By Brian Foster

Abstract

When people experience NDE's, they have the future revealed to them. For some, they speak about the future while delirious, others see the future while in a NDE state, then forget most of what they saw. Why does the memories of NDE disappear or fade away so quickly. There is a reason why we must forget and it is fully explained by Spiritism.

Introduction

In the book Between Heaven and Earth, dictated to Francisco C. Xavier, by the spirit Andre Luiz, a woman, named Antonina, is given a chance to meet her deceased child (Marcos) in the Spirit world. She finds the child is happy with his life in heaven. She feels wonderful about the experience. When her spirit is put back into her body, the team leader (Clarencio), with whom Andre and Hilario are assisting, says,

"Our friend cannot hold on to the memory of what occurred," stated Clarencio.

"Why not?" asked Hilario.

"Very few spirits are capable of living on earth with the visions of life eternal. They need the environment of inner twilight. A full memory of what occurred would result in a fatal longing."

But the Minister patiently explained: "Each stage in life is characterized by special purposes. Honey may be tasty nectar for the child, but it mustn't be given indiscriminately - too much and it becomes a laxative. While we are in the earthly envelope, we cannot stay in contact with the spirit realm too long or our soul will lose interest in struggling worthily till the end of the body. Antonina will recall our trip but only vaguely, like someone who brings a beautiful but blurry picture to the living arena of her soul. But she will remember her son more vividly, enough for her to feel reassured and convinced that Marcos is waiting for her in the Greater Life. Such certainty will be sweet nourishment for her heart."[1]

The message we are hearing is that contact with the Spirit realm is too enjoyable, a feeling of peacefulness and love that we would constantly long for, if we remembered its existence. One of the recurring themes of NDEs is the person who is in contact with the Spirits, tell them that they wish to stay and not return to their life on earth, but are in the end told, 'You must go back. It is not your time yet.' Hannah F. who wrote about her NDE in April, 2014, supplies a perfect example. She describes the wonderment, the beauty, and the vague memories of a conversation;

'There was a waterfall in front of us and beautiful scenery. I would probably call it a beautiful garden however everything was natural. I remember a feeling of love and reassurance. I don't remember what the man was telling me about but he was speaking for a long time. It felt like hours. I remember being shocked at a few things he said.  

Now, in my experience I was ME but i wasn't "HANNAH". I knew myself but not as Hannah. I don't remember what was spoken but I remember the feelings I felt. All I remember him saying was, "it's time to go back now." I looked at him puzzled (Not remembering earth) and then felt a pain on my shoulder. When I felt the pain I began to travel through a tunnel. As I went down the tunnel I could see images of my life and my life on earth came back to me.'[2]

Notice the fuzzy knowledge of the exact events, a feeling of an interesting conversation, a good time, but a recollection as if you drank just a little too much and couldn't remember the great bar conversation you had last night. The one certainty, was that a better place was visited. Therefore, if we actually are a spirit, why aren't we allowed memories of our past lives, on earth and in the Spirit world?

Forgetfulness of the Past - Why?

When we reincarnate, we are not allowed to remember our past lives or our time as a spirit on earth. To determine why this is so, let's examine a case of a spirit who was reincarnated with the ability to remember past lives. In the book, The Messengers, psychographed by Francisco C. Xavier, dictated to him by the spirit Andre Luiz, Andre encounters a person who completely failed in their mission on earth. Joel, the spirit who laments his failure, tells Andre;

'My failure was not because of too much sensitivity, but because of how I used it. As I understand now, God allows some individuals to have superior sensitivity so they can use it as a tool, a kind of powerful magnifying lens that helps them see the right course of life for themselves and others they are supposed to help. This extra sensitivity can help to perceive life's path, identify dangers and shortcuts, and clearly see obstacles. Instead of using the gift in that way, all I did was use it to satisfy my warped curiosity about myself.'

'To fulfill my role of helping others, my expanded perception included the ability to remember my past lives. Most people can't recall their own past, and for good reason. In my case, I was supposed to use that knowledge in my service to help others, not to obsess about it, and that's where I failed.'

'I began to obsess about a previous existence in which I has been Monsignor Alejandre Pizarro who participated in the last years of the cruel Spanish Inquisition. That's when I started misusing the spiritual magnifying lens I told you about. The excitement of the sensations was inebriating ' it was as if I was addicted to drugs or alcohol ' and I neglected all of my previously accepted responsibilities.'

'I started spending all of my time trying to locate the people who had been my companions during my time centuries before as a religious man. I forced myself to find each and every one of them in space and time, reconstituting their biographical sketches, completely ignoring the work I was supposed to do.'[3]

'So I spent my life in this fashion ' going from revelation to revelation, sensation to sensation. I, who had reincarnated with the unusual ability to remember in order to be useful transformed my gift into a tool of addiction. I'd thrown away an opportunity to redeem myself, and I lived tortured by intermittent bouts of hallucination. The misuse of my sensitivity generated an imbalance in my mind so that I became painfully unstable.'[4]

A perfect example of what could happen when we know too much and are unable to focus on what we need to learn. Imagine sitting in a classroom, with the TV blaring, showing you scenes from your previous existence while at the same time attempting to comprehend the basic facts of Algebra. One could not possess the mental force to concentrate on that valuable lesson, especially if you had had some type of mathematics background before and tried to merge it with what you are learning at the present time. Not only would you reject parts of what were offered to you, but you would be exasperated with having to sit through this lecture again, even though spaced out by hundreds of years.

There are other reasons as well, in The Gospel According to Spiritism, it says, 'A spirit is frequently reborn into the same environment in which it has already lived, and finds itself in relationships with the same individuals in order to repair the evil it did to them. If it were to recognize in them those whom it used to hate, perhaps its hatred would reawaken. In any case, it would feel humiliated in the presence of those it offended.'[5] Therefore, the need to forget the past, not only in our present life, but from other lives is a necessity to be able to learn and to forgive others and to grow spiritually.

But, are we a completely blank slate, always starting over? No, for again in The Gospel According to Spiritism, we are told, 'God has given us for our advancement precisely what is necessary and what will be enough for us: the voice of conscience and our instinctive tendencies, taking from us what could harm us.'[6] The underlines are mine. These are the two main levers of our behavior. If our conscience (or instinct) tells us something is wrong, I suggest it is doing so with the wisdom of hundreds, if not thousands, of years of experience behind it.

Hence, we do retain traces of our past lives, which are very important parts of our daily life. We take our instincts and our conscience for granted, not realizing that we have been developing these tools for multiple lives. Ponder your thoughts as you determine the best course of action and feel what is the right thing to do, as opposed to the action that may bring you immediate gratification, understand that your action will have consequences far in the future. Do you really want that extra cash now, but pay for a severe trial in the future, so you will learn, down to the foundation of your heart, that you should always do the right thing? Because, according to Spiritism, you will be sent on trials, programmed to improve your deficiencies, until you fully absorb the intended lesson. And you thought childhood was tough!

Author:

Brian Foster has a BSCS degree and a MBA. He has worked in R&D for medical device corporations and in IT for large financial institutions. Brian Foster has a blog at www.nwspiritism.com.