If there is reincarnation,why do we forget our former lives?.

Not long ago I was  asked: "If there is reincarnation (being born again), why do we not remember it?" A good question. Let me ask you:"Would you want to remember?"
I do not know how old you you are. But I guess at least 20 years. 20 years makes 7300 days,if you are 40 about 15 000 day. How many days do you remember?  Lets look only at your birthdays. This are special days, but I assume you do not recall all of them!
With this 7000 days there were very special days, day you were very happy and days you were very very sad.
How many can you remember? A hand full? 10 or even 15? Not that they are important anymore, they are gone! We forget them, most of them. But we do not forget the lessens, not the questions they bring us, to make us look for the answers.
If I look at my life, I had a few life changing experiences. No, nothing dramatic.
In my first part I was a normal German becoming an electrician. Then as it was custom by then in Germany I was requested to join the German volunteer army. I did for a short time and then became a legal conscientious objector (Kriegsdienstverweigerer). There I was confronted with a new set of people and a new set ideas and new ways of living. I did some schooling and then became a member of the German Volunteer service. I was sent to Africa for 2 years and there I had a new set of people and of ideas again.
I like to think that each step build on the previous one. But when I cam back from Africa, it was not a clean cut as it has been from the electrician to the Conscientious Objector. I kept the friends and  acquaintances form my time as a Contentious Objector.
I went to university (I was already 27 when I started) where again I met a new set of people but now I did not mingle much. They all were much younger and I had a certain goal (I wanted to go back to Africa and build a farm together with am guy from Austria I had met there). By then I still was an atheist, but had started to look for a (different/real) meaning of life (again). You could say I was looking for God again whom I had lost at the start as an apprentice for the electrician craftsman ship.

I had left my parents place when I was 18 and only occasional went back there - mostly for family celebrations. During one of this occasions  it was the Eulogius Fest, a procession with horses. As a boy this had been a very special day, but now I was there as a spectator. Like hundreds of others I stood at the roadside occasionally changing the position. It was a sunny day I think second Sunday of June, so it was fairly warm and I looked for a place not so exposed to the sun.
There in the half shade, I was addressed by a stranger. A stranger? Well to me. It turned our that he was my colleague and fellow apprentice when we became electricians. We had worked together for 3 and a half years and also spend some of our spare time together, but I could not recognize him. Of course I did not show!
It was a shocking experience. I was studying by then, so my memory was fairly good, but this man, this former friend, was erased from my memory?
Even now, I remember the occasion but I do not remember him. I mean if I would meet him in the streets I would not recognize him!
Maybe because we had no special experiences together. No fights I recall and no special highlights. Maybe he was like a normal sunny day in my life, in our lives.
If this can happen in one life time, what more so if we die and reincarnate in a different body? What if we change race and sex?
But there is more to it!
If we extend out question "Why" and look at the spiritual side of life, we may find another piece of the puzzle.
Again if you look back at your life. What come to mind first? A happy experience  and second a bad one? Or is it vice verse? From the 10 days or events you remember how many are happy and how many are sad occasions?
And to go a step further, which of the 10 events had a bigger influence on your live?
Eckankar teaches that we are now at the peak of our spiritual development, even if we are a beggar or a criminal in the outer life. Now if you dwell in the esoteric communities or New Age groups you find a lot of people claiming to have been Jesus or saints,  kings or heroes.  I do not say it is not true, but I like to ask you how many saints, heroes or Jesuses do you know? I never heard a person claim he or she was a beggar or criminal! This is the hard side folks!
Before you can enter the realm of the primal force, no matter of you call it God, Allah or Sugmad you have to look a your dark side too.
If we look at all religions, and Eckankar is not difference here, we learn that God is almighty all encompassing - but the negative force is not part of it!
But this leads to a new set of questions, so lets go back to you and me and the HERE and NOW!
We do not like to have a dark side. We ignore it if we can, or keep it to ourselves if possible, we even like to forget it.
Now if we try to forget the bad things we did or want to do in this lifetime, how much do you think we shut this off when we reincarnate?
Btw. if you want to start to recall some of your former life times or if bad dreams hunt you, Eckankar offers a number of exercises to to put the Vail aside.

What is a spiritual life?

Is this an easy question? What actually is the meaning of "Spiritual". I have a very simple definition, but because I like to write not only out of my head, but something based of fact, what people can comprehend, I went to Wikipedia and to the Wiktionary. I grew up in a post war German which was basically free of English (at least for the average people). By browsing the Wiktionary looking for the word Spiritual I came across the religious songs basically of black American making. I am sure at least the last 10 years, probably longer, I had completely forgotten about it.
It was somehow an amazing experience. It was like browsing an old photo album and you find a picture that once meant a lot, but you had forgotten about it.
For many years I had observes it was a rare word. Then some groups like Eckankar  and others used it and more and more the word found its way back into the main stream and actually - on my impression - replaced the word religion/religious.
Let me give you my definition of spiritual: Spiritual refers to the invisible side of life, the force behind it.
For me it is a force maybe only a matrix that exists in the lives of every person, but at the same time is very personal and differs from person to person. I like to think that this spiritual matrix is based on the individual karma.

You might say say: Well, nice " And?"
Did you ever wonder why certain things in your life did not turn out as planned? Did you ever feel that you had to do a certain action, or maybe say a certain word, but you could not? Like you want to apologize to a certain person or say "I love you" to another? Live changing moment, but somehow, something held you back. Made you to stay mute, made you be an observer of an action and at the same time a puppet on the strings?
[Did you ever have such a moment? Where you were actor and observer? If so, did you ever wonder how it could be? ]
Maybe, maybe it would be sufficient to use the term karma. But maybe I am not good enough with words. Actually while writing this, I also do a lot of thinking. And this writing process now is at least as much for me it it might be for you.
I cherished the Term "Spiritual" and now in the first step I had to broaden its meaning and now, only minutes later, by linking it directly with karma, almost make it obsolete.
On one side, this makes me a little sad, like loosing something precious, but from a spiritual point of view I also see that now I can let go of something I no longer need on my journey home to God, something I have outgrown.
Maybe you too have outgrown words or images, once precious to you, but now only are a burden, often an invisible one, on your journey home to God.

We get what we are ready to receive

Sorry no fantastic adventures lately. Should I be sad?
Well it makes me wonder when I have an active cycle with numerous oob experiences which are  followed by a calm time.
But lets face it, at least we souls in a body closer to replacement than others, especially people who work in a calmer and not to hectic environment, we feel exhausted if we travel to a big town and have lots of people and noise around us. We feel exhausted after the journey. For sure I do, and I even would call myself a city dweller.
So, when I come home in the evening, I normally go to bed soon and sleep like a log.
So comparing it to my inner experience, it can be more or less the same, after an activity a rest period is normal.
If you think that there is no spiritual growth during this rest periods you might overlook the experiences that are not so dramatic.
I liked it when Sri Harold Klemp made me aware that life runs in cyles. Mine does and at time the cyles are not to long, sometimes especially the ones I do not fancy to much, seem to last far to long.
Like many of you out there, I am trained to use my creativity. Or to use different words, not many of this cycles are cycles of abundance in money.

As you know I live in the Philippines which has very favorable conditions for loitering and now is considered a developing country (some time back it was one of the tiger states, a group of fast growing economies in South east Asia)
I spend most of my life in Germany and hence seeing poverty still attracts my attention. I mean I think about.
The spiritual world are not black and white only (neither is this world) meaning what I write here is only one of the many facets.
It is easier to be poor than to be rich (remember you are born into a rich or a poor family. And as an Eckist  better as Soul, we have a saying in it.) So why are so many people born poor?
Because it is easier!
You think there is not enough wealth for all who are poor?
As soul we are the ultimate creators, hence we could create a world full of economies like Germany, Swiss, Singapore or even Monaco.
Many countries on this planet have a lottery like 6 out of 49 or similar, which basically every week creates a millionaire. If you look at the lucky winners after some time, a huge percentage no longer has money.
Now I am at the second point I want to stress:
We only can have what we are ready to receive or perceive?
I am poor because I am not ready to accept the riches!
If you are one of this people who urgently need money, ask yourself: What do I miss, to have what I need!?
I remember years back me and my neighbor were walking through the spring. He with his girlfriend, I with mine. I was a freelancer, he was an artist, all four of us was a certain shortage in common. I remember how he and his girlfriend were discussing how to imagine to have riches. Where are the hinges, what are the tricks, How can you truly think you are rich if you do not even have money to buy food. Not a single moment did we think that WE ARE THE PROBLEM. It is not God who is not willing to give us, it is US who are not ready to receive.

Is heaven real? (Part II)

From my last blog I like the idea that heaven and even God evolves, as we do here on earth.
We could play the same game as last week and this week talk about fashion. I am willing to bet that the fabrics we use today are by far more comfortable to wear that the stuff they had 2000 years ago, even the royals had no briefs or boxer shorts but had to expose their private parts to the coarse fabric.
But I promised to write about heaven in a more personal way.
If you have read one of the Holy books you know that God used dreams to address ITS spokespersons. At least about Muhammad is said that Allah (God) lifted him up. Even Jesus in the end ascended. That means - to say the least - Heaven must be out there somewhere.
It is a soothing idea!
Let me ask you a question: Do you dream? Science found out, that everybody is dreaming! So the problem is not the dreaming as such, but the recalling of a dream.
Let me ask you another question:  Did you ever dream  “crazy stuff" like flying, walking through walls or other things we out here in the “real” world would consider strange or impossible?
Don't think you are crazy if you do or did! 
For quite some time I walked through walls and regularly in the middle of the wall or at the other side I woke up because my mind from the “real” world (maybe it was the censor) interfered and said “not possible!”.
You know there are vivid dreams, dreams when we are aware, that we are dreaming. But before you become a vivid dreamer you might have a dream which was so real so intensely real that even the reality outside here the “real” world seems vague.
Chances are that no priest, teacher or even scientist gave you an answer that really satisfied you.
Let me tell you a little story:
Some years back I was sick. I had an upset stomach and it hurt badly. To make things worse it was summer and terribly hot. For hours I lay on my bed - non stop suffering. Trying to watch TV or read to take my awareness away from the pain were in vain. I was wondering why the pain did not lessen. Then I heard my neighbor and his  beautiful wife start a fight. It was a heated argument that lasted for quite some time, but like all quarrels ended. And with the end of the quarrel my attention slipped back into my body. Actually I had not realized that I was out of my body. I was listening so intensely to the quarrel, that I was not aware of myself. But this happen to you as well, I am sure, when you watch a film or when you forget to eat your meal! Where are you, when you forget “yourself”? Or to go back to dreams:
Who is the one running around in the dream world, or who is the one laying in bed?
Do you have an answer?
I have!
But it is not scientifically proven, or even provable.
I call it a working hypothesis. Meaning I use it as an assumption until I can proof it wrong!
For me I - or any dreamer with this intense experience - visits a heaven of God!
If I have such a “dream” it changes me! This is what I expect from such an encounter.
Let me summarize it in a few different words:
If something is more intense than the real live and if it changes me in my daily life even, I am not shy to admit that I had a divine encounter, at least not as long as as it makes me a better being and not as long as no one proves me wrong or insane!

Remember the bible says that the way to heaven is a small and a winded road. So do not expect to be close to heaven as long as you are with crowds on a smooth paved highway.
Watch out for a sign like “detour” or even a path almost unrecognizable and follow your intuition.

And if your family and friends consider you strange and if your pastor has no words for your experiences maybe you already are on a "detour" from the paved highway to heaven.

Is Heaven real? I

I am sure you have asked yourself this question at least once. Maybe we first should ask: “What is heaven?”  A place where you fly around with wings and praise the Lord? (Christian heaven) Or is is like Valhalla the  “heaven” of the Germanic warriors where the brave united in the afterlife? Or, there are many different ways the Holy books describe the there after.
Let’s for the moment stick to the Christian heaven. As far as I know there is no gadget or machine mentioned.
That is strange, diba? Here on earth we have planes and trains and cars and Phones and TV and there is nothing?
If I think there is person from the time of Christ and per time travel comes into the now, for sure this person would think this must be heaven.
Heaven should be bigger than earth, after all it has to accommodate all the believers from the last 2000 years and  probably more for the years to come.
I am here in the Asia in the Philippines but I have friends and family in Europe. But as you can guess I also have friends here in Asia.
Imagining that I will die  and serve my time in heaven and with no machines I have a long and tiring flight each time I want to see my friends from the other side.
That is not an exciting thought, but I guess I have no choice, because I am sure I will die (one day).
I hope you were smiling when you were reading the last few lines!
We could argue, that “heaven is not an actual description of a place but more the description of a state of mind.I know the fundamentalist of any religion will oppose the idea, but I am not writing for them! I am writing for you and if you have become a seeker, there are already cracks in your belief system.
So what is the “problem” with the heaven.
It could be a problem of communication!
If heaven is advanced as we are or hopefully more (I like 3D TV without spectacles) there was no way to make the people of the time of Jesus make them understand.
But there is another option:
Imagine heaven evolves! Maybe even God.
Then the Holy books could be right, but not up-to-date.
Or the Heaven is advanced but static (not a place I would like to be) then the Holy books are outdated because they still are written for the people of 2000 years ago!Kindly remember, I was talking about the heaven not the God.
This communication is really a thing can can be bothering!
Before Christ in regular intervals God had a spokesperson called a prophet and since then nothing, nada, nichts!
I am a little on a detour, for I was dwelling in the history. Next time I will again write about the reality of heaven but on a more personal level.

A spiritual life

The start of a journey

Welcome to my new adventure.
My name is Oigen and I try to live a spiritual life. It is a struggle - often - sometimes - but no always! The name of the blog A spiritual struggle is less because I think it is a struggle, but due to the lack of available names!
But then a struggle might not attract us, because it is "work".
But most likely you also will agree that an easy victory means little to us, but a struggle where we had to give our best, also is a sweet victory!
Some time back I wrote a Blog Make love work. I like to write and I liked the discipline, the effort to write it regularly. I am not sure if I can maintain it with this blog. Not because I am less disciplined or lazier, but in my opinion because a spiritual adventure is not sequential. I might have a lot of advantures or realizations in a short time and then nothing for a long time.
I think it takes time for our human understanding to adjust to the spiritual adventures and their effects it has to our understanding (of the word).
I invite you to join me. You are welcome to become a regular reader, but I would appreciate it even more if you become a traveler on the quest to your own realization of what you are and maybe even further on to get a personal realization of God.

Today is Eid al Fitr mubarak, (I am aware that there are numerous ways to spell it) the end of the fasting month of our Muslim brethren. A good day to start a blog!

This is not a religious blog! But often our religion is the base from where we start our spiritual journey.
I invite you to comment my ideas and adventures, you are also invited to comment on comments, but kindly be aware that there is no right or wrong! Even if you feel something is wrong don't start with accusations or inappropriate comments, tell your side of the story, tell about your adventure.
IF you move towards a place in the inner world and you see and your Holy book says you will see an "orange light" And someone else with a different holy book states it is an olive light and s/he sees it - simply none of you might be wrong, you are just approaching it from a different direction. Imagine the truth or the Light of God is white

At the other side of the prism it is still the light of God, but spread into lots of different colors. Not everybody on the search for God sees the light right away. So if you see it, be happy but also be aware that you do not see all the light ( the full spectrum scientifically speaking), just the light that is visible from where your are (spiritually not locally).
This blog has no intention to lure you away from your religion! If you are not yet a saint on your path, then there is lots of space for you to grow withing your religion or believe system.
But if you have doubts or even if are full of doubts, feel free to explore the worlds of God on this side as well as on the other side of the Vail.


Oigen