It’s easy to go through life in a haze, as we try to cross everything off our to-do lists and carve out time to spend with our loved ones. Although we may stop sometimes to contemplate life and death—especially when someone close to us becomes ill or passes away—many of us don’t take the time to explore the deeper meaning of life. Spiritual leaders urge us to remember there is more to us than meets the eye. We are eternal spiritual beings having a temporary human experience. Yet if we subscribe to the belief that “we only live once” it disconnects us from a continuum of our lifetimes—past, present and future—on planet earth. By taking the time to wonder about the deeper meaning of life, our authentic soul (the part of us that will never die) begins to awaken and remember: Humans are here to learn valuable lessons for personal growth, and to express unique gifts for the betterment of humanity and planet earth.
Reincarnation
Though it may be called a variety of names in different religions and beliefs, reincarnation is a common theme that occurs throughout spiritual ideologies. Some teach that, after we die, our soul comes back to earth for another human experience. Some believe we come back in other forms besides human. Others teach how the spirit moves on to a different plane of existence to experience life lessons in a new environment. Although the details may be different, what is consistent is, the belief that our unique invisible essence (our soul) is brought back into form and existence for many lifetimes of continual self-discovery, personal evolution, and expression of our inherent soul gifts.
Free Will
Life on earth is like a school for our soul. Some of us will evolve on a soul level faster than others, due to free will and the choices we make. Although we are not judged, rewarded or punished for how quickly or slowly we evolve, it is helpful to know that whatever we don’t learn in this lifetime, will be presented to us again in the next. It may take several incarnations, but eventually most people do figure out how master their issues, which raises their vibration and allows them to move onto new experiences.
Survival and Thriving
As spiritual beings having a temporary human experience on planet earth, our human self is the form that carries us through a lifetime. For survival, we must learn how to take care of our basic human needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing – but to thrive we must also take care of our spiritual self. We can do this through self-reflection, meditation, journaling, walking in nature, chanting, or using other spiritual practices. Staying grounded in our mortality and humanity while still striving for the expression of our soul is a duality we all must master, if we want to discover the deeper meaning of our lives, and fulfill our higher purpose.
Higher Purpose
Everyone has a different path to walk that is determined by their past, which includes personal experience, level of evolution, and the inherent gifts in their soul. Souls are eternal and ever connected to the spiritual realm in a giant web of oneness with all other spiritual beings on planet earth and above. This spiritual energy is a higher vibration made of pure love that is invisible to the human eye, while our tangible and human bodies are a denser vibration, along with all other visible forms, including planet earth. Our purpose as human beings is to develop and balance, both our temporary human self and our original eternal self. When we go inward to connect with and express who we are authentically on the inside, we learn how to express our unique gifts with the world. This is considered a “higher” purpose, above and beyond our human purpose, because the soul has a higher vibration. But the paradox is that we are both human and soul. By integrating our soul path with our human nature, we become whole and fulfilled.
When we take the time to ponder the meaning of life on earth, we remember our soul is where the deeper meaning and higher purpose of our life on earth resides. No matter how difficult our life may be, there is always a way to for us to move forward with our own personal expansion to improve this life and the next. When we recognize our struggles as opportunities designed for personal growth—that carry forward into all of our future lifetimes—it gives our current life deeper meaning with a rich long lasting context, and an incentive to go inward and do our soul work.