"We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us." "Parents wonder why their streams (children) are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain." "Education begins the man but reading, good company, and reflection must finish him." "No man's knowledge can go beyond his experience." (John Locke's quotes about "Tabula Rasa" explaining his philosophy)

* Just Blame it on Your Parents: In the age of Enlightenment, philosophers proclaimed that we were all born with "blank slates" (the English translation of "tabula rasa"). This theory became a maxim of modern psychology because it fit in so well with their concept that all adult problems are the result of uncaring parents imposing their personal dementia on helpless children. Either parents saddled children with faulty genetics or raised them in an unsupportive environment.

* On Heredity and Nature: Modern medicine (in support of modern psychology) tells us that we all are "genetically predisposed" to think and act in predefined ways. Links between genetics, disease, and behavior are becoming more firmly established all the time. So science has us believe, the fault lies not in our stars but in our cells. And yet science fails to answer why our cells formed in one way and not another. The answer to that question is that resonances (effects) from past lives carry over and determine which way our cells have formed.

* On Environment and Nurture: Modern psychotherapy tells us that most present day problems spring from the never ending bucket of "childhood issues". So everything that "happened to you in your childhood", especially if it "gives you trouble" as an adult, is the "fault of your parents". Yet science fails to answer why given the same environment do different people react differently. The answer to that question is that Souls react to the life experiences they are presented with using the cumulative learnings gained from their own unique past life experiences. This means you are more like yourself in past lives than you are like your parents now.

* On the 'Blank Slate': Of all the anti-reincarnation ideas, the concept of "Tabula Rasa" - popularized by the philosopher John Locke - is the most enduring. The premise of "Tabula Rasa" is that there is "no such thing" as "innate (inborn) ideas" or "moral precepts": we are all born with an "empty mind" which is a "blank slate"/"soft tablet" (the literal meaning of the phase "Tabula Rasa"). This means that the only way a human mind can acquire information is through the five senses: only through life experiences, education, and thinking (reading, studying, contemplation, etc).

The "Tabula Rasa" does not and cannot explain the following:

* Child Prodigies: When a child possesses talents from birth that normally take a lifetime to develop.
* Preter-Naturals: When a child relates a consistent set of past life recollections when "they were big".
* "Old Souls": When a child is abnormally mature in their character and conduct at very young ages.
* Adult Naturals: When an adult suddenly exhibits skills, talents, and abilities without formal study.
* Deja Vu: When adults can accurately navigate through a place where they have never been before.
* Buried Treasures: When a child or adult can accurately find objects long buried in the Earth.
* Xenoglossy: When a child can speak in a long extinct language known only to research scholars.
* Idiot Savants: When poorly socialized adults can channel the encyclopedia, dictionary, phone book, etc.
* Genetic Abnormalities: When a person has mental issues (like OCD) that is not part of family genetics.
* Exotic Diseases: When a person contracts a rare illness (like KLS) that is not part of family genetics.
* Birth Marks/Defects: When a person is born with birth marks and defects that is not part of family genetics.
* Gender Conflicts: When a person is one gender on the outside but feels like the other gender on the inside.

Wet Clay (Past Lives)

"Everything you say and do around your children writes on the slate of who they are." (Dr. Phil)
"Family is just a river through which Soul flows." (Edgar Cayce)

Although the slate of who we are comes pre-loaded with past life information, our life now gives us the chance to change it.

* Impressionable Childhood: Although we can attach to our past life issues at any point, we tend to pick up the majority of them in childhood. Yet to understand them, we need to go beyond childhood to where they originated in past lives.

* Why We Are Who We Are: When we are born, it is past lives - via our cellular memory - that form our nature. When we grow up, it is past lives - via the choices about reincarnation we make (choosing our parents, our life circumstances, our romantic partners, and so on) - that form our nurture. What we carry with us from past lives - our skills and abilities, our wisdom and instincts - help us along our journey through life. Yet the whole point of reincarnation... is for us to rewrite our slate and, in so doing, improve in our ability to love and to know more joy.

* Updating Our Slate: To grow in love, joy, and awareness, we consciously incarnate into situations now that will bring us to heal unresolved pain and issues from past lives so we can advance our spiritual growth. We set the stage for the karmic drama we choose in any given life by participating in experiences where our old ways of being will no longer serve us. This brings us to new learnings about life so that we can grow more loving/joyful and gain greater awareness.

* When the Slate is Wet Clay: Although we can attach to our past life issues at any point along our journey, we tend to pick up the majority of them in our "young and impressionable" childhood. In childhood, our slate is like wet clay. Although the quality and content of the clay come from past lives, it is wet and easily shaped by those who have access to it this time around. Our parents, our siblings, our extended family, our friends, our enemies, our society, and our communications network: all these play a part in shaping our wet clay into a new form.

* Twisting the Wet Clay: When we allow ourselves to be molded by others, it is a double edged sword. On the positive side, we have the chance to become more loving, more aware, and more joyful... to become who we have always wanted to be. On the negative side, we open ourselves to being damaged by the selfish agendas of others... to be twisted into their shape and become who they want us to be. Whatever happens, sooner or later, we will be stronger for the experience... however it has unfolded. The first step is to stop blaming those who have sculpted our clay... and to start taking ownership of our past karma and our present life.

Credits: from channeled information.