Meet the People Who Believe They’ve Traveled to a Past Life

Meet the People Who Believe They’ve Traveled to a Past Life

Michael Stahl

Belief in reincarnation dates back to at least the oldest scriptural texts of Hinduism, written nearly 3,000 years ago in India. Greek philosophers like Socrates and Plato also entertained the idea, as did some Gnostic Christian groups from the turn of the first millennium, as well as 17th-century Jews who practiced Kabbalah. Today, 33 percent of American adults believe in reincarnation. (American women subscribe to the belief at a 12 percent higher rate — 39 percent overall — than men do.)

“Certainly, I can’t prove to anybody that past-life regression is real or not real,” says Eli Bliliuos, “but doing it as often as I do and having people have similar experiences, after a while it sort of proves itself.”

Bliliuos first sought out past-life regression himself in his late teens, after losing both of his parents within a year — his father died of cancer; his mother passed after a fall on icy subway stairs. He says that in his regressions into past lives, he has encountered his parents’ souls, which eased his anguish because he knew he’d come across them again in some future life...

[Laird]

Thanks for this, Sci. I found this in particular by the author very interesting:

I am not a person of faith. I thank God for the gift of cookie dough ice cream as I savor the first spoonful out of a fresh pint, but for the most part, that’s about as spiritual as I get. The idea of reincarnation has never seemed plausible to me. I have had brushes with “the unexplained,” however. When I was about 3, and just learning to speak in sentences, I was sitting with my dad and his father, watching 30-year-old 8-millimeter home movies. The clips starred the two of them, great-grandparents and other deceased relatives of mine, as well as an uncle and some cousins, then in stages of toddlerhood and infancy. I’ve no memory of this, but my father says that, out of nowhere, I leaped from my seat, pointed at the screen, and yelled something to the effect of There she is that sunuvabitch!

“You went wild,” Dad tells me in a recent phone call. “And the way you talked was so clear, that was part of the shock of it.”

He has no idea who appeared on the TV that got me so riled up, and he says that my outburst was very out of character.

I reckon Typoz in particular will appreciate the narration of such a significant personal experience.

Thanks for pointing that out, Laird!

Actually this thread is of interest to me for several reasons. One - therapy. When I was in my late teens, approaching the age of twenty, I had a brief period of intense well-being. At that time I used to look at the people around me - mostly fellow students - and could somehow see things with great clarity. I wanted to help everyone. I had some sort of idea that I could become a therapist, my natural talents seemed to lean in that direction. Shortly after that, my own life disintegrated into a sort of chaos in which the one person most in need of help, being totally messed-up, was me. So that career path never got off the ground. Maybe some other time

But still, the quoted article does talk of using hypnotism as a form of therapy, which interests me. Though I'm not suggesting it is the only or best approach to healing, just one possibility.

Second, there is discussion of hypnotic regression in relation to past lives. I've recently mentioned James Matlock as a researcher  and someone knowledgeable about the topic of reincarnation. However, he firmly opposes hypnotic regression, closes the door firmly against it. That's where we differ. He's entitled to his views, he argues his case and gives reasons. But I can't help but feel he's shutting out a whole lot of 'something', there's a rich area to be studied and understood, ignoring it doesn't help very much. Anyway, I'm no expert, but do think it can be fruitful, there is the work of Dr Helen Wambach, the individual case of Cpt. Robert Snow/Carroll Beckwith as well as others to show there is some substance there.

And lastly, I'm interested in the whole topic of past-lives and rebirth. It's of personal as well as academic interest to me, but I don't make too many assertions about it all. I tire quickly of glib pronouncements about the meaning behind it all. So easily something which began as serious scientific study can turn into the next religious dogma, and the latter is not where I'm at. Hence I leave lots of possibilities open, I'm sure it happens, but leave the rest up to the individual to form their own ideas.

I liked that piece too - and of course combined with all the work of Stevenson and Tucker, it is hard to dismiss the idea. I suspect those who do are simply expressing the usual prejudice - if it is inconsistent with Materialism it must be wrong.

I'd love to discover a bit more about the motivation behind repeated reincarnations - the big picture!