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mysteries |
Reincarnation |
Other Information |
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| Most of us wonder what happens to us when we die. For an
estimated one billion people the answer is the soul returns to earth. But what
is the evidence for reincarnation?
Standing on a hillside overlooking the Turkish village of Hancagiz, Engin Sungur turned to his parents and said, ‘I can see the village where I used to live.’ They knew, however that he had only ever lived with them in Tavla, a large village about 4km from Hancagiz. What the 2 year-old boy was telling them was that Hancagiz had been his home village in a previous life. Because the Sungurs are Alevi Moslems who, unlike their Sunni Moslem neighbours, believe in reincarnation, they reacted with curiosity rather than derision. ‘Whose son are you?’ they asked, ‘I am Naif Cicek,’ he replied, and began to tell them of events in his previous life, including the fact that he had gone to Ankara shortly before he had died. Engin then pleaded with his parents to take him to Hancagiz. Family Meeting. At first, the Sungurs, who had never heard of Naïf Cicek, refused. But then not long afterwards, the young Engin came face to face with Gulhan Cicek, the dead man’s daughter, who happened to be attending the secondary school in Tavla. He immediately addressed her as ‘my daughter’, telling the alarmed girl that he was her father. Before this incident there had been no contact between the two families but, now, Engin’s mother decided to take Engin to Hancagiz to meet the rest of the family. The moment he met Naïf Cicek’s widow, he called her ‘my wife’ and then identified at least seven other members of Naif’s family by name. The little boy went on to point out land that he said had belonged to him in the past life. This turned out to be correct, even though the land did not adjoin Naif’s property. He also accurately described how he had been hit by a truck, driven by his son, when it was backing up. It also transpired that Naïf had indeed gone to Ankara to see a doctor, as Engin had said, and had die4d shortly afterwards in December 1979, aged 54. Engin was born nearly three years later on 8th October 1982. Engin’s story is one of about 2,000 similar cases studied by Dr Ian Stevenson, over 30 years of painstaking research, as possible evidence of reincarnation. According to Dr Stevenson, a wide range of data has been offered as proof of this existence, from deja-vu to information passed on about a former past life by a medium. Spontaneous Recall. In Dr Stevenson’s opinion, much of this information can be discarded because the memories are either too indistinct or can not be verified. Even when details can be confirmed, coincidence cannot be ruled out. Engin Sungur’s case, however, is another matter. Dr Stevenson that spontaneous past-life recollections in children are generally more lucid and complete than any other account. More importantly, the information given can often be corroborated by checking with the families involved and the place to which it refers. In a typical case of this kind, the child starts to talk about memories of a previous life between the age of two and four - on many occasions as soon as he/she is able to speak. These memories then begin to fade at the age of 6 or 7. Often the child continues to make these claims even when the rest of the family is unreceptive. Memories are frequently accompanied by mannerisms and speech patterns that correspond to the previous personality. In Engin’s case, for example, Naif’s widow noticed that Engin spoke and behaved like an adult and that, while talking, he used similar hand gestures as that of the late husband. On the surface, Engin’s remarkable memories appear to suggest that some part of the dead man’s personality survived death and re-emerged in the young boy. But some parapsychologists argue that there are natural explanations for this. Most cases of spontaneous recollection occur in cultures where belief in reincarnation is strong. They also happen within a few years of the previous personality’s death, and only a short distance from where that person lived. To some minds, this is too much of a coincidence. Either the whole family is engaged in a - ‘fantasy creation’ - the parents implant the idea of a past life into the mind of the child who then elaborates on the details - or the claim is fraudulent. In a number of cases from India, involving children from poor families who claimed to have belonged to have come from a higher caste, it has been suggesting that the parents were ‘feeding‘ the child’s imagination to reap financial gain. But, as Dr Stevenson points out, even of this were true, it does not account for the numerous accounts were the child has lived far away from - and had no previous knowledge of - the deceased personality. There is also a wealth of evidence to suggest that apparent memories of past lives appear in Western cultures, where reincarnation is not widely accepted. Irrespective of their feelings toward the subject, many people appear able to produce past-life memories when directed to do so in an altered state of consciousness, such as hypnosis. Past-Life Regression. The majority of researchers working in this field distrust this type of practice - known as past-life regression, on the grounds of adults under hypnosis can adopt a convincing identity separate from their everyday personality, which is based on pure fantasy. On the other hand, some people claim to have been famous historical figures and provide details which they are convinced they have not learned in this life. Sceptics argue that the subconscious mind has a remarkable capacity for storing information acquired through reading, watching TV - even background conversation. The subconscious can then absorb information on a specific historical figure or age then use it to create a past-life memory - a process known as cryptomnesia. Other doubters regard regressed past-life memories as the combined result of leading questions from the therapist and an active imagination on the part of the subject. In an altered state of consciousness, the mind can be eager to please and will therefore come up with the answers that it believes the therapist will want to hear. The extent to which this can happen is demonstrated regularly by stage hypnotists. In spite of these criticisms, there has been an increasing trend towards consulting past-life therapists. They use hypnosis and other relaxation techniques to regress their clients to past lives in order to discover the cause of problems in this life. There have been many claims of remarkable cures, particularly of phobias that have allegedly been inherited from a previous life. Positive Evidence? There have also been many instances when hypnotically regressed subjects have provided information they could not have acquired normally. In one case, journalist Ray Bryant - regressed to a past life as a farm labourer in Essex at the turn of the century - was asked by hypnotist Joe Keeton to go back in time to 22nd April 1884, when he would have been 4 years old. When he did, he looked terrified and said the house was shaking and the plates were falling off the shelf. What Bryant did not know was that the researcher had previously gone nd found a reference to the ‘Great Essex Earthquake’ on that day. Keeton had decided to see what would happen if Bryant were regressed to the time when the earthquake was in full force. Cases such as this and that of Engin Sungur appear to defy normal explanation. But are they proof of past lives? Professor Stevenson only goes so far as to say that they are ‘suggestive of reincarnation’, while sceptics believe the answer lies elsewhere. Some parapsychologists maintain that this kind of information may be acquired by a form of ESP - recalling a past life by telepathically tuning into someone else’s life. But if ESP is the answer, why do the vast majority of people who tune into other peoples lives have no other form of ESP abilities? Another theory is that past-life recall is a biological phenomenon - the result of a collective memory that stretches back through time and another theory attempts to link it with Multiple Personality Disorder. Questions Remain. While these theories may explain some cases, none of them satisfactorily accounts for all the data collected from such memories. This is why Dr Stevenson thinks that reincarnation is the most likely answer. The questions that are the most puzzling that are left to answer are:
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Sources: The X Factor |