Reincarnation considered by most is a person existing not only in this life but one who has existed in a past life as well. There are some differing views for reincarnation and one is that our souls can come back as an animal. While I’m not one that can prove or disprove that, I reserve my skepticism for myself on that particular version of reincarnation. While anyone is, more or less, a long shot from proving its existence, depending on who you talk to, there are some interesting things related to reincarnation and a line of thinking opens one up to potentially examining their current life in entirely different terms given the information available.

To begin I would like to reference a TV show called “The ghost inside my child”. This show is a documentary that researches what seems to be extremely convincing cases for reincarnation. Children in this show from young ages, who have otherwise never been exposed to, much, if anything indicate memories of past lives and experiences. Many of these children from 3 years old and up seem to have genuine traumatic memories that effect their daily lives. Many have night terrors that keep their parents awake and nightmares of the way they died in a past life. Some claim to be able to speak with dead relatives of the family that are involved with watching over them. Some claim to remember dying and even confuse details about their current lives, such as their birthday or names with the past lives. I remember an episode where one child was actually a family member who died in his previous life and still had memories of experiences with the current living family member whose family he was born into. Some of these children know very personal things and detailed personal accounts of their parents that no one else knows in the family. They claim to have been shown them before entering this life. There are multiple cases where the children who have memories of past lives claim that they chose their current parents as well. Few have memories of details about existence before entering into their current body but some do. One child discusses how “whomever” mentioned to the person before entering into a new existence, “you were a smart man”. When these children are approached for further details about their existence before their current life they have blatantly told their parents that, “that is a secret” or “I’m not supposed to tell you, or, I promised not to tell you”. If that doesn’t scream interesting than I don’t know what will. In some cases these children don’t even consider they’re current parents they’re real parents and reference to past parents as if still living in that previous lifetime. In most cases after the parent has done research into details of the past life a closure process seems to eliminate current fears, issues and nightmares, whether it be by visiting a gravestone of the previous individual or viewing pictures and discussing the details of the past life. What does seems to be consistent is that these children, as they age, lose more and more details of their past life and like any memory, it ages and starts to fade into once was. A question to be begged is this: Why when the child is young are they more likely to remember these past lives and is there any correlation to the amount of time between lives and the ability to remember a past life?

Here’s a full episode for interested viewers:

The next worthy mention where it concerns reincarnation is another TV show called “Reincarnated Past Lives”. While it only aired for 3 episodes it is extremely interesting and definitely worth watching. A renowned hypnotherapist exclusively deals with patients involving past life regression, a session where one is hypnotized and gains access to past life memories. The emotion involved with the patients is, in short, mesmerizing and drives one to question. In one particular episode a patient, while under hypnosis, speaks in French, a language he does not currently know. In these episodes the patients come to the hypnotist partially because of something that is bothering them in their current life. Some of the participants describe odd or strange phobias that have plagued them their whole life and they don’t know why. During hypnosis, strangely enough, these phobias with no cause are largely connected to memories of past lives and the means of death. In some of the sessions the current individual describes intense details of their past life and death and exhibit the emotions as if they were there. It is all too real for them but upon exiting the hypnosis, they watch their recorded session usually in shock or total awe. Some have been different genders in past lives and almost always the phobia or condition plaguing the current person is directly related to a past life. One man had a problem with aggression and anger and was genuinely concerned in overcoming it, as it has been a problem during his current life. In his session he had been part of an army and killed many men. One has to ask what current behaviors or characteristics of a person can or can’t be attributed to a past life? I would argue, the more strong the emotion and the earlier its presence in your life, the more likely it holds ties to a past one.

The next area of reincarnation I would like to approach is birthmarks. Now where many consider this pure speculation, there is, in my mind, pretty substantial evidence to support the existence of past lives. The theory is this: Birthmarks can have a reference to a past life where it concerns a wound, or especially, a fatal wound. Dr. Ian Stevenson has conducted studies into the theory and has returned some pretty interesting, if not bizarre results for one to consider. This psychiatrist worked for the school of medicine for the University Of Virginia for 50 years and in his studies, he found that 35% or 309 of the cases studied of the children who have memories of past lives, had developed phobias related to their deaths. He discusses how addictions from previous lives can manifest in next lives, especially at an earlier than usual age and exhibit distinct cravings for the previous addiction. He mentions how many talents in past lives seem to come naturally in current lives. Are you naturally gifted at something or find a specific skill easier than others? It makes one wonder. His writings are fascinating at best, even considering the controversial nature. He goes on to discuss how the causes of most birthmarks are unknown and that 35% of the cases of birthmarks he studied are directly linked to individuals with past life memories and, go figure, memories of their deaths corresponding directly to their birthmarks shape, location, color and overall description. It’s interesting to note how, if birthmarks can be indicators of past lives, why do they hang around into the current life? The only conclusion I have come to is because it appears the most traumatic memories seem to stick through into the current life. Is it a kind of cellular memory displaying how our emotional states are directly connected to our physical? Likely. Is it due to the fact that the mind just might have more influence over matter than many give credit? Possibly but the pattern seems to stay the same, traumas are the most likely thing to pass through into current lives or the ones that stick out the most often at least. In his studies not only do birthmarks seem to make their way into the next life but so do birth defects that mirror a traumatic past life experience such as a missing toe or malformed limb. Stevenson discusses how, in some cultures a newborn is inspected for birthmarks or defects that can possibly be attributed to someone previously alive that was known. Even tribes in West Africa make marks on the deceased individual to use in identification for when that individual is reborn. He discusses how some children’s memories are so integrated that they have a hard time separating this world from the last one and in many cases speak in present tense as if they were still living they’re past life. I highly suggest reading his material as it is eye opening and astounding. His books can be found Amazon. Read more here…

I remember hearing about a particular case where an elderly lady was dying and knew it. She talked about how she wanted to be born back into the same family and from the reports of the family, was. The new child, oddly enough, claimed ownership of the previous person’s belongings and had memories of owning those particular items at a very young age.

Another theory worthy mentioning is that birthmarks are connected to family line or blood lineage and passed down from family to family, either every other person or birth or in another undefined way. One website talks about this in depth and refers to the mark of Cain and other biblical birthmarks that were used to identify royalty or, perhaps divinity. It discusses, in short, how many divine figures had birthmarks and mentions how some secret societies look for birthmarks to identify specific bloodlines or royalty. It is discussed how Judas, Augustus Caesar, King Arthur, Lancelot, Merovingian kings, Pythagoras, Mohammad, Charles VIII all had unique and special birthmarks, potentially relating to, not only their previous existence, their royalty and divinity, but to they’re fate as great leaders and individuals. Read more here…

So one is left to wonder about such things and is often brought to a point where they have more questions than answers. Have I been someone before me? If so what bleeds into this existence and is there more than what is mentioned but has yet to be discovered for considerable evidence regarding reincarnation? What character attributes come into this life with me? I don’t remember signing a contract to do this so did I really have a choice or am I a prisoner who doesn’t know it? What are the rules of this game? How is the mind wipe achieved that deletes my old memories, like reformatting a hard drive? Who really is behind the curtain and who is the staff involved? Does this prove the existence of an afterlife and, how, in what way? If one can remember a past life, was I fated to come here? Will I have a future life, by means of fate, choice, at all? It’s a controversial theory but one that needs serious examination for it could be the conduit in which its importance allows us to evolve to the next level of existence. The subject interlinks with many others when you really think about it.

Interesting facts about reincarnation or patterns that I’ve recognized:

• Time spans between lives seem to be anywhere from 5 years to 200 years ago.
• People under hypnotic regression have been able to recall details about past lives including speaking another foreign language that they do not currently know or have learned.
• Most who have past life memories all seem to have died in a violent way, were murdered or died at an early age. Is that why they were reincarnated? So far I’ve only read one case where an elderly person was reincarnated. Are we to serve a specific amount of time or lifetimes here and if so, why? What is the purpose? What role does suicide play in this?
• Is reincarnation linked to ancestry? Do we follow a family line, lineage or ancestry?
• Children who have memories of past lives in many cases seem to develop quicker and at an earlier age, especially involving speaking skills.
• How is gender involved? Is someone more feminine more likely to have been a woman in a past life or more likely to have been a woman more than a man in a series of past lives?

No one knows for sure but the questions exist.

UPDATE: According to Paul Von Ward there are different biometrics and facial features that can also be used in linking past and current lives. Paul Von Wards research, though at times seemingly iffy, is quite interesting:

You can visit his website here to find more of his research.