This transcript (below) is from a session with the medium Leslie Flint in which a spirit provides information about reincarnation. Flint was a direct voice medium, the spirits spoke audibly in his presence. In my opinion Flint's sessions are the most reliable source of information about the afterlife.
The home page of the website is here:
https://www.leslieflint.com
Here is a link to the transcript.
https://www.leslieflint.com/d-conacher-aug-4th-1965
Douglas:
I think the most important thing to realise in regard to reincarnation is the fact that it is something which isn't necessarily essential, in every instance. In other words, not everyone incarnates again, although many, many do - in fact, the vast majority.
But of course, we have to go back centuries upon centuries of time and realise that there are many, many souls who have incarnated on several occasions and now do not feel the need to incarnate again. But, uh, of course one has to accept the fact that in one life on Earth one can only hope to, in a sense, skim the surface of experience, and it's often necessary to re-enter the Earth-world to live a new life; in a new guise, in a new body, as a new being. Indeed sometimes of the opposite sex. Sometimes it's essential to experience certain happenings which can only be experienced, uh, under certain conditions, which previously were quite different when you were on Earth before.
Then again I think one should remember that there are individuals who choose to return to do a special work. Most of the great teachers and prophets of old, were very old souls who had chosen to return to do a certain work in a certain age, and set an example and show the path for others who might follow.
...
There are bound to be people with differing views and different strata of experience. And, of course, there are many people to whom reincarnation is repugnant and who, possibly in many instances, will not have the need to incarnate, will not want to reincarnate.
You see, the point is, that there are so many souls on Earth who have, uh, experienced a great deal in previous lives - of which they of course remember little or nothing at all, more likely than not, nothing at all - and in consequence they do not have the time in their incarnation, to have experience of these things.
But...and in a way it's a good thing. I mean, people always say, 'if one could remember this or that, then it would be very good evidence or proof of it...and since we don't remember, how do we know?' But the point is this, that in many instances, it would be a bad thing to have recognition or remembrance of previous lives, because that would be a barrier rather than a help.
For instance, if you remembered certain aspects of life that were, in your own instance or own case, bad - from the point of view of the fact that you did this or that, that you should not have done, which was detrimental to your spiritual advancement...if you remembered this too vividly and knew about it too much, you would then, in the next incarnation, be on your guard and you would be artificially, you might say, avoiding things.
In other words, when a thing happens, it must happen from within oneself. If you want to do good or if you want to live a life that is good or do certain things that are wise, then these things will spring from within oneself and come naturally.
But if you do things because you think you should do them, it's the right thing to and you do them against your will, or if you do something because you think it's essential that you do it, because in a previous incarnation you neglected that aspect of yourself...in other words, if you do something through a kind of fear, then that's not good in itself.
You see, it must spring naturally from one's innermost soul that you want to do something...
People say...so many people say, 'oh well if I knew where I went wrong last time, I could avoid it.' Well, the point is, that if you knew where you went wrong or you knew what your failings were, and in this incarnation you were on your guard and you were saying to yourself, 'now I mustn't do this' or 'I mustn't do that. This is where I went wrong last time', you would probably, almost certainly, be doing something, in a sense, through fear. You wouldn't be doing it naturally, it wouldn't...
...be springing from your innermost soul when you wanted to do something. You see, until man learns to live according to his inner conscience and his inner realisation of things that are wise and good, until man desires to do good for good's sake and not through a kind of fear...that is the trouble of course for the majority of religions.
So much goodness comes, not through the sake of goodness or wanting particularly to be good, but but through the fear of doing otherwise, in case they are...in case one is punished, you see?
That is one of the big faults with, uh, orthodox religion.
Eira:
Yes. Have you found...learnt your, um, incarnations darling?
Oh yes I...
Eira:
When did you know about them?
Douglas:
I've known about them for some little time...
Eira:
Yes.
Douglas:
...but I'm getting to know a little more of the detail. But the point is, that there are some incarnations of which one has little knowledge or realisation, because in themselves they played a very unimportant part.
You see, there are lives in which - I suppose the formative lives or the formative experiences of Earth - which were so basic, which were so...in any case, one has to go back to the time and the way of life of the times and also to realise that one was the product of an age to some extent.
You see, there again, I think it's important to realise that...that people are the product of an age. And what is generally accepted as the thing to do or the outlook of life that one may have in that age, may not necessarily fit in and could not fit in with another age.
You see, there is so much that one has to take into consideration. For instance, a person may not be, according to the age in which they live, as bad a person as perhaps we would think in retrospect. Because they are the product of an age that may have been, for instance, very cruel - and cruelty was an accepted thing.
I mean, this may sound like an excuse, but the point is, that there are things that do not happen in your life today, which were commonplace a hundred years ago.
For instance, you take...today you don't hang children, but a hundred years ago it wasn't an unknown thing for children who stole a loaf of bread to be hanged, you see.
The point is, that we are the product of our age and our time and the thinking. You see, the whole point is, the thought-force of an age is so powerful...
...that it affects the whole of life, it affects the whole of humanity and until man progresses en masse...you see, we talk about the individual progress of man which is, of course, necessary and vital and of course it must be the individual progress of man that will formulate the whole thinking of the whole human race en mass.
But the point is, that an age is predominantly as it thinks, and the peoples of that age are the product of the minds of a previous generation...
...that have been the formation of their own and present. So we are all, in a sense, in an age of change or time of change and in evolution.
And an age...an individual life in a certain age, is essential and necessary and we learn, to a certain extent, and we make terrible mistakes and we have failure.
But the point is, that it is often necessary for the human being to incarnate; in a new incarnation, in a new life, in a new age - to contribute something which is very necessary, not only to himself (or evolve or develop in himself) but to contribute to the age in which he is reborn.
There are great instances of course of this, of great souls who, in a way, stand head and shoulders above the peoples of their time. They are great leaders or great teachers or great prophets or great seers or...in some field or other. Maybe it is in art for instance or music.
All these great souls on which, often, the world looks upon as a genius. Or, for instance, if not that, in some instances, they are looked upon as people out of time, people that perhaps are not always accepted in their age, people who do not seem to fit in.
These are old souls who have chosen to return, or perhaps, in some instances, have been sent back. But no one really enters into the world unwillingly. I don't think one can say that anyone is forced back. The point is, that the majority of people desire to enter into the world again. They feel the need for experiences or perhaps they feel the need to do a specific work or job.
Everything is law and order, everything is logical. The extraordinary is that people always say, for instance, about Spiritualism or communication or reincarnation or whatever it may be, to do with the psychic or the spiritual, that it's not logical. Actually, the most logical thing of all is this spiritual realisation. People cling to the material and think that is the logical, but it isn't, it's the most illogical.