Who Were You in a Past Life? Find Out in 10 Easy Steps
Simply defined, reincarnation is “the religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after biological death, begins a new life in a new body that may be human, animal, or spiritual depending on the moral quality of the previous life’s actions. This doctrine is a central tenet of the Indian religions.
It is also a common belief of various ancient and modern religions such as Spiritism, Theosophy, and Eckankar, and is found in many tribal societies around the world, in places such as Siberia, West Africa, North America, and Australia.” If this is to be taken as true, there is an untold amount of knowledge a person could possess, if only she could recollect what happened in the years past.
So, is there such a thing as reincarnation? There are many signs that point to the answer as “Yes” in your life. They could be an affinity for foreign culture, inexplicable pains that have your doctors stumped, strange birthmarks; certainly, these signs could be explained away by medical, psychological, or societal experts. Having them in your life does not necessarily mean that they can be attributed to a past life. However, the idea that we all have lived before and will live again is one that holds tremendous potential.
What exactly could you remember or learn? You’ll never know until you try this process to remember. You may be amazed at what you can find.
1. Prep the Room:
Make yourself comfortable. Set the temperature at your perfect warmth or coolness. Adjust the curtains so they aren’t too bright. Silence any pesky noise-makers, like the TV, radio, your cell phone. If you have a noise generator, turn it onto a peaceful setting just loud enough to cover up outside noise, but not so loud that you will be distracted. A white noise setting is optimal, but something calming like the sounds of the beach work well, as well.
2. Relax Your Mind:
It’s time to find a place of inner calm. Sit comfortably in the room you’ve so carefully prepared. The best time to do this is when you are alert, but your mind and body are calm. Make sure you aren’t hungry or easily distracted, to ensure that you will be able to focus on anything but your rumbling tummy!
3. Relax Your Body:
Pay special attention to the pose you are deciding on, whether you choose to lay comfortably on your bed, in a relaxing chair, or on the floor. Before you begin your journey, take a moment to relax and unwind.
4. Protect Yourself:
It is essential you take this step, since you will be opening yourself up to spiritual energy. Be sure that you put your guard up against and cleanse any negative forces. To begin, close your eyes and make sure you’re comfortable. Lie on your back, with your hands at your sides, and protect yourself with a visualized light.
Imagine a white, enveloping light all around you. See it in your mind’s eye slowly moving up and covering your entire body, from your feet, legs, knees, thighs, torso and arms, neck, and face to the crown of your head. Remember that this white light is protecting you from all negative influences. It represents love and warmth and enlightenment in a dazzling mistiness all around you, cocooning you in its brilliant light. Feel its warmth, and invite it to wash over you. Repeat to yourself, either in words or intent, “I am breathing in powerful protective energy. This energy is building an aura of protection around me. This aura protects me at all times in every way.” Say this to yourself five times for five inhales.
After this, concentrate on visualizing and feeling the energy, making it brighter and more powerful as you focus on it. Use the next color that comes to mind to tint the light, and repeat until you feel calm, comfortable, and ready to take the next step. There’s no rush.
5. Create Your Hallway:
It’s time to start your journey. You will be using the tool of visualization. Imagine yourself in a long hallway, with a large door at the end. See this hallway in as much detail as you can, whatever comes to mind, no matter what color it is, what it’s made of, the design of it, whether it’s decorated…it’s all up to you. Construct it in your mind, but be sure to remember it. You will be using it each time you seek a past life. Imagine this hallway with the expectation that when you get to the end, when you reach the big door and turn the knob, you will discover a past life.
6. Proceed Down Your Hallway:
Make each step count. Take each and every one of them with purpose, and focus on the steps themselves. Watch your feet touch the ground, visualizing every aspect of your journey as you approach the door at the end of the hall. Envision this place with all of your senses, from the smell of the room to the sounds of your environment. When you do get to the end (having taken your time carefully and not rushing yourself; there’s no hurry), take hold of the doorknob. See yourself doing it, and again focus on this action very carefully. Note the texture of the knob, the sound of the mechanism as you turn it, and the warmth or coolness of it. When the bolt is disengaged, take a breath, and give the door a gentle push.
7. Welcome a Past Life:
No matter what you see when you open the door, accept it as something something from your previous planes of existence. Again, it doesn’t matter what it is, whether it’s a simple color or an entire scene. However, take whatever you see as the foundation. Build upon it. Feel it. Hold the imagery in your mind and open up to it, accepting anything that arises in your mind. The color could merge into a specific object, like a blanket or a wall. The scene might evolve as you go deeper into your vision, and give you clues as to when you are and where. You could be thinking that you’re just imagining things at this point, but give yourself credit and truly believe that you are remembering a past life.
8. Be Patient:
You could see absolutely nothing, and that’s perfectly okay. It’s time to refocus your mind even more. Think about a specific thing you’ve always loved doing, whether it’s a hobby, skill, or destination. Ask yourself these questions, “Why do I like this? Can this be past-life related?”
Still got nothing? There is a “shoe method” for this. Look at your feet in your visualization. Focus on the first pair of shoes you see yourself wearing. You might see sandals, and then realize you’re wearing a tunic. You might see little pointy shoes, and realize you’re wearing a big silk gown. Keep going with it.
Once you’ve remembered something—even if it’s just a pair of shoes—and if you’re pretty certain there’s a grain of truth to it, you can start your next meditation from there.
Always begin each session with something you’ve already seen. Always work from the known to the unknown.
9. Accept What You See:
Acceptance of what you experience is absolutely key. The doubt may be really niggling into your brain at this point. “Am I actually experiencing the past, or am I just making things up?” Of course, on some occasions, you might be creating things in your head from out of the blue. However, this is part of the process. These visions almost always have a shred of truth at their core. You will only know for certain when you’ve done a significant number of past-life meditations, and you begin to see patterns and details repeated over and over again.
And if you don’t like what you saw, clearly there is nothing you can do to alter the lives you’ve already lived. It is entirely in the past.
In the meantime, you must choose to believe that what you see is genuine; if you don’t, you will never get anywhere. Your analytical mind will simply shoot down every image as a product of your overeager imagination.
10. Come Back to the Present:
This step usually occurs on its own. It gets tiring keeping up this visualization. Let it fade when it needs to. This will happen when the images stop coming, or your analytical, disbelieving mind starts taking over. This is the point when it’s okay to open your eyes and stay in the present.
However, you can also control your departure. If you’re ready to leave your past life, just picture that doorway where you began. Open the door, and walk down the length of the hallway you constructed.
About the Author
Philip K. Dick's Communication with Valis and the Evolution of Humanity
Valis, Philip K. Dick, and the Evolution of Humanity
When Philip K. Dick went to the dentist in February 1974, the acclaimed science fiction author did not know that his view of reality was about to change. He was in a lot of pain with what turned out to be an impacted wisdom tooth, and was sedated with sodium pentothal while the dentist removed the tooth. The pain afterwards was fairly severe, so the dentist ordered a painkiller, Darvon, for delivery to his patient’s home later that day.
When the courier arrived, Dick answered the door and was suddenly taken aback by a pendant she was wearing. It was a fish ornament, which she explained Christians adopted as a symbol of their religion. He saw a “red and gold plasmic entity” coming from the pendant and, as he reported it, immediately experienced “crystal clear” vision and “sudden exposure to a vast amount of knowledge.”
This was not his first experience with visions and hearing voices. The voice he heard was the same voice he had heard years before while in college. He also began channeling an alien presence he called “Vast Active Living Intelligence System,” or “Valis” for short. The intense visions lasted for two months, leading him to refer to this period of his life as “2-3-74,” for February and March 1974. During the next eight years, he wrote thousands of pages about his visions and voices. His novels were more autobiographical than they were science fiction.
Dick died suddenly in 1982, shortly before the release of the movie “Blade Runner” based on Dick’s book, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Many of his other books are now movies, as well. He is now known as the “most influential writer of science fiction in the past half century.”
But, was it all science fiction? He received multiple communications from Valis, had dreams and visions about the future, and spent the rest of his life trying to understand why he gained such supreme knowledge. He claimed to have “total recall of the future.”
Philip K. Dick: The Pre-Valis Years
Philip Kindred Dick was born in December 1928 during the cold Chicago winter. He had a twin sister, Jane, who lived for only about eight weeks. She died mysteriously, some saying she had an allergy to her mother’s breast milk. Whatever happened, Dick went through his life always missing his sister and blaming his mother for her death. His father left the family when he was only 5 years old. Shortly after that, he and his mother moved to Berkeley, California, where he lived most of his life.
First published when he was just a teenager, his first short story marked the beginning of a prolific writing career. Although he successfully published a number of his stories, he was not such a success financially. He was always running out of money and seemed to live from advance to advance.
Dick’s life was not emotionally easy and he seemed troubled throughout his entire life: married five times with three children, thought to use drugs and experiment with LSD, and frequent visions of his own death. Despite drug use allegations, he was able to continue writing. By the time of his death, he had published more than 120 short stories and 44 novels.
As early as 1954, Dick wrote about precognition in his novel, “The World Jones Made.” Based on his own experiences, the main character in that book was a “precog” who could see one year into the future. His books often referenced precognition, and Dick believed he himself had this ability.
He also heard voices, or at least a voice. As a young man taking the physics portion of a college entrance exam, Dick found that he did not understand eight of the 10 questions. Suddenly, he heard the voice explain to him, in a completely understandable way, what he needed to know. As a result, he received a perfect score on the test.
He heard the same voice again years later, when it explained to him what was happening in a television documentary that he had had difficulty understanding. In 1974, the same voice returned when he had his life-changing vision in response to the fish-pendant worn by the pharmacy delivery girl and he began his regular communications with Valis.
Philip K. Dick: The Valis Years
Although Dick reported only sporadic communications with the voice until 1974, after that date, the communications became fairly frequent and routine. Valis gave him advice on improving his health, his appearance and his financial situation. Dick credited the voice with saving the life of his young son by describing the medical condition the boy suffered from and urging Dick to get the child immediately to a doctor. He convinced his wife of the need to take their seemingly healthy boy to the doctor where they discovered the child had the exact condition the voice described to Dick. Prompt surgery saved the boy’s life.
Dick believed the voice he heard was from God, or at least from some higher power. He wrote continuously about what he experienced. He ended up writing thousands of pages and hundreds of thousands of words in his attempt to make sense of it.
He intended his 1981 book “Valis” to be a trilogy. It was more of a biographical presentation of Dick’s visions and voices than it was a book that fit in the science fiction genre. As one reviewer put it, “He’s not looking for aliens; he’s looking for the meaning of life.” Due to his sudden death in 1982, at the age of 54, Dick never completed the trilogy.
The Death of Philip K. Dick
In February 1975, Dick wrote a letter to a friend telling her about a dream he had just had where he saw “a stark single horrifying scene, inert but not still; a man lay dead, on his face, in a living room between the coffee table and the couch.” He followed the letter with another one in May 1975 in which he said he was “scared.” He added, “What scares me most Claudia, is that I can often recall the future.”
Almost exactly seven years after the first letter, Philip K. Dick’s dead body was found face down in his living room, wedged between the coffee table and the couch. Without realizing it, he had accurately predicted the circumstances surrounding his own death. Some reports say he died of a stroke. Others claim it was congestive heart failure. Others regale in the mystery of why he died so young.
Philip K. Dick left behind, in addition to his short stories and novels, his influence on other sci-fi writers and pop culture, as well as many mind-bending films. Unfortunately, he did not live to see his work on the big screen. He died before the release of his first movie, “Blade Runner;” however he saw about 20 minutes of the finished product and seemed pleased that the filmmaker preserved Dick’s vision. Other movies based on his books that were made after his death include: “Minority Report,” “Total Recall,” “A Scanner Darkly” and several others.
He also left behind more than 8,000 pages about his experiences with Valis since his 1974 vision. The pages had narrow margins and were mostly single spaced with numerous handwritten journal entries. Dick referred to this body of work as his Exegesis. The papers were edited and published in 2011 as “The Exegesis of Philip K. Dick.”
Was Philip K. Dick more than just a legendary science fiction author? Check out Mysteries of the Solar System, part of Gaia’s Deep Space series, and watch the conversation between Open Mind’s host Regina Meredith and her guest, Anthony Peake, on Scanning the Future with Philip K. Dick.
Want more like this article?
Don’t miss Deep Space on Gaia for more on the long and hidden history of Earth’s secret space program.
