Patterns of Memory | Awakenings | Forums

Grimm Brothers said
It would be interesting to see if the patterns may be in part due to having the same personality (or at least similar psychology) between lives that leads you into the same situations.

The kinds of patterns I’m referring to really wouldn’t stem from that.  That’d be more what I termed “unlearned lessons”, and they are definitely a thing, but this encompasses patterns that are entirely outside of the individual’s control.  Things on the level of society or species, even (or the intersection of the two.)  

One potential explanation is that one chooses one’s incarnations, but personally I have no memory of doing so and I am troubled by the implications that belief has.  It seems in many cases to absolve criminals and blame victims; for instance it would suggest that a child who was abused chose to incarnate into that family and experience that.  This is not speculative, this is actually stated outright by proponents of that belief.  For instance:

From http://therealastrology.com/as…..sh-aspects:

Your mother chose her chart; she chose her parents, and she chose to be in a relationship with her father. Her father also had free will, and the opportunity to learn and grow through his relationship with his daughter, your mother. Your mother chose her father knowing full well that there was the potential for sexual abuse. She chose to incarnate to assist her father in overcoming his own challenges and issues with abuse. She agreed to enter into this relationship understanding that if she did experience abuse, she would then have her own lessons and challenges to learn from and overcome.