| Long Island Spiritist Doctrine Study Group 1104A Smithtown Avenue. Bohemia, NY 11716. (631)578-9505 ©2011 - All Rights Reserved |
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What do you believe the greatest challenge we face today as parents?
Drugs & Alcohol? Teen pregnancy? Sexually transmitted diseases? Teen
depression? What issues are you most concerned about? What do you as a
parent feel you have control over? While all those issues we just mentioned
are serious problems facing todays teenagers, they are not the greatest
challenges facing parents today. The greatest challenge is the moral
responsibility that falls upon us. It is our mission as parents to not only
educate our children's minds but also their spirits. There is a prevalence in
society today to allow the education system to shape the minds of our
children. What of the education of the spirit? Do we place that instruction in
the hands of the church? If that is the case, what then are our
responsibilities? In the Book of Spirits it clearly states, a parent's
responsibility is to "improve the spirit of the child they've brought into the
world. It is given to them for that purpose, and they are expected to help it
advance. A difficult child is often sent as a trial to the parents." As parents in
the modern world, shouldn't we give our children all the tools they will
need to succeed in this ever changing world?
According to Spiritism, "Blood ties do not necessarily create bonds between
Spirits. The body comes from the body. But the Spirit does not proceed the
Spirit, since the Spirit already existed before the formation of the body. The
parents do not create the Spirit of the child; they do nothing more than
supply the material wrapping, although it is their duty to help the
intellectual and moral development of their child, in order to further its
progress.
Those incarnated in the same family, especially as close relations, are as
often as not congenial Spirits linked by past relationships, which express
themselves during their earthly lives by their reciprocated affections. But it
can also happen that these people are complete strangers to each other, or
they may be distant from each other due to past aversions, which while on
Earth are translated into mutual antagonisms that serve as probation. The
real family ties are not those of blood then, but those of mutual sympathy
and the communion of ideas that hold spirits together before, during and
after their incarnations. From this it follows that two people born of different
parents may be more like brothers and sisters than if they were of the same
blood. They can attract each other, search for each other and so feel happy
together. Whereas two blood brothers maybe repelled by each other, as is
frequently seen. This moral problem is one that only Spiritism can resolve
through the explanation of the plurality of existences."
-Excerpts from The Gospel According to Spiritism by Allan Kardec
Drugs & Alcohol? Teen pregnancy? Sexually transmitted diseases? Teen
depression? What issues are you most concerned about? What do you as a
parent feel you have control over? While all those issues we just mentioned
are serious problems facing todays teenagers, they are not the greatest
challenges facing parents today. The greatest challenge is the moral
responsibility that falls upon us. It is our mission as parents to not only
educate our children's minds but also their spirits. There is a prevalence in
society today to allow the education system to shape the minds of our
children. What of the education of the spirit? Do we place that instruction in
the hands of the church? If that is the case, what then are our
responsibilities? In the Book of Spirits it clearly states, a parent's
responsibility is to "improve the spirit of the child they've brought into the
world. It is given to them for that purpose, and they are expected to help it
advance. A difficult child is often sent as a trial to the parents." As parents in
the modern world, shouldn't we give our children all the tools they will
need to succeed in this ever changing world?
According to Spiritism, "Blood ties do not necessarily create bonds between
Spirits. The body comes from the body. But the Spirit does not proceed the
Spirit, since the Spirit already existed before the formation of the body. The
parents do not create the Spirit of the child; they do nothing more than
supply the material wrapping, although it is their duty to help the
intellectual and moral development of their child, in order to further its
progress.
Those incarnated in the same family, especially as close relations, are as
often as not congenial Spirits linked by past relationships, which express
themselves during their earthly lives by their reciprocated affections. But it
can also happen that these people are complete strangers to each other, or
they may be distant from each other due to past aversions, which while on
Earth are translated into mutual antagonisms that serve as probation. The
real family ties are not those of blood then, but those of mutual sympathy
and the communion of ideas that hold spirits together before, during and
after their incarnations. From this it follows that two people born of different
parents may be more like brothers and sisters than if they were of the same
blood. They can attract each other, search for each other and so feel happy
together. Whereas two blood brothers maybe repelled by each other, as is
frequently seen. This moral problem is one that only Spiritism can resolve
through the explanation of the plurality of existences."
-Excerpts from The Gospel According to Spiritism by Allan Kardec
Apart from simply elucidating cases of Reincarnation, Dr.
Stevenson's research provided some recurrent features.
These include:
* Most past lives are recalled by children between
the ages of 2 and 8, and forgotten after this point.
* Often ‘announcing dreams’ occur, in which the
deceased tells someone in the family they are about
to be reborn to them.
* There is a high incidence of violent death in the
persons whose lives are remembered.
* That birthmarks can occur which correspond
closely in size and location with a wound causing
death in the previous life.
Dr. Ian Stevenson has traveled the globe – he has
investigated cases in India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon,
Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Europe and North
America. He and his team have more than 2600
investigated cases on their books – though he is
quick to point out that they are of varying quality
and thoroughness.
Stevenson's research provided some recurrent features.
These include:
* Most past lives are recalled by children between
the ages of 2 and 8, and forgotten after this point.
* Often ‘announcing dreams’ occur, in which the
deceased tells someone in the family they are about
to be reborn to them.
* There is a high incidence of violent death in the
persons whose lives are remembered.
* That birthmarks can occur which correspond
closely in size and location with a wound causing
death in the previous life.
Dr. Ian Stevenson has traveled the globe – he has
investigated cases in India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon,
Brazil, Turkey, Thailand, Europe and North
America. He and his team have more than 2600
investigated cases on their books – though he is
quick to point out that they are of varying quality
and thoroughness.
| Figure 1. Hypopigmented macule on chest of an Indian youth who, as a child, said he remembered the life of a man, Maha Ram, who was killed with a shotgun fired at close range. |
The painting to the right was painted by a 9 year
old, Akiane Kramarik. This is the most perfect
example of the child prodigy, her gift is most
certainly a gift from God. It seems her abilities have
been honed through preexistence. The theory of
heredity simply cannot explain the cases of
celebrated infant prodigies like the musicians Mozart
and Paganini, the mathematicians Mondeaux and
Inaudi, the painter Picasso and Akiane, and many
other remarkable children whose genius cannot be
traced back to their ancestors. We as parents must
always keep in mind that children, whether
prodigies or not, carry with them an imprint of who
they are as well as who they have been and who
they will be is greatly influenced by the way we
raise them. Perhaps the best way to raise your
children today is to measure your own behavior. A
simple guide would be; are my actions something I
would be proud to have my children witness? If this
is not the case, then most assuredly you should stop
what you are doing.
old, Akiane Kramarik. This is the most perfect
example of the child prodigy, her gift is most
certainly a gift from God. It seems her abilities have
been honed through preexistence. The theory of
heredity simply cannot explain the cases of
celebrated infant prodigies like the musicians Mozart
and Paganini, the mathematicians Mondeaux and
Inaudi, the painter Picasso and Akiane, and many
other remarkable children whose genius cannot be
traced back to their ancestors. We as parents must
always keep in mind that children, whether
prodigies or not, carry with them an imprint of who
they are as well as who they have been and who
they will be is greatly influenced by the way we
raise them. Perhaps the best way to raise your
children today is to measure your own behavior. A
simple guide would be; are my actions something I
would be proud to have my children witness? If this
is not the case, then most assuredly you should stop
what you are doing.
Our children continually surprise us with a depth of knowledge that sometimes leaves us
speechless. Until about the age of Seven, sometimes even later, children retain much of the imprint of
previous lives. Unfortunately, perhaps we are too quick to dismiss what our children have to say as
nonsense. Extensive research done by noted psychiatrists and researches has offered us proof of
previous lives. The Late Dr. Ian Stevenson, a noted psychiatrist and researcher and the former head
of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia devoted over 40 years of scientific
research into the past-life memories of children from all over the world and has over 3000 cases in
his files. During his original research into various cases involving children's memories of past lives,
Dr. Stevenson did note with interest the fact that these children frequently bore lasting birthmarks
which supposedly related to their murder or the death they suffered in a previous life.
speechless. Until about the age of Seven, sometimes even later, children retain much of the imprint of
previous lives. Unfortunately, perhaps we are too quick to dismiss what our children have to say as
nonsense. Extensive research done by noted psychiatrists and researches has offered us proof of
previous lives. The Late Dr. Ian Stevenson, a noted psychiatrist and researcher and the former head
of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia devoted over 40 years of scientific
research into the past-life memories of children from all over the world and has over 3000 cases in
his files. During his original research into various cases involving children's memories of past lives,
Dr. Stevenson did note with interest the fact that these children frequently bore lasting birthmarks
which supposedly related to their murder or the death they suffered in a previous life.
| "God has placed in you the seed of filial and parental love. Through this love, the members of a family are led to help each other - a duty that, in the present state of your society, you too often lose sight of." -The Book of Spirits by Allan Kardec |
| Are children who exhibit these extraordinary abilities simply spirits who have cultivated these gifts throughout the centuries? How do we explain the numerous examples throughout history of children capable of miracles of nature? |
