Exploring Past Lives: Your Soul's Quest for Consciousness - Mary Lee LaBay

Have you ever thought you were too advanced for this physical world and wanted to graduate to a higher plane of existence? Have you ever considered that your consciousness can be "extinguished" by not being in a body for too long? Then this is the book for you. I've mentioned Exploring Past Lives before; this is the book I recommend to people who've already read Brian Weiss and want to dig a little deeper. This book has both enlightened me and challenged me, which is what I want from anyone approaching this topic.

LaBay describes with a light touch all the deeper aspects of past lives work, like working with the subconscious mind and seeing the Big Picture, pointing out how much more interesting history and geography can be once one opens to what she calls "the inner tourist". She is challenging in presenting some ideas that I am still processing.  LaBay proposes that a soul loses energy and degenerates when not experiencing a physical body for hundreds or even thousands of years, and that a soul can be "extinguished" if not energized in a physical incarnation. I have not heard or read about this concept before, and my jury is still out until I have personal confirmation. But the ramifications are mind boggling;  I defer to her years of experience, reserving final judgment. Opening my mind to that concept caused me to confront one of my longest held beliefs. I have even made a joke about this in the MeetUps, paraphrasing a great line from "Lily Dale - The Town That Talks to the Dead" by Christine Wicker (great book, highly recommended) - "There are going to be skid marks on the clouds if they want me to come back into a body." I was one of those people who were self-declared old souls, too advanced to come back into a body and ready to graduate to the next level. Labay lays it out-

The best strategy for gaining wisdom and enlightenment is to work hard while in a physical body. The best investment is to learn lessons that help us clarify our vision, strengthen our morals, heal emotional baggage, and acquire knowledge. This world is our proving ground. It is through the experiences in this physical world that we make the greatest progress.

Its hard to dispute the idea that Cooper sums up in the quote of the month: we come here for education and because we desire to grow. No shortcuts, especially if as LaBay suggests, getting lazy and spending to much time outside the body can get your butt extinguished. I'd hate to let all this hard work over many, many incarnations go to waste. There is a lot more to explore in this book, to be continued next month.