230 QUESTION: The concept of reincarnation in the same life is very moving, very touching. What I want to ask you is, in such a process, is the person aware of it? Are there any physical signs? Does it occur in sleep or in a waking state?
ANSWER: The change occurs gradually on the outer level and may not be immediately sensed by the individual. But there is definitely a change. It is instigated by the soul in the Spirit World during sleep when discussions with spiritual advisers always take place, when a person is on a developmental path. So change is discussed and planned on another level of reality.
On the manifest, physical level, you may experience it first as a gradual change of attitudes, interests, activities, environment, or expression. Later on, retrospectively, you see that your life has become very different. But the difference is realized not abruptly but gradually.
Sometimes a deep crisis indicates the changeover, but this crisis is in principle no different from physical death and rebirth. They too, are often crises for those who are still in a dim state of consciousness. It is, of course, less traumatic in one way, in that there is no cut in consciousness that then must be regained through laborious search. And that is the great advantage of reincarnation in the same life.
QUESTION: In this type of reincarnation within the same life, do different aspects of the entity come forth?
ANSWER: Yes, aspects that were not called forth in the first incarnation of that lifetime. New aspects may awaken that never have appeared in this lifetime. On the other hand, aspects that were emphasized in the first incarnation may die down after the rebirth. They are no longer of interest, they no longer serve a purpose, so they are put aside.
This is sometimes why a person completely changes his or her sphere of interest in the course of a spiritual path. It may not necessarily indicate an incarnatory process. It may also be that the person has veered off from his or her original plan, but later becomes sufficiently open to sense the deviation and thus changes course. Also, the same talents and interests can reappear, perhaps having improved very much or having been directed into a different expression.
QUESTION: Can you tell us why the influx of the new Christ consciousness energy has accelerated this process?
ANSWER: Because the energy is extremely strong. The energy expresses the highest caliber of consciousness, of purity, of love, of development. It is of such high frequency that it can be beneficially experienced only by souls and personalities who are compatible with it. Otherwise, this same energy creates crisis – negative manifestations.
If you stem against it, if you fear its influx and contract against it, it will appear to be a negative force, yet it is the highest, most potently beautiful, loving and wise force. This shows again that the same thing can be experienced in entirely different ways. It depends on the consciousness, on the expectations and the outlook of the individual in question.
QUESTION: Is it possible for two different aspects of the same entity to reincarnate in one lifetime simultaneously? Two different personalities in two different bodies, being part of the same entity?
ANSWER: My friends, if you look at it in a deeply truthful and realistic way, everyone is an aspect of the same entity. That is the truth.
QUESTION: Is it possible that fear of life is really a fear of dying and reincarnation within this life? The process of giving up the old and moving on to the new?
ANSWER: Yes, that is what I said in this lecture [Lecture #230 The Universality of Change – Reincarnative Process in the Same Life Span]. Life is an intensely, constantly moving phenomenon. Therefore it is constantly changing. Now, if change is feared, then life is feared, and naturally death is feared as well. Death is only one aspect of life. It must be feared as much as life. They always go together.
Change and movement mean constantly dying from an old state into a new one, but always taking aspects of the old along in new form. One who completely accepts and embraces life cannot fear death, and vice versa. They are one and the same phenomenon; therefore, one and the same attitude must prevail about life, death, change, movement.
QUESTION: Concerning my recent crisis, I have connected with what you said in this lecture, and I’d like to know whether this is actually a rebirth for me at this point?
ANSWER: My dearest friends – all of you – this question I will never answer. It is something you have to know and feel within and never need a confirmation from without.
QUESTION: When you speak of change or the fear of change, I seem to react differently. I have always been attracted to change and have always been afraid of static situations. I see that for me this is a way of running away. Could you comment on this?
ANSWER: This kind of desire for change, as you describe it, is very often the misinterpreted desire for the organic, real inner change that the personality denies. You fear real and deep change, and because this fear causes stagnation, you seek change on a more superficial level as a substitute.
QUESTION: During this lecture [Lecture #230 The Universality of Change – Reincarnative Process in the Same Life Span] I had this image of another being, like me, existing beyond me, that goes on and doesn’t die; it is eternal. It is me eternal. I felt that it is my task to link up with it. I get an inkling of what it is, and that the more I get in touch with it, the more I will become unified with it.
ANSWER: Of course, that is what it is all about. The higher self is always there, and you can always link up with it. And when you do, take it seriously, do not push it aside as an illusion. It is so real, it is so beautiful. It is life-sustaining.
