How To Remember Past Lives Poem by Jan Freundschuh

How To Remember Past Lives



Close your eyes.
What are the experiences you feel you know well?

If they call you into a movie production, to play;
Bit part as direly wounded soldier....
Bit part as street orphan......
....A woman dying of too many children,
And famine......A conniving shyster, preying on the easy marks
That surround you......A peasant woman looking slack-jawed
At the passing finery of nobility's caravan......
A petty tyrant tormenting his family.....an unhappy woman
Tearing down her children.....
Which bit part could you make your own,
Knowing it, as you do, from the inside, out?

Close your eyes. I know it's sad, it hurts
Makes you feel bad.....

But think of it as an inoculation.
Contemplated.....it can work that way..
Uncontemplated
It but repeats itself.

Whatever you tried back then,
However you wriggled,
You did not find a way to deal with
Challenging circumstances
Or behavioral 'easy-way-outs'.

Flunk out of a class....
You WILL repeat it.

Now, those puzzles we DID answer
Even if with but small attempts,
(If they are in the right direction) ,
We are marked A+.....(Or A for effort, if you
Want to be exact.)
And these puzzles will never again be
Presented at crossroads.

But where energy charge remains......
(It's what pulled you into this current life)
You will find certain roles in movies
That make you uncomfortable
To watch.
THAT's your clue to memory!

Unless
You are not yet in a frame of mind
To wonder who and what you are,
Why you're here......and where you're going.....
If that's your view, (or non view)
You are already deeply IN today's
Movie.
You are its star!
And yet you know it not.

You'll be looking for all your answers
In the unreal production around you;
Taking it for reality.

Unfortunately, in this movie of
Your current life,
You don't know where the script
Is going.
They haven't even 'scored' it yet
So you don't know when you must
Beware:
-Not take your eyes off the road,
-Not take that shortcut through the alley,
-Not stay late at that party.....
They never even told you if you were making a Comedy,
A Drama, or a Thriller
You're as unknowing as the role that you are
Playing.

But when you DO want to know
Where this movie is going.....
How will it turn out.....

Try remembering past lives.
Your clue is the ease with which you
Imagine
Various roles.
This will tell you exactly
Where this movie is headed, as
You will know the central issue
The playwright is obsessed with
(Because, turns out it's you!) ....

You'll remember the puzzles that remain
To tantalize him (her) (you) .....
You'll find your suggestions as to endings
Will fit in uncannily
With the playwright's own purposes
And your suggestions
For this current sequel
Will be appreciatively
Taken.

Close your eyes.
What are the experiences you feel you know well.

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