Feeling Familiar
Have you ever met someone and felt an odd connection that you can’t describe? You proceed to go through the natural line of questions. Where did you grow up? How old are your children? What gym do you go to? Where did you go to college? Still no clear line of connection, but you feel it. You squint your eyes and try to place them. A feeling of deja vu may settle in. Perhaps you’ve visited a city or country for the first time yet felt unusually comfortable despite the foreign location. I’ve felt these things and often wondered why. Why do I meet some people and feel no connection, yet every once in a while I meet someone, and there’s an instant familiarity. How can I navigate the streets of a foreign city with ease? Why can I meet hundreds of people throughout my life and feel a strange kinship with only a few?
This deja vu that descends upon me brings up more questions. What makes us choose our life partners? How do some friendships blossom quickly and naturally, while others are a constant struggle? And the same with family. Certain familial relationships have a natural closeness and others feel like forcing a round peg in a square hole. I’ve been intrigued by this mysterious phenomenon over the past few years, and have spent ample time studying various forms of yoga, energy healing, and reading about the concept of a soul. Yoga has many nods to this, as it’s development was woven tightly with Hinduism, a religion which believes in rebirth. Tibetan Buddhistss believe in reincarnation and the Dalai Lama believes that his body is merely a garment, which he will discard when he is reborn. In general, Buddhists and Hindus believe in karma and reincarnation. Could this be the source of the deja vu we sometimes feel? As I worked to understand who I was more intimately, I found myself wondering if my true self, my soul could be recognized by other souls in this life.
One of the most notable, and groundbreaking scientists in the field of psychiatry and hypnotherapy is the author of Many Lives Many Masters, Dr. Brian Weiss. His resume certainly does not read as some woo woo guy living in Area 51, claiming to be a doctor with a sign nailed to his backdoor like Lucy from the Peanuts. Dr. Weiss, MD, a graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. Dr. Weiss never believed in reincarnation, channeling, and parapsychology, until his work with a patient named “Catherine” in 1980. Dr. Weiss’ book sent shockwaves through the medical field as it recounted “Catherine’s” treatment and his conclusion that souls exist and live many lives. He said,
“To see and appreciate the soul of others with whom you are in a relationship is a higher state of awareness. To see only their outer characteristics provides a limited and incomplete perspective. Their current personality, just like their current physical body, is a temporary manifestation. They have had many bodies and many personalities but only one enduring soul, only one continuous spiritual essence. See this essence and you will see the real person.”
I’ve read this quote maybe thirty times. So is this odd recognition of others the result of recalling someone’s essence from another life as Weiss would say? This was a lot to accept. I will not retell Weiss’ publications, but his findings resonated with me but also made me cock my head and think really? Could that really be true? Weiss is compelling and unquestionably smart and well trained, but this challenged logical reasoning.
Weiss stayed on my brain. Could I make that leap of faith to believe in something that I can’t see or touch? I certainly felt something from encounters and relationships that caused me to dig for answers. Why would it be so crazy to believe in souls living many lives if we believe in religion? The concepts seemed entirely familiar. Religion is felt and not seen. Prayer is a belief in a higher power that’s intangible. So is believing we all have souls that may have a connection from a previous life that much different? It would provide an answer to the inexplicable recognition we have with people that should feel like strangers.
On my journey for answers I came across this quote from Dr. Weiss. It resonated with me for various reasons and I felt obliged to share them.
“The important question regarding spirituality is not which God you follow but are you true to your soul? Are you living a spiritual life? Are you a kind person here on earth, getting joy from your existence, causing no harm, and doing good to others?”
While I may not be convinced what I truly believe, I think Dr. Weiss is onto something. I don’t have all the answers, and likely never will, but I trust my feelings. Those that I’m drawn to and feel familiar with have never disappointed. They have always provided a lesson, an opportunity for growth, or led to a deep and meaningful relationship. Souls that have felt inexplicably familiar have not always been a positive experience, but they opened my eyes to something. So the next time you feel that deja vu, in a certain place, or with a certain person, think of Dr. Weiss and ask yourself, ‘Has my soul been here before? Have our souls met in a previous life?’ and see what answers lie within yourself.
