© 1991 Carol Davidson
© 1991 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
From: THE CIRCLES Winter 1990
The URANTIA Book states that human beings do not reincarnate, yet many religions teach reincarnation. There are also many books about reincarnation, many of which include personal accounts of earlier lives remembered.
Before I became acquainted with The URANTIA Book, I read many books on Eastern and Western religions, mysticism, and materials which are now labeled “New Age”. When I found The URANTIA Book, I lost interest in them for the bits and pieces of truth that I found in them could not compare to the feast that I found in The URANTIA Book. I have never questioned the book’s truth, and I have enjoyed matching our expanding knowledge of geology, science, space, and even my own religious experience with The URANTIA Book. When human knowledge does not comply with the book, I normally await further expansion of human knowledge.
I have, however, been perplexed at the beliefs and writings about reincarnation, in contrast to the book’s flat statement that there is no reincarnation. The URANTIA Book does state that many things had been left unexplained about what really happens at death.
After I learned to communicate with my angel, I eventually asked about this discrepancy. I was told that mind intellect systems are used over and over, but have no vitality outside of human beings. The way I understand it, I am using a mind intellect system which was used by individuals who lived prior to me. I am in possession of it now, but when I die, it will be used by another. The Father has endowed me with personality, and in partnership with my Adjuster and with the help of my angel, I am using this temporary intellect system to create an eternal soul.
I found this concept hard to grasp. To leave “myself” behind upon death, yet be far away and totally uninterested in the “self” left behind! And furthermore, this same “left behind self” would be used by another man or woman to create another soul — whom I could meet on my eternal career, even as I could meet glorified mortals whose earthly “mind” I had used.
Naturally I was interested in my “previous lives”. I questioned my angel about several of them and felt humble when I learned something of their spiritual accomplishments and courage. As I learned about my “heritage”, I began to understand why, even as a child, I had quested for spirituality, and why, as a young person, I felt that there should be more to religion than what I experienced myself or saw in the established church. I also understood why newly selected Adjusters spend the time between selection and actual indwelling studying the subject of their indwelling.
One night during the period that I was researching the subject, I awoke with a profound conviction that the mind intellect system used by my father had become the possession of a new human being. The vision and knowledge of this newborn child was so vivid that I immediately accepted it as a fact and have never doubted it since. I recently queried my angel about the child’s status, but she simply informed me that he was a healthy toddler.
I have never read the explanation for reincarnation which I have just given you. Certainly reincarnation, as it is usually taught, is not an attractive existence. What good is it to have lived before if one doesn’t remember it? Descriptions of existence “between lives”, as described in channeling, automatic writing, and other, means are hazy, ambiguous, and inconsistent. If we view temporary intellect systems as being a part of the Divine Minister and/or a part of the evolving Supreme, we can accept their resuscitation without fanfare. As I became used to the idea, I realized more intensely that this earthly life was my life, that I am a unique human being living for the first time, and that life on the next level is a continuation of this life, not an infantile beginning. I found that I was not interested in learning more about the individuals who used the temporary intellect system which I am using, nor was I interested in what happens to the intellect system between lives. I simply accepted the fact that the temporary mind system that I am using has its own evolution, and I can never be a part of it after I leave it behind.
Carol Davidson
Suitland, Maryland, USA