Post by Laurasia on Mar 23, 2005 13:26:55 GMT -5
Lesson 1 - Awakening Memories (The exercises are at
the end of the chapter.)
Just the briefest reflection will tell us that we
respond differently because WE are different. As
individuals with unique experiences & memories, we go
through life responding to the world around us on the
basis of what we've seen, done & felt in the past.
In the same way that we are constantly
unconsciously associating sounds around us with
earlier memories from this lifetime, we may also be
reacting to stimulation that triggers past-life
emotions & attitudes. Becoming aware of these
automatic responses to sounds, sights & experiences is
one vert fruitful way to uncover memories of previous
lives.
Most of the time, such reaction arise without any
obvious connection to a specific set of past-life
circumstances. In order to get an idea of their
origin, we must observe them carefully & consider them
in conjunction with other clues to our remote past. In
other instances, an automatic response of this sort
can evoke a definate readily identifiable experinece
from an earlier incarnation. According to the
information in the Edgar Cayce readings, the recall
that comes when we spontaneously react to events in
this life is perhaps the most accurate memory of all.
At times these memories, or fractions of memories,
seem to be like pieces of film that have been inserted
somehow into our normal thoughts - bits & pieces of
memory that fleetingly pass through our mind as we go
about our daily routines. Sometimes they catch our
attention; often they go almost unnoticed.
Those who are lucky enough to be able to travel to
other countries often tell of unusual happenings that
may be related to memories from the distant past. Some
people experience a vague sense of having been there
before. Others feel a sense of belonging, a sense of
peace, as if they were coming home. Many travelers
find that they have an unexplainably acute sense of
direction. They know what is around the next bend,
know what is down that certain side street. Still
others experience uneasiness, tingling sensations, or
despair; some even find themselves crying intensely
for no apparent reason.
It seems as if our interest in & fondness for
certain countries might also indicate a past-life in
those places. Even circumstances beyond our control,
such as a business trip, a military assignment, or a
chance layover, give us opportunities to open the door
to old memories. Maybe we "just happen" to travel to
countries where we have lived before.
Movies & television provide an opportunity for each
of us to travel to far-off places. In addition to
documentaries & travelogues, the authentic backgrounds
to many historical movies & on-location programs
enable us to steep ourselves in other cultures &
customs. All of this serves to kindle in us sparks of
memories.
Books & stories also have a way of reaching us &
transporting us to other countries & other periods of
time. We can pick up valuable clues as to where we
might have spent some of our prior lifetimes by
noticing the types of countries we like to read about.
Sometimes we can start with a hint of a past-life
experience & then expand that inkling through study.
One person who has worked with recalling former
incarnations finds that her dreams will suggest
countries she has lived in. She enjoys learning the
languages of those countries & finds that she
encourages further rememberance by doing so.
Whenever you feel that you have had an experience
in a certain time or place, use your imagination to
fill in the details of those past-lives.
*******************************************************
EXERCISE A
Without even being aware of it, most of us have
definate feelings about certain places. Of course,
this could be the product of earlier conditioning in
the present lifetime. But often the roots go deeper
than that.
Let's get in touch with your feelings & your
imagination now. Take a few moments to consider this
question:
If you could visit any foreign counrty in the
world, where would you go?
Now, if you have your place to visit in mind, it is
time to use your imagination to fill in some of the
details of what you would expect to find there. Take
as much time as you need to let your mind explore.
Don't worry about the accuracy of your image of this
country; what's important is WHAT YOU EXPECT TO FIND.
Allow yourself to free-associate, & cover a wide-range
of areas of life. When you are through constructing
your mental picture of your chosen country, answer
that following questions:
1) Where did you choose to visit?
2) List some of the things you imagined that you would
find there. Let yourself come up with a ariety of
impressions froma number of different facets of life.
Consider such things as places, objects, moods, types
of people, colors, painting & architecture, music, &
any other aspects of this counrty that suggest
themselves to your imagination.
3) List some of the feelings these things awaken in
you. Do you find a range of feelings - some good, some
not so good?
4) What stories have you ever read about this place?
How did they make you feel?
5) Do you like movies &/or television programs set in
this country? Note any that stand out & the emotions
they evoke in you.
6) Do you associate certain foods with this country? D
you have a taste for these foods?
7) Are there items in your home that remond you of
this place? What are they, & where in your home are
they located?
8) Are there other areas in your life in which an
interest in this country is expressed? Consider such
items as articles of clothing & other elements of
persoanl adornment (hairstyle, for example), a liking
for the music that you associate with this country, an
interest in reading non-fiction books or news items
about it, an enjoyment of museum exhibits or other
cultural displays that portray this area. etc?
9) have you ever known people who have travelled to
this country, who have lived there for a period of
time, or who were born there? How did you feel about
these people & about their relationships with them?
10) Have you ever visited this country yourself? If
so, list a view of your strongest impressions from
your trip. If not, list some of the things you
associate with this area that make you feel you would
like to go there.
11) Is there any particular period from this countries
history that holds a special interest for you?
12) Take a few moments to make up a little story about
the type of person you might have been if you had
lived in this country during a previous lifetime. Once
again, rely on your imagination rather than your
factual knowledge of the area to fill in the details.
Allow your mind to free-associate & explore a wide
scope of possibilities. When you've made up your
story, you might want to jot it down for future
reference.
13) Are there any other comments you'd like to make
concerning this exercise?
Were there some questions that you were unable to
answer? Sometimes the questions we cannot answer are
as important as those we can readily answer. Often,
for example, people report that they don't know what
foods come from the countries they've chosen. This is
a good opportunity to use the imagination & try to see
what comes spontaneously to mind. Another possible
approach is to use this uncertainty as a point of
study. If your past-life puzzle pieces start to point
to a specific country, this might be a good reason to
explore the foods of that country, perhaps through
reading & studying, learning a new type of recipe, or
even broadening your range of restaurants for a
special night out.
*******************************************************
EXERCISE 2
Let's try another exercise in imagination, but this
time we'll stay in our native country. Think about the
following question:
If you could visit anywhere in your own country,
where would you go?
*Repeat the same questions as you used in exercise
1, & apply them to this new area of interest.*
*******************************************************
Many people find that these two excerises yield a
lot of memories, feelings & observations. Processing
them is one of the most important parts of this
exercise. There are several possible ways of doing so.
If you are working on the course with a group of
people or with a friend, or if you are working alone &
have a mate or trusted companion with whom you can
share some of your past-life clues, this may be a good
time to stop reading for a while & talk about some of
your feelings. If you are more comfortable working
alone, you may find several ways to reflect upon your
responses to this workshop. Maybe you'd just like to
allow yourself to relax & let your mind drift. You may
want to close youe eyes & take a nap. You may prefer
to write a few paragraphs about your experience. Or
maybe you'd rather write a letter to an imaginary
friend relating some of the feelings & clues you've
discovered in your preferences for certain areas & i
the stories you've made up.
In analyzing your responses, be sure to look for
tendencies that are similar to current-day situations.
Our stories can also present very useful
suggestions to us when they portray conditions that do
not parallel those in our daily lives.
When awakening memories from any past experience,
you need to use good judgment & discretion as to what
you choose to awaken. If a certain rememberance brings
hopefulness & helpfulness into your experience, try to
incorporate it into your lifestyle. If memories are
brought out that are not helpful to you in this
lifetime, lay them aside. Past-life memories & talents
are est used to enhance the present life. You should
not use them as escapism or as a detour from the road
that you have chosen for yourself in this lifetime.
Sincerely,
Laurasia
the end of the chapter.)
Just the briefest reflection will tell us that we
respond differently because WE are different. As
individuals with unique experiences & memories, we go
through life responding to the world around us on the
basis of what we've seen, done & felt in the past.
In the same way that we are constantly
unconsciously associating sounds around us with
earlier memories from this lifetime, we may also be
reacting to stimulation that triggers past-life
emotions & attitudes. Becoming aware of these
automatic responses to sounds, sights & experiences is
one vert fruitful way to uncover memories of previous
lives.
Most of the time, such reaction arise without any
obvious connection to a specific set of past-life
circumstances. In order to get an idea of their
origin, we must observe them carefully & consider them
in conjunction with other clues to our remote past. In
other instances, an automatic response of this sort
can evoke a definate readily identifiable experinece
from an earlier incarnation. According to the
information in the Edgar Cayce readings, the recall
that comes when we spontaneously react to events in
this life is perhaps the most accurate memory of all.
At times these memories, or fractions of memories,
seem to be like pieces of film that have been inserted
somehow into our normal thoughts - bits & pieces of
memory that fleetingly pass through our mind as we go
about our daily routines. Sometimes they catch our
attention; often they go almost unnoticed.
Those who are lucky enough to be able to travel to
other countries often tell of unusual happenings that
may be related to memories from the distant past. Some
people experience a vague sense of having been there
before. Others feel a sense of belonging, a sense of
peace, as if they were coming home. Many travelers
find that they have an unexplainably acute sense of
direction. They know what is around the next bend,
know what is down that certain side street. Still
others experience uneasiness, tingling sensations, or
despair; some even find themselves crying intensely
for no apparent reason.
It seems as if our interest in & fondness for
certain countries might also indicate a past-life in
those places. Even circumstances beyond our control,
such as a business trip, a military assignment, or a
chance layover, give us opportunities to open the door
to old memories. Maybe we "just happen" to travel to
countries where we have lived before.
Movies & television provide an opportunity for each
of us to travel to far-off places. In addition to
documentaries & travelogues, the authentic backgrounds
to many historical movies & on-location programs
enable us to steep ourselves in other cultures &
customs. All of this serves to kindle in us sparks of
memories.
Books & stories also have a way of reaching us &
transporting us to other countries & other periods of
time. We can pick up valuable clues as to where we
might have spent some of our prior lifetimes by
noticing the types of countries we like to read about.
Sometimes we can start with a hint of a past-life
experience & then expand that inkling through study.
One person who has worked with recalling former
incarnations finds that her dreams will suggest
countries she has lived in. She enjoys learning the
languages of those countries & finds that she
encourages further rememberance by doing so.
Whenever you feel that you have had an experience
in a certain time or place, use your imagination to
fill in the details of those past-lives.
*******************************************************
EXERCISE A
Without even being aware of it, most of us have
definate feelings about certain places. Of course,
this could be the product of earlier conditioning in
the present lifetime. But often the roots go deeper
than that.
Let's get in touch with your feelings & your
imagination now. Take a few moments to consider this
question:
If you could visit any foreign counrty in the
world, where would you go?
Now, if you have your place to visit in mind, it is
time to use your imagination to fill in some of the
details of what you would expect to find there. Take
as much time as you need to let your mind explore.
Don't worry about the accuracy of your image of this
country; what's important is WHAT YOU EXPECT TO FIND.
Allow yourself to free-associate, & cover a wide-range
of areas of life. When you are through constructing
your mental picture of your chosen country, answer
that following questions:
1) Where did you choose to visit?
2) List some of the things you imagined that you would
find there. Let yourself come up with a ariety of
impressions froma number of different facets of life.
Consider such things as places, objects, moods, types
of people, colors, painting & architecture, music, &
any other aspects of this counrty that suggest
themselves to your imagination.
3) List some of the feelings these things awaken in
you. Do you find a range of feelings - some good, some
not so good?
4) What stories have you ever read about this place?
How did they make you feel?
5) Do you like movies &/or television programs set in
this country? Note any that stand out & the emotions
they evoke in you.
6) Do you associate certain foods with this country? D
you have a taste for these foods?
7) Are there items in your home that remond you of
this place? What are they, & where in your home are
they located?
8) Are there other areas in your life in which an
interest in this country is expressed? Consider such
items as articles of clothing & other elements of
persoanl adornment (hairstyle, for example), a liking
for the music that you associate with this country, an
interest in reading non-fiction books or news items
about it, an enjoyment of museum exhibits or other
cultural displays that portray this area. etc?
9) have you ever known people who have travelled to
this country, who have lived there for a period of
time, or who were born there? How did you feel about
these people & about their relationships with them?
10) Have you ever visited this country yourself? If
so, list a view of your strongest impressions from
your trip. If not, list some of the things you
associate with this area that make you feel you would
like to go there.
11) Is there any particular period from this countries
history that holds a special interest for you?
12) Take a few moments to make up a little story about
the type of person you might have been if you had
lived in this country during a previous lifetime. Once
again, rely on your imagination rather than your
factual knowledge of the area to fill in the details.
Allow your mind to free-associate & explore a wide
scope of possibilities. When you've made up your
story, you might want to jot it down for future
reference.
13) Are there any other comments you'd like to make
concerning this exercise?
Were there some questions that you were unable to
answer? Sometimes the questions we cannot answer are
as important as those we can readily answer. Often,
for example, people report that they don't know what
foods come from the countries they've chosen. This is
a good opportunity to use the imagination & try to see
what comes spontaneously to mind. Another possible
approach is to use this uncertainty as a point of
study. If your past-life puzzle pieces start to point
to a specific country, this might be a good reason to
explore the foods of that country, perhaps through
reading & studying, learning a new type of recipe, or
even broadening your range of restaurants for a
special night out.
*******************************************************
EXERCISE 2
Let's try another exercise in imagination, but this
time we'll stay in our native country. Think about the
following question:
If you could visit anywhere in your own country,
where would you go?
*Repeat the same questions as you used in exercise
1, & apply them to this new area of interest.*
*******************************************************
Many people find that these two excerises yield a
lot of memories, feelings & observations. Processing
them is one of the most important parts of this
exercise. There are several possible ways of doing so.
If you are working on the course with a group of
people or with a friend, or if you are working alone &
have a mate or trusted companion with whom you can
share some of your past-life clues, this may be a good
time to stop reading for a while & talk about some of
your feelings. If you are more comfortable working
alone, you may find several ways to reflect upon your
responses to this workshop. Maybe you'd just like to
allow yourself to relax & let your mind drift. You may
want to close youe eyes & take a nap. You may prefer
to write a few paragraphs about your experience. Or
maybe you'd rather write a letter to an imaginary
friend relating some of the feelings & clues you've
discovered in your preferences for certain areas & i
the stories you've made up.
In analyzing your responses, be sure to look for
tendencies that are similar to current-day situations.
Our stories can also present very useful
suggestions to us when they portray conditions that do
not parallel those in our daily lives.
When awakening memories from any past experience,
you need to use good judgment & discretion as to what
you choose to awaken. If a certain rememberance brings
hopefulness & helpfulness into your experience, try to
incorporate it into your lifestyle. If memories are
brought out that are not helpful to you in this
lifetime, lay them aside. Past-life memories & talents
are est used to enhance the present life. You should
not use them as escapism or as a detour from the road
that you have chosen for yourself in this lifetime.
Sincerely,
Laurasia
