Pastor Who Witnessed His Own Birth: The Creator Cares for Humanity Beyond Our Understanding

Walt Scotson, a retired pastor from Lewistown, Montana, experienced something incredible that allowed him to take an open and inclusive view of other people’s beliefs.

Scotson said he witnessed his own birth and since then has felt an unseen element impacting his life in powerful and deeply spiritual ways.

“I had a unique experience when I was born. In that, I guess the best description would be I had an out-of-body experience. Because I vividly recall watching myself be born, it was like I was standing behind the nurses watching myself be born,” he said in an interview with The Epoch Times on Feb. 1.

“It gives me the sense that I have been here before and was allowed to watch myself reenter another incarnation. So, it was quite an interesting perspective that I have this vivid recollection of my birth because it was a little unique.”

Looking back on 71 years, Scotson sees a life guided, impacted, and transformed by spiritual experiences. He senses an unseen hand guiding his spirit, “No matter how much I learn, I recognize how little I know,” he said.

To this end, Scotson has explored the realms of metaphysics, quantum physics, and near-death experiences.

“My perspective is that the Creator is an expression. We’re just at a loss of words, but Creator is an expression of the infinite energy, light, love,” Scotson said after watching a video broadcast of the article “How Humankind Came to Be” published by Falun Gong founder Mr. Li Hongzhi on Jan. 20.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is an ancient Chinese spiritual practice consisting of simple, slow-moving meditation exercises and teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It grew in popularity during the 1990s, with 70 million to 100 million adherents in China by the end of the decade, according to official estimates at the time.

Mr. Li’s article was published on the eve of Chinese New Year, in which he said he is disclosing heavenly secrets meant to “provide a true picture of affairs, and to give people another chance at salvation.”

Scotson said he watched the video four times so far and plans to keep watching and comprehending its meaning.

“I wanted to listen carefully and deeply consider the subject matter. I enjoyed the presentation very much and have been contemplating his words deeply,” he said.

Scotson has had a multitude of vocations, including, starting at age 40, being a pastor for 27 years. He owned a flooring business and was once the marketing director for a printing company. He was the customer service manager for an online investment training company and worked in the insurance industry.

Scotson found himself exploring a spiritual world outside the box, and Mr. Li’s article gave him more food for thought and inspiration.

‘The Creator Deeply Cares’

Scotson said that the message he got from Mr. Li’s article was that “the Creator deeply cares, beyond our understanding, that we have the opportunity to grow and to change and to improve. The ultimate expression of providing an opportunity for our salvation.

“To me, salvation is an opportunity to be freed from the restrictions of the human incarnation. And in being freed from that, getting to the place on the soul side,” said Scotson.

Scotson believes that beliefs that teach people to be good all have the same path. The Creator shows different ways to people of other regions. “That information comes from so many different directions because each of us is in a different place. And we’re given infinite opportunities to respond in the right direction. The Western institutionalized Christian religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Falun Gong, all are an opportunity,” he said.

“It just expresses the depth of the Creator’s love for us. He will try every possible avenue to get to us to reach us to help us to grow and mature, and experience what we need to experience and learn what we need to learn so that we can achieve higher and higher levels of expression.”

Mr. Li Shows a Broader Perspective to Human Beings

Scotson said that after watching the video of Mr. Li’s article, he got a real sense of the magnitude of the Creator.

“Growing up within Western institutionalized Christian religion, I always felt like I was in a box,” he said. And after watching the video, he felt he’s been able to climb out of that box and get a much broader perspective.

For this, he is grateful to Mr. Li for publishing this article and sharing it with the world: “It’s being expressed with the Falun Gong’s perspective, and invites us to participate in that. I think it stirs up a longing within us to answer that question, I have always felt there’s more, growing up in a Christian background, as a child, I always felt like, well, this is wonderful, but isn’t something missing? Where’s the rest of it? I always had the sense that there was more.”

Scotson believes that Mr. Li’s article is a good enlightenment of the magnitude of what we’re a part of—as human beings, we tend to be focused, narrow-minded, or near-sighted.

Scotson says the video of Mr. Li’s article helps people see things on a much larger scale. “And I think doing that helps us to see it on a bigger scale but also see it on a more macro scale, intersperse it into perspective, reflective, so that we say, okay, who am I? What is the essence of me in relation to this bigness.”

Scotson said Mr. Li’s article makes such a point, much more than the average person walking down the street is aware of, to stir the desire to research to study within a person. “Now, my oldest son has researched Falun Gong because he was fascinated with some of the principles and teachings, and so we’re just pretty open to whatever it is that the universe presents to us as an opportunity to grow spiritually.”

Do Good

In his article “How Humankind Came to Be,” Mr. Li points out that: “When you see people winning or losing in life, it appears to come about in a normal way from things in this world. But it is ultimately the karmic consequences of those people’s past doings. Whether people have something or not, or are winning or losing in life, is going to play out in ways that accord with this world. So no matter whether you are rich or poor in life, you should be sure to do good, refrain from doing bad things, stay good and kind, be spiritual and devout, and be happy to help others. And by doing so, you will build up blessings and virtue, and reap their rewards in the next life.”

Scotson agrees with this: “We exist eternally as an energetic soul, and we reincarnate, or we’re in this process of having human experiences. And then that human vessel was dying because of age, or whatever circumstances, possibly dramatically. And then that cycle gets to be repeated, allowing us to learn to, to grow, from a spiritual perspective, in the aspect of how we love.”

Scotson says he has become highly sensitized to the feelings of others because of his learning experiences with prayer and meditation, “I’m very empathetic to what’s going on in someone else’s life, and I can often feel what they’re feeling.”

Therefore, he profoundly resonates with Mr. Li’s repeated references to “do good” in his articles.

“When you do good, it’s an expression of love towards others, beings, entities,” Scotson said. “But for me, the overall growth in the spiritual process that occurs because we have the opportunity to reincarnate and travel down a different path is the continual experience of learning how to love better and be more other-centered, and self-giving, rather than self-centered and taking, receiving.”

Karmic Consequences

Scotson also agrees with the karmic consequences mentioned in Mr. Li’s article.

“The consequences that we suffer or experience based upon the decisions and the choices we make can then be re-expressed in another life, for example, if in a particular life experience, maybe I was an abuser, and I was mean to people, I beat them up. In the next life, I could choose them to incorporate into or incarnate into a life where I was on the receiving end and I got to experience abuse. So that from that both sides perspective, I could truly grow, to understand not only what it feels like to be an abuser, but what it feels like to be abused.”

Scotson says that because of his work, he has met many people who have had near-death experiences, and consequently, they have a deeper sense of karma. “They are not the same people after their experience. A significant number of them are so impressed with the importance or the significance value of the human life that an incarnated soul expresses, the value of that soul being expressed in human life is so incredible that they can no longer do anything in their life that harms anybody in any way,” he said.