It seems every MeetUp, someone recommends an interesting book on past lives research or related subjects. So it occurred to me to start a reading list if anyone is interested in following the discussion. The most recent book was, once again, from someone I would not have given serious consideration to, but Jane Roberts "The Education of Oversoul 7" was a great read. Thanks to Pamela Shook for recommending it. Unlike her other Seth books like "The Nature of Personal Reality", this is fiction, it reads like a good novel, and has some interesting concepts about time and creating our own reality. Plus it deals with the big picture issues of past lives, how our talents and abilities echo through our lives to the present (even as it redefines what this concept we call "present time" actually is.)
Here is an excerpt that caught my attention, beautifully written -
"Honor your body, which is your representative in this universe. Its magnificence is no accident. It is the framework through which your works must come; through which the spirit and the spirit within the spirit speaks. The flesh and the spirit are two phases of your actuality in space and time. Who ignores one, falls apart in shambles. So it is written.
The marriage of soul and flesh is an ancient contract, to be honored.
Let no soul in flesh ignore its Earthly counterpart, or be unkind to its mate in time.
The mind cannot dance above the flesh, or on the flesh. It cannot deny the flesh or it turns into a demon demanding domination. Then the voice of the flesh cries out with yearning through all of its parts; the ancient contract undone. And both soul and flesh go begging, each alone and without partner.
Who feeds the body with love, neither starving it nor stuffing it, feeds the soul. Who denies the body denies the soul. Who betrays it, betrays the soul. The body is the body of the soul, the corporal image of knowledge. As men and women are married to each other, so is each soul wedded to its body.
Those who do not love the body or trust it do not love or trust the soul. The multitudinous voices of the gods speak through the body parts. Even the golden molecules are not mute. Who muzzles the body or leashes it muzzles and leashes the soul. The private body is the dwelling place of the private guise of God. Do it honor. Let no man set himself up above the body, calling it soiled, for to him the splendor of the self is hidden. Let no one drive the body like a horse in captivity, to be ridden, or he will be trampled.
The body is the soul in Earth garments. It is the face of the soul turned toward the seasons, the image of the soul reflected in Earth waters. The body is the soul turned outward. Soul and body are merged in the land of the seasons. Such is the ancient contract by which the Earth was formed,
The knowledge of the soul is written in the body. Body and soul are the inner and outer of the self. The spirit from which the soul springs forms both soul and body. In Earth time, the soul and body learn together. The genes are the alphabets by which the soul speaks, the body-which is the soul's utterance in flesh.
So let the soul freely speak itself in flesh.
The body is also eternal. The soul takes it out of space-time. The body is the soul's expression, and its expression is not finite. The spirit has many souls, and each has a body. The body is in and out of time, even as the soul is. Let the soul rush freely throughout the body, and breathe life into all of its parts. The first birth was a gift, freely given. Now you must acquiesce and give your blessing to the life within you. Trust the spontaneity and health of the body, which is the spontaneity and health of the soul. For each morning you spring anew, alive and fresh, out of chaos. . . ."
Previous titles we mentioned are-
Sylvia Browne - Past Lives, Future Healing
Mary Lee LeBay - Exploring Past Lives: Your Soul's Quest for Consciousness
More to come, email with any suggestions. I'm in the process of reading Fatal Attraction by Patricia Fara, for its background on magnetics and Anton Mesmer, the founder of hypnosis. And I'm waiting on a copy of LifeCycles: Reincarnation and the Web of Life by Christopher Bache. Reviews to follow.