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When did you first start to believe in reincarnation?

Kristopher

Kristopher

Senior Registered
Im curious to find out what made you start to believe in reincarnation, and when ect ? :)

I was a catholic untill about 2years ago when I read Newtons work and started looking in to other sources. I am 21 years old now and only in the past few years I started to question christianity and other religions. Personally, I think reincarnation makes the most sense and I see more evidence for it than any other beliefs. I find it so annoying that a lot of people think reincarnation is nonsense. I have tried to have friendly debates with people about what happens to our soul after we die and as soon as I say 'reincarnation' they look at me as if I am stupid :( lol
 
Hi Kristopher. I, too, was Catholic until a couple of years ago. I was raised in a household that followed Catholic teaching to a tee. The problem for me was that I was having a hard time buying any of it. I wrestled for years with things in Catholic dogma that, to me, seemed misinterpreted or just plain wrong. Unfortunately, everytime I vocalized these thoughts I was having, I was (and still am) told that I am confused, misguided, being led astray, couldn't understand God's way, or worst of all - being decieved into following the devil.


In spite of all that, I couldn't get away from what my heart told me was right. Eventually, I went to church less and less, and a couple of years ago, stopped going at all. The fire and brimstone fear tactics just weren't working on me anymore. From that point on I decided that I was going to stop following traditions and superstitions and start thinking for myself.


One day I was reading and came across the idea of reincarnation. I had never given much thought to it before. It was just some weird belief that they had in Eastern religions. You know, those crazy non-Christian people that my previous faith told me to stay away from. However, this time, now that those old roadblocks had been removed, it got me thinking about the possibilities. I went home and got on youtube (where we all go for spiritual enlightenment :rolleyes: :laugh:) and found the James Leininger story. I had seen it before, but it had different meaning for me this time.


I went to Barnes & Noble and started finding books by Brian Weiss and Michael Newton. I was hooked. For the first time in my life I was hearing things about the afterlife that actually made sense to me. Not to mention compelling stories that could be backed up by real evidence (such as James Leininger).


This ultimately pushed me to explore my own past lives. I started using the recorded hypnosis regressions. With previous experience with meditation and hypnosis, they worked easily for me, and I started getting immediate results. At first I was convinced that I was making it all up. However, upon later investigation, I was finding real evidence to support my own stories. This was a shocking revelation. I couldn't deny it anymore. Something was going on here. I was excited and confused at the same time.


One night I was lying in bed. I was thinking about all of this and wishing there was someone I could talk to who wouldn't think I was crazy. Then something told me that I need to look for a discussion forum on the internet. Afterall, there are forums for about every subject under the sun. I found this forum and the rest is history. Over time, all of my doubts have been silenced. It all makes too much sense, and there is too much support for it out there. Dr. Ian Stevenson researched thousands of cases in his career. Reincarnation is an ancient belief. I was shocked to find out that even Christians believed in it until in was removed from Catholic doctine for politically motivated reasons. I just don't have any doubts anymore.
 
Kristopher :) said:
Im curious to find out what made you start to believe in reincarnation, and when ect ? :)l
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Hi Kris!


I hope you won't mind, if I equivocate while answering your question. My answer would depend upon what level of belief one is referring to. While I am quite convinced about the reality of reincarnation on one level, I'm not entirely ready to believe on another level. Some doubts still linger, largely because I am unable to argue the point with die-hard skeptics, and I have not been able to validate all of my possible recollections. But, I'll go to the wall to protect anyone who wishes to believe.


Although I was a dedicated Catholic Altar Boy in a Midwestern Parochial School for twelve years, I didn't escape without seriously questioning much of the dogma. But, afterward, it took a destructive war, tremendous loss and a lot of stupid mistakes to finally say a silent prayer to the spirit world to give me understanding. Somehow a word then popped into my head -- some may call it an inner voice -- which said, "Read". It was 1984, then, and I went to the library the next day and borrowed Dr. Ian Stevenson's book, "20 Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation".


There was no immediate switch from skeptic to believer at that point, but it started me on a long and intense path of discovery. Of course, I wavered from one side to the other along the way, but I never made fun of anyone who mentioned the word "reincarnation" after that.


So, here I am as a moderator on this Forum -- believing more than I ever have, but still hoping to Heaven that I'm right.


:freak:
 
I grew up with it. It was never a question for us. My father was Roman Catholic, my mom grew up Methodist, but we were not raised with much in the line of religion. We had a couple of bibles, but we didn't go to church. My becoming an atheist had nothing to do with reincarnation and more to do with my own studies of religions through history. I was not disgusted with religion, as many atheists are, I simply ceased to see the need for it for myself.
 
I grew up with it. My parents both believed in it, although they never pushed the belief on me. We talked a lot about religion, spirituality, and various possibilities for what could happen after you die from a very young age. I always thought reincarnation just made the most sense, and so did they.
 
I find it amusing the number of ex-Catholics here... add me to that list! It just didn't ring true to me. I became an agnostic, as I like solid evidence.


I don't completely remember how I first became interested in past lives, but since I was a child, I've always liked "old" stuff. I particularly like anything from the 1960s and thereabouts (1950s-1970s, really), despite being 23.


Supernatural things interested me, but most of them I dismissed as a load of bunk. However, I became convinced of past lives, anyway, after reading Carol Bowman's "Children's Past Lives." After all, little kids with no knowledge of history yet wouldn't be able to make that stuff up. In addition, many of their stories were fact-checked and verifiable. I liked that. There was also another old book called "Voices from Other Lives" about adults going through past-life hypnotherapy.


At some point while working for the high school paper, I sought out a past life hypnotherapist in the area in hopes that I'd find out who I was (under the guise of writing an article, which I did do). In addition, I had some issues I wanted to see what the cause might've been for. I've never been able to be hypnotized as my mind's too easily distracted (unfortunately), so that was a bummer. Although I was personally convinced (though still weirded out), I tried to stay "objective" in the article. The "past lives" interest was later put on the back burner for years.


However, I recently had an unusually vivid dream where I was able to physically feel everything that was happening to "me" (it was me, yet as another person). This was unsettling, since I rarely remember my dreams anymore, and I certainly don't "feel" things in them, and I'm normally just "me." That's what led me to be interested in them again. I read "Soul Survivor," found this site, and read books in the library about past lives ("Children's Past Lives" is no longer there. I'm assuming someone stole it).


Now I really want to be able to have a past life regression to find out if that experience was "real" or not. However, listening to recordings hasn't worked (still not able to be hypnotized), and I don't want to waste my money on a hypnotherapist if it won't work anyway. I'm kind of in a rut.
 
I was not raised a Catholic, but as a Methodist whose maternal Grandmother (whose house we lived in) was a Charter Member of our Church (formed in 1901) and a card carrying member of the WCTU (acquired during Prohibition!)


Needless to say, in spite of all that, I seemed to be rather unscathed in spite of having to learn the Bible and the Methodist Hymnal from end to end, and while I don't begrudge this religious training and learning, it only helped me answer SOME of the questions that I started having.


It was while a grade school age child, now mature enough to tell the difference in dreams (whether they were silly "work out the day's problems" dreams, to precognitive dreams, to finally the dreams about PL's or Past Lives).


After awhile, I could generally tell the difference between dreams that were about PL's, to dreams that were connected to this lifetime, and while having an occasional nightmare, my dreams were pretty normal.


But then I started having dreams of "being" in a body, that was NOT my current body, for the body in the dream seemed or "felt" heavier and/or older than my then childlike body, but these PL dreams were not at all scary, but were comforting, they were like an old film reel, these PL dreams were like the record of a PL just rolling off the reel, but I knew somehow that the film and reel belonged to ME.


And, as I got older, and more mature, I started reading EVERY book I could find in two libraries on Reincarnation, Past Lives, Parapsychology and so forth until my appetite for these subjects was sated, it was like, I was thirsty for this somewhat esoteric knowledge, and I was shown the fountain to drink from, until my thirst was slated.


From that day on, as a young teenager, after accepting the concepts of Reincarnation and believing in it's existence, for me, there was no turning back, I believed in it, but didn't preach on it to others, so that others didn't know what to think, was I a Christian, Buddhist, Wiccan, they just didn't know! :confused: :laugh:
 
pixarfan- Step one, settle your mind. Try transcendental meditation. I, too, am unable to be hypnotised by anyone, but TM helps me disconnect my mind from outside distractions (while keeping one hand on the 'buzzer' in case of emergency).
 
I was raised atheist by parents who did not believe in anything spiritual whatsoever. They shunned religion and were convinced that when you die, that's the end. I had heard of reincarnation and when I questioned them about it I was given the same explanation that I was given when I questioned them about religion 'well some people believe...etc..etc...but - that's silly.' Nevertheless, I found the idea intriguing.


I grew up in the bible belt - lots of Southern Baptists, so I was exposed to religion although my parents tried to shield me from much of it. I wasn't allowed to go to Bible School with my friends and although they did allow me to go to church or youth group a few times, when they thought it was getting too 'serious' they put a stop to it. Although I wasn't quite sure what I believed, I knew I didn't believe as my parents did. I knew there had to be something after this life and I was fascinated by anything and everything spiritual.


Ironically, when I was dating my now-husband, his Mother became a born-again Christian - what you could call a religious fanatic. Although I had pretty much decided the strict Southern Baptist form of religion was not for me, that pretty much sealed the deal. After going to church with her a few times I knew I wanted no part of it. Yet, still I continued to explore my beliefs trying to decide where I fit in. I don't know why but somehow I felt as if I could put some sort of label on what I was: Methodist, Catholic, Buddhist, Jewish...then all the questions I had about spirituality and the afterlife would become clear. I'd retained my interest in reincarnation and at that point, while I wasn't a necessarily a believer, it piqued my interest. However, I felt I couldn't believe in it. I wasn't allowed to because, after all, I did believe in a higher power and belief in God and reincarnation are contradictory concepts, right? I'm wasn't sure who made the rules, but it seems that was just the way it worked.


Back in the mid-90s when the internet really took off, I began to spend much of my time researching the paranormal. Ghosts, telepathy, out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming - they all fascinated me. So it was only natural to go from that to reincarnation. I found stories of children and adults who remembered past lives and found that there was often evidence to back up their claims. I'm a very analytical person and I need concrete evidence to believe in someting, so this intrigued me.


I eventually found this forum and subsequently became interested in who I may have been before and how my previous lives may have affected who I am today. Now I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about the subject in some form or another. Mostly I like to just let me mind run free thinking about the past and what impressions come to me that might give me some clues. I've had no solid memories, (well, actually no liquid memories either :D ) just impressions and maybe dreams that may or may not mean anything. Meanwhile, I do still believe in God and have reconciled that belief with that of reincarnation. Although my beliefs don't really meld with traditional religion, that's ok. I'm not afraid to deviate from the mainstream.


I will say that I'm still not 100% on board with the idea. I still have so many questions. I do believe that most likely some people do reincarnate. But I'm not sure if everyone does. Where do souls originate? I tend to think our souls were all created during the 'Big Bang' (yes, I also believe in both God and the Big Bang). What about animals? My questions go on and on. I love to think about these things and listed to others' ideas and experiences as well.
 
According to the law of conservation of energy, energy can be neither created or destroyed; it can only be transformed from one state to another. In a closed system it changes form, such as from chemical energy to kinetic energy.


The soul, I believe, is energy. It has a sort of symbiotic relationship with a biochemical mass, a body. Attracted to a biochemical mass as it forms (I believe life begins at conception), the soul energy attaches itself like a charge placed in a battery. The battery may be good or not good, and will "burn out" as its chemical composition, altered by various factors, dictates. The battery burns out, the soul energy is released and drifts and looks for a new battery with the proper factors for attraction, which may provide a lead for explaining why some people reincarnate into their families. A malfunction in the energy's attraction properties may also account for ghosts who, for some reason, are unable to attach to a new battery.


That's just my two cents. Your mileage may vary.
 
I really don't have a concrete event that locked the idea of reincarnation into my mind. I have always been an avid reader and had no fear or sense of trepidation about reading anything I could find on the library shelves or at home...in fact at home were alot of books on arcane subjects like UFO's, NDE's, etc. My parents were and are minimalist presbyterians and I was never disciplined with the idea of hell or eternal damnation, nor was there any sort of strong doctrinal education.


When I was 11 our family was on a month long driving tour through the english countryside and mom told dad to stop the car. We had just driven up to a small village with a pond. She got out and stared at the pond and tears filled her eyes. She then turned around and walked between two thatched roof houses and to the left and stopped in front of a thatched roof pub. She knew the name of the village (I have since forgotten it but I'm sure she hasn't) and on the map it was simply a crossroads. The pond had been used to dip witches and mom had extremely strong feelings about it at the time and for a long period afterward. It was commonly said at the time that "Mom had visited a place where she had lived in a previous lifetime." That was my home environment.


From that background I was free to develop my beliefs as they arose. In highschool, while a member of my presbyterian youth fellowship, some of the more fundamental members said the methodists across the street would burn in hell because they don't believe as we do...I blew that out of the water and left in a huge huff. I read Carlos Castenada's books, Dr Moody's studies, found some amazing details I felt completely familiar with in 17th and 18th century India during the British Raj, and really began to research in earnest after reading Dr Weiss's books.


I suppose in answer to your question, I must have grown up believing it...it was not considered a strange or taboo topic in my household, but instead more a topic that was certainly a possibility without any sense of negativity.
 
When did you first start to believe in reincarnation?


I think I first started thinking about reincarnation when I began reading books about Edgar Cayce and his psychic statements.


Cayce is one of those rare people who bridged the many gaps that exist between different belief systems and he saw some common ground between the different religions.


Christian philosophy took a wrong turning when they threw out the idea of reincarnation. The idea that we live once, are judged by God, and then go to heaven, hell, or perhaps some gray area, has created a lot of confusion.


Cayce stated that people took short cuts when they defined the basis of Christian teachings.


He said that the Christ spirit has appeared in our world some 30 times going back to Atlantis and Lemuria and Cayce was related to Christ during some of those experiences.


The various incarnations of Christ as stated by Edgar Cayce is an interesting subject:


Lives of the Master: The Rest of the Jesus Story by Glenn Sanderfur (Jan 6, 1988)


I think Saint Augustine eventually believed in reincarnation and he tried to get the Church to accept some of the ideas from Plato's philosophy. Ultimately I guess he was not successful.
 
I wrote out a reply to this question and it exceeded the word limit for posts. Interesting question I had to ponder. I had a near death experience in 1978 and from that - I was aware of the concept but my worldly mind had my own set of theories. My family stated that I had expressed intimate and direct knowledge in my childhood about reincarnation but I had no memories of it. So - I had to research it myself and I felt it was like a 'test' where you had to wade through the false information to get to the 'golden prize' of truth. I never accepted it as a fact with my worldly mind after my NDE.


It wasn't until an encounter with three police officers in 1981 that the scale was tipped in favor of a positive belief of the possibility of reincarnation as a fact.


I posted the long reply on my blog. "Belief in Reincarnation."


DK
 
Shiftkitty said:
According to the law of conservation of energy, energy can be neither created or destroyed; it can only be transformed from one state to another. In a closed system it changes form, such as from chemical energy to kinetic energy.
The soul, I believe, is energy. It has a sort of symbiotic relationship with a biochemical mass, a body. Attracted to a biochemical mass as it forms (I believe life begins at conception), the soul energy attaches itself like a charge placed in a battery. The battery may be good or not good, and will "burn out" as its chemical composition, altered by various factors, dictates. The battery burns out, the soul energy is released and drifts and looks for a new battery with the proper factors for attraction, which may provide a lead for explaining why some people reincarnate into their families. A malfunction in the energy's attraction properties may also account for ghosts who, for some reason, are unable to attach to a new battery.


That's just my two cents. Your mileage may vary.
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Wow - thank you for this! I love this explanation as it makes complete sense to me.
 
Shiftkitty


Good explanation of Reincarnation, Shiftkitty, perhaps one of the best I've heard, clear and to the point!


With your permission, I may start using it to explain Reincarnation to people that seem interested, or ask about it.
 
I agree with hydrolad, Shiftkitty. Excellent! I know of stories where whole groups managed to come back together again a half a world away. The attraction is an important factor in that.
 
I'm glad it made sense. My husband is very into the physics if energy and a good portion of that explanation is his. We have offered it to others who seemed to like it. Go ahead and take it to others if it feels right.
 
Great explanation, Shiftkitty. :thumbsup:


I grew in a family where reincarnation was not accepted or talked about (actually not much of anything was talked about...but that's another story). I was exposed to chrisitian beliefs about heaven and hell as a child and it just didn't make sense to me. I remember being 5 or 6 and questioning, 'this is it? when i die i'm going to sit on a cloud for eternity?'


I was aware of memories from my past lives at a young age and but it wasn't until I was about 10 or 11 that I learned about the idea of reincarnation and started connecting the dots, so to speak.
 
kemetic18 said:
I remember being 5 or 6 and questioning, 'this is it? when i die i'm going to sit on a cloud for eternity?'
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:D This made me smile, remembering an old Gahan Wilson cartoon. He showed two guys who had made it into heaven sitting on a cloud, complete with wings, halos and harps. They have these phenomenally bored, bleak, hopeless expressions and one is saying "You mean this goes on forever?!?"
 
Just a few years ago when I was 15 .


I was born with some " memories" I had no idea what were they.


And well I remember to read an article about Dr Brian Weiss, I was fasinated by him so I asked my dad to buy the first book, I read it very fast just in one day. I loved it.


Eventually my dad bought me all the books, I started to want more, I wanted to know more and more and some day I found this great forum and the books of Carol. No coincidences I think.


I'm just so happy because I feel that my life got better with this knowledge.


Plus all my family think that I'm kind of crazy because I believe in this, or think that I'm just joking or something at first I got mad, now I just :thumbsup: don't say anything, I try to help them sometimes but I'm afraid because for them I'm not serious.


:(


Being here and read all your thoughts make me feel all right , I'm not alone like I used to think :) thanks to everybody, I'm happy I found the way to be here :) all my love for all of you.
 
Exactly right, Jenla. The standard story does not feel right and you find something that resonates inside you. The family doesn't necessarily understand where you are coming from, but as long as you are not prosthletizing they don't mind what you do to make sense of your world. There are no coincidences, and you find what will help you to come to appreciate your own sense of what works for you. I hope you continue to develop your own ideas of what you feel is right. Only through self exploration will the truth, your truth, become evident.


I apologize if I come across a little enthusiastic...I grew up with a family who had no problem with these beliefs, but when I began to bring them home with visions, lucid dreams and meditations they began to get a little skittish...and those who were devout catholics absolutely defecated bricks. All I am saying is that if it resonates inside you, if you feel the words with a warmth and a sense of rightness, you must go with it because it is right for you.


I am happy to read your post and I wish you all the best in your journey.
 
I frequently had cases of deja vu, and felt like "I know this place" "I know this person" etc. About the same time, I began to question Christianity (most of the people in my family are JW's, and really strict). I was immediately drawn to Buddhism, and while researching it, learned about reincarnation. I started researching that, and got to thinking. That's when it all started. Just a couple of years ago. Everyone I know thinks I'm a looney when I speak my mind about it though :rolleyes:
 
Mammatus said:
Everyone I know thinks I'm a looney when I speak my mind about it though :rolleyes:
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Same here. I can't talk about PL or reincarnation with my family or friends. Thank goodness for this forum. :D
 
On the other hand, it's a good way to end a conversation you didn't want to get dragged into. Some old lady starts talking to me while I'm on the job. Sure, I'll chat with my customers' patients while waiting for them to bring a case up from the back, but she didn't get the message that now that I had the case in hand (and one hand on the door) I really had to get going. How do you politely tell someone on whose favor your job indirectly depends that you really don't want to hear it?


One, an obvious too-devout Christian* gave me the opening when she insisted that we had met before (after trying to drag me into a religious conversation). I suggested New York City, 1966. Oh, no. She said I didn't look old enough to have been there. "No, no," I said. "I meant in a past life." I checked out early to avoid going to Viet Nam. Yeah, I'm sure I knew you! Yeah!"


She couldn't end the conversation quickly enough.


*Too-devout Christians deck themselves out in every piece of Christian accessory they can fit onto their bodies; shirts, pins, brooches, earrings, pendants, rings, etc, and they want to make sure you know that they are, indeed, holier than thou. Apparently they forgot the part about humility and not being as those who preach on street corners.
 
I come from a very vanilla christian family that never went to church, did not enforce religion, and more or less acted like atheists, yet I've thought about reincarnation since I started thinking about life after death at a young age.


I still remember asking my sister and mother what they wanted to come back as in the next life(mom always answered "a fly") when I was around 8 years old, and I remember that questions about the hereafter have haunted me ever since(in high school I wrote an essay about life after death and did a questionnaire for students seeing what they believed).
 
Sadly and twenty minutes after penning a well thought out response...the cyber gremlins ate it.:freak: Given the hour and the exhausted frustration, I will simply say that I am a Catholic who deeply believes in reincarnation. My path of discovery took several years and a lot of soul searching. But the only and obvious answer for me was that I was once my Great-grandfather. I built the church of my people here on the remote prairie of Kansas back in the 1800s. Yes it is difficult to explain my beliefs to staunch and hard lined religious people. But I feel absolutely no obligation or need to explain myself. I am happy to interject my beliefs whenever possible... and actually have received some interesting thoughts in return. People here respect me for who I am. And believe me I have my baggage. I am Catholic because that is what my people are. But more important than any earthly label I am a soul having an earthly experience. It is utterly and completely insane to think we have any grasp on God's great creation and our minuscule role in it. ME? Well as I've said many places here, I think we are all on individual journeys and only you can know who you are in it all. Me, I'm a left handed, Catholic, Buddhist, mystic, Gnostic, writer, contemplative who likes grape jelly on his peanut butter sandwich. And with that thought I bid you all a good night, sleep with the angels!


Tman
 
I think I was literally born with this idea in my head.
I remember that when I was only 5 years old, I drew palaces and told myself that this was my past life. I knew I had lived before. My parents are Christians and do not believe in regression and past lives, so I have never discussed this with them.
But I remember how, as a child, I came across various things (countries, time periods, events, places) and asked myself "Is this my past life?" and watched my sensations and feelings.
 
After my NDE when I was 18. I started to say I had been American and had died in Vietnam. I don't know why I said that and didn't take my claims seriously. On October 23 2021, I had a vision of places in Vietnam with names, remembered my previous life name, googled it for fun and found out a photo on the Vietnam Veterans Virtual Memorial. I was shocked because I knew it was me, the look, the way I was smiling, what I was feeling when the photo was taken. He was real, reincarnation is real. Then I started to watch documentaries and read about research...
 
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