by Stephen Austen

Created on: April 01, 2009

Most people are familiar with the concept that the soul returns to the physical world again and again in a cycle of incarnations. We call this cyclic life of the soul in an Earth body reincarnation, i.e. that the soul being in a physical body is incarnate and the act of returning to the material plane is re-incarnation. But most people do not have a true understanding of reincarnation and often there are many fanciful misconceptions around the whole idea. But before we discuss the mode of reincarnation, let us just set forth a reasonable explanation for why reincarnation might be a reality and the logic behind it.

Many people can expect to live for about seventy or eighty years or more, barring accidents or serious illness, and then life's lessons are over; yet even people in their mid-forties speak of regrets and that if they had their time again they would have made different choices, taken a different turn here and there and behaved differently in certain situations. By the time old age has set in, it's too late to rectify most of life's blunders and people die with heavy hearts full of regrets. Perhaps they could have been kinder here, more courageous there, gentler perhaps or stronger, wiser or more thoughtful. Perchance they might have spoken when they did not speak or remained silent when they said the wrong thing. Maybe they regretted staying in a certain job for too long and ignoring a talent because they were too frightened to take a chance; another is too scared to tell someone how much they love them for fear of rebuff; another is too hard on someone who needed tenderness, another is too cowardly when they might have helped someone else or even stood up for their own rights. Everyone has countless regrets. Everybody, if they are honest, would have acted in a better way if they had the chance to do it all over again.

If we "only get one life" as so many people assert in such a repetitive mantra these days, (and yet also claim to believe in God) then it is a challenging belief to accept that God is a God of justice when people are born blind, deaf, crippled, lose limbs or loved ones such as children, etc. It is said that we are all "created equal" but this is not genuinely easy to accept when it is clear that people are most definitely not born with any equality at all, either materially, physically or intellectually. We are often in fact, markedly different. Someone born with a beautiful physical form which is fit and athletic is not equal to someone

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