Theos-Talk Archives (November 1998 Message tt00168)

Jerry S:

[writing to Frank R.]

>>We start next time exactly were we end now, not elsewhere.
>
>Frank, I don't believe that life is so linear.

Both could be considered true. From one moment to the
next we make ourselves. We carry with us a karmic
storehouse of experience, talents, aptitudes. The
essence of those experiences go to make up what our
Self is at any point in time. (Speaking of that Self
that is subject to growth and change through the
process of time and the cumulative experience of time.)
In addition to that essence, we have a personal
impress on our shandhas, our "stuff" of consciousness
which we pick up at the start of each lifetime.

>From one standpoint, then, there is that treasury
of experience, a treasury which carries forward
continuously over time. So at the start of each
lifetime, we start with exactly what we've made
ourselves up to that point in time, the sum total
of experience in all previous lifetimes and evolutions.

But from the other standpoint, there's an incredible
vastness to us, much more than we realize, and only
a tiny fraction of it can find expression in any
particular lifetime. Coming into birth, we may
have an entirely different personality and type of
life than before. From an external appearance, it
might be said that there was no linear progression
from one life to the next, since we're so much
different. But it's still us, doing things we're
familiar with, drawing upon our own personal wealth
of talent and experience.

My four year old, Geoffrey, may go into a large
closet and pick out a toy or game to play with.
There are dozens and dozens of things to pick from.
He's familiar with all of them, and chooses the
one he feels most like playing with that particular
time. What he does with that game may be radically
different than what he did the last time. Perhaps
he's drawing a picture now, whereas before he was
building with blocks. From an external standpoint,
there appears to be something nonlinear, no connection
between the actions done with one toy and what
follows when another toy is taken out. But there is
a connection. Geoffrey has accumulated experience with
his particular set of toys and chooses from all of
them which one will be taken out this particular
time.

-- Eldon