2007
 
 
 
The media has been full of stories about an impending split in the Anglican church about gay priests and the blessing of gay marriages.
 
As usual religious conservatives are playing the homophobic role, quoting scripture on how sodomy is unnatural and all the rest of it. There is huge disgust and passion here. Can it be resolved?
 
My own perspective is completely influenced by my experience of and belief in reincarnation. I clearly remember many of my own lives and can also see them in other people. The important point here though is that people bring over preferences from past lives into a current one.
 
If, for example, a soul has had ten incarnations as a woman and then incarnates as a man, that soul is going to bring in some of the patterns and dynamics of being a woman. Even though the gender of the body may be male, it still carries memories of what gave it pleasure and what was normal for a woman in previous lives.
 
Understood in this way, then, it is absolutely normal for there to be a period of adjustment as people accustomed to being in the body of one gender integrate into the new gender. In my experience gay men and lesbians if regressed into a past life always remember a life in a body of the other gender.
 
Carrying these past life dynamics, it is completely normal for some of us some of the time to be homosexual. It is not a moral or spiritual issue whether someone is gay or not gay. Its just the way it is and should be warmly accepted as a natural part of life.
 
There are some other conclusions from this perspective too. If people understood that being gay or straight was an incarnational process and that they have more lives to live, then sex change operations would be understood as completely inappropriate.
 
In general, people who are obsessed by their body image or a an interbnal sense of awkwardness need to relax and flow with the experience. If there is distress and suffering then this is an opportunity for compassion, acceptance and love. Being a human being is a long educational process and cosmetic surgery is a mistake from the soul’s perspective. It just puts off dealing with reality and feeds into the energy field of glamour and illusion. People need love and self-esteem, not plastic surgery.
 
That said, however, I am great believer in the freedom of the individual and if someone genuinely wants to opt for surgery, may they be blessed and healed by the process.
 
Sixteen hundred years ago the Christian church forbad the teaching of reincarnation and it became an unacceptable blasphemy. In the contemporary world most people are familiar with Hindu, Buddhist and many other traditional teachings about reincarnation. More than that, like me me, many people have talents and experiences of familiarity which are most easily understood as past life memories.
 
One of the best things about reincarnational teachings is that gives us a long sense of our spiritual journeys, so that we can be more patient and understanding. It also supports a powerful tolerance. Can you imagine if the current Archbishop of Canterbury embraced these teachings?