Whether past lives are worth exploring

Frederic considers exploring past lives but first asks whether it is more than curiosity and mind candy.

The Wonders confirm it is of no real consequence: past lives give the mind an understanding of why choices are made, but choices are made because one chooses now, not because of any past-life circumstance.

One can resonate with a past life — feeling connected to something because of a present choice — but it does not influence the present, and the fashionable New Age idea that it does rests on the karmic principle, which they call sheer poppycock.

Exploring past lives is therefore a curiosity about where resonance comes from, and is fun and exciting mind candy, but nothing holds power over him.

They admit that they sometimes give a past-life resonance because an individual will not choose differently without a justification for doing so; if a psychology says the past life is affecting the present, exploring it can be worthwhile to remove that psychology, but it remains merely justification for not choosing differently now.

Frederic asks whether talking to them is also a justification for his choices; they agree it partly is, since he seeks their approval, which they never give because approval is his own to make.

He could instead use them to explore possibilities and probabilities of future choices, new concepts and ideas — though most people come to them simply wanting justification for what they are already doing.