everything happens for a reason

I'm not entirely sure how to start this post... although I think the best place to start is with what I believe on this subject...

• I believe in reincarnation
• I believe that we have lessons that need to be learned in this life
• I believe some of those are lessons we failed to learn in previous lifetimes
• I believe we "choose" those lessons and obsticles we want to address in this lifetime before we "come back"
• I believe that a lot of the people who are close to us in our lifetimes, good friends, family, lovers, are usually people we have known before in various incarnations
• I believe that everything happens for a reason even if we don't know why at the time
• I believe that there are certain people and events that we are destined to encounter
• I believe that those things are part of the lesson we need to learn

And I know that I've been around before... quite a few times actually...

I don't expect other people to believe what I believe, because, to be honest, I only believe it because of the things I've experienced. I have to admit, I'm equal parts sceptic and believer... I believe in Astrology, but I'm sceptical about the Star Sign columns printed in magazines and newspapers... that kind of thing. All the things I know and believe are things I've experienced first hand.

There have been two books that have reinforced or shaped my ideas around reincarnation... one was fiction, Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr, and reinforced the things I already believed and kind of gave me a framework to the whole idea of repeating mistakes and lessons over multiple lives. And the story about how I got that book is another story for another day...

The second was the book I just finished, Caught Between Two Worlds by Adelaide spiritual author, Scott Russell Hill. Actually the book I just finished is the "Special Edition", the rereleased and re-edited/updated version of his three books, Caught Between Two Worlds, Psychic And Truth & Lies Of The New Age (all of which are pretty much impossible to get now).

Back when I was working at the Department of Further Education, Employment, Science and Technology (how's that for a mouthful), I had a conversation with one of the women I worked with, Jan, about past lives and whatnot... I actually don't even remember what was said or how the conversation came up... but she said she had a book she thought I should read, and brought in the first of Scott's books, Caught Between Two Worlds.

Well, I devoured the book... sure, there were bits in it that made me raise my eyebrow sceptically... specifically bits about UFOs... but for the most part, the book really spoke to me. Jan brought along the second and then third book and I read them with equal interest.

And then I got to a particular paragraph at the end of the third book and just stopped reading. I must have reread that paragraph about fifty times. It was so completely about where I was at at that point in my life and it was one of those moments when you know the Universe is yelling in your ear...

The paragraph went like this...

'I let the pain of the past go,' I said softly while Barry continued to keep Tom occupied. 'The karmic cycle of destruction between this person, his friends and me ends here. Peace replaces anger, wisdom replaces ignorance. The future is my goal, the past is but a memory.'

It resonated with me SO much, that I actually photocopied the page and enlarged the paragraph until it was huge, and hung it in my cubicle at work.

Yesterday, as I was getting towards the end of the Special Edition of Caught Between Two Worlds I reached the same portion of the book...

And the quote wasn't there...

I reread the section again, just to make sure I hadn't missed it or anything... then I dug around in my papers for the enlargement of the quote... just in case I was misremembering it.

Nope... just as I'd remembered... although in the new edition the character in question was "Frank" not "Tom"... not entirely sure what that was all about...

At that point I got pissy with Scott... how dare he take out that paragraph or reedit it or whatever he did to it... and then I thought about it. When I read the book originally, I NEEDED to read that paragraph... it was important to where I was at, and the lesson that I was still struggling to learn. That paragraph was the very thing that actually got me to a place where I learned the damn lesson...

Which meant I didn't need the paragraph any more... so it wasn't there...

Everything happens for a reason.

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