The Reincarnation Merry-Go-Round

Reincarnation is a belief system that makes sense to me; it fits in with the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve met. Sometimes I meet someone and our connection is instantaneous, as if we’ve known each other before. And I’ve visited places where my feet seemed to know the way even if my brain didn’t, which suggests to me I’ve been there before in another life.

Reincarnation seems to me like a merry-go-round: I’m born, I live, I die. I’m born, I live, I die. On and on it goes. Death is like changing to a different horse – the circumstances are a bit different, but I’m still on the merry-go-round. I’m starting to think I’d like to get off the ride and try something new. But if death is not an exit strategy, just a chance to change horses, what to do?

According to the spiritual philosophy I’ve read,the only thing to do is to stop taking ownership for everything and make it about God/Brahma/Source/the divine. Instead of thinking, “I’m browsing the internet,” think, “The divine is browsing the internet.” I know, this is where my merry-go-round analogy falls apart, but what I’m trying to say, is instead of making everything about me, I have to make everything about God if I want to get out of the cycle of reincarnation. And that means everything, which already fits in with the notion I wrote about that everything contains consciousness.

It means God is the one typing this blogpost, it means God is the one reading this blogpost, it means God is this blogpost. I can’t take credit for any of my actions because as soon as I identify with my ego, that means for better or for worse I have to undergo the consequences and repercussions. Sometimes the consequences are pretty cool, like winning an award, but if the goal of my life is really to dance with the divine and stop the reincarnation cycle, then I don’t want any consequences from my actions either negative or positive.

There’s a pretty popular Sanskrit chant/mantra that sums this up well. Some people chant it before eating or when they get out of the shower. The translation is:

Salutations to the ancestors, salutations to inventors. The act of offering is Brahma; that which is offered is Brahma; the one to whom the offering is made is Brahma; and the person making the offering is Brahma. One will merge in Brahma after completing the duty assigned to him/her by Brahma.

I know that’s a lot of the word “Brahma.” Like I said to my dad yesterday, don’t get hung up on the word. Find one that resonates. For me, right now, saying Brahma doesn’t mean much. But if I say everything is God or the divine, that works better. The point is to start to get out of my own head a little and recognize the world is a bigger, broader place than what I realize. And also not to take things so seriously because instead, I recognize I’m an instrument. Life isn’t about me and my happiness, it’s about what can be worked through me. When I start to view things from that perspective, I’m closer to getting off the merry-go-round.

I dream of a world where we set our egos aside. A world where we let ourselves be instruments. A world where we make everything about the divine. A world where we stop accumulating actions and reactions and finally get off the reincarnation merry-go-round.

Another world is not only possible, it’s probable.