Doubts because of famous past life memories

Hello everybody!

I’m sorry to bring up the tiresome topic of famous past lives again here. I actually don’t like to talk about it at all because I think it sheds a bad light on reincarnation and the reincarnation community in general. But I’d like to get something off my chest finally, some thoughts that were bothering me lately.

I’ve remembered three or maybe four average past lives so far, mostly in dreams and a little bit in flashbacks. Usually I do believe these were all real past life memories. But from time to time I begin to doubt all these memories and pl experiences I had - and sometimes even my sanity! The reason for my doubts are memories of a very famous past life which I’ve experienced over the years also. And I don’t know what to make out of this.

The thing is, I was always skeptical of and dismissive about famous past life claims made by others. Since I had my own famous past life experience I try to be more open-minded. But basically I’m still rather skeptical. And I am skeptical of my own memories of this alleged famous past life, of course.

For the sensible and rationally thinking part of me it’s hard to believe I was such an important and very-well known historical figure. The idea seems highly unlikely, it seems crazy! It also doesn’t help that there are multiple claimants to this past life, of course. Sometimes I feel really stupid to even think of the possibility that this could have been me in a past life. And I really don’t want to be delusional or get obsessed over some crazy idea. That’s why I’m cautious and don’t talk much about it, if at all. I also don’t want to mislead other people by making them believe I was someone who I wasn’t in the end. There could be some other explanation why I experience these memories and stuff of a famous past life after all. Maybe it’s all just some kind of imagination. And I would be fine with that.

But this assumption creates a dilemma for me: If these famous past life memories are not real, then how do I know whether all my other memories of average past lives are real? How do I know the difference?

The memories of my normal, average past lives aren’t different in quality, perspective or anything from the famous ones. The famous pl memories seem to be just as legit and emotional the moment I get them. Sometimes even more. It’s just later on that I question them when I start to think about everything more carefully. I try to find verifications, of course. But that’s not easy with a very famous past life. From a totally neutral point of view it could be all cryptomnesia, some educated guessing and good imagination, I think. So what do I do with my other past lives in this case? Are they just imagination as well?

Most of my average past lives are sketchy, but for one, a past life in WW2 which I remember best, I could find quite a few verifications of not widely known details, events and locations. There are also connections to my current life. So I’m rather convinced this one was an actual past life of mine. But maybe this is just a mix of imagination, cryptomnesia and coincidences, too? This would be pretty disappointing after everything I went through with this particular past life and after everything I’ve found out about it. I really don’t want to think this was all nonsense. But sometimes I don’t know what to think or believe anymore…

I could believe that just my WW2 past life was real, of course, and maybe the other average ones, too, while the famous pl was not. But why would I get real and false memories at the same time? Or some memories that were mine and some that were not mine? Wouldn’t it be more likely that all of them are not real, but imagination? I don’t know.

The famous past life memories shed a different light on all my memories IMO and they make me really question everything at times. It would be easier with just average past lives, I guess. Then everything would be more credible to myself and also to others.

That’s actually another point. I often fear I will come across as a nutcase and my other experiences and memories of average past lives will be less credible to other people, because I also happen to have some weird famous past life thing going on apparently. That’s why I don’t like to even mention it usually when talking about past lives.

Don’t know if all this makes sense to anyone or if anyone had similar experiences. If yes, any thoughts and opinions would be appreciated. Also, if you have an idea why people would experience (famous) past life memories that are not real or not their own, I’d like to hear about this.

I don’t know if I will ever solve this mystery in this lifetime. Or maybe I will just know for sure after I’ve died and remembered everything at last.

I think having a good portion of scepticism is necessary, in order to be be able to weigh and evaluate things. Having doubts too, that is normal. It does allow space to be able to ask oneself questions. Asking questions helps us to sort what may be of value from what is less so.

After years of thinking on past lives myself, I'm prepared to say I have certainty on reincarnation itself, I'm sure I have lived before. The specific details - well, originally I kind of drew a line and said to myself that anything which came to me as 'evidence' before the point in time when I made a specific identification carried much greater weight than anything which came afterwards. Once I'd started researching and studying a certain era and people who lived at that time, my mind had lots of stuff floating around in it, which though helpful also muddied the waters in terms of finding fresh evidence. Even when just thinking or talking to myself, I don't make bold claims about things, I'm finding it matters less and less. The only things which I hold onto is that we do survive and that life has some purpose. That is enough for me.

I don't tend to talk to other people about any of this, I sometimes just mention the idea of reincarnation or past lives, fairly casually, not pushing anything, to see what sort of reaction, if any, there is. Quite often there is no response, or a kind of awkward silence and so that's the end of the matter. But other times, someone will start talking of their own ideas, whether it is about say ghosts or mediums and so on, and in those cases there is sometimes a possibility to share. But even then I usually don't say much, I keep most of it to myself.

I hear you, Ocean.
I know how you feel. I tend to doubt my own memories all the time. Not that I would remember a PL as a person everyone knows (even though I have pointers in the direction of a PL of someone closely related to someone "famous" and someone else who is kinda known and infamous, and infamous contains "famous"), I just seem to have known a couple more or less famous people in person in several lives and that is enough already.

Like Speedwell, I don't doubt reincarnation in general, I don't even doubt other people's memories or past life IDs. Only my own, and I am not even sure about my IDs.
I don't have any reason to doubt a PL as any other man who died from the plague, no "famous" people or events here (other than the plague, and that affected millions). I also have zero reason to doubt a PL as just any other monk. But still...
Also like Speedwell, I sometimes think my actual ID is secondary. Actually, when I look for patterns instead of IDs, it makes my life a lot easier.
I am trying to find something that could be helpful, useful or from which I could learn. Maybe that is what it's all about anyway, who knows...

(Yet still I go back often enough into feeling similar to you, Ocean: How can I ever have met "important" people, some of them household names, me of all people? Can I trust my own memores and feelings at all? Is anything of this real? Or just, as you phrased it, a mix of cryptomnesia and imagination, maybe mixed up with secret wishes and fears?)

I don't really talk about certain things either. I often wish I could talk, but it's like something is holding me back.

So you definitely aren't alone.

Hi all,
Ocean, I´m totally with you. I have a few tiny bits, mostly blurry, of memories all just pretty ordinary & average lifes and casual, and one pl you could call infamous if you like. I struggle with that one as well; I have nobody to talk about it and mostly share with a friend online. I am totally aware of the possibility that my memories, or some of them, could be nothing but BS. And I ask myself the same questions you do. What makes me tend to believe that my memories are for real is the fact that they are no different to my childhood memories; they are of the very same quality, and they are consistent over time; they don´t change. And there are flashbacks as well, I cannot explain. I don´t have a good imagination otherwise. After all, there is no reason for me to cheat myself by making up a life time of someone who wasn´t exactly someone I´d choose to be.
I´d like to have been an actor, director, Hollywood star, baseball player or author in Paris in the roaring 20s.
But I know that I wasn´t.

Like Seeker said, I only wished I could talk to someone.
I never mention the r-word in real life, not at all, and I think nobody would guess what I´m dealing with.
I´m simply afraid people would think I´m nuts.

Many thanks for your replies. It’s good to know others have the same doubts and face the same problems.

I don’t doubt reincarnation in general either, just my own memories and experiences (and sometimes those of others when there is a good reason for this). Even if I didn’t have any famous past life memories, I would be left with some doubts, I think. I envy those who had past life memories as children at a young age when they couldn’t have known about the things they remembered. I would be more confident if I had memories as a child, too.

I agree, sometimes I also tend to think it’s not so important who I was or if these are all real memories. I look for something I can learn from it for my current life. I was always of the opinion that in order to learn and grow we don’t need to make all experiences and mistakes in life ourselves. We can also learn from those of others. Yes, maybe that’s what it’s all about. Just by putting ourselves in another person’s shoes and empathize with them we can learn a lot. Or just by looking at history and events from different perspectives and from the point of view of the people of past times. This can broaden one’s horizon so much and I’m grateful I have this unique opportunity to do that.

But on the other hand I think identity does matter when we want to learn and understand more about ourselves, about our own soul’s journey and evolution. And then there is this curiosity. Sometimes I really don’t care, but sometimes I just “want to know the truth” about myself. My goal is to find my WW2 past life identity one day. I think there is some chance for this. I’d like to have this “final evidence” for myself and if possible I’d love to look at my own photograph from a past life.

In real life I do not talk about any of my past lives with anyone, either. A few times I talked about reincarnation in general with those who are interested in the topic and who believe in reincarnation themselves or think it’s possible. But I never mention any of the past lives I remember. People would probably think I’m making it up. I just discuss with people online.

But I find it hard to talk about a possible famous past life even online in the reincarnation community. Sometimes I wish I could talk more about it, like with my average past lives, but at the same time I’m reluctant to do so and prefer to keep things to myself. When I talk with others, especially new members, about my average past lives or other topics I often get a bit paranoid: I imagine when they find out about my famous pl memories, they will think I’m nuts and never talk to me again. But that’s just my paranoia. Luckily, that never happened until now.

I just hope none of my memories come from subconscious wishes, feelings of guilt or fears or from compensation of secret inferiority complexes or anything like that. This would mean I don’t know myself half as good as I believe to. And I don’t think that’s the case. If I could choose my past lives I would pick different types of people and different scenarios than what I’ve remembered. And I would pick something that is more similar to my current life profession and hobbies, I think.

Ocean, the way I see it, it´s a matter of emotional connection as well. I´m usually handling my past live glimpses (a random monk in the middle ages; a young girl from the US south; a teacher in germany) with ease, but with that last life of mine, the infamous one, it´s a different story. There have been open issues before I died, things I was about to do, there was a strong emotional bond to certain people...

You also have to consider that when it comes to fame, even questionable fame, there are many triggers that keep you remembering - especially with the raise of the internet, media & globalization; more triggers than you usually have with an average life.
In terms of time line my supposed pl is not that far away either.

Like you, I wouldn´t talk about any memory in public nor privately, not even to my closest family. I´m grateful to have found someone online to discuss this, due to some things we have in common and special life events we share.

To say it´s not really important who you exactly were is probably the most reasonable approach - but doesn´t really help when you feel like "you`ve got to know" . Maybe there´s even something you need to be working out, some unfinished business or trauma that hinders you in this life. So, it might make sense to get things done.

There´s nothing wrong with curiosity and skepicism ;-)

Anyway, when I hear multiple people claiming to be Cesar or Napoleon I cannot help but rolling my eyes as well....

Don´t worry so much about subconscious wishes, you could drive yourself crazy by questioning every bit of yourself or do Freudian psychotherapy for decades (I have a masters degree in psychology myself ), but keep an open mind.

Sorry for the late reply.

Yes, Glia, it’s an emotional connection that is consistent for me as well. My possible famous past life was long ago in time and most of what I remember of it are relationships to certain people around me and my feelings towards them. I still feel connected to these people and my feelings didn’t change nor cease over the years since I started to have these memories. This is one reason why I think sometimes that there actually might be something to it.

And triggers, yes! I can ignore my memories for months and even years and forget about them. But when I come across a trigger like a documentary or movie, it is suddenly all there back again. It’s also because of the triggers and information out there that I actually remember or have an idea of some of the people from my alleged famous pl. While with other individuals I don’t remember anything and don’t have any emotions at all, although one might think there should be something. It’s a bit strange…

I imagine an infamous past life is not at all easy to deal with. Especially one that is not far away in time, as you say, and with many triggers around. It’s good you have someone to talk to.

With WW2 there are also many triggers everywhere today and I think that’s one reason why so many people remember lives from that period of time. You can’t really escape it. And this wasn’t a nice past life to remember. I wasn’t anyone known then, but I wasn’t exactly on the right side of history either. So I certainly know how that feels like…

I don’t know if there is some unfinished business or trauma. With my WW2 pl there certainly is. But with the famous pl, which was so long ago, I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure this out.

glia21 said:

Anyway, when I hear multiple people claiming to be Cesar or Napoleon I cannot help but rolling my eyes as well....

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LOL Same here! That’s always my initial reaction, too. And your comment really made me laugh for a reason! Well, yeah the two classics…
Though coming from my own experience I try to be more open-minded and at least give people a chance as a second step.

glia21 said:

Don´t worry so much about subconscious wishes, you could drive yourself crazy by questioning every bit of yourself or do Freudian psychotherapy for decades (I have a masters degree in psychology myself ), but keep an open mind.

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Ah, I guess, it’s possible to find a supposed “childhood trauma” or something with anyone if one just keeps digging long enough… You’re probably right, it’s no use to beat oneself up with thoughts like this.

Since you have a degree in psychology, I assume your username must refer to the neuroglia then. Am I right? I was always wondering about that.

Ocean, the #1 thing for me.. try and verify something that isn't widely or easily known. You may have to meditate, do a regression or something similar to find info that may work for you.

For me, everything is circumstancial, but very overwhelming. I only had one dream, where I was in a bedroom, that I was later able to verify by using a Chinese language site. Pictures of the room and building are of very little interest to western people, so there was no possible way I had seen those photos before.

But, it does make you feel crazy and like a fraud. However, validation and time will lessen the feelings.

Ocean, yes, I try to be open and listen to people too. Like Cesar, Napoleon and Mick Collins might be reborn as well, just like any other human being or animal, and why shouldn´t they remember and write about it in a forum?

You are right with the neuroglia, back in 1998 when I got that noisy internet connection for the first time and wanted to chat with strangers on ICU I needed a chat name and since I was getting myself prepared for a biological psychology test I chose "glia" because neuro sounded even more weird. I guess I`m not very creative . Ocean is a nice user name, wished I´d picked something like that.

It´s great that you were able to verify things from the WW2 life time. A verification of a detail certainly does help and it makes you feel more sane. I myself have verified a little, just not enough yet to fully convince myself, let alone anybody else. A friend of mine managed to get a lot verified and it was very beneficial for him, also dealing with war (Vietnam) and such. I can imagine war memories being a real burden, including PTSD at times. When it comes to war at least to me there is not really a "right" side either, so I wouldn´t worry about being on the right or wrong side of something.

I certainly went astray a few times in my pl, but overall there was a lot of love and keen friendships as well, it was just not very sustainable.
Verfication is difficult for me - what I remember are basically emotions in connection with life events/scenes, relationships and short dialogues (not always the words, but the content), which are not easy to check, and I don´t remember much what the environment/rooms looked like. It´s the same with my current memories from this life, I hardly remember what something looked like. Btw I don´t think I ever had a dream about a pl, it more or less gets mixed up; like one time in a dream I dreamt I was invited to a party in a Californian middle class home, it was the 1950s (?), and I came to look at photos on the wall, with one pic of a bunch of kids in an Indianapolis street scene from 1910, and I was trying to figure out if I was on the photo as well, looking from one face to the other in full concentration.

By now I´m curious who that famous person/historical figure whose life you remember might be. You are welcome to pm me if you like. But if you don´t it´s totally OK too, don´t feel pushed.

What I find difficult though simetimes is to draw a line between my current life and the past. I sometimes get lost in thoughts when I should focus on my everydays business.

Ocean said:

And triggers, yes! I can ignore my memories for months and even years and forget about them. But when I come across a trigger like a documentary or movie, it is suddenly all there back again. It’s also because of the triggers and information out there that I actually remember or have an idea of some of the people from my alleged famous pl. While with other individuals I don’t remember anything and don’t have any emotions at all, although one might think there should be something. It’s a bit strange…

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Isn't it strange how someone else's doubts and struggles can be helpful? This paragraph describes how I sometimes feel perfectly. The fact that you feel similar makes it more believable for myself that I might not have made it all up. If that makes any sense.

I don't understand this buzz about FPLs.

I happened to be well known. No big deal to me. When I got up off the floor of the pub and asked where my uniform and my firearm was I wasn't thinking about being famous.

Everyone else was...they were stunned. But I was just a soldier.

In my opinion, whether one was famous or not in a past life does not matter. What matters is how we deal what comes to us and the connection to us today. We are not that past life person now, even if they are a part of us. We are here to live this life, to learn, to allow our soul to grow. What a gift to be able to remember!

I believe skepticism and questioning for any past life memory is necessary. What is the connection to our lives now? How do we choose to deal with this information? Can we find verifiable facts that are not common knowledge?

And, even if...IF...what one is experiencing is imagination and not an actual past life experience, it's still valid and worth exploring.

Tinnos,

I can't decide if I want this to turn out to be true, or not

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I understand what you're saying, but it's either true or it isn't. You can't control what is.

The number 1 thing for me is to look for things that can't be verified easily, as you mentioned, in a documentary.

Write down everything you can think of and then some, no matter how insignificant, before you do any research. And then try to verify the most obscure and unknown information you can, the more the better.

As some one who’s been able to validate obscure details about a past life, let me just say that it didn’t happen overnight or easily. I had to contend with a lot of “no, we don’t know what you’re talking about” or “those files have been destroyed” (when really they haven’t), but if you want to find validation for said obscure famous person go way to back to the early biographies about said person (there are any).

I found some validation to some memories I had that no one else would practically have known about unless they were close to said person in a very early non biast biography. Those are the gems. I treasure those validations more than what I call ‘my commonly known’ validations.

I wish you all the best with your discoveries.
Eva x

It's interesting that @Eva1942 mentions looking for the earliest biographies. I've found that useful too. One might think that a recent-up-to-date biography would include all the accumulated facts and details. But that isn't the way things work. The recent accounts seem mostly concerned with talking about present-day ideologies, and how to force history to conform to the current fashions and fads. The earliest accounts had no particular axe to grind, no particular spin or interpretation, the focus was just on setting down the details, often from first-hand witnesses and records.

On another topic, I've also found looking to my very earliest childhood memories quite useful. Not all of it was directly pointing to any past-life, but with the benefit of hindsight, puzzling and disconcerting things which I recall from the age of about 5 to 8 years old seem to show an insight also into between-lives planning.

What I tried to do was concentrate on my own memories and characteristics and spontaneous behaviour, up to the point in time when I started to consider a specific identification. Once one starts to think of a connection with some particular past-life, then behaviour and thoughts start to change, inevitably, so are perhaps not so useful.

I probably said this already. However to me, famous is mostly an accident, just happening to come to the attention while other equally worthy and interesting lives fade, ignored into obscurity. It's best not to be too excited or disturbed by such possibilities, because it is important to not either reject or become too attached to such an idea. Be prepared to let go should it not be so, and to remain calm and neutral when evaluating evidence.

Hi Speedwell,

"It's interesting that @Eva1942 mentions looking for the earliest biographies. I've found that useful too. One might think that a recent-up-to-date biography would include all the accumulated facts and details. But that isn't the way things work. The recent accounts seem mostly concerned with talking about present-day ideologies, and how to force history to conform to the current fashions and fads. The earliest accounts had no particular axe to grind, no particular spin or interpretation, the focus was just on setting down the details, often from first-hand witnesses and records."

Truer words were never spoken. However, its not just recent biographies. You find the same thing in the news broadcasts, popular entertainment, the list goes on and on! It is disgusting! I don't think the old accounts were always unbiased and non-ideological, but when they do err in this direction, they don't seem to be as "over-the-top" and radical in their "spin" as what is commonplace now.

Cordially,
S&S

Speedwell said:

It's interesting that @Eva1942 mentions looking for the earliest biographies. I've found that useful too. One might think that a recent-up-to-date biography would include all the accumulated facts and details. But that isn't the way things work. The recent accounts seem mostly concerned with talking about present-day ideologies, and how to force history to conform to the current fashions and fads. The earliest accounts had no particular axe to grind, no particular spin or interpretation, the focus was just on setting down the details, often from first-hand witnesses and records.

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@Speedwell I read many biographies about a said person who I was pretty close to in my life in Third Reich Germany. One 'modern' biography was supposed to be the 'full story' told for the first time, but when I read it I found nothing 'new' that I had not already found in other earlier biographies (apart from a few 'new' pieces for validations). I did however find some things in it that I hadn't found in other books, but it was severely influenced by the author's perception of a present-day ideology and conformed to the whole 'all Nazis were ********' mentality. I eventually threw it on my bookshelf along with all the other books and sought out the earliest non-biast biographies whose author had no axe to grind, no spin or interpretation.

However, when I presented my memories along with the validation I had found to another reincarnation forum, they dismissed it. Just goes to show that we can't be taken seriously whether they were famous lives or not. People are so quick to judge other's memories and validations, and it's one of the reasons why I actually ceased posting about all my past lives in general.

Eva x

Hi Eva,

The disease is not as bad yet on this board as it is elsewhere. Nonetheless, when in doubt or if you just don't want the worry that you might get stomped on, use PM with people you trust. I hate to have to go this way myself, but I find myself doing it more and more these days. It is natural to grow more cautious after you've been burned.

However, at the same time that I am disappointed by certain things going on, I am also more appreciative of the fact that the board provides the PM option. Likewise, that the people who do the day-to-day moderation here are some of the best I have ever seen. It is really a great resource.

Cordially,
S&S