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Some people believe that the spirit can be reborn into animal or even insect form, perhaps as a result of the person not having lived a good existence in their last life. Others believe that the soul can only be born into another person. In some religions, reincarnation is only a stage that the soul must undergo before attaining release from the endless circle of death and rebirth.
Psychic researchers link reincarnation with other paranormal phenomena such as astral projection, apparitions, near-death experiences, mediumship but such categories, if they support the concept to certain extent, are even more uncertain.
Testimonies
Many people claim to be able to recall events from their last lives, and a thriving business has developed to assist people to "rediscover" previous existences.
Some evidence for reincarnation comes from cases where individuals under hypnosis produce memories from what might be taken as a prior lifetime. These memories come through with a vividness of emotion and detail very much like early childhood memories. Often the reincarnation dramas seem to explain important characteristics in the subject's psychological makeup. This type of testimony is very interesting from a psychodynamic point of view. However, it cannot constitute acceptable evidence for reincarnation until it is shown that the descriptions match actual life-histories which are unknown to the subject.
A large number of case reports have been published, but few of these cases were researched exhaustively. Most “hypnotic regressions to past lives" could then be explained in a more conventional way :
- Suggestion, role-playing, loss of inhibition
- Dissociation (including cryptomnesia), and desire to please the hypnotist.
- Postcognition.
- Spirit possession.
The Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung, expresses my own thoughts:
Rebirth is an affirmation that must be counted among the primordial affirmations of mankind. These primordial affirmations are based on what I call archetypes... There must be psychic events underlying these affirmations which it is the business of psychology to discuss -- without entering into all the metaphysical and philosophical assumptions regarding their significance.
Some evidence for reincarnation comes from cases where individuals under hypnosis produce memories from what might be taken as a prior lifetime. These memories come through with a vividness of emotion and detail very much like early childhood memories. Often the reincarnation dramas seem to explain important characteristics in the subject's psychological makeup. This type of testimony is very interesting from a psychodynamic point of view. However, it cannot constitute acceptable evidence for reincarnation until it is shown that the descriptions match actual life-histories which are unknown to the subject -- even then it could be merely postcognition.
Hypnotic regressions to ostensible "past lives" are fascinating psychological events that have attracted attention in professional journals and in the popular press. A large number of case reports have been published, but few of these cases were researched exhaustively, few were based on extensive hypnotic interviews, and few authors reported negative as well as positive findings.
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