Please help. I'm confused and a little scared. Not sure what's happening to me.

[LeoCairo]

I’m not exactly sure where to start or what I’m even looking to gain from posting here. This will be sort of long, and I appreciate the time and effort that anyone may take in reading this and responding. I’m confused and lost over all of this, and there is no one in my real life that I want to share this with. I’ve never written on a forum like this - this is all completely new to me, so please forgive me if I don’t know as much as some of you. I’m trying to learn because I feel I have to if I have any hope of understanding what’s happening to me. I’ll try to split this up in sections to make it easier to read but fair warning: wall of text ahead.

Background
Last year, I turned 30 and around the same time, I started to feel an inexplicable pull towards exploring my spirituality. I am not a religious person, and would not even particularly describe myself as spiritual. Philosophical? Yes. Spiritual? A little. Religious? No.

Now, I’d always been interested in eastern philosophies and have meditated regularly since I was fifteen, more to control anxiety than for any spiritual purpose. Of course simply being human raises spiritual questions in us all from time to time, so I don’t want to make it sound as though I am a robot, but you must understand it was never a large part of who I was. I love and respect life in all its varied forms. I’m endlessly fascinated by the universe. I am optimistic about humanity’s future. I have just never thought of myself as particularly spiritual.

I work in the field of marine biology, and my beliefs about the world tend to be rooted in science; in what is observable, in what is rational, and what can be experimented on (and results repeated). While I am the first to admit that there is much we do not yet know about our world, our universe, and ourselves, I do believe that eventually - although probably not in my lifetime - science will answer many of these questions. Religious individuals in particular bristle at this, to which I say: our understanding of science has changed significantly throughout the centuries. Many phenomena which were once seen as magic or heresy are now thoroughly understood scientific facts. Who knows what science will look like a few hundred years from now? Saying that the science of 2014 can’t figure out what we view as spiritual matters doesn't mean that the science of, say, 2314 won’t be able to. Like I said, I am an optimist.

So, while the journey of the past year unnerves me, my mind, as always, tends to view it as a question that needs to be answered, a curious conundrum, an unknowable something that must be rooted somewhere, somehow in the universal laws that no one with a straight face could claim to completely understand.

(Continued in next post)

 

[LeoCairo]

(Continued, part II)


The past year


All of this started long before last year. I was one of the kinds of kids you read about on this forum who had innate knowledge of time periods, sounds and languages that I’d had no exposure to, and I happily talked about these things with anyone who would listen until I was about four. Without getting too deeply into it, my mother has long believed that I lived before, because to her, it was the only thing that explained some oddities about me (she is far more spiritual than I). I never thought too much about reincarnation until this past year, and just assumed I was a weird kid.


But this particular issue started with some genealogy. I’ve always been very interested in history, and have even published two books of historical non-fiction that I’m pretty proud of. I can’t remember why I started looking into genealogy, but when I did, I reached about as far back at 800AD, which I thought was pretty good for purely internet-based research.


The name of one individual (a very distant relative) who lived in Ireland in the 11th century popped out to me immediately. It was as though his name leapt off the page and I felt so strangely connected to it - quite honestly, as soon as I saw the name, the thought that popped into my head was, “Yes! That’s it!” What “it” was, I’m not totally sure.


I read a little bit about this man whom I will call M, although his name doesn't start with M. He was a monk and later an abbot at a monastery in Ireland during the 11th century, and is credited with some written histories and religious writings of the time (he did not necessarily do all of the writings, but he did oversee much of it). Reading about this man made me strangely happy, although there is understandably not much information about him that survives to the present day. At the time, I attributed feeling happy to having found a cool ancestor.


Something strange happened shortly after learning about M. One day, I was relaxing at home when all of a sudden I had what I can only describe as some sort of vision. All sensory and visual data from my current state was blocked out; it was as though I was suddenly immersed in a completely different environment. Never before, and never since, have I had anything like that happen to me. It lasted just a few seconds, but I felt as though I was actually there in my vision; all I saw were trees and green hills. Before I could make sense of it, the vision was over. I thought perhaps I was having a flashback to something I’d seen before, and put the episode out of my mind.


The catalyst for finally doing further research was stumbling, by chance, upon a picture of the monastery (the ruins, that is) that M oversaw - and I recognized it. I recognized it not in the way you recognize your loved ones, or you recognize that you left your socks on the floor last night. Rather, it was more like when you see or visit an area that you last saw or visited as a kid, and it takes you a moment before you say to yourself, “Oh yeah! I remember this place.” I wanted to do an experiment. So, I stared at that one picture for several minutes and let whatever thoughts were going to come, come. Other buildings, structures and ornamentation slowly came to my mind. Only then did I allow myself to view other pictures of the same monastery. Some of the other structures corresponded to what had come to mind, and it was then that I was unnerved. Some structures were missing, but by doing a little research, I learned that those structures had probably existed during the time that M lived there. I didn’t get everything 100% correct, but a solid 50%-60% was correct.


(Continued in next post)

 

[LeoCairo]

(continued, part III)


Over the next few days, some memories of my childhood “imaginings” began to resurface spontaneously. I remember my father and I standing in a museum that depicted (very inaccurately) a scriptorium of the late Middle Ages, and me leaning over and telling my father about when I used to make books, and how this museum was all wrong. There was too much light, it was too clean, and there hadn’t been that much wooden furniture, nor was there wainscotting. I was five.


There are four separate, distinct images in my head and always have been. They have been in my head, unchanged, for all of my living memory. They resemble the illustrations in illuminated manuscripts. I have never seen the images in my head on any manuscript yet.


I once did research on ancient book-makers and libraries for a work project; I was studying the history of a local library and decided it would be nice to round out my speech by giving a little insight into ancient and medieval libraries. It was the strangest research I’d ever done, because while I was doing it, I felt like I was reviewing rather than learning. I knew some of the long-dead words for certain items of furniture and security measures placed around books hundreds of years ago; in fact, I casually called them by those names before realizing that I hadn’t read them in my research and no one had the foggiest idea of what I was talking about.


After realizing these things a few months ago, I spent a few days trying to figure out what to do. I wouldn’t say that any of this contradicted my beliefs - namely because I had no beliefs about this sort of thing. I had simply never given it much thought. So, like a good scientist, I did a little research on the beliefs surrounding reincarnation. I also read some case studies involving children and adults who believed they had been reincarnated. I then did some light research on thermodynamics (namely the first law of thermodynamics: energy can neither be created or destroyed, only transferred). I researched things like genetic memory and Jung’s collective unconscious. I talked to a Buddhist friend of mine about rebirth. I read up on the science of hypnosis and learned there wasn’t anything mystical about it. Very hesitantly, I decided to try some self-hypnosis - promising that I would never tell anyone that I had done it, lest they think I was crazy!


I found a self-guided hypnosis session on YouTube. Since I meditate frequently, I found that getting into the “headspace” of hypnosis was perhaps a little easier than if I’d never meditated. Nothing happened. Ok. I went full-hog and then found a self-guided past life hypnosis session, again swearing to myself I’d never tell a soul about what I was doing. Again, nothing happened. No memories surfaced during the session. None. I thought, well, that’s that.


Ten minutes later, I’m in the shower and the entire life story of a man I never met and who had died hundreds of years previous came to me quite quickly. I remember scrubbing my face and thinking, That’s interesting. I should write that down, it might make a good piece of fiction. It didn’t occur to me that those might be memories - I figured my imagination had been kicked into overdrive by the hypnosis session.


(continued in next post...I told you this was long).

 

[LeoCairo]

(continued part IV)


But...just in case, I cross-checked a few of my “memories.” Now as I said, the biographical information on M is rather scant, but I felt compelled to dig a little deeper into his story, as my gut told me that my shower “memories” had something to do with him. I did find more about his (and ultimately my) family, and the information given matched up with the life story I’d “dreamed up” in the shower. Obviously, there are huge gaps in biographical details for M, so instead I started to do some research on that time period in Irish history, in particular: family structures, the role of the church, and education during that time. As I said, I am a history buff, but I’d never done much research on the Middle Ages in Ireland. Once again, the life story that I “dreamed up” seemed to fit perfectly into culturally what would have been the normal course of a human life in Ireland during that time.


Now, from reading this forum for the past few days, when others have things like this happen to them, it usually makes them feel happy, secure, confident, etc. But it unnerved me - I might even say that at that point, it scared me. It does not fit into my world. My colleagues would either laugh or think I was crazy if I told them. Even many of my friends, while being sympathetic to my fear, would tell me that my imagination was playing tricks on me. But I feel that I’ve done everything logically, approached it in as scientific a way as I knew how.


So, I did my best to forget about it. I didn’t want to know any more than I already did.


That brings me to the event that happened just a few nights ago.


I decided to do some hypnosis work the other night. Not past-life hypnosis, but rather a deep relaxation exercise that you slip into after meditating. All was going well and I fell into a very deeply relaxed state.


Suddenly I realized that in my mind, I was staring up at a castle turret at a man looking back at me. He wore some sort of blue tunic and some sort of headgear (I couldn’t make it out). He also carried some sort of tall weapon on a pole (again, couldn’t make it out). In my relaxed state, I thought, Well, this is a little odd, but decided to just let my mind have its fun.


In my dream (or vision, or memory, or whatever you want to call it), I noticed that some sort of drawbridge had been lowered over a moat, and that two more guards stood on the other side. The doors to the building on the other side of the moat were open, so I crossed the bridge. The sky was gray, and the inside was dark when they allowed me to enter. I approached a man seated at a table. The table had some thick papers on it, as well as a bowl of food and a few small weapons like daggers. He, too, was dressed in a colored tunic. He appeared exhausted and saddened; his head was resting on a palm, his elbow on the table. I sat across from him. I knew I was there to try and persuade this man to give over lands to a monastery because someone in his family was near death. I also felt that I was interceding on someone else’s behalf, but I don’t know who.


Meanwhile in 2014, I watched all of this in my head with some sense of curiosity. So, I idly wondered, what year is this? And I immediately got an answer. In my dream, I remember feeling sad for this man, although at the time, I wasn’t sure why. I also had a feeling this had been during an important time for whoever this man in whose eyes I was watching everything. I completed whatever business I had to complete, and the dream went dark. I opened my eyes.


(continued in next post...we're almost to the end, I promise)

 

[LeoCairo]

(continued, part V)


Ten minutes later, I thought, what the hell? and Googled “[year in my dream] + Ireland”, wondering if anything, by chance, significant had happened that year.


That year, a queen of some sort had died and left all of her lands specifically to M’s monastery. Not only that, but shortly thereafter, all of the houses and buildings around the monastery had been burned to the ground by invading forces - the monastery was not damaged, but everything else was gone. I realized that the man I had visited may have been her husband, the king, although the thought of someone like me meeting a king seems completely ridiculous. I also realized that that year would have been important to M, not only because of the land donation, but also because of the invading forces which burned much of the land around him. In all of the Irish chronicles, those two items were the only things recorded for that year in Irish history. I cross-checked with another Irish chronicle written around the same time, and read the same thing.


I went to bed shortly thereafter, shaking. I have not tried to meditate since.


Questions I’m left with


Namely, how is all of this possible? I know from a physics point of view the recycling of energy is simply what the universe does, but how would memory be imprinted on energy matter? On particles? From a thermodynamics point of view, a group of energy coming together to form one human being and then disbanding, creating another human being who carries memories of the previous energy is essentially impossible. And, as I stated previously, I am not religious, and although I believe there are elemental energies we do not yet have an understanding of, I do not believe in a god.


I simply do not see how a flip-flop clad, atheistic marine biologist from southern Florida has anything to do with a medieval Irish abbot. I really don’t. And yet these are not thoughts or experiences I can dismiss. We use our senses and our reason to make sense of the world around us, and my senses and my reason are telling me these experiences I’ve had in meditation are real.


I don’t even know what kind of feedback I’m looking for. I wanted to get all of this out on paper, hoping to organize my thoughts a bit, but I’m still just as filled with questions. I am absolutely not ready to breathe a word of this to anyone in my life, and I’m not even sure why - perhaps because if someone told me this story, I'd think they were making things up. Perhaps because it is a radical departure from how I see myself. Perhaps that is the reason this is happening. I don’t know. I mean, why now? Why is this even happening? Is this even something I need in my life? Would knowing, for certain, one way or another how real this is even make a difference in my day-to-day life? I may feel a pull towards spirituality that I’ve never felt before, but I certainly did not go looking for any of this; in fact, it freaks me out!


If you’ve read this far, thank you. I hope I didn't break any rules with such a long post.

 

[tanguerra]

Hi LeoCairo


Welcome to the forum.


First of all, don't be scared. You're fine. Everything is fine and there's nothing to worry about and actually what's 'happening to you' is not so very unusual. It actually happens quite a lot, although in western society, it's not openly discussed except to dismiss it or ridicule it of course. In other cultures it's just understood that this is part of the human condition.


Why are you getting these recalls now? Well, it's most likely to do with 'triggers'. Something going on in your present life, in your case doing the research into the historical period was probably the initial spark. Although having an interest in this period is probably also to do you you having lived then of course. It works exactly the same way present life memories are triggered. Say you're cleaning up your attic one day and come across an old box of photographs. Suddenly all the details of that period of your life comes flooding back in full technicolor, emotional detail, sounds, smells, everything. Past life memory works the same as any other kind of memory.

 

[tanguerra]

...how is all of this possible? I know from a physics point of view the recycling of energy is simply what the universe does, but how would memory be imprinted on energy matter? On particles? From a thermodynamics point of view, a group of energy coming together to form one human being and then disbanding, creating another human being who carries memories of the previous energy is essentially impossible. And, as I stated previously, I am not religious, and although I believe there are elemental energies we do not yet have an understanding of, I do not believe in a god...

Nobody really knows exactly, but energy is energy and it is not destroyed, as you say. I doubt it's got anything to do with particle physics though. We tend to look at things in a fairly limited 'nuts and bolts' way in western culture and your science training would reinforce this. We consider it a virtue to be very logical and disregard anything that can't be weighed or measured, but that doesn't mean other things don't happen all the same, whether we like it or not or have an explanation for it or not.


Suffice to say, the 'universe' is a lot stranger and more complicated than most people think. It's pretty obvious though, from all the experiences people recount and have recounted for thousands of years in every culture about this kind of thing, that memories are not stored in the 'brain' or anywhere else in the body, as some believe. They are stored in the 'spirit' or 'soul' or 'essence' or atman or 'ego' or pick-whatever-other-word-you-like. They're all talking about the same thing as far as I'm concerned.


In my view reincarnation has nothing to do with religion of any kind. I think it's just part of nature and no deities are necessarily involved in the process, any more than they are necessarily involved in the process of making the sun rise and set or the trees blossom in spring.

 

[tanguerra]

...I am absolutely not ready to breathe a word of this to anyone in my life, and I’m not even sure why - perhaps because if someone told me this story, I'd think they were making things up. Perhaps because it is a radical departure from how I see myself. Perhaps that is the reason this is happening. I don’t know. I mean, why now? Why is this even happening? Is this even something I need in my life? Would knowing, for certain, one way or another how real this is even make a difference in my day-to-day life? I may feel a pull towards spirituality that I’ve never felt before, but I certainly did not go looking for any of this; in fact, it freaks me out!

Yes. I wouldn't go round telling everyone at this point. In my experience people are inclined not to believe you at best or think you've gone mad at worst. It's seldom a fun experience. You're better off talking to us here in the forum, at least for now, because we know what this is all about and will be able to give you sensible answers to your questions.


'Why now' could have something to do with you searching for meaning in some way. Or it could just be that your memory has been jogged by doing your research and have no mystical meaning whatsoever. Or, it could be a bit of both. Sometimes past life memories start coming up spontaneously in response to a present life situation people find themselves in, that reminds them of a previous situation, a life lesson they need to be reminded of, or a person they have recently met (or are about to meet) that they knew 'before'.


I regard past life recall as a perfectly normal function of the human experience and see no need for religion to be involved at all or even 'spirituality' for that matter. But I have been having past life recall ever since I can remember, so it doesn't phase me and feels perfectly normal to me. I certainly have no fear of death, which is a good benefit.


Feel free to take a poke around in the FAQs where you will find many wise words and useful insights, along with the answers to 'frequently asked' questions.


Again, welcome.

 

[argonne1918]

Welcome to the forum. I agree with everything Tanguerra has said. I think you are (or were) "M". I would also say you are a good subject for doing past life regressions. You just had your first one without really trying. Start keeping a journal and write everything down, as many of the details will start to fade from your conscious memory. Have you ever heard of a scientist named Rupert Sheldrake? Check him out on YouTube or google him. He's a "heretic". He uses the "scientific method" to prove many scientific theories are wrong. Have you read any books about reincarnation? There is a recommended reading list here in the forum. Also look at the videos in the video archive section.

 

[tanguerra]

Yes, good advice agronne.


Also, Leo, I wanted to add don't panic! Sometimes when something like this happens you may find that you have a whole lot of memories pouring out at once at all sorts of odd moments - usually when you are in a relaxed or 'neutral' sort of state of mind, like in the shower, driving the car, meditating or just doing 'nothing'. This is not a permanent situation, so don't think you're just going to go all 'weird' from now on or anything. Usually after a few weeks or so (perhaps) it will stop or at least slow to a trickle.


So as argonne says, it's important to write it all down now while it's fresh. Sometimes you will forget little details that might seem irrelevant, strange or inconsequential, that later make sense when you put them together, like a jigsaw puzzle. Also, if you write it down at the time you can be confident you're not 'kidding yourself' later if you find something that checks out and confirms what you thought originally.


Best wishes to you.

 

[Ceridwen]

I shall follow what you say with interest myself.


I agree with you that, first and foremost, one looks for a logical/scientific/etc explanation for anything and discounts all that before looking for "other" explanations.


I simply don't believe in people "seeing what they want to see" and mentally react with "yeah...yeah...whatever" when I see that happening.


However, its clear to me that you are going in for logical etc explanations first and trying to explain all this clearly and check it out etc - so it has the ring of truth to me.


I will be interested to see what further experiences you have. Best wishes with your research.

 

[Ehrenbreitstein]

Your story has a lot of elements that I find very fascinating and certainly, very familiar. I consider myself to be a logical and scientific-minded person myself, so your internal thoughts on this matter don't really surprise me. It's interesting for me to see someone approach reincarnation from your standpoint with evidence that is beyond a reasonable doubt for you.


The first thing I would say is that even in the scientific community, the search for the unknown is something that is prized. Scientists constantly revise, refine, and edit their findings based on new information and evidence. We know that what people consider one way today might be another way tomorrow as new evidence is revealed. The mysteries of the universe and the unknown are always on the horizon, waiting to be discovered. In that regard, I don't consider science and spirituality to be all that different.


It is understandable that with your background you would look to peer-reviewed works for understanding about things that we experience in this world today. If it would help, I would suggest the works of Dr. Ian Stevenson and Dr. Jim Tucker. Reincarnation is not wholly alien to the scientific method, which you will see once you read their published works.


That all being said, maybe take a step back and re-evaluate what you do know about the world and do not know about the world. Your trepidation is very understandable. But there are others who have walked this path before you and experienced at one time what you are experiencing now. You are not alone in your fears or feelings. I think there are people here who will go out of their way to answer your questions and help you any way they can.

 

[Eowyn]

That was fascinating, LeoCairo, I enjoyed reading it, as I can relate so much. My journey also began quite unexpectedly, when I was 36 (almost 3 years ago), I am a veterinarian and I also have a scientific mind, I knew nearly nothing about reincarnation, so my experiences were hard to explain and defied all I had learnt until that moment. You have reminded me of my first attempts at regression, how it felt so weird for me, and how one night these "visions" which I just thought were imagination started to unfold. But I can tell you, this is the best thing that has ever happened to me, it helped me with some issues and made me realize who I really am, where I come from...

Questions I’m left with


Namely, how is all of this possible? I know from a physics point of view the recycling of energy is simply what the universe does, but how would memory be imprinted on energy matter? On particles? From a thermodynamics point of view, a group of energy coming together to form one human being and then disbanding, creating another human being who carries memories of the previous energy is essentially impossible. And, as I stated previously, I am not religious, and although I believe there are elemental energies we do not yet have an understanding of, I do not believe in a god.

I'm afraid I can't answer all your questions, but I do agree with you science will find them sooner or later. As for now, I think you must never get rid of logic and keep analyzing your memories the way you do, I think that's the best way to approach reincarnation. We only have theories about how it works, and don't pay too much attention to all that spiritual chatter you will read, as the truth is nobody knows for sure... We only can talk from own experiences and our intuitions. I guess you will have to learn, like I did, to trust that instinctive knowledge you have inside of you, and you will be surprised you really don't need anything else.

I simply do not see how a flip-flop clad, atheistic marine biologist from southern Florida has anything to do with a medieval Irish abbot. I really don’t. And yet these are not thoughts or experiences I can dismiss. We use our senses and our reason to make sense of the world around us, and my senses and my reason are telling me these experiences I’ve had in meditation are real.

I've wondered so much about this in regards to my own past lives... and it is quite hard at the beginning to understand, but if you are brave enough and keep searching for answers, one day you will. I know it can be overwhelming at first, and scary, but we've all been there. Eventually you overcome the rough periods and then you realize you have grown a lot.


I still have my doubts why my memories came to me when they did, but maybe the why's are not that important at the end. It's a long process, but it is worth going through it. I'd say just enjoy, all the beginnings are special and it won't be the same when you have been on this some months. You're making me a bit jealous indeed...


Just ask whatever you need to ask, we're here to help you.

 

[helz_belz]

Hello and welcome LeoCairo!


I just wanted to say thank you for sharing your experiences, they've been fascinating to read. You've had some excellent responses and advice from others, and I don't feel I can really add too much to them without becoming repetitive. Just keep everything written down, for future reference and because these memories and feelings will fade somewhat with time. You may also like to look into the work of Dr. Stevenson and Dr. Tucker (as mentioned by ZeonChar) and also Dr. Helen Wambach who conducted statistical analysis of past life regressions.


If you ever feel you'd like to talk about this, we're all here for you. Take care

 

[LeoCairo]

First of all, don't be scared. You're fine. Everything is fine and there's nothing to worry about and actually what's 'happening to you' is not so very unusual. It actually happens quite a lot, although in western society, it's not openly discussed except to dismiss it or ridicule it of course. In other cultures it's just understood that this is part of the human condition.

Thanks, that makes me feel a little calmer. It's a departure from what's normally going on in my head, but it's nice to hear that perhaps I haven't gone crazy.

Also, if you write it down at the time you can be confident you're not 'kidding yourself' later if you find something that checks out and confirms what you thought originally.

I'll do that. I'm worried about "kidding myself"...as a science-minded person, that's really the last thing I want to do. On the other hand, I'm not exactly sure how to "prove" it to myself either.

I simply don't believe in people "seeing what they want to see" and mentally react with "yeah...yeah...whatever" when I see that happening.

True. To be honest, I wouldn't be considering any of this if all I was experiencing were impressions and feelings. Not that those don't have their own importance, but I wouldn't start to consider something of this magnitude (i.e., the existence of reincarnation) if I hadn't had verifiable facts revealed to me.

It is understandable that with your background you would look to peer-reviewed works for understanding about things that we experience in this world today. If it would help, I would suggest the works of Dr. Ian Stevenson and Dr. Jim Tucker. Reincarnation is not wholly alien to the scientific method, which you will see once you read their published works.

Thanks. I will look into those.

That was fascinating, LeoCairo, I enjoyed reading it, as I can relate so much. My journey also began quite unexpectedly, when I was 36 (almost 3 years ago), I am a veterinarian and I also have a scientific mind, I knew nearly nothing about reincarnation, so my experiences were hard to explain and defied all I had learnt until that moment.

Since your experience sounds similar to mine, can I ask about your story? How was this information revealed to you? What were your thoughts on it? How did you handle this information? What has it come to mean for you? You can PM me if you don't want to include it in this message, but I'd really like to talk to you further.


Actually -- I have a question for everyone. For those of you who think of yourself as guided by logic and look for scientific evidence before accepting facts, how did you come to the conclusion that reincarnation is real, and that you had experienced it? I know this forum is full of people speaking of their experiences, but I'm asking specifically for people who have had facts revealed to them, how they came to accept it, and how it affected them.

 

[Mere Dreamer]

You're definitely not alone. We're here if you need to talk things out and think your memories through. I have received excellent information and a lot of comfort here myself.


coffee As a slightly alternate perspective on the usefulness of what you're going through:


I've learned that some of the best times in my life are the times when I realize I was wrong about some limiting assumption or other, especially my view of myself or how the world works. It's like bursting out of a too-small box. Though at first you have all sorts of strange sensations as your nervous system heals from the natural results of confinement, it's only the mental version of pins and needles. Keep moving around in this new space, and you'll soon find that you have a larger range of motion and more flexibility to face life.

 

[Eowyn]

Actually -- I have a question for everyone. For those of you who think of yourself as guided by logic and look for scientific evidence before accepting facts, how did you come to the conclusion that reincarnation is real, and that you had experienced it? I know this forum is full of people speaking of their experiences, but I'm asking specifically for people who have had facts revealed to them, how they came to accept it, and how it affected them.

It's a hard and long way until you accept it. I guess none of us can be 100% sure, but at least in my case reincarnation is the only thing that explains my experiences. I always was full of doubts, especially at the beginning when you think it's just your imagination, but after all the research (books and studies already mentioned, apart from other people's experiences), and above all, your own validations, which in my case came after a year doing regressions, you just have to yield and acknowledge there has to be some truth in it, no matter how skeptical you are. Denying it would be just foolish.

Since your experience sounds similar to mine, can I ask about your story? How was this information revealed to you? What were your thoughts on it? How did you handle this information? What has it come to mean for you? You can PM me if you don't want to include it in this message, but I'd really like to talk to you further.

My experiences are a bit long to tell in full here. I just couldn't imagine where it would lead me. Here you have one of my first threads when I got my first results.


In brief, all my life I suffered from anxiety and depression, and I also missed someone I thought had never been real. I started to meditate just to relax, but one day, spontaneously, some scenes from my childhood turned up. So I started to investigate and found these self-hypnosis recordings, and decided to give it a try. At first I got nothing, just like you, until one day, thinking I was going nowhere, some images came to my mind, where I was a different woman living somewhere in the British Isles, and there was a Norwegian sailor who had been very important for me.


That was only the beginning. I think it all depends on how deep you want to get. I could have left it there, but I wanted to know the reasons of my depression... and I eventually did, as I discovered I also had had a life in WWII that ended badly, and many other lives that explained a few things...


How did I handle all this information? Well, I'm still on it. Talking to people helps a lot, also understanding our present life is just a small chapter of our "real" life that never ends, we just change bodies but we keep having the same issues. I think emotions are part of what we are, and it doesn't matter how long since we lived those past events, they stick with us and keep affecting us for whatever reason. We and our past are just one, and we can't run away from it. Knowing the reasons behind my issues helped me deal with them and with time the pain that comes from certain memories subdues, you learn to integrate them so that they don't affect you so much.

If you want me to explain more, feel free to PM me.

 

[tanguerra]

Actually -- I have a question for everyone.... how did you come to the conclusion that reincarnation is real, and that you had experienced it?..

Personally I started to 'remember things' when I was very young - three years old or so. I thought it was perfectly normal and that everyone experienced this. This is not so uncommon as you might think. Many young children talk quite naturally about their previous lives, 'when I used to be big', 'when I was the mommy' etc, and act out scenes from previous lives with their toys. It's just that grownups (in our culture) don't usually understand what they're talking about, or dismiss it as childish imagination.


Usually it's non-traumatic, but some kids remember scary things and can be upset by nightmares and various issues and anxieties if something 'bad' happened to them in a recent previous life. Carol Bowman, who founded this forum, has written several books about this and makes it her special area of study and works with kids who are having issues.


The normal thing is for kids to grow out of if and forget all about it by about the time time they start school. In my case, I didn't, although I did work out it wasn't normal and that other kids didn't take too kindly to my talking about this kind of thing. So I tried to repress it or ignore it if I had a spontaneous recall about something. I really didn't know what was going on. I assumed either it was 'just my imagination' which is what my mother told me, or I secretly worried, perhaps I was a little bit mad, as some of my memories were really very violent and graphic, scenes of battles and this sort of thing.


It took me until I was in my teens to find a book about reincarnation, 'Life after life', written by Raymond Moody in 1975. Suddenly the 'penny dropped' and I realised what I was experiencing must be spontaneous past life recall. It was a bit of a relief I assure you. I didn't really think all that much about it to tell the truth. I'd only get a 'flash' every year or so and when I did I wasn't really all that interested. I was like 'Oh well, so what?'. I didn't know what to do with the information or what to make of it. Occasionally I'd meet someone at a party who'd use the old pick up line 'Don't I know you from a past life?' which used to make me laugh frankly, because I knew if I 'recognised' someone or not.


Then I met my friend X and it all sort of started 'crashing in on me' again. Eventually I found my way to this forum and I've found that not only am I not the only one to have this experience, I can actually use it for positive purposes in my life and help others at the same time.


From talking to others, I know how utterly mind blowing it can be to realise that everything we have been taught about life, death, reality, memory, the 'brain', the 'soul' and a whole lot of other things is really quite quite wrong, or at the very least, incomplete. I totally understand what you are going through trying to wrap your head around it. But consider, almost every other culture, besides the monotheistic ones, have at least some elements of belief in reincarnation in them from the Australian Aborigines to the Innuit in the arctic circle, so who's right and who's wrong?

 

[Ehrenbreitstein]

For those of you who think of yourself as guided by logic and look for scientific evidence before accepting facts, how did you come to the conclusion that reincarnation is real, and that you had experienced it? I know this forum is full of people speaking of their experiences, but I'm asking specifically for people who have had facts revealed to them, how they came to accept it, and how it affected them.

I've never considered my love for science and spirituality to be mutually exclusive and I have always fostered both. Starting around the age of 13 I started experiencing weird things that I think most people would write off. Almost 10 years after that I chanced upon a book about reincarnation and it piqued my interest, for some unknown reason. Reading that book made everything become clear to me regarding what I had been experiencing in the 10 years before that. But I would never be satisfied with just a spiritual answer to such an important question: did I live before or was I imagining it and making it up?


I spent the next ten years after that gathering facts and data, for my own peace of mind as much as out of curiosity. I tried to keep myself sequestered from information that I thought could tarnish my "recall" (the main method being through past life regressions but also through dreams and spontaneous recall). I came to a point where I had a lot of "hard facts," my goal being to prove to myself that this was real beyond a reasonable doubt. To arrive at a point where there was no way it could be just coincidence, luck, or guessing for me to have the correct information and correct information that went together and for it to be so astronomically improbable for me to just make something up and have it match.


Once at this point where I felt like I had more than enough to go on, I hired a researcher to go and search the archives in Germany. The files he retrieved for me are not available online and none of the information I was looking for was available online, only through the archives which were opened to the public some time ago, but only through special request and have not always been. It made me sick to my stomach when I found out that all the hard info I had matched to a person at 99% of accuracy. I cannot explain that to myself any other way and reincarnation is the simplest explanation for it. It is so highly unlikely that I would know the life of this man in the past including names, dates, circumstances in life, milestones, awards, hobbies, physical features, family, etc.


I also found myself confirming information that I once never thought important but suddenly, there it was. Really small and seemingly insignificant details that one would immediately forget about were suddenly there on paper in front of me. Stuff I haven't thought about since I was a teenager but it all came back to me. Since the "big reveal" I keep confirming information, but at a lower threshold obviously, since the level of reasonable doubt has already been met for me. I still use the same types of standards for matching up my memories with history, but I have no longer sequestered myself from the information.


Since I already have held a spiritual inclination and belief most of my life, none of this was too outrageous for me like it is for you. I had to prove to myself that this was real for my own sanity, but many times wanted to forget it all and just chalk it up as imagination. There are things that go along with this process that are really hard to discount though and that includes extreme emotions surrounding these past events and strange inclinations towards things I have never really experienced in this life. I haven't talked much about the emotional aspect of this since I don't think that is what you are looking for, but it played a huge role in how I evaluated the information I had before me. I suspect that is something you are now going through too.

 

[LeoCairo]

Thank you all for your input so far.


Tonight after work, I went to the library and spent about an hour and a half looking through some books on reincarnation. I didn't bring any home because my mind was already full after 1.5 hours, but I watched a few YouTube videos on reincarnation tonight as well.


I don't know where this is leading or what's going to happen, but I will do my best to keep an open mind. I have no real opinions on it yet, but this has been an eye-opening week to say the least.


I do have one more thing to report. So, in my first message, I said this:

I also felt that I was interceding on someone else’s behalf, but I don’t know who.

I found a chronological list of the abbots for M's monastery. I'm thankful, at least, that this information is available to me. In the year that was given to me in this "vision", M was not yet abbot of the monastery. So, I'm left to wonder - was it on the abbot's behalf that I was interceding for lands to be donated to our monastery? Perhaps it was a political move, especially if the abbot was old and/or ill; perhaps M felt that if he could persuade a queen to donate her land holdings to his monastery, it would better position him as the successor of the then-abbot (who died 2 years later, and M did succeed him as abbot). I know that there have been times in my life when I've taken it upon myself to independently improve a work situation, because I knew that it would benefit me in the long run - not in any unethical or greedy way, but showing those above me that I was capable of that sort of work. I would assume that those same sorts of inclinations existed even several hundred years ago.


Thank you all for your stories. Eowyn, I'm off to read your story. Thanks for linking it.

 

[Mama2HRB]

Hello, Leo, and welcome. Seems you are one of us. wine**


Being Irish is easy to believe because of the sheer number of people who left Ireland and came to the USA because of the potato famine (my ancestors included ... props to County Cork and County Donegal )


Isn't it an amazing feeling when you find photos and facts that match the memories?


Your memories can come at any time for any reason. My daughter's memories came at age ten. I was able to match names and addresses to the local city directory.


Anyway, the best I can tell you is to write it all down and continue to research. The more you look the more you will find. Ancestry.com can be a great source.


Anyway, I just wanted to say not to worry so much about being scientific. Sometimes when you deal with the metaphysical and supernatural you just have to believe ....


And, without a doubt I believe you were him ... and he is now you. I look forward to reading more about your memories.

 

[Anna H.]

Actually -- I have a question for everyone. For those of you who think of yourself as guided by logic and look for scientific evidence before accepting facts, how did you come to the conclusion that reincarnation is real, and that you had experienced it? I know this forum is full of people speaking of their experiences, but I'm asking specifically for people who have had facts revealed to them, how they came to accept it, and how it affected them.

You sound a lot like me--don't believe in gods, not religious, and from Missouri. And yet, here's this stuff I can't account for, that has always been part of my experience (or has been for as long as I can remember, anyway). On one level, I'd like to believe I have a vivid imagination, and dismiss it. Yet that's hard to do when I'm looking at a photo, taken before I was born and on another continent, of a place I "remember". It's hard to do when I know something that I really am in no position to know.


Obviously I haven't come anywhere near to terms with the experiences. The biggest problem with settling on an explanation is my insistence on fact and truth. Fooling myself with a faulty memory, cryptomnesia, and confabulation would be appalling to me. Then again, refusing to acknowledge something because it doesn't fit into my worldview, would not exactly be intelligent and rational.


So, at least for now, I'm undecided on the reality of reincarnation. I'm not prepared to accept it as an established fact or dismiss it.

 

[Demi]

Hi Leo,


Your case reminds me of Robert Snow. I recommend checking out his book. He is a police captain who was having verified experiences of being a 18th century painter, and initially being very skeptical about his own experiences. And there is always a process. Doubting it is a part of it, but at some point you know that you know things which you did not know from this life! The most frustrating part of it, is no matter how verified it gets, there is never a 100% yes or no. I mean, some people know things because they happened sometimes in history, or what if it's some information in your DNA because the guy was one of your ancestors?


Or maybe you were him?


It sounds to me like you were him. But again, these are the questions that come up. How do you feel about this person, and the historical period? Is it fascinating to you, that is another sign . Fascination is a kind of "homesickness" for the familiar environment of that life.

 

[Demi]

Once at this point where I felt like I had more than enough to go on, I hired a researcher to go and search the archives in Germany. The files he retrieved for me are not available online and none of the information I was looking for was available online, only through the archives which were opened to the public some time ago, but only through special request and have not always been. It made me sick to my stomach when I found out that all the hard info I had matched to a person at 99% of accuracy.

That is impressive. You had a name of the person, I suppose? Would you mind to share more details about the archives, how to get access and what do they cover? I know of an archive but the data is only available if you can prove to them that you are a relative... but also researchers as far as I know. It lists WW2 soldier's personal details. Is that the one you are talking about?

 

[Ehrenbreitstein]

That is impressive. You had a name of the person, I suppose? Would you mind to share more details about the archives, how to get access and what do they cover? I know of an archive but the data is only available if you can prove to them that you are a relative... but also researchers as far as I know. It lists WW2 soldier's personal details. Is that the one you are talking about?

Demi I sent you a PM with more info.