Destiny awaits at the end of the maze

One final commentary (for now) regarding reincarnation or the transmigration of souls and one last photograph of the view from the place which once was my "Sanctuary / Refuge" from the unpleasantness that so often seems to follow us wherever we go. This photo was taken from the deck of the house and, of course, shows South Dakota in the foreground, the Missouri River in the distance and Nebraska across the "wide Missouri."

I know I am deathless

Part 3 of 3 (for now)

My past few commentaries originated from thoughts arising from a question posed to me on June 4: "Do you believe in souls that have met in another life .... that meet again to try to fulfill what they didn’t in the past?"

My response at the time was this: "Believe might be too strong a word, since it requires actual belief and faith in something that probably cannot be proved. But, yes, I do think this.

"Two points: First, I think I have met such a person, and have spent a considerable amount of time communicating with her and actually being with her during the past year. Next, I think I will try to write a post on this subject in more detail and see where it might lead."

Walt Whitman, the poet whose verse I cited here a few days ago, once said these words: "I know I am deathless. No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before. I laugh at what you call dissolution, and I know the amplitude of time."

While I might not have made the earthly circuit ten thousand times, I think I have come and gone this way a few times in the past. I have been considering the question posed to me, mental wandering with it, I guess is how I might describe the process, and have decided not to explore it here as thoroughly as I initially had planned.

The situation is too close, too personal yet, to write about in any detail. More time is required for me to free myself from the emotional entanglement and to view this chapter of this life in an objective manner. (Remember, I spent a number of years as a journalist, and I firmly believe that a state of objectivity can be achieved in viewing any situation, even when it personally involves the "reporter.")

That said, I will make a few general comments:

With respect to my "belief" that my soul and that of another have mingled in some manner in previous lives, I am not certain which of us broached this "feeling" first, but we both agreed that it was an actual reality and we both sensed it, felt it, understood it, believed it and accepted it as fact.

This phenomenon has only happened to me once in my life -- never before now. It involved much, much more than having common interests, and, in fact, included common dreams and sensations of being present and together although physically separated by a few thousand miles. To me, it was as though the only separation had been time itself, and a few thousand miles was the closest we had been to each other for an immeasurable length time.

When the two of us met face-to-face "this time around," I felt absolutely comfortable and at ease with her. It was like we were friends and lovers who had not seen each other for a year or two, and who were completely used to each other's presence in our lives. Every aspect of her personality and temperament was familiar to me. In a sentence, it was like I had known her throughout my entire lifetime -- or, possibly I should say, throughout my entire existence.

But, it also seemed that we had some major differences in the way we comprehend the world and view our individual roles within it. Perhaps, even irreconcilable differences, which means reaching the center of the maze together in the same instant probably is unattainable this time around. **

Time answers all questions in respect to life and living it -- or, again, possibly I should say in respect to existence then, now and the next time around. Who can say? It might well be my fate is to forever run the maze. Or, it could be I am Siddhartha, the ferryman, learning the essence of life from the river. And, when I finally have learned it, I will find myself in the center of the maze at precisely the right moment with the "One & Only Actual" -- whose name will be Destiny.

Since I am an authority on nothing, not even on myself, I will end this with the words of a man who was a recognizable authority on many things:

"My life often seemed to me like a story that has no beginning and no end. I had the feeling that I was an historical fragment, an excerpt for which the preceding and succeeding text was missing. I could well imagine that I might have lived in former centuries and there encountered questions I was not yet able to answer; that I had been born again because I had not fulfilled the task given to me." -- Carl Jung

** [The reference to running the maze comes from my description at the top of the page to this blog: "I learned romance might exist, but depends upon whether a man and a woman can tread the maze individually and reach its center at the same instant in time."]

Some lines from "Siddhartha"
by Herman Hesse

"He saw all these forms and faces
in a thousand relationships become newly born.
Each one was mortal, a passionate, painful example
of all that is transitory.
Yet none of them died, they only changed,
were always reborn, continually had a new face:
only time stood between one face and another."