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If, as Alan Watts the Zen philosopher maintains, we're all waves (ie individuals) on the same ocean (ie God), then reincarnation is redundant. As God said, first of all I'm going to create a playground and then I'm going out to play, but, to have any fun I'm going to have to forget who I am. So, the next person you meet just say hi to yourself but don't expect them to remember you!
To my pagan way of understanding, a totem is an aspect/facet of you/universe/God manifesting as an animal within your consciousness that allows you to tap into various knowledge/abilities to aid your understanding life, the universe and everything. I've found with my totem that it quite often appears through the physical form of the animal it symbolises at the most opportune or needful points in my life. More often though it appears in my dreams, and they are a bugger to understand at the best of times. Ha, the games God plays (or as the American Indians prefer to call it, the Great Mysterious. A superb term which I find is free of all the human connotations/characteristics we fanatically attribute to the Gods of religions).
A true totem meets you half way. You have to put the effort in to find it in the first place. No free lunches with Nature/Great Mysterious!
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