I'm not suggesting any kind of answer here, just wondering out loud: On one level, we humans (and all created things) are unique and individual and that is something to celebrate in ourselves and others, but, tantalisingly, we have glimpses (or more) of a different reality, in which we are All One. There seems to be a great drive in humans to assert their individuality, but I do wonder sometimes whether on a level of soul/spirit, it is our collectiveness and oneness which is paramount. We like to think of ourselves as progressing, maybe from one physical life to another, but perhaps that is only one slant on what could be happening. Maybe the individuality on the earthly/bodily plane does not exist in the same way on spiritual planes ? Maybe there is a kind of "pool of spirit" from which we emerge as individuals and return to, both whilst inhabiting this earth in our physical bodies and when we do not have a body to live in ?

I feel it is very possible to tap into what has been described as a "collective unconscious". I have experienced this many times when "becoming" another person when rehearsing and acting on stage. These experiences could be 'explained' in many ways: a tapping into an otherwise hidden part of our own individual selves; a recollection of a past life experience; contact being made with the spirit of a person who has died and is inhabiting another plane of existence; a tapping into a collective pool of experience... To me, it hardly matters what label one puts on it. It is a most wonderful thing, to be treasured when it happens.

- jeanie