Q: What is your belief about Reincarnation and those intuitives/sensitives that promote past life readings?

A: Thank you for this timely and interesting question. The Urantia Book has the following to say about reincarnation:

(86:4.5) The primitive doctrine of survival after death was not necessarily a belief in immortality. Beings who could not count over twenty could hardly conceive of infinity and eternity; they rather thought of recurring incarnations.

(86:4.6) This idea of reincarnation originated in the observance of hereditary and trait resemblance of offspring to ancestors. The custom of naming children after grandparents and other ancestors was due to belief in reincarnation. Some later-day races believed that man died from three to seven times.

(94:2.3) The undue concentration on self led certainly to a fear of the non-evolutionary perpetuation of self in an endless round of successive incarnations as man, beast, or weeds. And of all the contaminating beliefs which could have become fastened upon what may have been an emerging monotheism, none was so stultifying as this belief in transmigration—the doctrine of the reincarnation of souls—which came from the Dravidian Deccan. This belief in the weary and monotonous round of repeated transmigrations robbed struggling mortals of their long-cherished hope of finding that deliverance and spiritual advancement in death which had been a part of the earlier Vedic faith.

(164:3.4) The older Jewish teachers, together with Plato, Philo, and many of the Essenes, tolerated the theory that men may reap in one incarnation what they have sown in a previous existence; thus in one life they were believed to be expiating the sins committed in preceding lives. The Master found it difficult to make men believe that their souls had not had previous existences.

You can see from these quotes that reincarnation is not a belief that is fostered in the teachings of The Urantia Book, nor in the teachings of Jesus. However, it is a theory that many seeking souls adopt as a way of explaining survival of the self, as well as karma, the idea of reaping what we sow.

I was a believer in reincarnation at one point in my life, but I now much prefer the idea of “resurrection” of the immortal soul as presented in The Urantia Book:

(47:3.7) On mansion world number one (or another in case of advanced status) you will resume your intellectual training and spiritual development at the exact level whereon they were interrupted by death. Between the time of planetary death or translation and resurrection on the mansion world, mortal man gains absolutely nothing aside from experiencing the fact of survival. You begin over there right where you leave off down here.

This teaching relieves any fears I may have had about having to return to this planet over and over again as the result of some past sins—which to me, is a very depressing thought. Having to endure, all over again, a complete mortal life until I “get it right, ” seems terribly unappealing to me.

Given the sheer size and magnitude of the inhabited universe presented in The Urantia Book, it seems highly unlikely to me that we would be doomed to such a circular existence focused on only this little ball of dirt in space. Rather, we can look forward to resurrection on new worlds, with new challenges, and new opportunities for atoning for our shortcomings. The watchword of the universe is “progress.” Personally, I see nothing progressive about reincarnation.

I am however, interested in the phenomena of the intuitives that you mention, and I notice that many people seem to gain a great deal of comfort from these “readings.” I am sure that they believe in what they are doing, as well as do the people who seek them out, but to me, it is only a curiosity, and nowhere near reality. I don’t consider it sinful or bad, just pointless. I know that good and sincere people can have a desire to know everything they can in order to help them through this present life we are living, but the surest way tio handle life on a day-to-day basis is to stay present, ask God to guide you, and do the best you can with every situation that comes up in your life. From The Urantia Book:

(14:5.10) Love of adventure, curiosity, and dread of monotony—these traits inherent in evolving human nature—were not put there just to aggravate and annoy you during your short sojourn on earth, but rather to suggest to you that death is only the beginning of an endless career of adventure, an everlasting life of anticipation, an eternal voyage of discovery.

Finally, as to the karmic idea, The Urantia Book has an interesting quote about reaping and sowing:

(39:2.13) When you finish your earthly career, your body remains on this planet…You “sow a mortal body” in the grave; you “reap a morontia form” on the mansion worlds.

(NB: “Morontia” is a term designating a stage of existence which is between material and spiritual—a transition state between being entirely mortal, and entirely spiritual: ed) The Urantia Book teaches us that this new life vehicle will be a faithful reflection of the true inner person, so that the spiritual progress, or lack thereof, will be reflected in this new form. This is an intriguing concept, and to me, is a good reason continue to do all I can to progress spiritually right here and now…hey, I want to look good in my resurrected life!!!

I would like to invite you to take a look at our flash movies—in particular, After You Die which is a beautiful. three-minute presentation about this very subject of life after death, and what we can expect when we experience our resurrection.

And if you have not done so, please susbscribe to Quote of the Day—a free service of Truthbook.com. You’ll receive a daily quote from The Urantia Book to uplift and inspire you.