Chapter
3

Written in the Record

In This Chapter

• How the past creates the future
• Investigating reincarnation
• The forces of karma
• Three cases of reliving past lives

The magnitude of the Akashic Record is overwhelming. Many people want to search for information but feel intimidated. How do you make sense of something so vast? Where do you begin to look when every topic has innumerable links to every other topic? Understanding reincarnation and the laws of karma is essential to perceiving the value of the Akashic Record and making sense of its complexity. They help explain the order behind seemingly random acts of fate.

The Record is clearly more than a database. It not only holds information and provides interconnection, it has self-awareness and self-determination. While it imprints events in the present, it provides direction for the future. Consciousness scientists such as Dean Radin express that consciousness is evolving. The Record evolves with the actions and choices of each of us. As we learn and grow, the Record is learning and growing with us; the whole is evolving as one. The questions now are, “What is the Record evolving toward? And what is directing the process?”

AKASHIC WISDOM

We see things in their separateness, but we feel them in their connectedness.

—Sanskrit saying

Akashic Record readings attest to continual conflict on the planet. Conflict over power and control are pervasive throughout history. Here are some examples:

• Atlantis and Lemuria were advanced civilizations that used crystals and subtle energy knowledge to power their empires. According to Akashic Record readings by Edgar Cayce, power struggles developed among those who wanted to control others and those who strived for spiritual wisdom. The civilizations were destroyed in the struggle.
• Native Americans lived in harmony with the cycles of nature until Europeans arrived and conflict developed over control of resources and land.
• The Mayan shamans retreated before the arrival of the Spaniards and hid their culture and wisdom. The Spanish invaded the lands looking for gold and treasures, massacring the people they found.
• There are innumerable instances of the same; the advance of Genghis Khan and the Huns into Europe, the fall of Rome, and the advent of Hitler, to name a few.

The past is full of the struggle between people, or groups of people, striving for control and domination over each other, resources, and territory. It’s a battle for power. Throughout history, nothing has changed. Wars are fought; some people suffer and die while others become more dominant. On the flip side, every religion in every culture has given the same way out: through love and forgiveness comes peace. Is this the direction of Akashic Record evolution?

From the evidence, it appears that the collective consciousness within the Akashic Record is engaged in a choice; a choice between material or spiritual values. Each of us is part of this process. The decisions we make promote either spiritual wisdom or material power. Positive evolution, for us and the Record, requires that we choose love as the deeper reality.

The Path of the Soul

Each soul is like a cell in the body of the Record. The direction of the body and the cells within it are the same; they share the same path. The conflict we see in the larger external world is one each of us faces within ourselves. When we overcome our inner conflict, its presence in the outer world is diminished as well.

In our daily lives, we make choices based on creating fulfillment and avoiding pain and suffering. Our choices are personal and reflect our desire for material gain, comfort, spiritual empowerment, peace, and love. We consider how our choices affect our family and friends and often observe that our choices affect our community and possibly even the nation. However, we rarely consider that our actions have more universal consequences—that we are directing something much larger than ourselves.

It may be a new concept, but you’re an active element in the Akashic Record. Each of us has daily opportunities to align our choices with our spiritual identity and advance the development of the Record. When we do, we help bring a better future toward ourselves and the world.

AKASHIC WISDOM

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

—The current Dalai Lama

Your Unique Purpose, Path, and Destiny

Right about now, you may be wondering who’s steering this ship. Is the Record guiding your path, or are you determining the course of the Record? Both are the case. The wisdom contained within the Record guides your actions—if you are listening—and your actions further develop the wisdom of the Record. You have a unique purpose and function to fulfill that can be found within the Record. As you learn to read and understand it, you’ll be able to determine your special contribution.

Reincarnation

Reincarnation is the belief that we live more than once. For many people, the idea of reincarnation is impossible—but the concept of reincarnation is central to the Akashic Record. From Akashic Record readings, we understand that the purpose of life is the evolution of awareness—both individual and universal. Yet how can the individual soul evolve in only one lifetime? In one lifetime, we barely learn enough to change the least engrained of our bad habits! The Record reveals that we live multiple lives, or incarnations, and that each life is connected to the ones we’ve lived before and the ones we will live after.

Reincarnation provides continuity. It explains why people are born into poverty or wealth and into health or illness. It gives meaning to incomprehensible situations. Most importantly, it provides the mechanism of learning and growing from one situation to the next.

It’s not important to know who you were in a past life, although it’s interesting to do so. What’s important is to know how your past life created the circumstances of your present life. With that information, you can gain the perspective you need on what you came to learn and what your path is. How you fulfill your path, and what you offer the world in doing so, is your purpose.

Historical Perspective

The belief in reincarnation has been around for a long time. Many early cultures had religious teachings based on reincarnation such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Mayan and Native American teachings, and many Egyptian and African traditions as well. It’s also part of the Australian Aborigine tradition. It seems the roots of reincarnation pass through all continents. In addition, many Greek philosophers, such as Pythagoras and Plato, believed in reincarnation, which became part of the philosophical dialogue of Western thought.

The roots of reincarnation pass through Christianity and Judaism as well. It was prevalent among Christian Gnostics as well as Jewish Kabbalists and was central in the early Jewish sect of the Essenes. There are many references to reincarnation in books of the Bible that were removed after the Council of Churches “cursed” the teaching of reincarnation in 553 C.E. Banned from the church, the concept was kept alive by esoteric sects such as the Knights Templar and the Knights of Malta.

The Theosophical perspective of reincarnation is based on the Hindu version, and supported by readings from the Akashic Record. Today, according to the Harris Poll, more than 27 percent of Americans believe in reincarnation.

Misconceptions About Reincarnation

People have some strange ideas about reincarnation. Here are some common fallacies, followed by the truth:

• Reincarnation dispenses punishment. The circumstances of your life are not punishment. They are opportunities for you to learn and can be changed with changing attitudes.
• If I waste my opportunities or am bad in this life, I’ll come back as an animal. Happily for animals, you’re not going to come back in animal form (although many people find animals far superior to people).
• Reincarnation is random—I could end up anywhere. Reincarnation is not random. It’s guided by your own soul to enhance your growth. You pick who, when, where, and how you are reincarnated.
• There’s a set amount of time after death before a person can be reborn. Timelines in the akasha are unclear. It seems you can reincarnate forward or backward in time according to your need. You may also reincarnate sideways and have more than one body in the same time period! When this happens your soul is said to split so that you can live two lives at the same time.

Although karma is a teaching tool, it’s much more than that: it’s a creative mechanism arranging the conditions and circumstances of life. Our past actions show us where we need to grow, and our present circumstances are created to offer the opportunity to do so. Through karma, we learn to be conscious of our effect in the world. Once we’ve learned what we need to, the circumstances of life can easily be changed.

• Through our thoughts
• Through our words
• Through our actions
• Through the actions others perform under our instructions

Each karmic imprint sets in motion a vibration that is expressed in our life. The vibration may create a life event or health condition, a propensity or talent, a relationship, or any number of life situations. All the vibrations of your past play together in an orchestra that creates the symphony that is your life.

Of course, these thoughts create as many questions as they answer. Does each imprint necessarily have a future effect? Can they be mitigated or erased? Are some more potent than others? Is there ever a zero point of karma?

Karmic Score Card

One of the many misconceptions about karma is that it’s a system of retribution—of punishment and reward. The thought goes something like this: you were hurt in this life by a man because you hurt him in a past life and need to learn what it feels like. In addition, because you hurt him then, you owe him something now. The two of you are said to “have karma” together.

This type of thinking implies that there is a big score card of hurts with the maxim “an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth.” It also implies that your being hurt this time somehow makes the other man feel better! The fallacy of this type of thinking is easily seen and aptly refuted by Gandhi with his statement, “An eye for an eye until the whole world is blind.” Karma is not a system of retribution. It is actually a system of awakening.

According to the Akashic Record, we’re awakening to the realization that we’re all interconnected. When you hurt another, you’re hurting yourself. Some call this the singularity consciousness—the awareness that there is no separation within the akasha. We are, in fact, all one. In other words, “what goes around comes around.”

Karma goes beyond punishment and reward. It goes beyond learning and growing. It becomes the mechanism for self-realization. Once you come to full realization of who you are and how you impact the world, you achieve zero-point karma! You are an awakened human.

This is a very different way of looking at karma. It means your links with people are links of love. We come back together for each other’s benefit, not for revenge or to settle scores. When you see every person in your life as someone who is there to assist your learning, your relationships change. We’ll discuss how and why people come together in Chapter 4.

Transmuting Karma

Because the ultimate goal of karma is to teach, once you’ve learned the lesson from your situation, you can move on. You don’t have to keep learning the same lesson over and over. If you’re repeating the same pattern, then either you haven’t really learned what you needed to or you haven’t demonstrated what you’ve learned by a change of thought and behavior.

Transmutation is the conversion of bad karma into good karma. In other words, once you’ve learned what you needed to, you’re no longer tied to the condition you created.

Traditionally, there are four steps to transmuting, or shifting, karma:

1. You recognize your wrongdoing.

2. You correct the imbalance.

3. You create new ways of thinking and being in the world.

4. You forgive yourself and others.

You’re not required to pay anyone back for the damages you’ve done. You’re simply required to move to a higher level of love. Out of love, however, you may very well choose to reincarnate with those you have harmed and help them in some way.

The law of grace is the law of forgiveness. When someone harms another, they’re operating from the illusion that we are separate. Forgiveness is the bridge between the illusion of separation and the knowing that we’re all one. We don’t forgive because someone deserves it; we forgive because it’s inside of ourselves to do so. Deep down, we’ve learned that one person’s pain is everyone’s pain. You can transmute immeasurable amounts of karma simply by forgiving those in your life for the pain they inflicted while they learned difficult lessons.

The Karmic Shadow

The karmic shadow is the name for inappropriate judgment. It’s the biggest misconception of karma. You cannot judge a person by the circumstances of his or her life. Although we create the circumstances of our life through our own action, circumstances do not reveal a person’s soul.

We are more than our circumstances, and we are more than the conditions we have chosen to learn from. You cannot know another person’s journey by looking at him or her. For example, some people may be living in poverty because they’re learning about the effects of their past greed. Others may have taken a vow of poverty in a past life that they’re still bound to. Still other souls may have chosen poverty to bring light into a difficult environment. The quality of the soul cannot be determined by material conditions.

AKASHIC WISDOM

The hero is the one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light.

—Felix Adler, philosopher of ethics and morals

Karma has been misused to justify an indifference to human suffering. People will ignore the needs of others because the person’s situation is “their karma.” In ignoring someone’s need, you learn a lot about yourself but very little about the karma of the other person. Who knows? Maybe they were sitting destitute under the bridge as you walked by and refused a helping hand simply for you to see your own indifference. Maybe they were a gift in your path. The truth is, karma is a mirror—and what you see reflected is where you need to grow.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Scientific study of reincarnation and karma has focused on two areas: past-life memories that are invoked through hypnosis and the past-life memories of children. Memories induced through hypnosis have provided people with needed answers and inspiration but have not been sufficient for scientific study. Information gained through hypnotized subjects is tainted because it can be derived from present-life influences or reflect the subject’s desire to please the therapist. Children, however, offer a fresh canvas.

There are a remarkable number of children between the ages of three and five who remember their past lives. Their stories are extraordinary for their specificity. They can provide extensive details of cultures and time periods they have no experience of in this life. They describe foods they ate, clothes they wore, smells, activities, and facts that are entirely unknown to the child they currently are. Some remarkable cases go one step beyond. In these cases, the children recognize people in this life who they knew in their previous life! They correctly identify personal stories, relationships, jewelry, artifacts, and life details. They remember where they lived and can direct their parents to exact locations, identifying still-living neighbors, friends, and relatives.

Other explanations for children’s memories include telepathy and the ability of these kids to remotely view other lives and places through the Record. All in all, reincarnation seems more reasonable!

Dr. Ian Stevenson

Dr. Ian Stevenson was the head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia until he retired in 2002. He has spent 40 years researching and investigating cases of reincarnation memories in children—documenting cases around the world, including India, Africa, Turkey, Japan, Britain, and the United States.

The children Dr. Stevenson researched not only establish irrefutable details about their previous lives but often also carry the scars of their previous deaths. Birth marks, deformities, and current health issues correlate to wounds they claim killed them in their previous life. Night terrors in young children also seem to have their origin in the trauma of their death in a past life.

Let’s take a look at three cases.

Shanti Devi

The story of Shanti Devi is a well-documented and researched story from India. Shanti was born in Delhi in the 1930s. Her case fascinated researchers and drew the attention of Mahatma Gandhi, who encouraged the government to investigate the case.

Shanti’s parents reported that she barely spoke until she was four. When she began to talk, she told them that the home she was in wasn’t her real home and her parents weren’t her real family. She insisted she lived in Mathura, another village, and had to return to care for her son. Shanti revealed that she had died in childbirth and was reborn one year after her death. She provided detailed accounts of her clothing and food as well as personal descriptions of her husband and his business. She suffered a great deal of guilt over leaving her son through her death.

Although her parents explained that this was her current life and she needed to live with them now, she was adamant in her need to return to her husband and son. Eventually, one of Shanti’s teachers sent a note to the village of Mathura—and much to her surprise, she received a letter from a man fitting the description of the husband from Shanti’s previous life. He verified all the details Shanti had given about her life and family members.

In this extensive—and some say most thorough—modern investigation, Shanti was able to direct researchers to her previous home, identify family members, and provide intimate details of her previous life. She was taken to her former home and identified the layout of the home and changes that had been made since she died. She also revealed where she had hidden money. Her son from that life was now one year older than she.

You can read Shanti’s story in the book I Have Lived Before: The True Reincarnation of Shanti Devi by Sture Lonnerstrand (see Appendix B).

The Story of James Leininger

A remarkable past-life story that has recently been in the news is that of James Leininger. His story begins shortly after his second birthday, when he developed terrible nightmares. While dreaming, he emitted blood-curdling screams—shouting phrases such as, “Plane on fire! Little man can’t get out!”

During the next four years, his playtime activities reenacted his nighttime dreams. Playing almost exclusively with airplanes, he knew detailed information such as the difference between a bomb casing and a drop tank under the plane. His nightmares become more frequent, and his parents took him to see past-life psychologist Carol Bowman.

Over time, the youngster told his parents details of his death in a previous life. He described being shot down over Iwo Jima by a Japanese fighter pilot as a Navy pilot during World War II. He claimed his plane had received a direct hit on the engine. He gave details about life on an aircraft carrier and provided the specific carrier he was stationed on—the Natoma Bay. He also provided the name of a close friend, Jack Larson. Around this time, he started signing his artwork “James-3.”

Researching the historical records, James’s father Bruce discovered these were real names. Bruce soon learned that the only pilot from the squadron killed at Iwo Jima was James M. Huston Jr. Locating crewmates from the Natoma Bay, Bruce learned that there was an eyewitness to Huston’s death—Ralph Clarbour, the rear gunner on an airplane flying alongside Huston’s. Clarbour witnessed Huston’s plane being struck by anti-aircraft fire and confirmed a direct hit in the middle of the plane’s engine.

When it was arranged for young James to meet with surviving WWII Natoma Bay veterans, more surprises were in store. He knew the names of the men and significant details of their friendship with Huston.

The Leiningers wrote a letter to Huston’s sister Anne, and more remarkable details emerged. The Leiningers absolutely believe their son is the reincarnation of James Huston. They believe he remembered so many details because he has unfinished business to complete. As James has gotten older, details have receded, as is often the case. His favorite objects are still ones Anne sent him that belonged to James M. Huston Jr.

TIMELESS TIPS

Here are some places you can go to read or see more about this remarkable case:

• • abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Technology/Story?id=894217&page=1
• • lotusborn.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/the-past-life-memories-of-an-ex-pilot-james-leininger-part-i
• • Part 1: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EWwzFwUOxA
• • Part 2: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5965wcH2Kx0

Erin’s Story

Synthia writes: my daughter Erin is a classic example of how three-year-olds have past-life memories. Her story also illustrates that night terrors and illnesses can relate to the trauma of having died in a previous life.

When Erin was three, she was playing in the living room. I could hear her from the kitchen laughing and talking. She danced into the kitchen and quite joyfully told me, “I remember when you weren’t my mother.”

“Really,” I responded. “Who was your mother?”

“Sue,” she said.

“Sue Grandma or Sue our friend?” I asked.

“Neither,” she said. “It’s someone you don’t know.”

“Did you like her? Was she a good mom?”

“No!” Erin cried, becoming very upset and running from the room. “Stop, they won’t let me tell you any more.”

I always believed that Erin was remembering from the Akashic Record and “they” were the Record Keepers. A little more than a year before Erin had this memory, two seemingly unrelated events occurred. First, Erin developed kidney troubles and was prescribed long-term prophylactic antibiotics. Second, she started having night terrors. Her night terrors were very disturbing to her father and me as she did not recognize us and couldn’t be woken from her distress.

An Akashic Record reading found that Erin had lived before in England during WWII. She was born to a young mother who had an affair with an American GI. Her father abandoned her pregnant mother when the war was over, and the mother was shunned by the small village she lived in. The mother fell apart, and after the baby was born, she fell into abusive behavior. According to the reading, Erin’s previous-life mother accidentally killed her when she was four years old by kicking her in the kidneys. The reader told me Erin’s night terrors would stop when Erin reached her fourth birthday, the time of her previous death.

Although there is no way to verify these details, Erin’s night terrors did suddenly stop when she reached four. Whether true or not, certainly the story made sense out of Erin’s experience and behavior and helped me understand what she needed during this time.

TIMELESS TIPS

If your child is having past-life memories, the best things to do are ask neutral questions, don’t push for answers, and accept your child’s story. An excellent resource is Carolyn Bowman, who researches children’s past-life memories and provides workshops and training. You can learn more at www.childpastlives.com.

Future Journeys

It’s said that the Akashic Record holds the history of our future as well as our past. We’ll look at this much more closely in Chapter 5. Suffice it to say, however, that the Record is pliable: it lives and grows. The future it holds is a record of probabilities and possibilities. Which possibility becomes our history depends on us.

In every moment, we’re in the position of changing our destiny by doing the right thing. This is the gist of many children’s stories and movies. Positive action and thought, combined with a dedication to higher ideals, can resolve karma and create entirely new directions. The soul’s journey doesn’t end with understanding the past. That’s only the beginning of creating your future.

The Least You Need to Know

• The Akashic Record is evolving toward a higher ideal of love and compassion.
• Personal choice contributes to the evolution or de-evolution of the Record.
• Reincarnation allows the soul time to grow and provides the continuity to learn.
• Karma is the mechanism by which the soul chooses its lessons.
• Children between the ages of three and five often have past-life memories that provide specific details that can be verified.
• The future that is written in the Record is written in sand. It changes with conditions, decisions, and choices.