What Dreams May Come

by Richard Matheson

Through all eternity

  "How, SPECIFICALLY, is it done?" the woman continued. "For those concerned, in this manner. "

  I found myself leaning forward. What she'd said, to that point, had been interesting. Now, however, she was going to tell us--tell me how I could go about rejoining Ann once more.

  Here is what she told us, Robert.

  When a soul who seeks reentry into flesh selects his preference of parents, he--or she-- clears it with what might be termed a computer. Then, if there is competition, so to speak, for a particular placement, the computer will decide which soul is most appropriate to the task--or, more likely, most in need of it.

  I call it a computer but, of course, it is more complex than that, being capable of blending the thought patterns of all those who have applied for a similar type of heredity and environment. As this mass of thought material is synchronized into an overall pattern, the soul most qualified comes to recognize that he or she is the one to be selected and the rest, unquestioning, search further.

  She warned us that it is tempting, in the state of freedom enjoyed in Summerland, to plan a life ahead as being one of great ambition.

  "Let me caution any of you who plan rebirth," she said, "to be aware of the restrictions you will face in physical life. Demand less in order to accomplish more is the preferable method. "

  The details will fascinate you, Robert: In the Far East, souls desiring to re-enter matter remain in the abodes of men and women and, when the time is propitious, visualize themselves as cells and enter the wombs of their mothers to be. It is simple and uncomplicated.

  It is, also, dangerous. Should the child be born dead, the soul becomes locked in a coma on the etheric level, no longer a viable entity but one which cannot free its consciousness. This is because the soul mind is in deep sleep when rebirth takes place. No mental action is possible until a child's faculties are ready to be utilized.

  Another danger of this method is that the soul may, inadvertently, select a vehicle which is mentally or physically deformed. In that event, the mistake must be borne for life. At times, of course, this way is chosen deliberately as a means of "paying off" Karmic debts, Karma being the doctrine of inevitable consequence for our deeds. A soul entering a sick or damaged body, who meets and overcomes these handicaps with good cheer, grows faster spiritually than one who, by earthly standards, has everything to live for. As, God willing, in Ann's case.

  While, in any area of the world, the soul has the option of entering its new vehicle of life at any stage from conception to post-birth, the Occidental method is, usually, to wait until the child is born. That way, no soul can ever be locked into the coma I mentioned.

  The actual process of rebirth depends on the ability of the soul to contract its spiritual bodies--astral, then etheric-- until they can be coordinated with the body of the child. This coordination usually takes place immediately after birth and is not easy to accomplish. For this reason, the process usually requires the assistance of a spirit physician who can see, in his or her mind's eye, the spinal cords of both child and spirit bodies and merge them.

  As I indicated, another method of reincarnation occurs as follows: The soul does not enter the body until the child has developed for five to eight weeks. That way, the certainty of a proper physical vessel becomes completely defined.

  "Upon incarnating," the woman continued, "all memories of the previous life and the interval in afterlife are obliterated and a fresh set of mental impressions begun. Occasionally, if the reincarnation is precipitate, the memory lasts--which explains the high incidence of such cases in India, for instance.

  "For several months, the soul sleeps in the baby which utilizes animal instincts to learn the operations of its body-- feeding, sleeping and performing organic functions. Only when the soul begins to awaken does the child begin to demonstrate active intelligence.

  "The soul does not wake all at once but progressively throughout the childhood and youth of the new individual. Infrequently, a soul wakes prematurely and recalls, if not its past life, its past skills; thus the occasional appearance of child prodigies.

  "The soul gradually merges with the body so that, at approximately the age of twenty- one, it has incarnated fully. Sometimes, a soul will not 'wake up' until its vehicle is nearly middle-aged. In that case, the personality shows no signs of full intellectual activity until then.

  "And following its new life span, the immortal soul, which has gone forth into incarnation to struggle for the mastery of its nature, returns, once more, to home for refreshment and new study before returning again to earth in its cyclic search for perfection--and reunion with God.

  I will say no more about the lecture. Further information on reincarnation is not essential to my story; there are books you can read if you are interested. My next step was to reopen the closed book of my memory and examine it once more.

  By utilization of my individual wave length, I was shown my past lives.

  It was a dizzying spectacle, Robert, in which nothing was withheld. I scarcely had time to react as the details flooded before me, a vivid burst of events, each moment reproduced in total detail.

  I have had many lifetimes but I will mention only the last two in which Ann and I were together.

  I was in contact with her in the 1300s when both our souls expressed themselves in what may be termed "the feminine framework. " We were sisters, eleven years apart-- myself the older--but so close in our relationships that friends and family remarked on it with wonderment. All our lives we were, psychologically, inseparable.

  We came together again in the 1700s, in Russia, me in the masculine valence, she in the feminine. We grew up, knowing each other, lost contact for a while, then met again in our teen years, fell in love and married. I was a writer in that lifetime too; novels and short stories. Ann (her name was different then, of course) believed in me loyally though my success was minimal.

  It was the end of that life that I'd witnessed at my second death.

  Now I saw not only its conclusion but all of it, given a perspective which allowed me to observe what plan and purpose not only that former life had possessed but all my other lives as well.

  I will not go into details here; again, it is irrelevant to what I have to say. Suffice to mention that I decided that the one factor needed more than any other to enhance the growth of my soul is the helping of others. Which tied in perfectly with my desire to be with Ann again. Albert had told me that, in time, she will need much medical care.

  I will become a doctor.

  At first, I considered being born in India as well. The difficulties of doing so and ending up a doctor, however, are close to insuperable and I have had to alter the idea. Being born in India is not the objective anyway. Ultimately reach-big India to help Ann is.

  Which is why I've chosen who I have as parents: Dr. and Mrs. Arthur Braningwell of Philadelphia. They are young and well-to-do and I will be their only child. I will have a comfortable upbringing, attend medical school and believe I am to follow in my father's footsteps.

  At the age of thirty, that resolve will change entirely, for reasons I will not go into, and I will leave the path of comfort to practice medicine in the deprived areas of the world.

  Eventually, I will arrive in India, take care of, fall in love with and, finally, marry a young woman whose soul will be Ann's. Whether we will ever know or even sense what is really happening is not important. We will be together again.

  Nothing else matters.

  The infant body chosen by me is four and a half weeks old now. It will not be strong enough for the entry of my astral and etheric bodies until it is seven weeks old.

  I have been lingering near the body constantly, experimenting with the process of reducing those bodies to the size of the child. When I am ready for transition, a doctor, skilled in the procedure, will set up a radioactive current which will make it possible to connect the bodies through a gland at th
e base of the child's brain.

  Then I will enter.

  In the final moments before incarnation, I will try to evolve a clear image of the type of body I need. In this way, I can help to generate the health and strength required to do the life work I have planned. If I fail to do this, the child's body could, conceivably, be carried off by an early illness or I might, like Ann, be weak and sickly.

  I confess to you, Robert, that I feel a strong revulsion toward rebirth. Enough time has elapsed so that the idea of returning to flesh is no longer inviting to me. At the moment, only the knowledge that Ann has gone back makes me want to return. For, in truth, it is not courageous to die. True courage is involved in being born voluntarily, leaving the manifold beauties of Summerland to plunge back into the depths of dark, imprisoning matter. Trauma isn't caused by death but by life. One can die without knowing it.

  Birth invariably entails a shock of recognition.

  I will reassure myself by thinking of my dream.

  That, one day, we will be together here in Summerland. That we will share our love in this exquisite clime, our oneness an abiding comfort to each other.

  Perhaps, as Albert has suggested, we will be remarried someday in one of heaven's great cathedrals, the ceremony performed by a Master from a higher level, a chorus singing us a hymn of joy to our united love.

  I will give her gifts of my own creation--flowers, clothing, jewels and ornaments, furnishings for the home we will make together. A home which will blend our tastes and desires, located in a lovely, natural setting we will cherish always.

  There we will, I pray, remain and learn and grow until the time when we will rise together to the ultimate heights, changing in appearance but never in devotion, sharing the transcendent glory of our love through all eternity.