A match stick puzzle can alert us to the point of waking up to new dimensions in our philosophic outlook. This is brought out by Gina Cerminara in her scholarly writing supported by Edgar Cayce’s readings on past lives of human beings.

There is a dimension of awareness outside the conventional state of mind and its conditioned responses. Those who sense that esoteric dimension move towards a natural spirituality and drop all institutionalized practices driven by the ego. The associated inner freedom can take us on to a non-verbal contact with life and the afterlife.

The ability to step out of the routine way of thinking is not generally exercised by many. This is because people fall a prey to the conventional mindset in which they find some security. To leave that well-trodden path needs certain boldness and a radical departure from what goes on around us. This is well presented by Gina Cerminara in her book ‘Many Mansions’ whose subtitle is ‘The Edgar Cayce Story on Reincarnation’. She cites the example of a match stick riddle where the mind has to move away from routine approaches to find the solution. The reader may be familiar with this puzzle where we are asked to form four equilateral triangles with six matches. The mind usually proceeds to solve this situation by arranging the matches on a two-dimensional plane and soon finds itself in a quandary. The problem cannot be solved until the mind moves into another dimension, the third one, away from the conventional approach. That helps us form an upright pyramid with the six matches, thus squarely meeting the challenge. Gina says, “Perhaps, then, when we come to that most important of all riddles – the riddle of man’s identity, his origin and his ultimate end – we can apply to it the wisdom learned from the simple match trick”.

It is clear from the foregoing that what is needed is an adventurer’s attitude in understanding life and the afterlife. The enigma of man’s existence is, in a sense, comparable to the puzzle of the matches. Only through an added dimension – in this case, the dimension of time – can we answer the esoteric questions regarding man’s journey of life. That takes us into the realms of what happens prior to our birth and after our life ends on this plane. This is where the reincarnation principle comes to throw expansive light on the issue. The landscape brought forth by that illumination has a strange and beautiful fascination of its own. Its practical importance is that within it can be found the slow, winding paths by which our traits, capacities and attitudes of the present are achieved. Gina says that it is as if reincarnation revealed eight-ninths of an iceberg, of which psychologists have been painstakingly struggling with the visible ninth in order to solve man’s problems.

It is recommended that the reader looks into what Gina has to say about the journey of life on this planet. It will open a new vista of exploration and bring a fresh breath to the way we reckon life and its purpose. It would be like a catharsis.

Humanity will sooner or later understand the profound wisdom behind Gina’s prophetic statements. For those who wish to go beyond a mere conformist’s life through institutionalized practices, exploring into reincarnation can not only provide a fascinating study but help them lead a life of wide perspectives instead of be consumed by self-centered activities in the name of religion or otherwise. When we release ourselves from the compelling psychological forces around us, we open ourselves to the Divine energy and intelligence which cannot be contained by words and beliefs. It helps us move towards the soul and away from the shenanigans of the ego. That process itself enriches our life and lets universal compassion flow from us towards all beings on this planet. We would apply ourselves to all our responsibilities as Divine involvements and treat life with dignity. We would not divide humanity through sectarian practices leading to contempt and hatred across the divisions.

Related matters are covered in the website http://spirituality.yolasite.com

Author's Bio: 

Gopalakrishnan T. Chandrasekaran was born in Madras (now Chennai), India. He received his doctoral degree in Coastal Engineering from the North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA in 1978; served on the research and teaching faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India, the North Carolina State University and the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait.
Aside from his professional involvements, he was interested in the philosophic issues of life for the last forty years or so. This led him to the messages of Ramana Maharishi, Lao Tzu, J Krishnamurthy, UG Krishnamurthy, Nisargadatta Maharaj, Eckhart Tolle, Marcus Aurelius and similar Masters. His book entitled “In Quest of the Deeper Self” is the outcome of his reflections on those and his wish to share the outcome with others.
Gopalakrishnan is a member of the International Association for Near Death Studies, Durham, NC, USA. He lives in Kodaikanal, a hill town in the southern part of India, with his wife Banumathy who also received her doctoral degree from the North Carolina State University, in Organic Chemistry. Now they are both retired and currently involved in developing a fruit farm at a village 20 km from their residence. They have a daughter and son who are both married and settled.
Blog: http://nde-thedeeperself.blogspot.com