M.J. Rose

Welcome to the Reincarnationist Blog’s series of interviews using the infamous Proust Questionnaire. Today’s subject is Linda L. Richards…

THE QUESTIONS:

Title of your latest book as of Sept 1, 2007 – Calculated Loss (September 2006, MIRA Books)

 

 

Do you believe — even a little bit — that reincarnation is possible?

 

Some would say I don’t believe in anything else.

 

Have you ever read anything books the subject that made an impression on you?

 

Bruce Goldberg’s Past Lives, Future Lives was life-changing for me when I read it in the 1980s. (I believe it was published in the very early 1980s and has never been out of print.) For me, it was the right book at the right time and it sent me on a journey of research and learning.

 

Reincarnation — and the twinned concepts of karma and personal growth carried out over many lifetimes — made a cosmic kind of sense to me as soon as I began to learn about it. Nothing that had come before ever had.

 

What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a hold over from a past life?

 

I’m hoping that my karmic lessons are being sufficiently learned that I’m not dragging a lot of stuff around.

 

What is your principle defect that you believe might be inherited from a previous incarnation?

 

My personal understanding and application of the principles of reincarnation doesn’t leave room for “inherited” defects.

 

That said, I have an inappropriate (that is, there is no experience in this life that would explain it) fear of heights that some might say is attributable to a negative experience in an early lifetime. Ditto I have a strong affinity for Japanese foods and culture.

 

Which of your favorite heroes do you think you actually could have been and why?

 

Statistically, there’s not much chance I could have been any of my historical heroes. Statistically, I would have lived in the Far or Middle East — perhaps both — and had a name — names — not remembered by history.

 

I had a regression experience that bears this out for me.

 

I had an impression of living somewhere surrounded by sand. My feet were bare and the skin on my feet and hands were darker than they are in my present life. I could see the hem of the garment I wore. It was a vibrant orange and of some diaphanous material I can’t name. Perhaps sari-like. I don’t know who or when or even where I was, but I knew it wasn’t a grand life. The callouses on my hands gave witness to that. And just this very real feeling of being a small cog in a much larger wheel. It was an odd feeling and I can’t think how to explain it better than that, but it’s not a feeling I think most of us in North America know anymore.

 

What three people from history would you like to have over to dinner for a discussion about reincarnation?

 

Does it have to be from history? I’d much rather it be contemporary. (For one thing, you wouldn’t have to do so much explaining about the food.)

 

For starters, Dr. Bruce Goldberg. His philosophies regarding the topic he covered so well all those years ago have so shaped my own views it would be wonderful to share an evening with him. I’d love to know how his thoughts have evolved on the topic in the years between. It would be terrific to have M.J. Rose in on this dinner. Since she’s woven her beliefs about reincarnation into The Reincarnationist and her research in contemporary, she’d have a lot to add to this conversation. And we need a fourth so let’s have a dissenting voice and get Christopher Hitchens. Because he’s hilarious, has strong views on everything and would certainly have a lot of say on any topic involving belief systems.

 

Oh, what a fun evening! Where do I sign?

 

What do you think happens when we die?

 

Do you mean at the precise moment? Or afterwards?

 

At the moment of death, I expect that there is some sort of bright tunnel you’re expected to pass through. (Plenty of people who have had near death experiences have described it.)

 

Then I expect — and I’m not sure what “physical” form it might take — but I expect some sort of spiritual gymnasium where souls chill and consider what they’ve learned in previous lives and plot what sort of background will be needed for the life upcoming in order to complete the next karmic cycle.

 

You know, when I read that back, it sounds a little silly. But then I guess, when it comes to spiritual beliefs, almost anything does because you’re attempting to describe something that has no actual physical manifestation.

 

Ah well… you can’t know everything, can you? If we had all the answers, there’d be nothing to look forward to.

 

When you come back next time, who would you like to be?

 

If what I am coming to understand are the karmic lessons I need to learn in this life, then I hope whoever I am in the next one I am more patient, more peaceful and more filled with grace.

We would love to hear your responses to these questions. Please feel free to copy and paste the Questionnaire with your answers into a Comment for this post.

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