Past Life Regression and Child abuse

Few of us get out of childhood without some trauma, no matter how loving our caretakers were. It may have been an accident, an animal attack, or witnessing a trauma like war or abuse. It could, as we know, be a trusted adult who acts incredibly selfish and irresponsibly towards a vulnerable child.

When a trauma occurs the young child makes a decision that, at the time may be a useful survival strategy, and later becomes a part of his or her unconscious operating system. The trauma event is long over but the early decision still operates in the adult's life creating difficulty.

All childhood abuse leaves emotional scars in the mind and these play out through ones life in a multitude of ways. Low confidence, aggression, relationship troubles, sexual problems, self-sabotage, guilt, anxiety, depression… all are common symptoms one may experience as a result of abuse as a child.

When the child experiences the abuse, it is like an “emotion overload”, and when the subconscious mind just cannot cope at that moment, it uses a process called “repression” to protect the child from being emotionally overwhelmed. The downside of this process is that emotions become “trapped” back there, and cause problems and symptoms in ones present day life.

Memories of abuse as a child are often repressed through the very mechanism, which enables the child to survive the horror - dissociation. He or she gets through the betrayal, the physical assault, the pain and the helplessness by mentally separating from the body. It seems as though the abuse is happening to someone else.

Sometimes this dissociation can be so effective that all conscious memory of the abuse is lost. Sometimes memories surface later, in adulthood. Often as flashbacks or nightmares.

All childhood abuse leaves deep scars, affecting your beliefs about yourself for the rest of your life. And even though the abuse may have happened a long time ago, it may still be affecting your life today. Many abuse victims admit to having low confidence, exhibiting higher than normal levels of aggression, having relationship difficulties, experiencing sexual problems, indulging in self-sabotage or even self-harm, harboring guilty feelings, and feeling generally anxious.

Individuals are imprisoned on the ‘evidence’ provided by memories that come back in dreams and flashbacks. What type of impact can repressed memories have on someone's overall life? 

"Unconscious behavior and unexpressed emotion from repressed memories can create uncomfortable patterns in ones life. These patterns tend to keep reappearing and create difficulties, like addictions and their consequences. It may also show up as a strong reaction to a situation, a sudden eruption of anger, or obsessive thinking. As in the case of young children who have been subjected to sexual abuse will exhibit symptoms of increased autonomic arousal in their later life which can be recognized when they:

·         experiences sleep disturbances which can magnify symptoms and can encourage psychoactive substance abuse

·         becomes irritable or prone to explosive outbursts of fear, panic or anger particularly when the original trauma is recollected or re-enacted

·         experiences difficulty in concentrating or remembering

·         is continually hyper vigilant and employs survivalist tactics or victimization mechanisms of relevance to the original trauma

·         exhibits an exaggerated startle response and increased hypersensitivity.

Past Life Regression Therapy addresses these problems by going to the root cause which either occurred in a previous life or in an earlier part of this life memory of which has since been repressed.

Past Life Regresssion through the ages

The belief of Reincarnation and Past Life has existed for centuries in various civilizations and faiths .Oral traditions and written legends around the world make it evident that reincarnation has been an integral part of human worldviews from the early days of civilization. 

Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) wrote ‘My life often seemed to me like a story that has no beginning and no end.  I had the feeling that I was a historical fragment, an excerpt for which the preceding and succeeding text was missing.  I could well imagine that I might have lived in former centuries and there encountered questions I was not yet able to answer; that I had been born again because I had not fulfilled the task given to me.’

In Tibetan Buddhism’s Bardo Thodol or Book of the Dead which was said to have been  written  by Padma-Sambhava, an Indian mystic who introduced Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th century, it is stated that a soul passes through many nonphysical worlds before reincarnation on earth.

The main difference between Hinduism and Buddhism is that Buddhism feels there is no permanent soul, just a pulsating subconscious that goes from life to life learning lessons until enlightenment is reached. In Buddhism, there exist three fires of craving, ill will, and ignorance which cause rebirth. To achieve nirvana these fires must be extinguished. Hinduism on the other hand believes in a permanent soul.

Spain was a great center of philosophy, and Solomon ibn Gabirol  שלמה בן יהודה אבן גבירול or Avicebron(1021 – 1058), a Spanish Jew, brought Plato's teachings (who believed in a soul) to the European thought.

 In Egypt, transmigration was the accepted mechanism of reincarnation. After a person died, he or she would reincarnate as an animal for as long as 3000 years until purified. Only then, would he or she return to the human form. The Books of Hermes states "From one soul of the Universe are all souls derived. The soul passes from form to form".

Elsewhere, in ancient Greece, Orpheus (Ὀρφεύς) the founder of Greek theology was used by both  Pythagoras and Plato as a source for their own philosophies. Pythagoras (582-507BC) stated and recalled many memories of his soul's incarnations (in Troy etc.). Plato (427-347 BC) stated every soul is immortal. In every succession of life & death you will do and suffer what like fitly may suffer at the hands of like.

The Roman poet Ennius introduced Karma to the Romans. In his "Annals", he tells how Homer appeared to him in a dream and told him their two bodies had the same soul. Virgil (70-19 BC) in the Aeneid says, "All souls return again into living bodies".

According to these teachings all human souls have a common origin from Adam Kadmon. Adam's original sin brought higher and lower souls into confusion. As a result every soul passes through a series of incarnations before returning to God. Ancient Jews believed that Moses was the reincarnation of Abel, the Son of Adam. The Messiah was the reincarnation of Adam himself, who had already come a second time as David.

 

Past Life Regression and Bhagavad Gita

Past Life Regression Therapy is based on the principles of cause and effect also known as the law of Reincarnation / Karma. An action that has been set in motion at a specific time in the past resulting in a corresponding effect on a person’s present emotional, physical, mental or spiritual well being, at this moment. This cause may be a past desire, past promise, past talent, past thought, past feeling, past vow, past emotion, past decision, past evasion or past traumatic experience.

As very appropriately quoted in the Gita, the soul of a person is immortal and through the process of Past Life Regression one can tap into these memories of his/her soul’s experience in different lives before the present. As the present is the sum total of the past, the Law of Karma or Reincarnation allows you to re-live and release the issues by awareness and realization with the help of Past Life Regression.

Past live regression therapy also incorporates Age Regression which is a time travel technique that makes one travel backwards in time in the present lifetime to unravel hidden powers and uncover and release blockages created to embrace a fulfilling and beautiful life ahead.

In the Bhagavad Gita 4:5, Lord Krishna told Arjun “Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!”

This life is a University where we come to learn our lessons & evolve spiritually. Until and unless we evolve spiritually we can neither be happy nor can we transcend the cycle of birth & death.

The soul has lived many lives. This life is one page or one life of the endless life’s our soul has lived. Our real self is ‘Atman’, the supreme consciousness. Only when we know our true self, can we be free from this vicious circle of birth & death.

Each soul, by his own choice, passes through many earthly sojourns and is given a chance to develop spiritually. In the process, mistakes may also be made, and actions may be taken that move us farther away from God; but in each lifetime we are also free to act so as to make up for those errors.

It is through our actions that we create many of our own rewards and punishments. Of course, it is up to us to alter or redirect our lives at any time. It is through various experiences that we grow and develop. All experiences are for our good and sometimes it takes what we would consider a negative experience to help develop our spirits. We chose many of our weaknesses and difficult situations in our lives so that we could grow. We were very willing, even anxious, as spirits to accept all of our ailments, illness, and accidents on earth, to help better ourselves spiritually. Our most sever challenges will one day reveal themselves to be our greatest teachers. Grief is growth. Soul cleansing can come through illness. We should not consider ourselves to be the unfortunate victims of the circumstances we are in. Some of us have come to earth to unite in a cause to change certain things, some to strengthen a course already set and to pave the way for those who may follow. Some come to earth for a short time, living only hours or days after birth.

Each lifetime is another opportunity to move the transmigration of our soul forward through the accumulation of positive Karma. We must strive over onward through many cycles until we achieve sufficient perfection to rejoin God. It is the law, for no imperfect thing will ever have the opportunity to become a part of Godhead.

According to the Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna said man's real self or soul is immortal and independent of the body, it neither kills nor is killed. It is indestructible, imperishable and inaccessible to the sufferings, which afflict the body. Eternal, omnipresent, fixed, immovable, everlasting is the human soul. “He is not slain when the body is slain”. Bhagavad Gita (2:20)

As laying aside worn-out garments, a man takes on other new ones, so laying aside worn out bodies, the embodied (soul) enters into other new ones. Rebirth is under the control of karma or "actions" and salvation is through ultimate release from the round of rebirths. All creatures are composed of two distinct elements, namely soul and body. The body including what are called "psychic" elements, is material; is subject to evolution, devolution and changes of all sorts; and consists of a blend of various elements or qualities. The material body, upon other material bodies or substances performs all action. The soul neither acts nor is affected by action. It has only contemplative powers.

Any action, good or bad, must normally have its effect in continued existence for the doer. According to the Bhagavad Gita, this is due not to the action as such, but due to desire underlying the action.