Reincarnation means our parents don’t shape us, we shape them.

I woke this morning with a strong impression of the idea that because we reincarnate, we are not a product of our parents. Our parents don’t shape us, we shape them. When parents welcome a child they are saying, “Welcome, I am willing to change to accommodate you and I promise to walk with you through the next 21 years to prepare you to become the individual you are destined to become.” This would certainly explain why some parents who have difficulty with a child place the blame on the child by saying, “I have a difficult child.”

How often do we look at a tiny baby and think about the man or woman they were in their previous life? Mostly we focus on the biological facts, the parents had sex, the sperm penetrated the ovum, and therefore the parents created the child. Why do we think that this is the source, origin and cause of a human being? This is only the source of the physical body. The origin lies with the (re)incarnating spirit, and the cause has a deep connection with the logos, the creative Word that lies at the foundation of the Universe.

What we don’t realise is that the incarnating child chooses its parents. The choice is based on past life connections, but also because other people with whom there is a strong connection are incarnating in a similar region of the world. In this way, we give ourselves the greatest opportunity for growth as we deal with our karma and (perhaps more importantly) help other’s deal with theirs.

By focussing on the incarnating soul, we place things in their right perspective. We can make much more sense of stillbirths, cot deaths and other childhood illnesses. The incarnating soul may only have needed to be in this world for a short period before continuing its preparation in the spiritual worlds for its next incarnation.

If we are able to think this through, we go a long way to understanding the purpose of life and our own life’s purpose.

The Poem of the Soul The Angel and the Mother by Anne Francois Louis Janmot