Oliver Jobson ... "I had thoughts and impressions of another life where the experience was one of a state of infinite peace." - Photo by Paul Williams

"From an early age, I felt as if I had been sent here to Earth temporarily to learn some new experiences and gain some new information. I realised that this soul - or spirit, or call it what you will - which is housed in this limited, confining body, identified by my name, was longing to get away. I wanted out! I wanted to go back from whence I came. But no! I was not to have this wish granted. I had to face the music."

Oliver Jobson, who recently spoke with The Gleaner in a face-to-face discussion, said the above in his book, Expanding the Boundaries of Self - Beyond the Limit of Traditional Thought, Discovering the Magic Within.

The music he had to face was rather discordant, confusing if you will, for, as he said, he was born in confusion. From he was a tot, he had been having memories of past lives, and he struggled to understand the experiences of his present and the memories of his past.

Jobson: "I had thoughts and impressions of another life where the experience was one of a state of infinite peace. It was so different from this dimension - more stable, more beautiful and more real."

Difficulty being grounded

As a youngster, he felt like an 'outcast' as if he didn't belong on this Earth, only visiting for a while. He thought everyone around him was going through the same uneasiness and was suffering in silence.

"For years, both before and after entering my teens, growing older, I felt as if I were half here and half elsewhere. I found it difficult during that period of my life to be grounded. I was having difficulty adjusting to life here on Earth. On numerous occasions, I remember secretly crying, asking God to take me away. I felt like a boundless drop coming from a boundless ocean. I was sent here to a world of confinement and restriction as a lesson; it seemed almost like a punishment."

When Jobson was five years old, a brother was born. Finding his birth so fascinating, he asked his mother where he, Oliver Jobson, had come from, and he was told the same place where his brother had. He promptly told her she was not his mother, but his "guardian on Earth".

Unable to comprehend

Jobson: "I tried to explain to her that she could not have given birth to me, because I had never died. Somehow, even though we had a psychic bond between us, she was unable to comprehend what I meant."

As he got older, he became absorbed with the new information around him, and began to forget some of the memories of his past lives, now focusing on his physical existence. Yet, it wasn't long before he started again to seriously reflect on his earthly manifestation.

Jobson: "I continued to remember some of those past lives, which had by then become a distant dream. Not being familiar with the reproductive process at that age, I thought I had just appeared here from another dimension; I knew I had never ever died."

In his late teens and early 20s, he went around talking about reincarnation, making references to his previous lives, sharing his experiences with reincarnation and speaking about aliens and other phenomena. He thought that was the normal thing to do until he found out that people thought he was crazy.

"Discussing matters of this nature at that time was taboo - worse than discussing religion or sex," he said. But he did not know.

At age 33, and still not sure of how he got to Earth, he asked his mother for the final time, on her death bed, how he came into this world.

Jobson: "You see, I was still trying to account for my appearance in this dimension. I could not understand it. I had conflicting ideas ... Once again she swore that she had physically given birth to me."

Born in a well-to-do family in Trelawny, Jobson, now a 63-year-old retired army captain, attended Priory School, Munro College and the prestigious Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in England. He was commissioned by the Queen of England as an officer. After attending the School of Infantry in the United Kingdom, he joined the Jamaica Regiment. He was later appointed aide-de-camp to Jamaica's first native governor general, Sir Clifford Campbell. In 1976, he retired his commission as a battle group commander.

The battle within

This is quite a remarkable résumé for an extraordinary man, who harboured thoughts of becoming a priest. He was even a Catholic acolyte. Yet, a struggle was raging within his being. He was having problems with some of the tenets of Catholicism which were contradicting the memories of his past lives. He had questions which the Church could not answer. Jobson: "This battle within me was tumultuous ... I had (memories) of past lives with which I had not really reconciled my Christian teachings, and I found it very confusing ... What was my purpose in life?"

In trying to understand his existence, he delved into meditation, starting in his teenage years. He became interested in eastern philosophy and yoga, which was introduced to him by a close family friend.

Jobson: "It cleared my mind and improved the clarity of telepathic messages I was receiving from a dimension to which I had been familiar before my most recent birth. Meditation enabled me to more easily reconcile and comprehend a turbulent confusion and conflict I was experiencing within myself."

In further pursuit of clarity and answers, he has travelled extensively, interviewing many clairvoyants, mystics, card readers, astrologers, academics, priests and other spiritual persons. He has researched and studied ontology (the nature of being), eastern philosophies, religion, kabbalah (mystical Jewish teachings), unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and psychic phenomena. Ancient ruins, sacred and holy places in China, Europe, Israel, Indonesia and Peru he has visited, and has participated in many psychotherapy sessions in The Bahamas and the United States.

Finding his calling

The man who now considers himself a 'mystical Christian' follows the teachings of Avatar Sri Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi in India, which were introduced to him in 1975.

Jobson: "In my travels around the world and during my research and investigations into the teaching of different cultures, religions and philosophies, I found the Vedic ((Indian) philosophy to be the most fulfilling and simplest one that gives a rewarding meaning and understanding to life."

Avatar is a Hindu word meaning 'descent', thus Sri Baba is one who has descended from "the level of the godhead to the level of man". He believes Sri Baba is the new incarnation of Christ. And in 1992, he travelled all the way to India to have an interview with him. Though he didn't get a chance to meet him face to face, he said they communicated through telepathy.

This life, as he sees it, is just another one of his many incarnations.

"Thus, from an early age, I realised that there were various, distinct aspects of my being. All were functioning simultaneously while I resided within this body, which was my current earthly vehicle," he says, in his book.

paul.williams@gleanerjm.com