Reincarnation
Do we incarnate on other planets?
Can it happen? If so, how? And what would be the point?
I recently came across a controversy regarding whether or not we reincarnate on other planets, in the bodies of non-human species. It’s a fascinating topic that is worth delving into.
What’s the controversy?
It’s straightforward. Jocelyn Joy Thomas presented a piece in Medium, channelled from her guides. Jocelyn begins by wondering about life elsewhere in the universe, but observes how little evidence we have, and even that is vague. Her guides answer, unsurprisingly, that life does indeed exist on other planets. But they then expand on this idea by asserting, “you have very possibly been incarnated on another planet.” For reference, this is Jocelyn’s piece:
Jocelyn’s article drew a response from Kat Medium, who has written extensively on spirituality and reincarnation. Kat rejects the idea that we incarnate in other species on three grounds.
(1) We are on this planet to experience, learn and develop as a spiritual being. When we mess up as a human being, we can only improve as a human being. i.e. we can’t go to a non-terrestrial planet to resolve our terrestrial issues.
(2) Other species, other forms of life, however intelligent, are foreign to us and don’t offer the same opportunities for self-development as being human does.
(3) As for sharing our consciousness with non-terrestrial species, Kat suggests that we’re free to do so after we complete our round of incarnations on Earth, but “until then, we’re too spiritually immature and our consciousness isn’t developed enough for such forays.”
Why this controversy matters
My response is ambivalent. I’m with Jocelyn’s guides regarding the possibility that, if we choose, we may incarnate on other planets.
But Kat raises valid objections. Jocelyn’s article is straightforward. Too straightforward. Where’s the detail? Why would we incarnate on another planet? How would that happen? When in our reincarnational cycle would we do it? What would we hope to get from the experience?
With this detail missing, I consider Kat has the right to object. I admire Kat’s desire not to accept any statement at face value, no matter its source. We have to ask questions if we are to expand our understanding of what is involved in being human.
Accordingly, following up on Kat’s thoughts, I offer several questions on this topic, with answers provided by my guides, human beings who have completed their incarnational cycle. (I write my guides because that is conventional language. However, they are not mine. They are accessible to anyone. Accordingly, from here I will reference them as the guides.)
Who are the ETs on this planet?
Jocelyn begins by writing she thinks there must be life in outer space. Her guides comment on ETs from elsewhere observing us. But is this simple dichtomy — us living down here, ET’s watching from up there — the full picture? Here’s the guides’ perspective:
Every spiritual identity associating with physical species on this planet comes from elsewhere. Not one originates from here. Why? It is because they are spiritual and this planet is physical. You are, as is said in human terms, a migrant. This is not your place of origin. This planet is a place to which you have travelled for the purpose of experiencing, learning, growing and evolving. This exact same purpose is behind all the other spiritual identities present on this planet. They are here to experience, learn, grow and evolve, each in their own particular ways.
Why would we travel to another planet?
Let’s assume we came to Earth from the spiritual dimension to learn and evolve. The Earth is thus our home base. So why would we travel to other planets? Or incarnate in non-human bodies? The guides suggest human beings have multiple motives for doing so.
You, as a spiritual identity, have one home base, this planet, where you incarnate regularly, it being the main physical world you use to experience, learn, grow and evolve. However, you also occasionally travel to other worlds. Some you visit for time out, to relax, and some you visit to engage in inner work. The first treats other worlds as holiday places, the second as places you travel to to attend workshops and learn something new. Doing both is normal on this planet. They are equally normal on the spiritual level.
Why would you travel to another world? For some it is curiosity, to see something different. After all, incarnating life after life into the human world is demanding. This is a wonderful yet fraught place. It is full of much beauty, but human interactions are difficult. There is much negativity, much that is demanding, sometimes too demanding. Understandably, individuals occasionally need a little time out. Going somewhere else to have different, less intense experiences can be refreshing, cleansing. So that is one reason individuals choose to visit other worlds.
Another reason is to test particular faculties, for example, telepathy, or artistic ability, or empathy. Cultures in other worlds have different cognitive configurations to the human, and different balances of cognitive functions. So going elsewhere can provide an opportunity to develop an ability in a social environmental that is less demanding and more supportive than is offered in the human world. So you may have travelled elsewhere to undergo what, in effect, is a short-term workshop to enhance your skills.
Every spiritual identity now incarnated in a human body has seen other worlds, enjoyed other physical states. This is one option between lives: to explore other places. Some even decide to physically associate with creatures living there. As a result you may have associated with creatures on other planets. It’s not certain that’s the case for each reader, but it is a significant possibility.
How do we visit other planets?
What perceptual processes are involved in visiting other planets? This is asked because there’s a difference in visiting somewhere between lives and incarnating and so spending a lifetime there.
When, between lives, you go to sightsee in another world, you do so entirely spiritually, without a body. Similarly, when you attend a workshop in another world, it may involve associating with a body, but there are actually several ways of doing so.
You may incarnate as an individual in a body. Alternatively, you may piggy-back on another being, who gives you access to their awareness as they experience life on that planet via their own body. Or you may be there energetically, with impressions arriving via an energetic body rather than through physical senses.
You may do the equivalent of auditing, being present but observing without taking part directly in what is happening. And there is always the possibility of imbibing from that species’ cultural stream and learning what you need to by drawing on their collective experiences.
Is it that easy to incarnate into another species?
We get now to the heart of Kat Medium’s objection. How could we incarnate into a non-human species, which is by definition very different from ours? On Earth we develop life skills specific to living in a human body, and existing in human culture. How can our human skillsets transfer to other bodies and cultures?
For incarnation to be possible, a crucial pre-requisite is that the cognitive and cultural configurations of the physical creatures on that planet resonate with you. This is because you as an individual incarnating in the human world have accumulated particular experiences and skills. So there has to be a sound fit between your expertise and the new world you are visiting.
If you travel somewhere where totally different knowledge and skills are utilised to those you have accumulated here on Earth, you’ll find yourself struggling to make a connection between your awareness and the new body with which you are now associating, and the physical and social environment it inhabits.
So unless you wish to make a serious, multi-life commitment to learning how to exist in a world totally different from the human — a commitment some do actually make, but so rarely as to be negligible in terms of what we are discussing here — the world you select is required to resonate substantially with your human cognitive capacities and the associated skill sets you have developed.
How do we select appropriate planets and species to visit?
This leads to the next question. If we need to incarnate into species that resonate with us as human beings, how we find an appropriate species, given the vastness of the universe and the huge numbers of planets?
These kinds of travel are not random. It could be said that just as there are migratory routes across this planet, in which people travel to one place then another before arriving at their final destination, so there are migratory routes in the spiritual domains.
To put it simply, experienced identities who share your basic spiritual nature have explored alternative physical places and so are in a position to make recommendations to you based on what they know of those places and what they know of you. Their knowledge and expertise enables them to function as guides, helping less experienced individuals understand what is beneficial to them and pointing out the virtues of the available possibilities.
Elsewhere we have likened these guides to travel agents. They know what the deal is regarding being there, whether you are sightseeing or spending extended personal time. Their expertise may therefore be relied on to offer useful advice. Of course, where an individual chooses to go after being advised remains entirely up to them.
What about other species visiting Earth?
One commenter on Jocelyn’s article offered the following: “As an interplanetary soul I have found living on this planet to be extremely difficult. I’ve never felt at home here and have trouble relating to people in general.” Here’s the guide’s comments to contextualise these feelings.
Just as you will have visited other planets, either to relax or to take part in what is, in effect, a workshop, so spiritual identities whose home base is elsewhere come here to spend shorter or longer periods of time. However, the same criteria we mentioned with respect to your visits elsewhere applies to their visits here.
This planet offers opportunities for experience and learning. Spiritual identities who are domiciled in other worlds may use these opportunities to further their own growth. Many opportunities exist because life here is varied and complex. Spiritual identities come here to experience the opportunities on offer. However, not just any identity can do so. The pre-requisite is the same as for you usefully visiting another planet: compatibility of experience and similar cognitive abilities and skill sets.
That non-human spiritual identities are here occupying human bodies means several things. First they are not really non-human. The two sets of identities have much more in common than not. They are sufficiently similar to be what is termed kissing cousins. Second, that they have found their way here means that non-embodied explorers have scouted out the possibilities and made the match. As a result, this planet is on the migratory route of these non-human individuals. Which means, thirdly, they haven’t started coming here just recently. They have been doing so for millennia, just as individuals who identify as human have been been visiting other worlds for millennia.
However strange all this sounds — and we are aware it will sound exceedingly strange to those for whom these ideas are new — that is what is happening. Furthermore, visiting planets that are not a spiritual identity’s home base is an entirely normal activity for those who wish to test themselves, develop their current skill levels, and evolve.
I hope readers find these comments useful.
The guides’ answers are excerpted from a book, How Did I End Up Here?, which consists of 21 questions and answers covering an extensive range of human experience. It may be viewed on online bookstores and at www.attarbooks.com.
