AboutStephen Sakellarios Expertise I can answer questions about reincarnation (from both Eastern and Western perspectives) and life after death, and how these topics relate to religion and spirituality.
Experience
I produced a documentary entitled "In Another Life: Reincarnation in America" which aired on PBS station KBDI in Denver, CO, Jan. 2003
I have a masters in counseling from FSU, and over thirty years' study of Eastern mysticism from carefully selected sources, plus eight years' study of contemporary Western reincarnation studies. I've published nine related articles online and in print. I offer an online class on the subject and maintain an extensive educational website at www.ial.goldthread.com, as well as giving talks and radio interviews (archived on the website).
Question I had a very vivid dream... For some reason I looked at the image
of a grave. In particular at the face in the coffin. Somehow
I had the following thoughts enter my mind.... Anderson, merchant/businessman , 1810 .
Death around the 1850-1860 era, slender person, quite reserved, successful but not showy, yet sad.
Somehow I think it's me. I am 40 and at mid life could it be a foreshadowing?
Or perhaps a warning to myself? Am I on the same path as I was before? I want to live long, not like this person, if it was me.
Various images from things I have viewed could have played a role in this, but I am not certain. Any insight would be appreciated.
Answer Hi Chad,
Well, as I say, if you ask a chiropractor whether your health problems are due to misalignment of your spine, he'll probably say "yes"...
I wouldn't worry too much about foreshadowings. The whole purpose of reincarnation is to give us a new chance, new circumstances. The question to ask oneself is, whether one is trying to learn one's main lessons in life. Do you have a sense that there was some key point that this merchant didn't "get," that you can get now? That would be the place to put your focus. Put another way, did the logic of his experience teach him something that you can implement in your life, now?
Usually, asI gather from the literature, past-life dreams tend to be vivid and detailed--as you describe--and they also tend to repeat and to start showing up in childhood. If this is the only time you've had this dream, and there was nothing in your childhood that you can think of that was relelvant to it, then it may or may not be a dream stimulated by a past-life memory. Since you got a name, a date, an occupation, his physical build and his personality, this is a lot of detail. This part does suggest a past-life memory.
Another principle of past-life memory is that it can show up when you reach the same age as the previous person was, when something important happened. Do you get the feeling that this fellow died--or even committed suicide--when he was 40? That could be the meaning of the dream. Obviously, that wasn't the best course of action, if he did that, and you can do better! All are agreed that suicide is extremely inadvisable from the point of view of afterlife studies.
It is very difficult to prove whether we create a story that fits our circumstances, or whether these are real memories. In a few cases they have been historically proven. Interestingly, I am investigating a possible past life from this same era. I'm finding it very difficult to track down.
In any case, I think the important points hold true whether it is a past-life memory or not. I wouldn't take it as foreshadowing, but rather, as a "prompting" to examine your life and see if it's all that you want it to be.
