Salvador Dali

I have long admired his work, his creative and quirky work. In fact, I have a couple of his lithographs. This morning I read about his belief in reincarnation for the first time. It is quite extraordinary.

First, he was sharing about his Tarot cards. There is a butterfly on almost all cards. "It is present because to one of the greatest Spanish mystics, St Theresa of Avila, the butterfly was the symbol of the soul. The ugly, ungainly caterpillar, our body, enters a form of the grave, the cocoon. Out of this death emerges the butterfly - beautiful, free, no longer earthbound. To me, as to St. Theresa, the butterfly is the soul of man."

When asked if he was a mystic, Dali answered, "All Spaniards are both Don Quixote, who is pure spirit, and Sancho Panza, who is pure materialism. That is why "Don Quixote" is the most Spanish of all books. As for me, I am not only a mystic; I am also the reincarnation of one of the greatest Spanish mystics of all Spanish mystics, St. John of the Cross. I can remember vividly my life as St. John, of experiencing divine union, of undergoing the dark night of the soul of which he writes with so much feeling. I can remember the monastery and I can remember many of St. John's fellow monks. "

 Quite an astounding assertion.

Most of us drink of the river of forgetfulness, so to speak. There are, however, quite a few people throughout history who remember something about before we came here. There are modern researchers at universities who are collecting data, especially on young children who spontaneously remember a past life, and on those who recall one or more past lives under hypnosis.

The idea of us being able to grow and refine our souls over many lifetimes has made sense to philosophers and keepers of all things sacred back into antiquity. I don't think we can prove it beyond a shadow of doubt, but there sure is a mountain of anecdotal "evidence." We'll all find out one day. In the meantime, it is comforting to entertain.