Souls pertain to the immortal force that drives the human being. Being immortal and immaterial, it never perishes, but rather gets to be incarnated time after time. Reincarnations are used to explain away the amazing talents of child prodigies, the unexplainable connection between soulmates, as well as the countless events and karma we experience. The concept of reincarnation can be crucial in understanding and accepting the natural existence of LGBTQ in our lives.
In a nutshell, reincarnation is about infinite souls going through different existential forms and lives. Souls live through this world again and again in order to fulfill spiritual contracts, learn further and face karma. A lot of our current experiences depend on the good and bad deeds we’ve made in our lifetimes before. In enlightenment, souls would be able to go to higher consciousness and realms away from the world we know of today.
While some philosophies or spiritual beliefs – such as those found in Buddhism, Hinduism and Plato’s philosophy – talk about the rebirth and ascension of the soul throughout many lives before and after, other more popular religions discredit it. Some people are closed off from reincarnation thinking it’s too much of a foreign idea in our conventional belief system for it to be real. This is unsurprisingly so considering the widespread indoctrination of mainstream Christian religion on people since the time they were born. They wouldn’t be able to grasp the concept of reincarnation without the fear of punishment for compromising their devotedness in the typical Biblical interpretations they’re accustomed to. However, in these modern days, more Christians or Catholics are showing an open-mindedness to spiritual activities and beliefs that have been considered unholy by tradition. Besides psychic reading and feng shui, the belief in reincarnation is one of them.
Religious talks aside, it is refreshing to know that psychology and science is progressing in their studies of the possibility of reincarnation. From pro-LGBTQ arguments that gay people are just born that way to interesting explanations about how homosexuality exists naturally in the animal kingdom, perhaps we can put reincarnation into the mix.
In order to blow away the cancerous notion that LGBTQ is something abnormal, demonic or out of the ordinary, we have to comprehend nonheterosexuality from a standpoint higher than the limiting characteristics of anatomy our souls are moving in.
There are two things that need to be clarified in understanding LGBTQ – sexual orientation and sexual identity. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, straight belong to sexual orientation. For many years, most societies have been heteronormative – a romantic relationship should only be between a guy and girl. Homosexuality has been feared, derided and punished. In some parts of the globe, this is still the dangerous scenario. But, as the world works, there’s always a Yang (good) to the Yin (bad). Gradually, marriage equality has been sprouting in some countries and LGBTQ is being celebrated. Humanity is starting to understand that as long as something comes out of love, there is no evil when two people of the same gender enter into a relationship. There is no harm done when a person wants to express him/herself in a way that deviates from the social constructs of masculinity and femininity. In actuality, humans fall in one or more spectrum within the Kinsey Scale in their lifetime. Eventually, they find the point that rings true to them, which brings them a step closer to fulfillment. This sexuality scale is useful to understand attraction between humans because it goes beyond the binary concept of gender, which is not inherent in souls. It shows that people cannot be labeled as only either-or, black-and-white.
Sexual identity, as the name implies, refers to which gender a person sees oneself as. Sexual identity doesn’t immediately determine sexual orientation, which is same as the fact that biological gender doesn’t determine sexual orientation.
This brings us to the topic of transgender. Why do transgendered people identify as a certain gender that’s the opposite of the biological gender they have been born with? Doesn’t this show that the soul does have a gender? Aside from the explanation of the complexity of gender development, we can also attribute this to the reincarnation concept. As has been said, souls have gone through different lifetimes, and none of us know what stories and experiences other people’s souls have gone through (unless you’re a legit past life reader, or you have remnants of past life memories in your brain which have been testified by some). Those past lifetimes may have left some deeply felt characteristics in some people’s current human existence that had them to believe that they must be a certain gender. Past experiences and karma comes into the picture. Whatever it is, we should not judge them because it is part of their own journey. The best that we can do to understand is to see pass the material and physical essence. We should not allow our consciousness to get stuck in this dimension of materialism. Otherwise, we will always follow a limited way of thinking that bars us from embracing the beautiful infiniteness and grandness of our existence in this universe.
All of us face different joys and struggles in our lives that pave the path towards growth, strength and wisdom. For the LGBTQ community, the struggle of simply being comfortable in our own skin can already be seen as a political stance and challenging towards the status quo, even though we’re just being our authentic selves. But what is the “self’? The self is the so-called “ego” that has been painted layers upon layers of physical characteristics, social engineering and labeling, consumerist inclinations, media and political propaganda. Peel away all those thick layers and we are just left with this profound life force called the soul, with energies derived from multiples lives. Hence, the soul’s ego is molded and re-molded depending on such layers presently dealt with by the soul. Contrary to what a lot of people have been thinking their whole lives, the soul is not defined by the body. It doesn’t have a ghostly, feather-light appearance of our physical body which has been portrayed countless times on the screen. The soul is without the imposing characteristics and behavior of a human gender. The soul is unisex, devoid of such human concept. That is why regardless of race, class, religion, gender, sexual expression and orientation, we are all the same at the core of our existence. This is a universal truth that holds all of us together. It is only with layers of physical limitations, lies, fabricated truths and distorted facts that we have been differentiated and pitted against each other, as well as blinded from the true nature of our being.
To elucidate further the difference between the soul and ego, let me share with you a recent past life reading I’ve had with my girlfriend at a The Third Eye Wellness party. The past life reader gave me a feeling of certainty that her readings were true because of the things she said about my girlfriend and I even before I’ve divulged any information to her. Anyway, on to the past life…
I honestly couldn’t remember anymore if she asked us to pick cards when she was reading a part of our past (love)life. I can only remember the details she saw. According to her reading, I was a thin, frail-looking man and my girlfriend was the woman. I was a man of wealth who held a silent dignity and substance. The woman’s face looked a lot like my girlfriend’s face, and she was someone who loved to socialize and who wore big dresses. We both mutually loved each other, albeit discreetly, since she was already married to an off-putting man with a moustache. Although they didn’t have a happy marriage, she stayed poised and positive in her life. On the other hand, the past life reader told me that she could see a plump woman with a high-pitched voice, but she couldn’t tell if that was my wife or my mother. That plump woman was dominating me in that toxic relationship as I chose to keep mum whenever she scolds. However, there were times that she showed loving ways towards me. The past life reader added that the man whom my girlfriend was married to is a male relative of hers in this lifetime. It is someone whom she dislikes very much. (We know who that is..)
The past life reader told us that we never did anything unfaithful. We just loved each other without harming anyone else. After that lifetime, she said that perhaps our souls made a contract to be women in this lifetime (and, might I add, in a country wherein LGBTQ rights are still being largely fought for) to keep in tune with the kind of discreet relationship we had before.
However, as the past life reader also said, the lifetime she described to us isn’t necessarily the previous lifetime. There were probably a few lifetimes in-between that and this current lifetime. What is important, anyhow, is the learning and growth we’ve gained, and to continue to gain.
The read was indeed interesting and just goes to show how our egos change from one lifetime to another. However, there are some things that stay the same wherever lifetime your soul goes to. Parts of your personality and relationships repeat, albeit in different situations, from one lifetime to another.
As we go through life, the soul needs to be nurtured despite the obstacles put forth in our earthly existence. Pure intentions of love, compassion, helping and learning add positivity to the soul and the environment. Hate, ignorance and violence, on the other hand, add negativity. Therefore, attacking someone based on sexual orientation and gender is obviously wrong, and would definitely reap bad karma. This is done from a consciousness of ill and uninformed thoughts. Ultimately, the goal is to rid the soul, and on a grander scale, this world, of such impurities.
In the words of Scarlet Johannson’s character Lucy, “We never really die”. Our bodies or selves gradually morph into death, but our souls surpass it. Souls will go from one lifetime to the next, and perhaps beyond this planet we call Earth. This isn’t a new radical way of existential thinking. Old centuries have recognized that there are higher spiritual planes and dimensions than our human mind can reach. It is only with the constant pursuit of noble values, such as wisdom and love, will we transcend this lowly, materialistic existence we’ve been held to. All souls – young and old – go through this worldly life to grow and break free from negativity and oppression. Eventually, we can all attain the spiritual height that sends us back to our source, or to God, as others would say.
In the meantime, let us enjoy discovering what learning the universe has to offer us, as well as what purposes our situations and relationships want us to fulfill.
