#44. Memorial Day Next Year

We have just made it through the Memorial Day weekend, commemorating the deaths during the Iraqi war of somewhere between "estimates" of 100,000 (on the low end) and 1 million (on the high end). But if we don't even know how many have died, do we really care that they have paid the ultimate sacrifice?

Imagine what it would feel like next year on "Memorial Day" if there were no deaths to commemorate? No soldiers dying. No soldiers fighting. What if the U.S. decided to stop playing war? Is it possible? Let's ask Mahatma Gandhi! Let's ask Martin Luther King, Jr. Let's ask the Master Jesus.

Each of them taught and demonstrated to our world how to overcome the evils of the world through the principle of non-violence . . . and all three were assasinated . . . and probably, not remembered on Memorial Day.

Albert Einstein stated about Gandhi, "Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood."

#43. Jesus, Dalai Lama, & YOU

What do you know about the Dalai Lama? According to Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Dalai Lama is an enlightened spiritual being who chooses to come to the earth again and again to serve humanity. So, after he dies, it is believed that he will return to the earth in a new baby's body.

If a monk has a dream or vision that he has been reborn, the senior Buddhist monks will begin searching for the youngster. The monks then present such a boy with possessions (including toys) of the previous Dalai Lama to determine whether the boy is familiar with them.

It is believed to be proof that the child is the reincarnation if he chooses the items that belonged to the previous Lama. In 1937, at the age of two, the present 14th Dalai Lama was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama.

Is Jesus also an advance spiritual being, who chose to come to the earth to serve humanity?

"(Jesus) has come from heaven” - John 3:31
“(Jesus) was taken up to heaven” - Mark 16:19

These two Bible verses point to the beginning and ending of the life of Jesus. It implies that he pre-existed before his birth and that he continued to exist after his death.

In the western world, most people do believe the soul lives on after death, but that the soul is not created until conception (or at birth). But if one person – Jesus – lived in the spirit world before birth and returned to the spirit world after death, then WHY would this not be true of us all?

OK, Jesus was called the Son of God. But is not every soul a child of God? Does not each have a spark of divinity? If we can live for eternity after death, what prevents us from pre-existing our birth? Is it possible we all have come from the spiritual realm ... and shall return ... again and again and again? Would you recognize your toys?