Republished From The Archives of About Facts [My former website]

Reincarnation

Some scientists say they have used hypnotic regression to bring out evidence of former lives. There is even a few psychologists who are practicing something called 'past life therapy'. As crazy as it sounds, past life therapy deals with solving problems you had in former lives which have an effect on your life now. When people are put under this hypnotic state they sometimes discuss things which they say happened to them in a past life. This in itself is not considered proof of reincarnation by many people. Some argue suggestions are made either knowingly or unknowingly by the hypnotist. This would taint all the results obtained. Others say the mind may be making up stories or piecing together different events as if they all occurred as one big event. There is something called 'false memory syndrome' that many blame for the statements made under hypnosis. An example of this might be the reading of a book which is remembered many years later and some of the events in the story become your own. This does happen, but can hardly account for all the instances of past life memory. Then there is the other alternative, the person under hypnosis may be lying, this also has happened in the past.

In April of this year, some of the news services ran a story about a six year old boy who seems to be the reincarnation of a Navy fighter pilot who was shot down by the Japanese. But why would anyone think such an outlandish thing? It all started when the boy was very young. He would only play with toy planes. He kept screaming in his sleep and when his mother woke him, he would tell her how he kept dreaming of fiery airplane crashes he was in and where he couldn't get out. More and more he dreamed these horrible dreams and his mother got so worried that she decided to take him to a counselor. The counselor began to work with the boy and the nightmares decreased. The boy began to explore his memories and he shared them with his parents. He told his parents the Japanese had shot down the plane he was flying and he crashed. He told his father next his plane was a Corsair and it was always getting flat tires. When this fact was checked out, it turned out these planes did have a lot of flats due to hard carrier landings. He told his parents the name of a ship he took off from was the Natoma and he flew with a Jack Larson. It turned out the ship was real and Larson was alive in Alaska. After checking the info on the squad that had been given to them, the boy's parents found out only one pilot had been shot down and his name was James M. Hurston Jr. A pilot, who had been flying next to James M. Hurston Jr. when he was shot down, said he took a direct hit to his engine, exactly what the boy was telling his parents. Is this boy the reincarnation of James M. Hurston Jr.? Who knows, but there seems to be a lot of compelling evidence. One small item however, the counselor believed in reincarnation before the boy was ever brought to him. Could this have something to do with the case?

A young woman with a severe eating disorder sought help, she had anorexia nervosa. Under hypnosis she stated she was with many people and they were behind a wall and they were all starving. She states that her mother is with her, but her father is gone. She recalls a man pressing her down on a metal table and hurting her. People are putting a tube in her and filling her with water. Her stomach feels like it is going to explode and kill her. When asked what the people who are doing this to her are saying she says she doesn't speak German. She now realizes she is in a concentration camp and is only 11 years old. The next thing that happens is she is repeatedly raped. When she is back with her mother, her mother tells her that if they come again for her, she is to run to the fence and press herself against it. The fence is electrified. Her mother tells her she will always love her and this will stop those butchers from getting her. They came again for her and she runs to the fence and presses herself against it and dies. She felt, because of the fullness in her stomach, she could never eat and if she did, her stomach would explode and kill her.

Edgar Cayce was known as the sleeping prophet and died in 1945. Many of his predictions have come true, far more than any other prophet. While under a trance Cayce, while referring to a person said, "Third appearance on this plain--He was a monk." This seems to be a definite reference to reincarnation. Did Cayce know something that the rest of us might only suspect? The problem here is while general statements on individuals as to their prior lives can sometimes be verified, many individual incidences in a person's life can neither be proved or disproved due to a lack of records. This has been found out by researchers who tried to use his readings to verify past lives.

A Welsh housewife, who was put under hypnosis, revealed six other lives. Almost all the facts she stated were historically correct. She said she was a maid to a wealthy merchant in 15th century France and described the interior and exterior of his home accurately. Many people think she lied because she described the merchant as unmarried and they say he was married with five children. A book was written on the subject in 1948 and in the book he was never described as married.

So, what are we to think? Is reincarnation possible, some of the world's major religions think so, while others do not? Some of the evidence seems compelling while some of it seems to be faulty. I guess this is just one of those things you either take on faith or don't. If you believe it does exist, then when does it end, if ever? Do animals and other creatures get reincarnated? If you don't believe in it, then what is causing people, who may really believe they have lived before, to believe this and why is some of the evidence so convincing?