Parallel Incarnation

It started with something my dog said, with his eyes. It might have been, “feed me, please”, or “pet my head, please”, or “don’t be mad because I had an accident, please”. But he is a Goldendoodle, and somehow his eyes end every message with “please”. Anyway, it was just one of those times and I happened to notice his eyes, and the look coming from behind them was me…

Some people subscribe to the concept of reincarnation, that there is some essence of them that endures, it preceded their current life and will survive death; that the truest, the deepest part of their nature was present abiding in previous forms, living as other people or even animals and plants, and will do so again after this life ends. Some people go a bit further and believe that the condition of your next life is karmically determined by how well you live this one, as was this one determined by all of your previous lives. Well, I recommend that you go even further into the mystical and try this thought experiment on for size.

There is an abiding, constantly changing, perfect, whole. I call it the Great One. Some call it the Tao. It is older than the concept of god. Perfect, serene, whole — form beyond all forms. If you and your life are a temporary wave, it is the ocean. It is the best, deepest, and truest part of you. It is the real you. The Great One preceded you, formed you, lives through you, and will receive you back in death. Each of us is a transitory, tiny, parallel incarnation of the Great One, the real you.

The real you is also your daughter or son, your wife, mother, or friend. Like a video game with a thousand characters all being played by the same player. Each one of them is you, living temporarily in that form, as that person, constantly forgetting yourself and thinking you are really just that one person. It is not a trick or a trap, just the way consciousness arises. The one playing the video game can only exist within the game as an instantiation within its constraints — as one of the characters. Likewise, the Great One only experiences human existence as a human. But we are all actually, really, in the truest and deepest sense, the Great One playing.

When you neglect a person, resent them, hurt them, you are hurting that one person, sure, but you are also hurting the real you, the deep Great One that is both of us, the writer and the reader. When you love a person, value them, show kindness, or compassion, when you extend grace, you are really doing that to and for another individual, but you are also just the Great One, your real self, offering that to yourself.

Veritas, Unitas, Caritas

The truth is, we are one, therefore love.

And yes, my dog, my happy, anxious, imperfect, perfect dog is also me and I am him, and we are you. Realizing that makes forgiving the accidents easier, makes the wagging tail even friendlier, and makes me want to be a kinder and more loving master. Does he know? Perhaps not, perhaps he only experiences things like a dog. But that dog is also me, in my next life, or at least my life next door. It is also you. And I love you. How could I not? You are the sparkle on the wave, the wave, and the great ocean of oneness. You are temporary and forever. In this life, we are companions in existence, beyond these lives we are the dancing oneness.

Reincarnation changes some things for some people, the insight of parallel incarnation will change how you treat everyone, including yourself. This is my gift to us.