Introduction
Would you live your life differently if you knew that death was not the end, and that you will be born back into this world? That is not something I seriously considered until 2009, when I met Sara at a workshop in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Over the previous several months I had shutdown my business, packed and put things in storage, preparing for a major life change. After that long weekend in Albuquerque, I was going to a remote cabin in North Carolina to write a book.
As we got to know each other over those couple of days (detailed in Chapter 13), it was clear that despite our differences, we had a deeper connection. In fact, I had never experienced that level of familiarity with anyone. While I didn’t understand the significance of our meeting at the time, it seemed like a good start to the next chapter of my life.
A few weeks later, Sara sent an email saying we knew each other a little over 100 years ago, in China. In that lifetime she was a Concubine, and I was an Emperor. At the time I knew nothing about the story she told, but was open to the concept of reincarnation and decided to do some research rather than simply dismiss the idea.
It took a few months, but ultimately I had to accept that Sara was right. Understanding what that means, and integrating that awareness into my worldview, is an ongoing process.
How this all began
After we met in July of 2009, Sara started to remember. Flashes of revelation came first in the form of waking visions and dreams. Then, events that had happened many years earlier started to make more sense, in light of her new insights. After a few weeks of processing it all she contacted me, telling the story of what happened on her drive back to California.
Many years earlier her Qigong teacher told her she had been Consort Zhen (aka: the Pearl Concubine). As a Chinese from Taiwan she knew the story well, but she was busy with her life as a mother of three daughters working in the technology industry, and did not have time or interest in entertaining that idea. However, after we met, memories came flooding into her consciousness that played like a movie on the screen of her mind.
Pearl - circa 1890's
Sara - circa 1970's
When she contacted me she expected closure, saying that she was glad I was doing well, and that she felt a sense of peace. Nonetheless, the exchange left me confused. How could she be so convinced that we had been these historical figures, and how could that be confirmed? Having spent my career working with electronics, I had learned to balance intuitive ways of knowing with logic, so before accepting that I had been a notable historical figure in a previous life, I needed evidence. The fact that she had some visions, for me, was not enough.
A few days were spent reading what could be found online about those historical figures, and some of the stories seemed somewhat familiar, but what finally got my attention was a portrait. Most images of Guangxu found online in 2009 were artists renditions, few of which even looked alike, but I located a portrait by Charles Jacotin. Pearl was known to have brought photographers into the Forbidden City, so it made sense that Jacotin would have had access to a photograph on which to base his portrait.
I purchased a high-resolution version from a French company selling licensed copies of Jacotin’s work and sent it to my father, a photographer who worked in the printing industry, to get his feedback. He responded by sending a picture he had taken 10 years earlier from approximately the same angle, which is shown below.
The work of Dr. Walter Semkiw shows that physical resemblance does carry over from life to life, as the case histories presented on his website clearly show. (also see Appendix - Reincarnation Research) Although I didn’t discover Dr. Semkiw’s work until later, the physical resemblance was compelling enough that I decided to take Sara’s story seriously.
After locating a few books written in the early 1900s by someone who had lived in the Forbidden City, and who had extensive interaction with Guangxu, I had them express shipped. A few weeks later, inside the stained and worn cloth covers, the textured yellowed pages told a story which touched me so deeply that I cried. Maybe it was true. The timing and circumstances of how Sara and I met, the portrait by Jacotin, and now these books, containing firsthand accounts of interactions with a historical persona that looked like me, acted like me, and even had the same sense of humor as me, was too much to simply dismiss.
The Work
In The Eternal 今 is a trilogy, and is intended to illustrate that all of us share one thing in common. Our consciousness does not cease to exist when the physical body dies. We bring the essence of who we are with us into new lifetimes.
This book is an introduction to ourselves and how we came to learn about our journey thru time. Sara has had vivid recall of many experiences, much of which we have been able to confirm by studying the historical records as they exist in this time, by visiting some of the places we have lived before, and thru our consultations with Kevin Ryerson (see Appendix - Reincarnation Research).
Some of the lifetimes we have explored with Kevin and have identified historically, will be covered in Book Two, Echoes in the Halls of Eternity. As part of that process, we will be adding new perspectives on those historical figures and their stories. Book Three, We Are Here, will essentially be the book I originally intended to write, summarizing some of what we have learned on our journey thus far, while highlighting some practices and perspectives which may help you in your journey thru time.
Our Hope
The stories we tell ourselves about our lives and our world, determine our experience. We hope that by sharing our story, we will help the reader better understand both themselves, and the larger reality we are operating within.
While our story is not unique, and we are not special, many Chinese consider the lives of Guangxu and Pearl to be a sad tragedy. However, by sharing what came before and after that lifetime, it's clear that in the big picture, we do have an opportunity to work thru our karma, and what may appear to be unfinished business. We will meet again.
Seann Aswell
Flathead County, Montana
August 2022