnation offers us all to ‘choose differently’ or ‘more lovingly’ in each life – whether that means standing up for the truth of a situation instead of silently contracting away while others suffer, choosing to break a pattern of self-abuse, or letting go of hurts that feel older than one life.

Through this, the family started to expand and grow in awareness simply by acknowledging Reincarnation has a purpose that guides each of us and all of us. And more than that, by bringing others into this ‘normal’ dinner table discussion, the permission to engage openly with Reincarnation and its purpose, is shared. Not as entertainment, not as a relief, but as loving inspiration – to choose or leave.

Reincarnation and its overarching, rebalancing law Karma, are simply expressions of Divine Love presented back to us, again and again, until we get it and live it to our fullest. It is a hot-wire to awareness, and that is why talking about it matters.

According to recent survey, over 50% of the world’s population believes Reincarnation exists.^[2] It was/is good enough for the tables of our ancient humans and current Eastern cultures, so why shouldn’t we all give Reincarnation more airspace in our dinner, lunch and breakfast table conversations?

We all see the way our world is – the socio-political chaos, the rampant people manipulation, the extreme fear and protection. And Reincarnation holds the key to unlocking that vicious cycle. Why would we not want to discuss something of that magnitude, responsibility and power with our children and each other?

Consider that – whether you believe in re-incarnation or not, you will reincarnate. And because the Law of Re-Birth is inexorably tied to the Law of Cause and Effect, a combination that is designed to help you evolve back to the Divinity you are originally from, and one that keeps the Universe in evolving Harmony, whatever we do , say and think awaits us on our return
Serge Benhayon Esoteric Teachings & Revelations Volume II, ed 1, p 313

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