The effects of these many past-life experiences are reflected
in the circumstances that now surround our present relationships.
The soul's memories of past-life activities with others shape
our innate reactions to them. Of course, their memories of our
past-life actions influence how they react to us. Through the
same eyes that the personality sees life, the soul sees it, but
the soul looks with a memory covering centuries of passion and
adventure, caring and love, hatred and revenge, doubt and fear.
When we feel a seemingly unfounded fondness for another person,
it is very likely due to soul memory of the positive role he or
she played in our past lives. On the other hand, when we react
with what seems to be an unfounded revulsion or hatred towards
another person, you can be pretty sure it is because the soul
recalls their past actions against us or our loved ones.
However, the influences of past-life actions are rarely so
clear cut. Often those with whom we have had many good lives
and relationships are the same people with whom we have had
many problems and disagreements, a mix of "good" and
"bad karma," so to speak. In fact, it's rare that
a past-life relationship has every aspect of life in good, clear
focus. Those positive, well-developed aspects from our past
lives will give us much pleasure and support in the present.
Conversely, those aspects which we did not have in proper focus
will give us opportunities for pain and growth in present relationships.
Avoiding these influences is simply not possible. Whether we
like it or not, the Universal Law of Karma constantly brings
before each of us the meeting of our past use of free will and
consciousness. Thus, what we have done to other souls and they
have done to us is reflected in the circumstances surrounding
our present relationships and the basic, innate urges, attitudes
and emotions we feel toward each other.
SOUL GROUPS
These basic ideas of past relationships and their present influences
are not only true of individual relationships but also of group
relationships. From the beginning our souls have tended to travel
together in groups, and the very act of traveling together for
such long periods creates forces of attraction that help to
maintain and build on these group relationships. Nearly all
souls on the planet today were together in past ages of human
history. As a result, the relationships among the peoples of
the world today are a reflection of their past activities with
each other.
The souls who came in to this planetary system and entered
the realms of consciousness associated with this region of the
cosmos comprise our largest soul group. This group can then
be divided into the subgroups we call "the generations,"
containing souls who move through the natural cycles of Earth
life together, which can be further divided into the various
nations, cultures, races, religions, etc., that have formed
during ages of interaction together. Within these groups are
the subgroups of souls who share similar philosophies, ideas,
purposes, aspirations and attitudes. From here the soul groups
further divide into the many smaller groups of personal relationships:
communities, families, businesses, teams, schools and so on.
Soul groups create an affinity among their members by not only
the cumulative experiences they share, but also through their
collective memory of how life has been for them and what they
have come to mutually desire out of it. In a manner of speaking,
such groups form a distinct collective consciousness and spirit,
much like the souls who gave us "the spirit of '76,"
reflecting that soul group's mutual hopes, attitudes, purposes
and memories.
Soul groups are neither rigid nor static. Any individual soul
can use its free will to seek an experience in another group.
There are many cases of souls changing political allegiance,
race, or religion from one lifetime to another. Neither do the
generations incarnate in strict, rigid patterns. A member of
one generation may enter again with another generation. For
example, two members of a family group who were father and son
in one life may change positions and become son and father in
another, or grandfather and grandson. They may even choose to
be in the same generation in an incarnation as brothers, for
example. However, they may choose not to be in the same family
again.
Although soul groups are fairly well established and have significant
pull on the individuals within them, they do not have greater
influence than an individual soul's will to change.
Generally, however, soul groups cycle in and out of the Earth
together and, therefore, at approximately the same time. (I
am speaking in eras and ages, not days or years.) This is particularly
evident in the past-life readings, as they are called, of Edgar
Cayce. Many of them were for souls who fell into one of two
major soul groups and naturally followed their cycles of incarnation.
Notice in the following listing that the two groups mentioned
were sometimes in the Earth at the same periods, but in different
locations, not surprisingly. Edgar Cayce and those who worked
closely with him also traveled with one of these two groups.
THE INCARNATIONS OF TWO MAJOR SOUL GROUPS FOUND IN THE EDGAR
CAYCE READINGS
Group l:
Early Atlantis
Early Ancient Egypt
Persia (during the time of Croseus I,II)
Palestine (during the time of Christ)
The Crusades
Colonial America
Group 2:
Late Atlantis
Late Ancient Egypt
Early Greece
Rome (during the time of Christ)
France (during the time of Louis XIV, XV, XVI)
The American Civil War
Of course, these are only the most significant incarnations
for these souls; they would most probably have incarnated many
more times than the list indicates. There were also other incarnation-sequences
given, but the majority of the readings were for souls who typically
cycled with one of these two major groups. We should also take
a look at.some significant exceptions to this pattern. Some
souls did not always incarnate with their group, choosing instead
to skip a cycle or enter with another group, though they usually
rejoined their original group eventually. Others, though cycling
into the Earth-plane with their group, did not actually incarnate,
i.e., did not enter into a body; rather they stayed in the spirit
and helped from a higher vantage point while the others incarnated.
One example of this comes from an Edgar Cayce reading for a
woman who wanted to know why she hadn't been given an incarnation
during the Palestine era in which her present son and husband
had incarnated. She was told that she was there, but not in
the flesh. She was, as some of us would term it today, a "guardian
angel" for her present son while he lived and worked in
that period.
A group of souls may find themselves together again and yet
not one of them desired it to be so. In these cases, it is often
the forces of the Universal Law that cause them to come together.
For better or for worse they now have to meet the effects of
their past actions with each other. The Universal intention
is that the confrontation will lead to a resolution of their
karma or at least a recognition of how their past actions with
each other have caused the present predicament, and they will
resolve not to act that way again.
Both in individual and group relationships, the karmic effects
of past actions with others can create some very difficult,
even terrible situations. The meeting can result in murder,
rape, torture and other atrocities. Even in lesser cases karmic
effect can result in back-biting, back-stabbing, bickering,
fighting and other turmoils. Imagine what might happen if the
universal forces of cause and effect brought together the souls
of the Roman Coliseum and the souls they fed to the lions, or
the Conquistadors and the Incas and Aztecs, or the Nazis and
Jews.
The same cause-and-effect forces play a part in individual
lives, too. Imagine if the Law brought together a victim killed
in a family quarrel and his or her murderer. What about a soul
who betrayed another's trust or love? What would be the reaction
toward one another in this present Life? When lives are heavily
burdened by the negative effects of their past actions, their
present experience is often tragic, and occasionally their lives
may appear to be wasted senselessly. However, from the soul's
perspective a single incarnation is a learning-experience and
an opportunity to resolve past actions that are now holding
the soul back from a fuller life. One physical life is not the
ultimate living experience for the soul. It is an opportunity
to resolve the burdens past actions have placed upon our souls
and to clear away the many ideas that continue to confuse and
limit us. So even though the seventy or eighty years that comprise
the average lifetime seem so very singular and final, it is
only a temporary sojourn, a brief experience along an infinite
path of soul-life.
Of course, all the good that has been experienced among the
various souls and soul groups has just as strong an effect on
present situations as does evil, and when we focus on this "good
karma" we often find better ways to resolve the negative
influences.
SOUL MATES
A "soul mate" is really nothing more than a soul
or souls (and there may be several of them) with whom we have
closely shared so many lifetimes that we now resonate to the
same pitch, so to speak. We understand each other like no one
else could hope to understand us. This acquired understanding
gives soul mates the capacity to help each other in ways that
would be difficult without the deep bonding that has occurred
through the ages.
Soul mates often help each other reach their highest potential,
and though this is not automatic and each will still have to
apply themselves to making the present relationship the best
it can be, their deep inner-knowing of each other gives them
a distinct advantage. However, being soul mates doesn't automatically
mean that they see eye-to-eye on everything. In fact, they are
usually more like complements one to another than duplicates
of each other, each one bringing to the relationship something
the other is missing, thereby rounding-out the relationship
and giving each of them more than they would have separately.
When soul mates are together, they form a dynamic bond and
provide a source of strength for one another that is very hard
to find in our world. They may presently be in either sex and
interact with each other in any number of relationships. There
is a strong tendency to think of soul mates only in the sense
of lovers and marriage mates, but they can also be partners,
parents, siblings, teammates, friends, etc. Having been lovers
and mates in many past lives, it would be very hard for them
to avoid at least a romantic interlude in the present life -
there would simply be too much magnetism for them to easily
ignore each other and the physical attraction. If, on the other
hand, they had been close friends or family members throughout
their incarnations, they would be inclined toward a similar
relationship in the present. The point is, a soul mate is not
always a sexual mate.
Another important point about soul mates is that the true mate
of every soul is its Original Companion, the Creator, who gave
each soul life for the very purpose of being eternal companions
with Him. As far as the sexual dynamics of soul mating, it's
important to keep in mind that in the heavenly home we (our
souls) "neither marry nor are given in marriage."
As souls, we are actually siblings in the Universal Family.
Therefore, even though soul mates may give each other the support
that is needed and deserved in this difficult world - which
may include healthy, intimate, sexual companionship - they are
ultimately brothers and sisters in the spiritual realms.
TWIN SOULS
This brings us to one of the strangest concepts concerning
soul relationships, that of "Twin Souls." As we have
already seen, a soul possesses both the male and female forces
within itself prior to entering the duality of the Earth. As
the soul enters the world it usually selects one of its two
sexual natures and projects the unique characteristics of this
sex while incarnate. As difficult as it may be to understand,
the unmanifested sexual part of our soul can actually incarnate
at the same time we do. In other words, our soul, which is much
more complex than we have imagined, is capable of separating
its dual sexual nature into two separate and distinct entities,
one male and the other female, and each of these two entities
can incarnate into the Earth at the same time in separate bodies
that usually complement the present sex. That is to say that
somewhere out there in the physical world is literally our other
half - the other sexual aspect of our soul!
Fortunately, there are some examples of this in the Cayce readings.
One of the more notable is a group of four souls who, in their
present incarnation, were husband, wife, eldest son and a female
business associate who was also a very close friend of the family.
The husband was told through Cayce readings that his present
wife was his soul-mate and that his life would never have reached
its fullest potential without her. However, it went on to say
that the female business associate and close friend of the family
was his "twin soul"; in other words, she was the other
sexual half of his complete soul. Furthermore, his wife's twin
soul was their eldest son! I realize how bizarre all of this
sounds, but the dynamics and dimensions of life are simply far
greater than we imagine.
Of course, not all examples are as closely knit as this example
from the Cayce readings. Generally, the twin soul relationship
is presently found among spouses, friends, occasionally as parent
and child, and sometimes the twin soul isn't even incarnate
at the same time. However, there does seem to be a pattern that
most twin soul relationships follow. In their early incarnations
together they tend to be mates or at least seek a lover's relationship
with each other, while in later incarnations with each other
they tend to seek less sexually involved relationships and more
work-related activities together, especially when the work has
a soul purpose. This could be due to the involution/evolution
process where, in the early periods of the descent into materiality
they tended to continue their self-seeking, self-satisfying
pursuits; but on the ascent toward a return to spirituality
they tended to seek more holistic purposes and relationships.
That is not to say that all present sexual relationships are
self-seeking. From the Cayce material we find healthy support
for marriage and home, and all the natural sexual aspects that
are a part of the union of two in love and mutual caring.
PARENTS & CHILDREN
As difficult as it may be for us to believe, each soul actually
chooses its parents - with one exception. If a soul has abused
its gift of free will, then it comes under the strong influence
of the Universal Law and is carried along on the force of its
past actions into present relationships that it simply must
face up to. Of course, no soul is given more than it can handle,
not that it won't suffer, but it won't be totally lost or destroyed
by the burdens of its karma. Generally, however, a soul chooses
its parents prior to entering the Earth.
As we would expect, souls who have had experiences together
in past lives will have a stronger attraction for each other
than souls who have had no past experiences together. Even if
souls aren't particularly fond of each other they still tend
to be drawn together by the force of their past interaction.
Furthermore, if the soul has a specific purpose for incarnating,
and most of us do, then it will be seeking others who are a
part of fulfilling its purpose or those who can at least contribute
to it. Again, this doesn't mean that the childhood family life
will be all hugs and kisses. In every relationship one can find
advantages and disadvantages, and in order to enjoy the advantages
one must accept the disadvantages. In fact, in many cases, the
disadvantages lead to or create the opportunities for the advantages.
When a soul is trying to decide which channels (parents) would
be best for it to enter this world, it has to accept the limitations
of this particular family as well as the opportunities.
From the spiritual realm Earth-life appears much like a river
when viewed from high above, a bird's eye view. The soul who
is deciding which channels to enter through sees the river in
all its vastness, with many tributaries and branches, and it
sees where the parents' boat is on this river of life. In this
way it has an overview of what life will be like with these
parents. However, because the river of life has many side-routes,
the incoming soul can only see the strongest current in the
parents' lives. It can't be sure that one of the free-willed
parents won't change its mind and begin pursuing a different
course, or that the currents themselves won't change course
and thereby change the family's future. It can't even be certain
that it won't change its own mind once it gets into the boat.
Destiny and fate do exist, and they exist side by side with
free will. The effects of our past actions have an inertia that
carries over into the present life and shapes it, thereby creating
our destiny. However, nothing surpasses the power of the soul's
divinely-given free will. At any time we can use our will to
change directions, change attitudes, change purposes, change
anything! In this way, our lives are both fatalistically foreshadowed
by the cause-and-effect forces of our past use of free will,
and yet amenable to change by our present use of free will.
Therefore, the incoming soul can see only the general course
of the family's riverboat; it can't be sure the family will
stay the course.
The incarnate parents also have significant influence as to
which soul enters through them. Their daily thoughts, desires
and purposes create a beacon for souls who respond to these
energies. This is particularly true of the mother. Her daily
activities and inner thoughts during the gestation period create
a field much like a magnet would, attracting souls to the field
of opportunity life as her child would offer. As you would expect,
more than one soul may be attracted to the same mother-to-be.
In such cases, the forces of cause and effect, the will power
and desire of the mother and the souls wanting to incarnate
combine to make the selection. The souls who were not chosen
for the present entry may well come in through a later pregnancy
if the opportunity is presented. Thereby becoming siblings of
the souls who entered first; or they may go on to other families
with whom friendships or other blood relationships would naturally
form and be maintained with the original channel family.
The soul generally enters the baby body at or near the time
of birth. In one unusual case in the Cayce readings, the soul
did not enter for two days after the birth of the baby. When
asked about the delay, Cayce responded that the soul was all
too aware how very difficult life would be should it choose
to enter, and it wasn't at all sure it wanted to go through
with it! Cayce was then asked what kept the baby's body alive
for two days while the soul wrestled with its decision, and
he responded, "the spirit." For Cayce, the soul was
the entity, with all its personal memories and aspirations,
and the spirit was the life force.
According to the metaphysical work of Rudolf Steiner, the soul
actually incarnates in four stages. 1) A first level of consciousness
enters at or near the time of birth. 2) A second and greater
level of consciousness enters around the time the child cuts
it first teeth. 3) A third level enters during puberty. And,
4) The final and complete entry of the soul occurs close to
the age of twenty-one.
Most sources agree that the first couple of years of life are
primarily devoted to developing the physical body and that the
years from two to seven shape much of the child's sense of self
and its view of the world. In addition to the well-known physical
and emotional changes that occur during the course of puberty,
Cayce and other metaphysical sources add that this is the time
when karmic influences begin to take hold, coinciding with the
release of hormones. This perspective sheds so much light on
the otherwise baffling or incomprehensible changes in personality
and behavior that sometimes accompany this stage of physical
development. Around the age of 21 the individual begins to assume
its major course through life. Then, life progresses through
a series of experiences and decision crossroads. These occur
in natural and identifiable cycles, the most influential being
the Seven Year Cycle: 1-7, 8-14, 15-21, 22-28, and so on. Notice
how these cycles coincide with the general metaphysical cycles
of: Birth; seven years of age; puberty (though puberty usually
occurs before age 14, it is fulfilled at or near this age);
and twenty-one years of age.
Furthermore, each soul experiences life in two primary arenas
1) The inner world of self, which includes one's mental and
emotional being and physical body. 2) The outer arena of life's
unique circumstances, including the social, economic, racial,
national and religious environment, all of which are generally
set at birth and the outer world has pre-structured in specific
ways.
EXAMPLES
In order for us to really understand how all of this occurs
in life and relates to our own lives, let's look at some real-life
examples.
Like most young girls, Linda Mills wanted to fall in love with
a wonderful man, have a family and live a rich, full life. When
she met her future husband, she was genuinely attracted to him,
though she knew he wasn't everything she had dreamed about.
She especially didn't like his tendency to make decisions for
her. Nevertheless, their love for each other was strong and
they felt a deep mutual attraction. An added joy was that they
were quite comfortable with each other around their friends
and family.
They married and had two daughters. For Linda, the first daughter
was a joy. Throughout the pregnancy and after the birth she
and her new baby were very comfortable and happy with each other.
They spent many wonderful hours together nursing and rocking
while Linda softly hummed lullabies. But life with her second
daughter was quite a different story. The pregnancy was uncomfortable,
filled with sickness and stress, and after the birth she and
the baby just never seemed to get into sync with each other.
The baby didn't seem to enjoy being held or rocked like the
first child and breastfeeding was a battle. In fact, the baby
developed an allergy from the breast milk, and formula had to
be substituted. Only the father's touch was comforting to this
little one, and as she grew up her preference for him became
even more evident. She was clearly "Daddy's little girl,"
while the first child was certainly Mommy's.
When this family received a past-life reading from Edgar Cayce,
the cause of many of their present feelings and actions quickly
surfaced. Apparently, Linda and her husband had been husband
and wife before, but in the incarnation just prior to this one,
they had been father and daughter, respectively. His tendency
to make decisions for her and control her life was a carry over
from being the father. In that past life Linda had been a rather
wild and rebellious child. This was due in part to her resentment
that the man who had been her equal in many lifetimes was now
her father. It was a difficult life for him, too. Raising her
was very hard, especially after the death of his wife in that
lifetime. Naturally, all of these feelings carried over into
their present life and marriage.
As for the children, the first daughter had been Linda's close
friend through many lifetimes, bringing this love and friendship
into the present life. In their most recent past life, the first
daughter had helped Linda deal with the problems Linda had had
with her father (Linda's present husband), and now as their
daughter she would do so again. Now the second daughter had
been the father's lover in many past lives, so you can just
imagine the mutual enmity this created between the mother and
daughter in the present. Linda's milk wasn't all the baby was
allergic to! Neither did she want Linda's love and comfort as
much as she did her father's. The father and his second daughter
would have to learn to love each other in a much different way
or break one of the strictest taboos, incest. All of these feelings
were occurring subconsciously, of course, subtly affecting the
conscious life.
As we can see, the deep currents of past experiences were playing
a significant role in their present relationships. According
to the Cayce readings, their goal now, from their souls' point
of view, was to live together again and make an effort to accentuate
the love and virtues, and minimize the resentments and bad habits
they carried with them as a result of their past.
In another case, despite all his efforts to ignore or resist
it, Michael Parks was afraid of the dark. His fear of the dark
was not like most children's; he was deathly afraid, to the
point of suffocating if left in the dark too long. As far as
he and his parents could recall, his childhood was rather normal
and nothing had occurred that might have caused this fear. Yet,
during all of his childhood life in his parents' home, anyone
in charge of him had to be aware of his fear and take precautions
to insure that he was never inadvertently left alone in a dark
room or house. His parents were very tolerant of his fear, caring
for him in every way and were unusually understanding and sympathetic.
And later, when he married and started a home and family of
his own, his wife assumed the burden of his fear. She too proved
to be very patient with him. Together they worked out an elaborate
scheme whereby he could go to bed with the lights on and she
would come to bed after he had fallen asleep. Only then would
she turn the lights off so she could fall asleep. Even so, if
he awoke during the night, he would become extremely anxious
and uncomfortable. He would have to fight to keep himself from
panicking before turning on his bedside light. But once the
light was on, the only way he could get back to sleep was to
go into the living room, turn on all the lights and sleep on
the couch, knowing the lights would be on while he slept.
One night Michael awoke from a terrifying dream, a dream that
was to be the beginning of his conquering the fear. He dreamt
he was in a dark dungeon surrounded by wet stone walls that
went up so high he couldn't see where they ended. There was
absolutely no way out and no one was coming to help him. As
he stood there he began to cry. He cried so long and hard that
the cell began to fill with his tears. When he noticed the tear-water
was up to his chest, he tried to stop crying but couldn't get
hold of himself - it all seemed too horribly fixed, so unchangeable
that he felt completely trapped without hope of ever seeing
light or life again. Eventually, the pool of tears reached his
nose and he had to stand on his tiptoes to breathe, yet he continued
to cry. Slowly he allowed himself to ease under the water, drifting
into a sorrowful, lonely dream of letting go, surrendering his
will to the reality of his predicament. At this point he awoke
from the dream. The sheets were soaked and his body was covered
with chilly sweat. When he told his wife and parents the dream
they cried and were very upset by it. However, underneath, Michael
was beginning to feel pretty good. In fact, he noticed his fear
of the dark had actually diminished since the dream. It was
as though something in that dream had healed and changed him.
About a year later Michael happened to take part in a series
of exercises for recalling past-life experiences. From the information
he received during these exercises and several more dreams over
the next two years, he began to understand why he was afraid
of the dark.
In a previous incarnation he had been a renegade from the courts
and causes of Louis XIV. So violent and disruptive were his
counter-attacks against the king that he became one of the most
wanted men in France. His raids destroyed many of the king's
storehouses, and his ability to elude capture created a great
deal of hatred among the king's soldiers charged with capturing
him. One day they did capture him and in retaliation for his
actions and also as a result of their frustration with trying
to stop him, they threw him into the bottom of a well-like dungeon,
covered it and left him there to die a slow death. In this terrible
place of complete darkness, he managed to survive for several
days. In the beginning he was sure his friends and his wife
would come to his rescue. But as time went by he realized that
no one was coming and he lost hope and died. In the latter days
of his ordeal he lost all sense of time and his mind began to
fall apart. He could no longer be sure of what was real and
what was illusion. But the worst part was the unrelenting darkness
and confinement. This was what his soul remembered and most
feared.
Just as we might expect, his current parents and wife, who
helped him deal with his fear in the present life, had been
the very people he had counted on to rescue him from the dungeon.
His father and his wife had been his close friends and colleagues-in-arms,
while his present mother had been his wife in the French incarnation.
They didn't go to his rescue because he had become so notorious
that it would have been too risky to attempt to save him without
being captured and thrown into the dungeon with him. To a great
degree, his own actions had brought him to this end, yet his
parents and wife regretted that they had not at least tried
to rescue him. His present-life dream was too much for his parents
and wife to hear without deeply reacting to his ordeal. However,
Michael's reliving the experience in his dream somehow released
him from his life-long fear of the dark.
In yet another less dramatic case, a man who had fallen in
love with a divorcee found himself struggling with his feelings.
He eventually married her and tried to be the best stepfather
to her child he possibly could, but when he discovered that
he could not father children himself, he felt cheated and fought
feelings of resentment toward the special relationship between
his wife and her child. When he received a past-life reading
from Edgar Cayce, he was told that in a previous incarnation
in ancient Greece he had been married to the same woman. In
that life she was the one unable to conceive a child. Though
aware of her sadness and heightened sensitivity because of the
added implications of being barren in those days, he chose a
second wife to bear him a child. He further shamed and humiliated
her by bringing the second wife and child to live in the same
house, forcing her to witness the open joy and affection expressed
in the little family. In his present-life circumstances, according
to Cayce, he was merely meeting himself: though he deeply desired
his own offspring, he was impotent; and though living in his
own home, he felt like an outsider to the love shared within
it.
Taking advantage of the present situation and making life as
miserable as possible for her husband would simply be setting
herself up for a future destiny of sadness. The law of karma
is very impersonal: What one does, one experiences, without
exception. If this woman now chose to help her husband meet
his fate as best she could, she would heal many wounds and free
herself at the same time.
In still another case, a beautiful woman from the modern cosmopolitan
life of a big city came to Cayce and described her tragic predicament,
asking for a remedy. Her present husband was impotent and she
was a beautiful woman in the prime of her life. Why? Why was
she in such a tragic situation? she lamented. She went on to
say that there was another man she knew at work, and she wondered
if she could have an affair with him yet remain with her husband...because
she did love her husband; she simply wanted to fulfill all of
her womanhood. Cayce responded by showing her why she was faced
with such a dilemma.
In a past incarnation during the Crusades, she and her present
husband were also married to each other. He was then one of
the greatest of the Crusaders, often going off to war. However,
every time he left, he saw to it that she wore a chastity belt,
literally putting her under lock and key! Then and there she
swore deep in her heart she would get even with him, and now,
Cayce said, she had him right where she'd always wanted him
- in a position where she could make him pay dearly.
What a triangle! I wouldn't be surprised if the other man had
also been hanging around the castle while the rest of the men
were off to war. At any rate, here they were again, set up perfectly
to play out resolution or revenge for past actions with each
other. The husband had used his free will to squash his wife's,
forcing her to submit to his sexual restraints without any choice
on her part. Now he found himself sexually restricted and frustrated,
and completely subject to her will and her choices. She now
had the power to make him pay.
But this was a loving as well as lovely woman. She found herself
torn by her marriage vow and her desire to simply enjoy her
physical beauty and youth. Paradoxically, she also found herself
wanting to make a success of her marriage and her home, and
despite his past wrong, she loved her husband and he returned
that love in so many ways. If only he were able to sexually
fulfill her. What a tangled web. The choice was completely hers;
nothing was standing in her way.
Cayce advised her to do whatever she would want done to her
if she were in her husband's shoes, and she did. She withdrew
from the other man's affections and built a loving home with
her husband. We might well feel that she suffered twice in the
relationship, but if she had only not wanted revenge on him,
she wouldn't have had to be with him again. The true karma was
within him. She got involved again by her desire to get even
with him. No doubt she will eventually incarnate into a life
filled with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual happiness
and the rest of the world will probably look at her and think
she is lucky rather than deserving.
One example of how past lives can affect non-family relationships
is that of a businessman who happened to receive many readings
from Edgar Cayce. In fact, these readings are just phenomenal
in what they reveal "behind the scenes," so to speak,
in illustrating what profound effects past-life experiences
and emotions have on present relationships, and a "typical"
business meeting, in this case.
When Walter Morrison walked into a board meeting, he was walking
into a history that reached far beyond his present life. Amid
the members of this board were souls who had been his conquerors,
his servants, his concubines, his cohorts and his bitter enemies!
Imagine what the underlying motivations were when Walter made
a proposal which the group had to vote on, or when Walter had
to cast his vote concerning a proposal by one of the other members
of this band of souls. Who among the group would tend to support
him? Who would tend to thwart his efforts and ideas? And who
would he tend to support and resist? Many of these answers are
predictable based on their past-life experiences with each other,
experiences that they would innately respond to on a soul level
because of their past affinities and antipathies for one another.
Walter himself was curiously amazed at how well the past-life
readings predicted his present feelings for various members
of the board. Only in a few cases did he find he really didn't
have any particular innate reaction to a member. And in most
cases, the members that consistently rubbed him the wrong way
were those who had been on his bad side in past lives, and those
that seemed to agree and support him consistently were those
who had done so in the past.
When relationships are viewed with a past-life perspective,
the dynamics of the behavior, including the attitudes and emotions
in a relationship, become more than just current moodiness or
general personality traits. There are undercurrents of memory
that simply cannot easily be ignored. Before we look into how
we can discover our past lives, let's look in the next chapter
at another example from the Cayce material, an example that
gives us an overview of soul-life and soul-history over many
lifetimes.
