From Actor to Healer: Alan Rickman's New Life as a Spirit Guide, Book 2

Chapter 5 - Why Souls Reincarnate

Since the 1960s, many professional studies of reincarnation have been done in the U.S. The best books on the subject that I've read include the work of Ian Stevenson, M.D., a professor at the University of Virginia, and Michael Newton, Ph.D., a hypnotherapist and member of the American Counseling Association.

For decades, Stevenson studied more than 2,700 cases of children around the world who claimed to remember past lives. To date, more than 1,500 of those cases have been "solved," meaning that the previous incarnation described by each child has been identified.

In his clinical practice, Newton facilitated thousands of past life regressions and obtained richly detailed accounts of clients' past lives here on Earth as well as their life between lives in the spirit world.

The literature in this field continues to grow. If you're new to the subject, I encourage you to study the research. As an introduction, I recommend the books that I found eye-opening when I read them two decades ago: Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation and Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect by Stevenson, and Journey of Souls and Destiny of Souls by Newton.

In Book One, I mentioned that I had remembered a past life when I was a child. I've acknowledged reincarnation as a fact my whole life. So, when I met Alan in 2016, it was natural for me to ask him about this topic.

While sitting at my computer, I fired off a series of questions and Alan patiently answered.

When I asked why souls reincarnate, he replied, "Our lives are not a random happenstance. We incarnate to express love in myriad ways. That's the crux of it. We come to express love so we can evolve. Through love, we can evolve ourselves and others, act as stewards of the planet, and explore the universe on every level. We're not here to suffer or cause pain to others.

"Sometimes, unfortunately, our experiences are painful, power gets misused, and lessons are forgotten. It's easy to forget that we are powerful beings with free will. We can choose alternatives to love, and we do sometimes. No one will stop you if you choose a different path. But sooner or later, the soul does come back around to love. That is the guiding principle, or guiding light, that governs incarnating. I can't impress that point on you strongly enough. We incarnate to learn and express love."

I said, "We've talked with Jo Cox about some of her past lives. Will you tell me more about the past lives that you and I had together? How did we learn and express love in the past?"

Alan said, "You and I worked together very closely to share and promote love. In one lifetime, we worked together in the clergy. You were a nun, and I was a priest. This was in France in the ninth century. We'd known each other as children, and we agreed from a young age to devote ourselves to the church. This was our passion and our life's work. We helped people to see the truth of God in and around themselves. We taught love, pure and simple. We taught people to love one another.

"You'd also learned the power of the written word in that lifetime. You loved writing and learning the etymology of words. You were a scholar of Latin especially. You understood the power that words have to spread love and hate. In fact, you taught people that principle and warned them to beware the misuse of that power. You were an influential teacher with words and explained what words could do.

"That's why you love the written word today. You're drawing from those experiences. I helped you understand spiritual teachings in that life. Although we worked together in support of the church, you also regarded me as a spiritual guide and looked to me for assistance. In reality, I knew little more than you did, but you trusted me, and I respected you for that.

"I'll tell you about another life. This one was in Japan in the fifteenth century. We were samurai from different families. We were strong-willed, and there was a solid bond between our families. Your sister was married to a man who really upset me. Because I was living . . . let's call it a bohemian lifestyle, he didn't feel that I expressed the ideals of a true samurai. He challenged me to a duel, and because I was the superior opponent, he lost. He had misjudged me.