The Children Who Remember Past Lives

[mainer]

Really eerie article.

“In the beginning, it seemed like Nina was just an imaginary friend.
Two-year-old Aija had invented plenty of fictional characters before, but her parents — Ross, a musician, and Marie, a psychologist — noticed right away that Nina was different. (The family spoke to The Washington Post on the condition that only their middle names be used because of the sensitivity of the subject and because Aija is a young child.) From the time Aija learned how to talk, she talked about Nina, and her descriptions were remarkably consistent. Aija told her parents that Nina played piano, and she loved dancing, and she favored the color pink (Aija emphatically did not). When Aija spoke as Nina, in the first person, Aija’s demeanor changed: Her voice was sweeter and higher-pitched, her affect more gentle and polite than what Marie and Ross typically expected from their rambunctious toddler.
Aija sometimes told them that Nina was afraid of bad guys coming to get her, or of not having enough food to eat; Aija once hid a bowl of cereal and told her mother it was for Nina. One day, when Marie was using the food processor in the kitchen, Aija reacted with horror to the sound: “Get the tank out of here!” she shrieked. Marie couldn’t fathom how her daughter knew the word “tank.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/05/02/children-past-lives/

[shrike3]

1. A relative of mine talked about her previous mother when she was very small.

Last edited Thu May 2, 2024, 08:17 PM - Edit history (1)

Has no memory of ever doing so now. Might have been a vivid imagination?

Dr. Tucker sounds interesting and open-minded.

[mainer]

2. Article says memories fade by age 5

As kids embrace their current lives.
I never believed in reincarnation but some of the examples are jaw dropping.

[shrike3]

5. I don't believe in it either, but I certainly don't know everything.

I find such stories very interesting. I don't spend much time thinking about them. A lot of other things to think about. I wish there were less.

[mopinko]

107. i dont believe in it, but i dont not believe either. i think it's possible.

after all, it’s the way of all of nature. and physics.

[JenniferJuniper]

3. When my niece was 3, she kept saying her "real" mother was dead

to anyone who would listen to her. She was so earnest and serious about it and no one could think of anything that would cause her to imagine a prior deceased mother.

[Demsrule86]

113. That was like my nephew.

[Demsrule86]

97. My nephew talked about his old Mom and Dad...totally creeped my sister out.

I remember my first memory. I was between 3 and 4...I realized I had my whole life ahead of me and it was such a surprise. I often wonder how a 3-year-old conceptualizes that. Who knows.

[shrike3]

98. I. too, remember things from when I was very young.

Probably around three. This is hard to explain, but it's almost like I was my current self even then, watching things unfold. Weird. And possibly my imagination.

[Demsrule86]

112. That is exactly it. I didn't feel like I was 3.

[shrike3]

115. Isn't it strange?

One of those things I can't explain, so I just chock it up as one of life's mysteries.

[Karadeniz]

127. Videos, The Ghost Inside My Child. Many have been corroborated. By the way,

I can think of 4 or 5 of Jesus's parables that explain reincarnation.

[MagickMuffin]

4. I love hearing about this phenomenon

I’ve read where if the child is persistent the parents will travel to the town to confirm the child’s story.

Thx for sharing

[triron]

26. Yes that is true.

Many times the current family will meet with the family from the previous life. It's fascinating.

[Arne]

6. Similar phenomena with transplants.

Patient with someone else's heart can display habits of donor.

[Disaffected]

9. Evidence?

[Arne]

11. Not the kind of thing that has "Evidence". It's just weird.

[Disaffected]

13. If there is no evidence,

it didn't happen. There are other much more plausible explanations (such as none of the stories are true or are embellished).

There is also no plausible explanation how such a thing could happen.

[Big Blue Marble]

19. There is evidences, lots of it you take the time to study it.

See my post below.

[Demsrule86]

114. I read where some kids have been able to give details and dates...and it was accurage.

These were little kids...so unless the parents were lying...how did they know?

[Big Blue Marble]

14. Lot's of evidence.

well documented at the University of Virginia Charlottesville.
There is documented evidence back to sixties in their database.

[Disaffected]

17. Care to cite any?

Or simply leave it as an assertion...

[Big Blue Marble]

18. Well I was not planning to share any evidence as it is easy to find

if you are interested, Then I found this blog that might be perfect for you.

Ian Stevenson’s Case for the Afterlife: Are We ‘Skeptics’ Really Just Cynics?

Jesse Bering

If you’re anything like me, with eyes that roll over to the back of your head whenever you hear words like “reincarnation” or “parapsychology,” if you suffer great paroxysms of despair for human intelligence whenever you catch a glimpse of that dandelion-colored cover of Heaven Is For Realor other such books, and become angry when hearing about an overly Botoxed charlatan telling a poor grieving mother how her daughter’s spirit is standing behind her, then keep reading, because you’re precisely the type of person who should be aware of the late Professor Ian Stevenson’s research on children’s memories of previous lives.

Stevenson, who died in 2007, was a psychiatrist by training—and a prominent one at that. In 1957, at the still academically tender age of 38, he’d been named Chair of psychiatry at the University of Virginia. After arriving in Charlottesville, however, his hobbyhorse in the paranormal began turning into a full-grown steed. As you can imagine, investigating apparitions and reincarnation is not something the college administrators were expecting of the head of their mental health program. But in 1968, Chester Carlson, the wealthy inventor of the Xerox copying process who’d been introduced to Stevenson’s interests in reincarnation by his spiritualist wife, dropped dead of a heart attack in a Manhattan movie theatre, leaving a million dollars to UVA on the condition it be used to fund Stevenson’s paranormal investigations. That money enabled Stevenson to devote himself full-time to studying the minds of the dead, and over the next four decades, Stevenson’s discoveries as a parapsychologist served to sway more than a few skeptics and to lead his blushing acolytes to compare him to the likes of Darwin and Galileo.

Stevenson’s main claim to fame was his meticulous studies of children’s memories of previous lives. Here’s one of thousands of cases. In Sri Lanka, a toddler one day overheard her mother mentioning the name of an obscure town (“Kataragama”) that the girl had never been to. The girl informed the mother that she drowned there when her “dumb” (mentally challenged) brother pushed her in the river, that she had a bald father named “Herath” who sold flowers in a market near the Buddhist stupa, that she lived in a house that had a glass window in the roof (a skylight), dogs in the backyard that were tied up and fed meat, that the house was next door to a big Hindu temple, outside of which people smashed coconuts on the ground. Stevenson was able to confirm that there was, indeed, a flower vendor in Kataragama who ran a stall near the Buddhist stupa whose two-year-old daughter had drowned in the river while the girl played with her mentally challenged brother. The man lived in a house where the neighbors threw meat to dogs tied up in their backyard, and it was adjacent to the main temple where devotees practiced a religious ritual of smashing coconuts on the ground. The little girl did get a few items wrong, however. For instance, the dead girl’s dad wasn’t bald (but her grandfather and uncle were) and his name wasn’t “Herath”—that was the name, rather, of the dead girl’s cousin. Otherwise, 27 of the 30 idiosyncratic, verifiable statements she made panned out. The two families never met, nor did they have any friends, coworkers, or other acquaintances in common, so if you take it all at face value, the details couldn’t have been acquired in any obvious way.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/bering-in-mind/ian-stevensone28099s-case-for-the-afterlife-are-we-e28098skepticse28099-really-just-cynics/

[triron]

28. I referred to the same Stevenson in a brief post below.

[Big Blue Marble]

71. Yes I saw that.

I actually read Dr. Ian Stevenson's first description of his research
in the early Seventies: "Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation."

I had to request to my library obtain it from the Library Of Congress
as it was not then commercially available.

[Disaffected]

68. Sorry, the ol' 'do your own research'

argument doesn't cut it.

And neither does anecdotal evidence, no matter how voluminous.

[Big Blue Marble]

70. You .knew when you asked it was a setup and so did I.

Whether you are curious enough to look at the recognized and rigorous
research that has been done it this field for over sixty years or not.
is your own business..

[Disaffected]

72. More ducking and dodging.....

You made the claim. If you have a source of credible evidence, cite it.

Otherwise, over & out.

[shrike3]

99. Thank you, very interesting.

[mainer]

12. Memory is essentially RNA

And chemicals like memory RNA could be transferred along with a transplanted organ. So there is a theoretical possibility. Just spitballing here.

[Big Blue Marble]

16. That theory does not explain cases where the child has no

relationship to the person they claim they were.

[mainer]

21. I was answering the question about organ transplants

in which organic material is passed from donor to recipient and there are reports of memories being passed along as well.

[Big Blue Marble]

22. Sorry, I missed that.

Is there any evidence that memories are stored in RNA?

[mainer]

34. Much info on rna and memory

One example:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/memory-transferred-between-snails-challenging-standard-theory-of-how-the-brain-remembers/

And another
https://neuronline.sfn.org/professional-development/an-injection-of-rna-may-transfer-memories

And
https://www.einsteinmed.edu/news/10988/einstein-researchers-discover-how-long-lasting-memories-form-in-the-brain/

[Big Blue Marble]

41. Thanks so much for the links. N/T

[Big Blue Marble]

46. Fascinating research with amazing implications.

Thanks again for the links.

[Hekate]

59. I have read of this as well

[Bonx]

7. They're not remembering 'past lives'.

How does something like this make it on the NYT front page?

[Big Blue Marble]

20. The evidence strongly supports the theory that there are past lives

for at least some of these kids. But then you have to actually look
at the evidence with a open mind. Some of the evidence is unexplainable
by any other cause except for some amazingly complex super psi.

[Bonx]

100. No it doesn't. Show me ANY scientific support for this nonsense.

[Big Blue Marble]

109. Whatever, if you were serious about the evidence you could find it. N/T

[Bonx]

118. Thanks for the laugh.

[shrike3]

33. Washington Post, not NYT. Doubt it was on the front page.

[Big Blue Marble]

47. It was at least online.

I was surprised to see it. I have know about Dr. Stevenson's research since
the sixties, but not expecting to see it in the mainstream media.

[shrike3]

67. I found it very interesting. I try and be open-minded.

[Big Blue Marble]

69. I agree; it is fascinating

especially these little kids, often just learning to speak start talking
with passion and emotion about their previous life and their stories
are verified by research. Intriguing indeed.

[kcr]

83. In the online version it was, at the very top

We are progressing backward, especially since Trump, so I'm not even surprised.

[shrike3]

92. Odd it'd be at the very top.

I've read these kinds of stories, and they're always fun. But it's not a news source.

[PatSeg]

62. Saying definitively that someone is

"not remembering past lives" is just as narrow-minded as declaring that they ARE remembering past lives. The fact is that we don't know and it is okay to admit we don't know. That leaves us open to answers if at all possible.

[Bonx]

101. Let me tell you about my son's friend's uncle's Bigfoot experience...

[PatSeg]

110. Ah, sarcasm noted

That was pretty much what I expected and that's okay. We can't and shouldn't all be on the same page. We are unique individuals with diverse experiences and observations.

It took many decades to get to where I am at right now and I didn't come to my beliefs lightly or on a whim. Meanwhile, I am still changing because I try to keep my mind open to new ideas and points of view. The older I get, the more I realize how much I don't know and that keeps me humble and hopefully receptive to truth. Actually, I rarely talk about it, because I'm not trying to convert anyone. I just got engaged in the conversation and a handful of people decided to hop aboard and ridicule the idea

I've found that people who cannot or will not accept certain concepts such as reincarnation have already decided it is absolutely not true, so there is no convincing them. Why they choose to keep arguing is rather curious, because I really don't care if you don't believe. Why should you care if I do?

[Disaffected]

8. This is just another case of

the conclusion (past lives) not being justified by the "evidence" (a child's imagination).

Occam's Razor applies well here.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Occams-razor

[triron]

30. Bullshit.

[Disaffected]

61. Indeed.

I'm pleased we are now in agreement.

[FreeState]

50. 100% this - past lives aren't even candidate explanations

100% this - past lives aren’t even candidate explanations. If your proposing a hypothesis it wouldn’t even be used as there are zero data proving past lives.

[PatSeg]

64. Actually, there is considerable data available

But obviously, this is something that cannot be proven. A lot of our belief system is based on theory or hypothesis.

I'm sure there are numerous explanations about these children's behavior and past lives would be one possibility.

[FreeState]

73. That's not how candidate exploitations are used

A candidate explanation must be demonstrated. Past lives up to now have not been demonstrated so the only rational answer is “we dont know” if you don’t have any other candidate explanations.

[PatSeg]

88. I see

Perhaps you aren't familiar with the many case studies of such children. Past lives has been demonstrated numerous times as a viable explanation unless you are unwilling to even entertain such a possibility.

[FreeState]

94. I've yet to see a peer reviewed study that demonstrates it n/t

[PatSeg]

111. If you've decided that it can't be true,

I don't think any study will change your mind. And that's okay.

[FreeState]

116. I'm willing to accept any peer reviewed study

I’m more than willing to change my mind with evidence.

[PatSeg]

120. If you were interested you could find evidence easily

Psychology Today: Evaluating the Evidence for Reincarnation

All in all, this evidence makes me feel that I have no choice but to accept that reincarnation is real. As a scientist, I feel obliged to revise my views in the face of evidence. As I point out in my book Spiritual Science, it appears that the idea of life after death is more than a naive superstition. In Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet describes death as “the Undiscover’d country from whose bourn no traveller returns.” But perhaps it is possible to return from death, and to even remember the previous journey we took there.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-darkness/202112/evaluating-the-evidence-reincarnation

University of Virginia, School of Medicine: Children Who Report Memories of Past Lives

In last 50 years of research, DOPS has collected over 2500 cases of the reincarnation type, most of which have been found outside of the United States. For the vast majority of these cases, the field notes have been coded on >200 variables and put into our database. This research has taken countless hours and hundreds of people to accomplish, and there is still so much to learn on the topic.

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/our-research/children-who-report-memories-of-previous-lives/

NIH National Library of Medicine: Evidence that suggest the reality of reincarnation

The cases that have been described so far, isolated or combined, do not provide irrefutable proof of reincarnation, but they supply evidence that suggest its reality.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26299061/

Science Direct: Academic studies on claimed past-life memories: A scoping review

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830721000951

From Harvard Book Store: Reincarnation as a Scientific Concept: Scholarly Evidence for Past Lives

https://shop.harvard.com/book/9781786771278

Cambridge University Press: The Evidence for Reincarnation

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/religious-studies/article/evidence-for-reincarnation/2A537B24084CC9444E7C31D3AE38331D


Notice how often the word "evidence" is used. There is much, much more, but I doubt you are really interested. If you were, you would have looked it up yourself.

[FreeState]

122. I am super willing to evaluate any evidence of life after death

Last edited Fri May 3, 2024, 06:46 PM - Edit history (1)

Thanks for the links.

Psychology Today: This article is not peer-reviewed and should be considered a popular media source rather than a scholarly one. The article presents reincarnation through anecdotal evidence and personal accounts, such as the case of Ryan Hammons. Critics might argue that such articles lack scientific rigor, potentially relying on selective reporting or confirmation bias. While Psychology Today is generally rated highly for factual reporting, it is important to note that it includes writings from various contributors, which can introduce individual biases​ (Media Bias/Fact Check)​.

University of Virginia, School of Medicine: The Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) at UVA has a long history of investigating cases suggestive of reincarnation, especially in children. This research is more structured and involves detailed coding and analysis of cases, but it is still subject to criticism. Mainstream scientists often challenge the methodology and the interpretations of the data, arguing that such studies can suffer from confirmation bias or the lack of a control group.

NIH National Library of Medicine: The reference you mentioned from PubMed does suggest that there are some evidences hinting at reincarnation, but it also clearly states that these evidences are not definitive. Scientifically, the studies cited in PubMed are likely peer-reviewed, lending them some credibility. However, the field of reincarnation research often faces criticism for not providing conclusive proof and for relying on anecdotal evidence.

Science Direct: This platform hosts a variety of academic and scientific articles, and the specific article on past-life memories you referred to is part of a peer-reviewed journal. Such reviews aim to synthesize existing research to provide a clearer view of the academic landscape on this topic. Critics of these studies often question the verifiability of past-life memories and suggest psychological explanations such as memory biases or the influence of media.

Harvard Book Store and Cambridge University Press: The publications from these prestigious institutions suggest a more serious academic interest in the topic of reincarnation. However, the critical view remains that despite the academic interest, the topic still lacks the empirical evidence required to be widely accepted in the scientific community.

In all these cases, the use of the word "evidence" in discussions of reincarnation does not imply conclusive proof, as noted by the sources themselves. The main criticisms center around the challenges of verifying personal memories scientifically, the potential for psychological explanations (like false memories or family influence), and methodological weaknesses in studying an inherently subjective experience.

[PatSeg]

129. You had mentioned "evidence"

And there is plenty of evidence available. That was the point I was trying to make.

However, when it comes to spiritual matters or metaphysics, I know there can be no actual proof. As with many things in life, we can take available evidence and try to piece together a picture. Of course different people will come up with different conclusions.

Historically, scientific breakthroughs rarely were "widely accepted by the scientific community" in their day. Even handwashing by doctors was considered radical by the majority of physicians. There are things we accept today as fact, that may one day be ridiculed by future scientists. Just because something is "widely accepted" doesn't mean it is written in stone.

I understand what you are saying and I don't expect you to agree with me. Normally, I wouldn't even debate such an issue. I really don't know why I did so today.

Have a good night.

[Disaffected]

65. A bunch of anecdotal evidence

is about all there is (which in cases like these is meaningless).

IOWs, whether you have or a single slice or a mountain of baloney , it's still baloney.

[montanacowboy]

10. Really interesting article

so much we don't understand and will never know until the great adventure.....

[BigmanPigman]

15. There is a series on You Tube called The Ghost Within My Child

?si=CBICZQTy6frTswWw

[DavidDvorkin]

23. Do we have an eyeroll emoji?

[Greybnk48]

24. Our granddaughter, now 6, used to tell us stories of when

she was much older! We always thought she had an active imagination, which she does.

Maybe she was telling us real memories. Who knows?

[Greybnk48]

123. She has told us such random things!

Like this one when she was 5. "I used like sausage when I was older and ate it all the time. Now I don't like it." Just out of a clear blue sky.

[triron]

25. Children who either remember past lives, or seem to , have been studied

Extensively by a few researchers. The name Stevenson comes to mind. I suggest Googling the subject to find others (researchers).

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

44. Lots of others have looked into this.

As I've already posted, Michael Newton has written a couple of books on the topic. So have many, many others.

[Big Blue Marble]

49. It is Stevenson's and Tucker's research the article discusses. N/T

[wnylib]

27. I've never been able to believe in reincarnation

for a few reasons. First, it would mean that consciousness lives on after death, which might be true, but there is no way to prove it. Then, if consciousness does survive death, how and when would it enter into the body of someone who is born later? At the moment of birth? By what process?

People who speak of past life memories in children say that the memories fade by age 5 or 6. Why? What happens to such memories? If consciousness is strong enough to survive death and reenter life in another body, why wouldn't it be strong enough for the memory to persist throughout life?

Would reincarnation mean two consciousnesses existing in one body and one fades as the other grows? I can't wrap my mind around that idea.

OTOH, there are times when I could almost believe in reincarnation since Hitler died on 4/30/1945 and Trump was born on 6/14/1946 with the same character and personality traits since childhood. Hmm.

[JenniferJuniper]

31. No one has proved consciousness doesn't exist outside of the confines

of the brain either.

Thus far we really don't know what consciousness actually is or isn't.

[DavidDvorkin]

35. The burden of proof is on those who claim it does.

[JenniferJuniper]

40. Of course. But my statement is still true.

[wnylib]

37. That's why I said that it might exist, although there is no proof.

But adding rebirth in another body onto a belief in consciousness survival is just a bridge too far for me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

36. Possibly the reason those memories fade

is that the children are now more completely immersed in this lifetime.

And as much as I believe in reincarnation, I seriously doubt Trump is Hitler reincarnated. For one thing, if you read much about reincarnation, most of the time there is a lot more than a year between lives.

I suggest reading the books by Michael Newton, "Journey of Souls" and "Destiny of Souls" and then coming back.

[wnylib]

39. I was being facetious in my comment about Trump and Hitler.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

43. It came across as completely serious, not facetious.

[wnylib]

48. I thought that adding "Hmm" at the end conveyed

tongue-in-cheek intention. Plus I said that I could ALMOST believe it.

That followed my earlier statement of my disbelief in reincarnation, so no, I do not believe that Trump is Hitler reincarnated. It was just an expression of my opinion of the orange menace being just as evil.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

52. Thank you for clarifying that.

My bad.

[Big Blue Marble]

119. I got that you were.

I laughed because I have always said the Trump thinks he is the
reincarnation of Louis XIV, the Sun King. L'État, c'est moi.
Mar A Lago is his little Versailles and his New York apartment shroulded
in gilded tasteless French Provincial.

[Johnny2X2X]

29. The math is interesting because if population growth.

So are there like 100 people who were Napoleon in a past life?

It’s nonsense.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

38. Uhhh, no.

People are not claiming in larger and large numbers having been (as you suggest) Napoleon in a past life. You clearly have no clue about reincarnation, or what people who remember past lives are saying.

If you actually read accounts of people remembering past lives, invariably they remember being ordinary, no one special, persons, who are not particularly noted in the records. Again, the books by Michael Newton are excellent.

[Disaffected]

63. Dang it then.

I was sure I was Lionel Barrymore.

[Arne]

89. I was once a squirrel.

[Big Blue Marble]

51. Not one of these children claims to Napoleon.

Most of the ones who are researched are linked by amazing
documented memories of a person who actually lived though.

[H2O Man]

55. Regarding the math ......

consider the current human population on earth. Consider the sum total of people who lived before. One of the two is larger.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

76. That's one helluva waiting list.

[Easterncedar]

85. There are lots of soul-less people about

I bet you know some

[H2O Man]

96. Back around 1990,

at Onondaga, I remember a Clan Mother saying that we were entering a time when the number of soul-less people would rise.

[Easterncedar]

104. Interesting but really sad

[H2O Man]

106. A few years back,

I was talking about this general topic with another lady I knew from Onondaga. She said it was upsetting to see all of these things happening. I said yes, though Oren had told us when we were young that these events wouls soon begin. She said yes, but I wish they waited until after she was done with her turn here.

The second part of the message is that at the same time, those capable of countering the negative force were coming into being. And that's where we are now.

(Maybe I'll post a brief essay on one of Oren's teachings this afternoon. We are in tough times, but have everything we need to get through it and usher in a good era.)

[Easterncedar]

125. Thank you. You always hearten me!

[Phoenix61]

32. I had a niece who when she was three would talk about

her brother all the time. She wondered where he was and would talk about things they had done. She had a sister but never had a brother.

[brooklynite]

42. The concept of past lives is incoherent

Assuming your "essence" stays on after you die, how does it move to a non-adjacent child/fetus?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

45. WAPO has a paywall.

Any chance of posting it so the rest of us can read it?

[PatSeg]

66. Here you go

Last edited Fri May 3, 2024, 09:04 AM - Edit history (1)

It is an interesting read.

https://wapo.st/4aPYloZ

Gift article.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

74. Thank you!

[JoseBalow]

53. Irrational Nonsense

"Past Life Regression" falls under Quakery, Pseudoscience, and Paranormal bullshit



* "Bollocks" is Brit-speak for "Bullshit"

[catbyte]

77. Thanks for the laugh. That diagram is awesome.

[tavernier]

128. That's odd.

I know many Quakers and they don’t come off as charlatans.

[JoseBalow]

130. Well, If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck...

[NoRethugFriends]

54. Hogwash. along with ghosts and angels.

[yonder]

56. Fascinating. I've heard bits and pieces on this subject over the years.

[Mossfern]

57. Just relating a personal story

My middle son's Hebrew name ( and English middle name) is after my deceased father.
When he was about 4 years old, we were in the car with his siblings and he commented to me:
"When I was an old man and you were a little girl, you used to walk with me."

I still am amused at that statement. He was very serious - really adorable.
I have no idea if that means anything but it was very surprising.

[2naSalit]

58. What about...

Kids who grow up and still remember?

[BComplex]

79. That's what I want to know.

You?

[2naSalit]

80. ...

I already know.

[BComplex]

82. ...

[Hekate]

60. I find this very interesting, mainer. TY for the article....

I don’t mind people being skeptical, but some of the pushback here Is more than a little close-minded.

Some people have sensitive antennae. My grandmother and her mother both had occasional precognitive dreams.

Other cultures than ours have spent hundreds if not thousands of years studying reincarnation and the transmigration of souls while we in the West were doing other things. Indigenous cultures in America, as noted in the article at link, are more likely to be able to wrap their minds around these concepts.

I have my own ideas, but will leave it at that.

[raccoon]

75. I used to believe in reincarnation, don't now, and I sincerely hope there's no such thing.

Because if there is, after this life, the odds of one being reincarnated into a desperately poor existence in a shithole country are....pretty good.

[PatSeg]

90. I don't believe it is compulsory

From what we're witnessing about humanity on this planet, I think I'm done.

[Croney]

78. Where does God come in here?

I'm an atheist who doesn't believe in spirits flying around hopping from person to person like Lily Tomlin's in All of Me, but I assume that some of you are not atheists.

Doesn't it seem capricious that God would spit out random reruns, when "He" can make an infinite number of new models?

[BComplex]

81. Buddhism addresses that.

Just sayin'.

[no_hypocrisy]

84. While I don't entirely believe this theory, here's my story:

When I was about six, my second grade teacher read our class two fairy tales that startled me: Thumbelina and The Six Wild Geese. Both had subplots whereby Thumbelina was compelled to marry a frog against her will (she escaped) and a king had to agree to marry the daughter of a witch in order to get out of a forest. A forced marriage haunted me throughout the years.

Decades later, I learned that my father's mother was forced by her brother to marry my grandfather. The marriage was a disaster as it started on a scandal: my grandfather was betrothed to another woman for 3+ years (1900) and jilted her to marry my grandmother, whom he never met. The jilted bride literally read about the marriage in the newspaper the morning of the ceremony and sued for Breach of Promise.

I've wondered why I had such a visceral reaction to forced marriage and now wonder about whether there was an imprint on me. I discount it logically, but yet . . . . .

[mainer]

86. I thought this article might generate discussion

And I was right!
I’m an old skeptic, but even we skeptics sometimes have to sit back and say “Hmmmm, fascinating.”
The desire for this to be true is partly a reflection of our hopes that death is not the end.

[shrike3]

93. We all bring ourselves to such matters.

If we think anything supernatural is hogwash, then this is hogwash. Although on the other side of the spectrum, fundie-types, who are not here, will call it hogwash for a different reason.

[Goodheart]

87. Oh puh leez

[edhopper]

91. I think there is a

prosaic, nonsupernatural explanation in everything that child did.

Do not ask me what they are, that takes good investigation and not credulous stenography.

[Bayard]

95. Interesting discussion

When I was in junior high school (eons ago), I did a book report on, "The Search for Bridey Murphy." Its the story of, "Bridey Murphy (December 20, 1798-1864) is a purported 19th-century Irishwoman whom U.S. housewife Virginia Tighe claimed to be in a past life." Plenty of believers and sceptics on this one.

[NanaCat]

102. Good grief, what next?

The healing power of crystals?

The deep personality insights of numerology?

The forecasting prowess of tarot?

Enough with this woo garbage that has bloody f'n all in the way of reality to back it up.

[Bonx]

103. This article feels like gaslighting

I'm just not sure of the purpose yet.

[Bonx]

105. This reminds me of 'The Cottingley Fairies'

"The Cottingley Fairies appear in a series of five photographs taken by Elsie Wright (1901–1988) and Frances Griffiths (1907–1986), two young cousins who lived in Cottingley, near Bradford in England. In 1917, when the first two photographs were taken, Elsie was 16 years old and Frances was 9. The pictures came to the attention of writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used them to illustrate an article on fairies he had been commissioned to write for the Christmas 1920 edition of The Strand Magazine. Doyle, as a spiritualist, was enthusiastic about the photographs, and interpreted them as clear and visible evidence of psychic phenomena. Public reaction was mixed; some accepted the images as genuine, others believed that they had been faked.
.....
In 1983, the cousins admitted in an article published in the magazine The Unexplained that the photographs had been faked, although both maintained that they really had seen fairies. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies

[Bayard]

126. I recorded a movie about that story

But haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

Even if I don't believe in it, its fun to live in a world that is inhabited by fairies, ghosts, reincarnates, and such.

[enki23]

108. What's with the avalanche of bullshit stories being "covered" by major news sources today?

The only possible answer I can think of (having eliminated literally every other possibility, including people just being full of shit) is that it's conspiracy, to keep us from realizing that Mercury is *always* in retrograde. It's the Earth that keeps changing direction. That's why it's so dangerous to stand near the edges. In a past life, I was an Atlantean astronomer, channeling this warning to my present self through my dog Sophie (divine wisdom). I received them from her in turn as empathic emanations as they wafted across the spirit world in waves of pure orgone. Jesus told me, in a fit of ecstatic dance, what vibrational frequency to listen on.

I can remember a future life. In my future life I am disaffected peasant struggling through another year of crop failure, trying to keep his last remaining child from starving because the world has been irrevocably damaged by fools who were committed to absurd beliefs and acted on them.

At least my future self isn't worried about receiving a COVID vaccine.

[Jose Garcia]

117. My uncle thought he was Saint Jerome

[JoseBalow]

132. LOL!

[ProfessorPlum]

121. Not this stuff again

It seems to come back around with some regularity.

I think this is a case like dowsers who actually think they have the power to find underground water. They don't, but they can fool themselves into thinking it. Here, we have imaginative kids and parents who get very excited by these stories, and it becomes a minor mass delusion.

But the world is weird. so who knows. But definitely shouldn't be in a paper - it's just hearsay.

[kimbutgar]

131. During my years of subbing I come across these children who are old souls and they have a wisdom about

Them that is uncanny.