Rainbow body speaks to many aspects of the human experience, especially reincarnation. A human body transforming from form to formless when the mind is in the primordial state (i.e., free of self and all duality of thought) has as a dialectic the conditions which cause the human body to exist in the first place…a mind that is immersed in self and dual thinking. Connecting cause and effect, the material body (the effect) is the result of the mental state of being a self and thinking dually (the cause). We know this as fact for when self and dual thinking are eliminated, rainbow body results. Are we to believe this state of believing in a self and dual thinking arises simultaneous with conception? Certainly not. The mental state of self and duality had to have existed before conception, else there would be no conception. The mental state of self and duality is the condition precedent to birth (the presence of matter) and the only way it can manifest is as a carry-over from prior lives. 

Self and dual perspective are products of a person’s aggregate memories, wants, needs, desires, regrets, hopes, ambitions, habits and so forth. Taken together, we can look upon them as a person’s cosmic shoebox that tags along everywhere the person goes and is valuable for adding insight and perspective to life’s daily experiences. Some look upon it as soul. I don’t because soul is an ill-defined term that conjures up religious implications and the notion of creation. The shoebox is an accumulation, not a creation. And, reincarnation has nothing to do with God or religion. The primordial condition from which we came, and to which we return when we die, abhors all duality. It is an unpaid bill, an unwanted ripple in a sea that demands smoothness. And self, the agency that makes one think he or she is different from everything else in the field of vision is the biggest duality of them all.

So, to the extent that a particular shoebox contains self or duality (i.e., unfulfilled wants, desires, and so forth) then that shoebox will find material expression in the form of a mind-body complex we call a person. It is the shoebox (or, better said, its contents) that reincarnates, flowing from life to life. The body is the shoebox content organized into form. And when the shoebox is empty (i.e., elimination of self and duality) the body is empty as well because the body is shoebox. Then, rainbow body happens.

Like ‘Ole Man River, the shoebox just keeps rolling along from life to life. It is incorrect to say that a deceased person reincarnates. It is incorrect because the deceased person never existed in the first place. The only thing that exists is the content of the shoebox which we living beings shuffle through in the day-to-day in response to life’s varying circumstances. This shuffling effect makes us believe we actually exist and the delusional existence is what is referred to as a self. The shuffling reminds me of the Mickey Mouse flip-book I had as a child. Each page of the book contained an image of Mickey, with a slight difference from page to page. When I flipped through the pages in a continuous motion, Mickey came to life. Similarly, when we “flip” through the shoebox to add perspective to life’s varying experiences it comes to life, conveying the fallacy of a self.

The content of the shoebox is also contains karma, in itself a duality. Karma is relentless in its drive for reconciliation through a material presence. It is an abomination to primordial-ness. Say you are at a restaurant and have two glasses of wine but the waiter only charges you for one. The moment of truth arises. Do you tell the waiter of the mistake or do you walk away and profit from the error? The latter action constitutes a karmic deposit in the shoebox. It is a duality, like an unpaid bill that must be paid. Payment is a offsetting deposit in the shoebox in the form of the realized sinking emotion of being taken advantage of. Same can be said about the deceased’s attachment to a particular aspect of life, such as family, career, wealth, etc. Clinging, no matter how small, represents an unfilled duality which must be addressed. As Jesus said: “Amen I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.” (Matthew 5:25)

Reincarnation is a strange concept to the Western ear, mainly because Western religions deny it. The denial is outrageous in light of the many, many real life, well studied cases found in observation and experience. We must face the music. This life is not our first rodeo and it won’t be our last.