An online friend recently asked some questions that got me thinking -

Q. How does reincarnation fit the possibility of perfect love bringing about a return to the garden where this false reality would be transformed into the new heaven and new earth.

A. I think your vision of the end game means that the game is over. Then we would all have to go home, and you and I wouldn't be writing any more. If our goal was to end the game, we wouldn't have had an opening kickoff. The point is not to end the game, but to play it well. It provides opportunities for us which we don't have in the spirit dimension. So we all have a vested interest in keeping the game going. That helps explain the Holocaust, for instance. Reincarnation is the process through which we can all go back to the locker room, get new uniforms, repair our protective pads, get a pep talk from the coach, and run back on the field for the third quarter/inning/period. The goal is not to win the game. It is to improve our playing ability, so that the game itself will become more refined, played on higher and higher levels of consciousness. This means that growth can continue forever, whereas a return to the garden would stop the process.

Q. I didn't find any mention of Satan in your writings thus far. What do you understand about Satan?

A. He's the boogeyman under the bed. Our belief creates him, and in that sense we are like God. Believing something strongly enough can make it happen. But that doesn't mean Satan is real in the sense that God is real. He is real only in terms of the fact that we need him. He's the yin to God's yang. God is a unity, we are a duality. Since we can't conceive of God as one, there has to be some counter power. So we imagine that Satan exists to frustrate God, when in fact it is we who are trying to do just that. (Although, of course, God cannot be frustrated.) Flip Wilson explained it perfectly - "The devil made me do it!" Satan is our own selfishness externalized. We blame it on him as a way of refusing to take responsibility for our own actions. It is also Jungian - we are afraid of our own dark side, and so we project it on some imaginary spiritual power. Then we can say we are victims rather than perpetrators.

Q. I'm with you on the reality that there is no death, rather, the process of leaving one container for another, be it reincarnation and another human existence or maybe our receiving a glorified body in the spiritual realm. Any thoughts?

A. I think that when people understand that we are part of God, rather than after-thought creations of God, they will see reincarnation in a different light. There IS nothing but God. God is the Spiritual Big Bang. Everything was contained in him from eternity. We are his essence personified, and therefore we have always existed and always will. So reincarnation is not a miracle or a gift or a choice on God's part. It is a function of our being part of God, and is as mysterious and simple as God is. We are free to live and cavort and do our thing to our heart's content. He puts no pressure on us. Some of us have found that this plane of existence has something valuable to offer, so we elect to be part of it, often for several innings. Being here doesn't mean we don't have glorified bodies already. If you could see your core, you would be dazzled. The worst bum on the street - or Hitler himself - is a dazzling being of light that would strike us all with awe. We suit up for a while to hide the dazzle, because it would distract us from the game we came here to play. If we want to stay in glory with other glorified beings, we can do so. Being here doesn't change anything. It merely means going to school instead of taking a vacation. Your choice!

Posted 12-31-06

Copyright: John W. Sloat 2006