My latest poem, https://medium.com/@marcus17043/of-duality-and-nonduality-e7c26181c2ed , subtitled "A sonnet of both perspectives are true," contains these two stanzas:
"Honestly many Buddhists upset me so
Soul is but particles they do insist
Individuals after death not know
Yet Sitara’s and my love do exist
Believe what you will but why do you preach
You sanctimonious pieces of shit
I believe in Oneness across the breach
Perceive duality in 3D pit"
A Buddhist who reads me regularly asked me what I meant. I replied:
"not all Buddhists upset me. Just the ones who leave comments that their beliefs are superior and tell those with my beliefs that we are wrong and there is no I and no individuals and all is illusion etc. I have encountered many Buddhists who insist that souls do not exist or if they do exist after death they do not maintain an individual personality, which I know to be false because I have had many channeled conversations with the souls of dearly departed through a true and reputable psychic medium. I know that not all Buddhists are so dogmatic. My thoughts were directed at one nondual ass hole that goes by the name Sender Spike. I also refer to my view that the Buddhist view that there are no eternal souls despite our shared belief in reincarnation as ridiculous double talk. My early story on eternal souls [ https://medium.com/know-thyself-heal-thyself/eternal-soul-properly-defined-fe7a93e534f8] that I linked is instructive:
"Souls are discrete entities; Souls are eternal. Eternal does not imply unchanging. A soul is a sentient being comprised of pure energy of a form and with properties beyond our understanding of energy (“Soul Energy”); it does not dissipate; it does not require a material vessel to encapsulate it;...I have reviewed several definitions of “soul” in preparation for this essay and none imply unchanging personality traits. That inference is misplaced and, frankly, illogical. Buddhism teaches that there is after-life and reincarnation. Thus, Buddhism does teach that there is an eternal soul once soul is properly defined."
Granted I knew almost nothing about Buddhism at the time and all I know now is from what I read on Medium. It simply stood out to me that there was a disconnect beyween the labels and definitions and the stated beliefs.
That essay goes on to discuss many topics, such as the interplay between free will and soul contracts, and including what I had learned about reincarnation and its purpose from my team of not incarnated spirit guides and that it was quite similar to what I researched at the time re Buddhism and Hinduism but quite different in one key aspect--every reincarnation is a choice to do so and a soul can always choose not to. We don't need to achieve anything to break the cycles.
Connecting back to your thoughts Douglas, I had written in that essay:
"I realized a couple months ago that my spiritual journey is a journey to discover Self — to align my human self and my soul. I recently discerned there is a yin and yang to life’s purpose. There are human wants and soul wants. A life will be harmonious when those two are aligned. Life’s purpose is to learn and one aspect is learning how to satisfy the human wants while not offending the soul’s spirituality. This is not a linear process. Alignment can be achieved, and to varying degrees, lost and regained throughout a lifetime. The search for Self is more than seeking alignment. It is seeking the role for which one is destined....At the end of each lifetime, the soul returns to Heaven changed from the soul that incarnated and sparked this life. My soul came here with the imprint of all 17,042 previous incarnations and it shall return with the addition, for better or worse, of my imprint. Thus I, not just my soul, have an afterlife."
