WHAT REINCARNATES?
Those who accept reincarnation believe that some essential component of a person living in the past must undergo transference to a different individual who lived at a later time. Presumably, experiences, knowledge, and emotions have become embedded within the recipient such that this person is able to recall the earthly adventures of a previous lifetime.
There appears to be an abundance of examples of people recollecting past lives. It is easy to dismiss these stories, though they can be compelling and convincing.
What would reincarnate? Clearly the body itself does not. That has obviously deteriorated and stayed in the ground, unless there was cremation. If reincarnation happens, then there must be a transfer of something from the past life. Anyone would agree that whatever is reincarnated into a new body cannot itself be perceived by our raw senses.
Many religions embody a form of past lives in their liturgy.
From a religious perspective, the soul becomes the likely culprit for being reincarnated into a new body. One theory posits that this human spirit has unfinished work to do while inhabiting the earthly realm. Presumably, it carries forward its previous efforts to rejoin the mission anew from where it left off. It is seeking to strengthen its spiritual powers.
If a spiritual entity does pass from person to person, it must carry some need that requires this association with a mortal human body. That is, the soul cannot achieve its earthly agenda without the human person interacting in the material world. The capabilities and potentials of people are extensive. Something in our lives provides this transferred ethereal essence with its needed energy. Our deeds, words, and intentions – which we can control – imbue the soul with the ability to accomplish heavenly goals in the earthly realm.
Religious doctrine places moral objectives upon the soul that need to be completed by the human being in the material world. A person must perform acts of kindness or similar accomplishments to allow the soul to realize its potential and be able to enter the celestial realm.
THE SOUL IS NOT THE REASON MEMORIES OF PAST LIVES ARE RECALLED
The soul is a spiritual entity. Parallel to our worldly pursuits, we have an incorporeal self that seeks increased spirituality. This is qualitatively different from physical life. The two can interconnect and enhance each other. But they exist in different dimensions. The soul does not become a terrestrial being with earthly drives. Our bodies return to dust.
A reincarnated soul would continue trying to achieve its spiritual destiny. Mundane matters like material gratification or enrichment are not in its portfolio. Yet, material pursuits are what is recalled when a past life is experienced and identified.
A soul is focused on spiritual matters. Tales of reincarnation speak only of recalling the material world within which the past life was lived. When a past life is recalled, you never hear about transcendent accomplishments, which is the business of a soul. The soul follows a celestial agenda. It brings its heavenly plan from one life to the next. Though the earthly world is needed, that is only a tool. The material world supplies the means. The ultimate substance of the endeavor is the results of the life, not the events of that life. The actions and rewards do not transmit through our spiritual selves.
The idea that the soul brings with it the unfinished worldly endeavors of a past life is a perplexity. In our conscious living world, few people spend significant time pursuing heavenly enrichment. It does not make sense that the soul should reincarnate clothed with the baggage, knowledge, and experiences of the material life it associated with previously.
IDENTIFYING With A PAST LIFE DOES NOT BRING PAST SKILLS WITH IT
When past lives are recalled, it is an observation. It comes across as someone watching a movie. Like watching a movie, the observer sees They do not tell of great abilities from a past life that now exist in the current (reincarnated) life. Stories of reincarnation do not describe an activity – like sword fighting capability or proficiency with a musical instrument – that is resumed in the newer life.
Human history has documented many gifted people who seemed to be born with great genius or talent. Some may say this is evidence of reincarnation. The problem is the lack of tales associating innate or inherent capabilities with recalled past lives. For example, great violin players may not know from whence they are born with their superb ability, but they do not claim to be reincarnated. They do not recall a past life as a great violinist.
Allow me to explain the function of the soul using an analogy of bodily function.
We appreciate the food we eat for its many qualities. The joy of eating comes from the taste, smell, texture, chewing, swallowing, and that pleasant feeling of satiety. Then the food is digested and eventually reaches the cells, its primary target. By the time the nutrients reach the cells, they are what they are, with none of the motivating cues listed above. The cell has no appreciation whatsoever of the enjoyment received while dining. The benefit or harm is derived from the nature of the nutrients themselves. Whether the food is helpful or harmful is not reflected by the pleasure it may have provided when ingested. And the cells cannot translate that pleasure into healthy function if the nutritional value was poor. The cell “knows” only the effect the nutrients provoke.
The experience of eating the food does not affect cellular benefit from the food. The taste and smell and satiety are long past. Pleasure in dining, including eating slowly and savoring the food, can have some impact on the health aspects of the meal. Our attitudes while we eat may have an affect on how we digest and absorb nutrients.
Mainly, however, it is the actual nutrients which are of interest to our cells, not the eating experience. The work of the cell is to take these nutrients and turn them into the functions and structures that enable us to live. Processing these nutrients is the observed activity at the cellular level.
The soul receives its spiritual nutrition in a parallel manner. Actions, attitudes, words, thoughts, emotions, creations, and everything else we do as human beings mold who we are. Our physical experiences are filtered into ethereal realities. The banquet of worldly pursuits is transformed into spiritual nutrition. Like feeding the body, the food for the spirit may be helpful or harmful. The soul derives something that is relevant to its nature. The origin of that relevance is no more appreciated by the soul than the taste of the food is by the cell.
The path from input to utilization weeds out the motivating rewards. We eat and we do. The motivation and experience of these actions is irrelevant by the time the ultimate message (nutrients, whether physical or spiritual) reaches the intended target (the cell or the soul).
According to many religious doctrines, how we live our lives affects our souls. Some concepts of our spiritual existence explain that living by certain standards of morality is good for our souls. This implies that living contrary to these standards is harmful to the soul. The work of the soul is furthered or inhibited by the lifestyle choices of the person. The soul grows or becomes diminished depending on the choices the person makes.
Just as digested food is metabolized by the cells for the well being of our bodies, so are our words and deeds transformed into strength for the soul. Both involve a process of using raw material (food or actions) for existential enhancement (of the cell or soul, respectively). Just as the cells have no awareness of the eating experience, so the soul has no awareness of the life experience. Both “experiences” have been transformed to the usable material that ultimately reaches the target.
Therefore, the soul, that which is reincarnated, does not know of the experiences which affected it. The soul does not have a memory of the words and deeds any more than the cell has a memory of the taste and smells. I conclude that people are not recalling past lives as transmitted by a soul that has been reincarnated. The soul may have an effect on how the individual lives the current life. But the soul does not contain memories of the past lives.
The experiences that ultimately nourish the soul have been processed in a way that the spirit can recognize and utilize them. They transform from something material into something spiritual. The physical origins have been modified into celestial “food.” Corresponding to the breakdown of tasty food into nutrients that can be assimilated, the stimuli that ultimately nourish the soul have also been transformed into a force that the person would not recognize. Energy for the cells comes from molecules that have lost their flavor. Spiritual energy to repair the soul is also transformed and divorced from its origins in the earthly plane.
We do what we do during our day-to-day activity, and the soul is affected. But, just as the flavor of food is irrelevant to the ultimate nutrition of the cell, the flavor of actions is irrelevant to the ultimate “nutrition” of the soul. The quality of our choices affect body and spiritual health.
Wwy do I have a right to compare the nutrition of the body with the spiritual growth of the soul? Because our heavenly selves are “operating” in the earthly realm, these parallels are valid and necessary. These incorporeal entities associate with material beings like ourselves. Thus, they have complementary attributes that allow us to learn about one from the other.
If the soul of a dead person is reincarnated in a new person, it brings the previous spiritual life and agenda with it. If tapped by the conscious or subconscious memory, it is this agenda that would be described when a past life is recalled. Tales of glory, knowledge of ancient languages, and detailed descriptions of close friends are material enterprises, not spiritual.
Thus, even if a soul is reincarnated, it is not the medium that transfers corporeal memories from one life to another.
Health and Spirit by Dr. Jack Zoldan 