summary statement 

Reincarnational doctrine (“R”) came to birth in the East, originally, as a tool of oppression and control, especially concerning women. Now transplanted in the West, but with a new sanitized, politically-correct facelift, it’s been adopted as a favorite party-platform of the New Age and Spiritualist movements.

Editor’s note: Many of the New Age and Spiritualist followers left traditional Big Religion hoping to find “the truth” within the psychic evidence of the afterlife. This was accomplished with partial success. Today, however, these two groups represent an odd, distasteful cocktail of occasional overlappings with things that are correct, but with a heavy injection of superstitious, unwarranted belief. These cultish true-believers too often are not interested in the facts about the “scientific evidence of post-mortem survival.” New Age-ism and Spiritualism, purveyors of dogmatism posing as knowledge, have now devolved to the status of “just another religion of the world.”

Why is the disgusting teaching of “R” so popular? The answer is, it offers everything a dysfunctional ego craves and dreams about. Allow me to recap and explain.

The “needy little ego,” the “small me,” is driven by an inner sense of “I don’t have enough” because, more fundamentally, “I am not enough.” This personal sense of inadequacy produces what Hoffer called “the spoiled self,” which the dysfunctional ego is subliminally led to be rid of. “R” provides a wonderful opportunity to annihilate “the spoiled self” by sending it back into the existential hopper of "many lives" in hopes that a next reconstitution of the self will be more to its liking.

In order to justify, to lend some threadbare logical credence to the fairy-tale of “R,” various supporting and second-level doctrines, in a spirit of “the joker is wild,” were invented on the fly. Let’s list some of the major delusions:

• Karma. We’re told we have to suffer for our past sins, but not in a manner of Jesus’ “last penny.” The universe, according to karma, strikes us as punitive in nature rather than educative.
• Time. The “little me” chants “I need more time to perfect myself.” What a godsend for it to embrace a doctrine which preaches umpteen thousand extra lives to enhance "the spoiled self." But perfection is not gained in time, rather in a timeless moment of clarity.

Everything that has a beginning is also subject to an ending.

But there exists a domain beyond the reach of time’s degradation. There, things simply exist, eternally, have always been, have no opposite, no duality, and do not suffer loss.

• Experience. “I need more experience to perfect myself,” cries the “little me”; indeed, hard-core devotees of “R” insist that nothing less than all experience is needed to put right the checkered self. This is wrong on several levels. Kant taught us that “there is no perception without apperception.” Experience per se does not mature the soul. And regarding “all experience,” well, good luck to us with that, as not even a duration of extra lives equaling the lifespan of the universe, or trillions of them, would give us “all experience.”
• Doing vs. Being. Closely allied with "experience," we find that proponents of "R" tend to glorify charitable service in a manner that degrades the sacred self. Nothing wrong with good works, of course, but it all goes awry when service is used to mask a sense of "I am not enough." Too much praise for service becomes an exaltation of "doing" over "being," which is pathological as only "being," that is, greater levels of consciousness, will help us advance, with more "doing," per se, availing nothing. Stated another way, the "little me ego" hates "being," because "being," more awareness, will be the end of it. Much better for the ego to lose and sedate itself in "doing."
• Content vs. Structure. Also associated with the foregoing discussion, adherents of "R" believe in "content" of the mind as paramount: "We need more knowledge," they say, "more experience, more lives, to effect a change in one's spiritual condition." But this is error. More "content," more knowledge, etc, is fine and good, and we should endeavor to become better educated, but the evolvement of the inner person, the soul, will be thwarted without a vital element, a "structural" change of one's being, a shifting toward higher levels of consciousness. When this occurs, it happens in a moment, a timeless moment of clarity.
• Memories. "Whose memories are they?" There is no such thing as "past lives." The memories which some people access are supplied by confused and malicious spirits seeking to enslave and injure hapless mortals. This vast army of pernicious discarnates numbers in the hundreds of millions or billions.
• Materialism. Though they may protest, proponents of “R” suffer not only from a materialistic view of life but in fact labor under a form of “earthbound” condition. “Materialistic” I say because, for all of their godtalk and platitudinous speak concerning spiritual advancement, they believe that a certain spatial place in the universe, performing outward deeds, over a certain duration of time, will become efficacious to the evolvement of one’s spirit. This materialistic conception of how life works issues in utter bankruptcy concerning the growth of the soul.

Nothing material, fundamentally, will have any effect whatsoever upon the soul. The maturity of the soul will not be achieved by offerings to karma, time, doing, and experience. None of this externality will mean a farthing. 

The soul will “open its eyes” when it’s ready to, on its own timetable, and that's that. Its spiritual sightedness may come to the sinner before it comes to the saint. You can't prod it, jump start it, or cajole it into action.

But, when it comes alive, ready or not, it will rouse itself in one blazing cosmic timeless moment of clarity. And it won't even say it's sorry as it upends your well-ordered life. Have a nice day.

my grandmother sent me a message saying "R" is real and so I know it's true 

Not uncommonly, one might encounter individuals who are psychologically connected to “R.” For them it’s become a religious doctrine, an infallible one, with which they’ve identified. This kind of strong attachment is sometimes buttressed with stories of “I received a message from my grandmother about reincarnation,” or “I heard a voice,” or “I know what I know, and no one could ever convince me otherwise, because I’ve had a deep premonition of living another life and being with another person.”

These sentiments are similar, in principle, to other kinds of religious experience, of the sort to be found in every church, sect, or denomination: “I was wearing my Saint Christopher and I know it saved me from the accident”; or, “Mother Mary came to me in a dream and she told me such-and-such, and it was very real, and I could never be talked out of this”; or, “I lost my keys and prayed to Saint Jude and found them in the next five minutes.”

What are we to make of all of this “evidence”? In my “Stars And Midnight Blue” article I list a dozen or so items, apparent truths, which, in times past, and in some quarters still today, the whole world believed to be real but have now been discredited:

“I saw the Sun rise in the east this morning. We can see the Sun moving across the sky. Obviously, it’s going around the Earth. What could be more plain and clear?” But we are deceived.

Twinkling points of light peering at us from a midnight-blue canvas seem to be firmly fixed (which is why the ancients used the term "firmament"), like raisins stuck in a pudding. “The stars are guardian angels looking down upon us.” But we are deceived.

Some days the sky seems so inviting with its endless depths of royal-majesty blue; and the wheat-fields of burnished gold rise up to command our attention. But the sky is not made of blue electrons, and the wheat-fields know nothing of golden sub-atomic particles. Light reaching the eyes comes in various degrees of frequency which the brain translates as color. But this is illusion. Color exists only in the mind as editorial comment. We are deceived.

We might go on and on with examples of how we are deceived – things that people have sworn by, and many still do, but it’s all illusion, poor judgment, and lack of better knowledge.

And, of course, the grand-daddy of all illusion comes to us in the “Double Slit Experiment.” What we believe to be hard matter, upon close inspection, disappears into a nothingness. We are utterly deceived by a philosophy of materialism.

You will want to study these things to gain a better perspective of reality. But, meanwhile, back at reincarnational theory, people are very sure and very certain that “R” is true. However, like the rooster that is convinced that it’s crowing causes the sun to rise every morning, we are required to go deeper to access the truth.

There are better explanations for various psychic phenomena than “R.” We are deceived. We need to get the facts and go much deeper.

One more comment on the argument that “I heard a voice, I had a feeling, I had a premonition,” and the like. We need to put to a test the impressions and “messages” that come to us to determine if they represent reality. Even the New Testament offers the cautionary statement, “Test the spirits whether they be of God.” Dark and mischievous discarnates, ones who have refused to go to the Light, will maliciously feed bad information to those operating on the level of "the false self." It's fake news. And the dark spirits just love to make fools of people this way.

In my writings on authentic romantic love, I address the issue of how people come to believe that they should marry a certain person. They might base their decision on a feeling, a premonition, an intuition, or the like. And some people are very sure, but 99% and more of these confident ones will live to see that they were dead wrong.

Romantic love has its attractors of the body, the mind, and the soul. I address this in “K & E VIII.” The pleasures of the body, while very insistent, are but temporary in nature; those of the mind, too, are untrustworthy guides in determining the identity of one’s sacred beloved. It is only the affinities of the soul, a sense of an inner, deepest similarity, which might be relied upon to give us an accurate reading.

And how shall we obtain this accurate reading? By going within, by accessing the “true self” not the “false self.”

We must come to understand that purported internal guidance systems, the “messages” that people receive regarding “R,” find origin and applause in the “false self,” the base passions of fear and psychological neediness. Yes, it will all seem real and convincing at the time, just as John and Mary are convinced that what they have will endure, only to witness its untimely demise, the “nasty habit of disappearing overnight.” We need to go much deeper.

The bottom-line is this: the most authentic and reliable method of determined “the truth,” not just of “R” but of everything – a mode of enquiry to be used even in the next worlds, and for the next million years and beyond – will be that of accessing the whisperings of deepest self, the “true self.”

And when we leave the shallow perceptions at the surface of life, and take this journey to the center of personhood, we will discover, issuing from that core of eternal being, a living and pulsating sense of what's real, right down inside of you. And, regarding "R," we will feel and perceive an utter abhorrence, an overwhelming rejection, of any notion of coming back to this hell-hole world and giving up even the smallest atom of what we’ve achieved and made of ouselves, to date.

The determination, a realization, of both your eternal mate's identity and your eternal mode of spiritual evolution, will come to you, not by the ego-expedient of “choice,” but by an inner alignment, an attunement, with Universal Intelligence. And if we try to choose a particular fancied alternate route regarding either of these, we'll get it wrong.

And for those who insist that they received an infallible message from Grandma to the contrary, I will just say that Grandma might have some homework to hand in, too. Many confused spirits on the lower levels of the astral realms believe in "R." Don’t follow her into the mosh-pit of delusion, as you, if you keep your wits about you, may be called upon to direct her into a better path.

determining authenticity via the touchstone method

In times past, since the ancient Greek and Indus Valley civilizations, the authenticity of gold was affirmed by the touchstone test.

The metal in question would be used to “touch” or draw upon an abrasive black siliceous stone. The resultant detritus would be compared to that of a sample of verified purity.

In other words, the genuineness of a tested precious metal would be determined by comparing it to a known and trusted standard.

what is our touchstone standard

Nearly 100% of the peoples of planet Earth are engaged in some form of cultism. This means that the average person does not think for him or herself but relies on and is led by some external authority – be it in the political, religious, corporate, academic, or scientific-materialistic context.

Those who adopt belief-systems as an attempt to fill up the existential neediness within, the sense of “I don’t have enough” because “I am not enough,” will likely spend some time in “dark detention” upon crossing over. During this period of mandated solitude, one will be required to finally become an honest and thoughtful person, before moving on to the real world, the Summerland home world.

But if we cannot, or should not, rely on infallible gurus, any external authority as final word, to legislate our sense of morality, then how might we craft for ourselves a path to truth?

the internal resonance

We must go within. That’s where the touchstone is, our personal guidance system. That’s where the “true self,” the part of us linked to God, resides. And when we mentally compare any proposed action in life to the “made in the image” standard within, to the touchstone within, we will sense the authenticity and rightness, or lack thereof, concerning any debated course for ourselves.

Why is there an internal resonance with the truth? This is so because, as we’ve learned, the deeper sacred person is linked to God, to Universal Intelligence. It knows its own. The dysfunctional ego, nearer the surface of personality, enjoys no resonance with, can never obtain, a sense of certainty regarding what’s real.

Editor’s note: Upon crossing over to the next world, we will not suddenly be imbued with all knowledge and wisdom. Over there, they debate the existence of God and the validity of “R” just as we do in this world.

The “touchstone test” is all we’ll ever have to determine truth. There is no other way; even a million years from now, without “going within,” there will be those still preaching “R.”

Editor's note:

We would do well to consider the channeled information via Charlotte Dresser:

"Good and evil have gone on together since the world began, and it is still a conflict even on this plane. It is for the wise ones of earth to recognize the truth in the teaching from here, and to discard that which is not true. Learn to discriminate. Learn to discover the spirit beneath the words, and judge of its sincerity by its spiritual value.”

"Be critical, but be patient and fair-minded. Cast out everything that proves to be a mistake."

In the end, our own rational faculties, and a resonance with an inner revulsion of "R," become final teachers on this question.

There are many of these dysfunctional ones. Read about them in the article, "500 tape-recorded messages from the other side."

Trust your inner guidance. Believe it when it decries the distasteful prospect of returning to the troubled Earth. Do not be deceived by psychologically deformed so-called teachers over there who preach "R."

To restate, we must learn to trust ourselves – our true selves, not the chattering-ego part of ourselves. If we learn to do this the right way, it’s not really possible to lead oneself astray.

Do not be intimidated by churches, institutions, teachers – even on the other side – or famous psychic-mediums, who preach reincarnation. Trust the inner-whisperings of the true self.

It happens, too often, that one might be a good medium but not necessarily led by the highest energies. Mediumship is just a form of “radio receiver,” a conduit of discarnate messages. It’s valuable, but not supremely valuable. What is utterly valuable is accessing one’s “internal guidance,” one’s “soul energies,” linked to God. It will provide a new “sixth sense” to direct your life, now and in ages to come. This is not psychic-mediumship but altogether different in kind, of a higher grade, more precious. If we learn to do this in the right way, we cannot be led astray, and even though a whole world of psychic-mediumship might swear to “R,” it won’t mean a thing.

Trust yourself. This is the message I got over and over again, when I first began to receive communications from Spirit Guides.

Editor's last word: