Have we lived before?

[PBI]

If you were a Soldier KIA in WW1,you could reincarnate just in time to have another go in WW2.Surely if we have all supposedly lived before we should have learned our lessons about not making War,Invented a cure for the common Cold,Cured all illness,and by now the Earth should be a Utopia...but it isnt.Regarding reincarnation or having lived before..Totally unproven.

[Devils Own]

I think there has been a tendency during this discussion for contributors to lump in together all things that they consider to be weird.

Atholl only asked about re-incarnation, which, if it exists may not be related to communicating with the dead or even religion.

I fail to see how awareness and a sense of being can be generated by a chemical reaction or precipitation. I don't believe that our spirits die but I am also not religious.

Here's an interesting one for those of you that hold dear the memory of the Great War fallen - If our spirits are also the result of the DNA-instigated chemical reaction that has formed our bodies then one shouldn't feel any remorse about killing anybody during a war or any pity or empathy for the men that died in the Great War and others because, logically, they were just the products of chemical reactions.

Steve

[pooter]

This is an interesting topic and it has crossed my mind previously about why I should be so interested in the Great War and have such an urge to visit the battlefields.

I have no close family that I know of who served in the war nor do I have any family who even served in the army. The male members of my family were all merchant seamen throughout the 20th century.

I suppose it is one of those mysteries of life.

[spike10764]

In a word..... no...if I lived before I certainly don't remember it.

I suppose the real question is will I live again???

[Clive Maier]

If we have all lived before, where are all these extra people coming from?

[stevem49]

.Regarding reincarnation or having lived before..Totally unproven.

Bit like all the religions really. Also people tend to confuse reincarnation with rebirth but thats another story!

if someone pre internet etc had a regression (against his will !!) and found info on people, then he researched said people, proving they were real etc etc. Would that be proof or luck?

Is being reborn any dafter than going to heaven, hell or whereever.

Maybe humans have to believe in something to justify their exsistence

stevem

[Greyhound]

If we have all lived before, where are all these extra people coming from?

Perhaps they were not all human beings in their previous lives ....

[Devils Own]

If we have all lived before, where are all these extra people coming from?

Millions/billions of animals have died during the same period.

[Clive Maier]

You mean everything has lived before? And the sum total of living things has always been and will always be constant?

[spike10764]

Thus the endangered species of this world would not be detracting from life's overall plan, just making room.....

[keithfazzani]

Here's an interesting one for those of you that hold dear the memory of the Great War fallen - If our spirits are also the result of the DNA-instigated chemical reaction that has formed our bodies then one shouldn't feel any remorse about killing anybody during a war or any pity or empathy for the men that died in the Great War and others because, logically, they were just the products of chemical reactions.

If thats all we are why should we bother about this discussion or anything else for that matter?

[Devils Own]

Exactly Keith,

That's why I don't believe that our spirits die. We are too complex and have too many emotions to write the whole thing off as a biochemical reaction.

Steve

[vectisitch]

my great granddad was killed in the third battle of ypres.when my son was 2 and a half years old he was playing in our front room when he suddenly started to laugh and said me and my mate bob were blown up when we were in a hole.then he carried on playing.he knew nothing about wars at that age and my wife and i just looked at each other and couldnt quite believe what he said.he has said nothing like it since and is now 10, but that was certainly a very strange thing for a kid of that age to come out with from nowhere.

[Arras100]

Sometimes I think there is little or no explanation for why we are interested in something. For example, I have no way to explain why, as a little girl, I was writing stories and poems about war, even though I had never been taught about that in school. I have a connection that I could not possibly explain. I think those who deny things such as the supernatural are looking at life through a narrow lense and miss many things that others pick up on.

[nhclark]

General George S. Patton believed in reincarnation.

"The Many Incarnations of George S. Patton

Captain George s. Patton had never before visited Langres, a small town in northeastern France. But in December 1917, having just arrived to operate a tank school, the American newcomer declined the offer of a local liaison officer to show him around the town, once the site of a Roman military camp. "You don't have to," Patton told the surprised young man, "I know it well."

A staunch believer in reincarnation, Patton felt sure that he had been to France before-- as a Roman legionnaire. As he led the way trhough the area, he pointed out the sites of the ancient Roman temples and amphitheatre, the drill ground, and the forum, even showeng a spot where Julius Caesar had made his camp. It was, Patton later told his nephew, "As if someone were at my ear whispering the directions."

Patton may have credited his continuing military success, in part, to having been a soldier in other battles, in past lives. Once, in North Africa during World War ll, a British general complimented Patton: "You would have made a great marshal for Napoleon if you'd lived in the eighteenth century." Patton merely grinned, " But I did," he replied."

Modern Western lifestyles have suppressed the spiritual aspects of life. Our ancestors, even just 100 years ago, were much more accepting of the cycle of life and death and the concept of a soul. How much more fulfilling life could be if we were to accept that there are some things that we will never understand, nor should we try to do so.

Noel

[Christina]

Such interesting reading all this makes, how many of us have had all of these arguments before. Many years ago a friend played me a tape on the hypnotic regression of an Australian girl, this tape was done at university level with doctors and historians present. The subject regressed to a servant girl in England and spoke in a broad accent, when questioned regarding the future she became hysterical and thought she would be accused of witchcraft if she answered the question. The terror in her voice was scary. Because of the hysteria she was taken out of hypnosis and then taken back again, this however produced more hysteria and the doctor present would not allow the experiment to continue. Taken back to her normal self she was told nothing of what she had said but was asked to imitate certain accents, she could not do this, she was also questioned on what books she read etc, in fact they tried to disprove it all and couldn't. At the time not being terribly interested in the tape I recorded over it, I have wished many times I had kept it. I have had many phsycic instances in my life since and recalled many things that I have not experienced in this life. We will probably never be able to prove re-incarnation, just as we cannot prove that God was actually true. We should however keep an open mind on the subject. I believe we experience many lifetimes and each one helps us to help or understand someone in the next lifetime, when we can go no further is perhaps when we meet our maker. After all God said "In my house there are many mansions". Many things are unexplained and many people scoff at the unknown, often through fear of the unknown. One can discuss these things all day but there really is no concrete answer or denial.

Regards

Christina

[Ozzie]

Quote Christina.

"We will probably never be able to prove re-incarnation, just as we cannot prove that God was actually true. We should however keep an open mind on the subject."

and

"Many things are unexplained and many people scoff at the unknown, often through fear of the unknown. One can discuss these things all day but there really is no concrete answer or denial."

Christina, you present an interesting case, and I agree with the above.

I am usually very cynical, but after a few ""wierd happenings"", I am learning that there is a lot more than the eye can see.

Kim

[Max]

hmmm

[Shep]

Nice discussion. This is just my cup of tea, two subjects I am most interested in...

I don't begrudge anyone their beliefs, (as long as it doesn't impact on my life, which it hardly ever does), but I would say that this is what it is all down to: personal belief. There is no evidence for re-incarnation other than anecdotal, which just can't be scientifically substantiated. You may argue, why should it be? But this is my point - whatever floats your boat, and you're welcome to it.

Many people, myself included, have had 'psychic' episodes in our lives and we attribute them to whatever is meaningful in our lives at the time or to an event which happens later.

For myself, I had episodes of temporal lobe epilepsy (undiagnosed at the time) which manifests with deja vu, jamais vu and feelings of nostalgia and emotions which seem to come from nowhere. However, many of these feelings are in fact deeply buried memories. There are so many events in our lives which are entirely forgotten for the vast majority of people. (There are some unfortunate people who suffer with a rare condition as a result of brain damage who remember everything they ever did from the point of damage and conversely, many more with extreme memory loss). The point here is that our brains filter out all the stuff we don't need at the time and put it in the 'archives'. Certain smells, pieces of music, pictures etc, can evoke memories from the 'archive', however the memory may not be complete. It may be just a visceral thing. When this happens to someone with an open minded attitude to spiritual matters, it can become significant and they may attribute it to something in their lives which has meaning. Hence this feeling of attachment to certain times, people and events. The human brain can do amazing and marvellous things but it doesn't mean that those things are 'paranormal'.

As for a hypnotised person coming up with a name of a person who actually existed....hmm. The devil is in the details. Try it for yourself if you can be bothered - think of a random (but not common) name and date of death. Perhaps even go so far as to write down the regiment. Then look them up - no cheating. Try again. Hit? I got a few hits. It's to do with statistics....somebody, somewhere, will get enough to make them think they're psychic. It's the misses that are more significant, the ones you never hear about!

Sorry to be mundane, it's just possible explanations. I'm from the 'not a dress rehearsal' camp

I wonder if the massively emotional experiences of people involved in the Great War have been driven so deeply into the psyche (or somehow written into the DNA? Some work has been done on this but can't remember where or who by), of the proceeding generations that many of us feel this strong link with the past. I personally feel enormous but misplaced guilt, romantic ideas of how it must've been for the lads, fear of it ever happening again amongst other things, about WW1 but much more so since I found out about my ancestors involvement.

The important thing about all this is that without living in the past, we remember them and everything that happened to them, and we keep it alive for the next lot!

Wx

[truthergw]

Very interesting post , putting the rationalists' viewpoint very well. I would say that the notion that mass suffering would somehow be preserved in the genes is unlikely. Hard to see a mechanism for this. It smacks of Lamarckism which is rejected nowadays, even in its last stronghold, Russia. As a vast oversimplification, genes preserve a history of successive evolutionary change. I do not think that the people alive at the time would have evolved physically to deal with the emotional stress, so no record in the genes.

[Shep]

http://www.questinstitute.co.uk/resources/...iles/memory.pdf

This goes somewhere towards what i was on about - but I can't vouch for the research here though- I just did a quick google. The Quest Institute seem to be a bunch of hynotherapists.

[Christina]

Well the quest institute theory gives food for thought, makes one want to opt for hypnotherapy regression perhaps we might all find the answers we need when researching the family tree. I for one though personally choose to believe in reincarnation, there must be more to life than this, otherwise what is the purpose.

[stevem49]

Well the quest institute theory gives food for thought, makes one want to opt for hypnotherapy regression perhaps we might all find the answers we need when researching the family tree. I for one though personally choose to believe in reincarnation, there must be more to life than this, otherwise what is the purpose.

Reincarnation or rebirth - now that is the question

stevem

[corkhead100]

O.k I will add my twopeniworth.Nothing to do with the Great War but I suppose worth knowing.

I was looking a library in my primary school when I was 7 years old, not paying much attention just in a state of boredom as kids sometimes are, and I saw a small blue book hidden away inbetween some books, it had no title on the spine , it was an anonymous littlt thing, so out of curiosity I picked it out and the book fell open to reveal coloured drawings of uniforms , the effect on me was just electric!, it was instant unexplainable recognition, I felt I had worn one of these uniforms- a navy blue frock coat approx 1890--1918, you see them in military museums all the time , I can not explain such a bolt, for that was what it felt like , of just "knowing" and a feeling of being "home". Now we can rationalise these things as adults but how do you explain one so young having such a strong sense when they know so little of the world around them because when I was at school in the 1960's we did not have the extensive media , t.v., etc into our lives and my age group were told nothing and knew less!, we were seen and not heard!! and I never shared this with anyone because in my day you were just a child and did not have such feelings.

You see these things will happen to some people and not others , really that it it. I have a sister in law who is intensely psychic and a brother who thanks God is is not!.

I have had a very similar impression since I was very young, but I feel that I was a German soldier.

Can't explain it, won't defend it, Just know that for whatever reason it's a feeling I have, and if I was reading this I'd think...............

THIS BLOKE HAS LOST THE PLOT.

I don't believe in reincarnation or ghosts or any of that mumbo jumbo, so..........

[healdav]

General George S. Patton believed in reincarnation.

"The Many Incarnations of George S. Patton

Captain George s. Patton had never before visited Langres, a small town in northeastern France. But in December 1917, having just arrived to operate a tank school, the American newcomer declined the offer of a local liaison officer to show him around the town, once the site of a Roman military camp. "You don't have to," Patton told the surprised young man, "I know it well."

A staunch believer in reincarnation, Patton felt sure that he had been to France before-- as a Roman legionnaire. As he led the way trhough the area, he pointed out the sites of the ancient Roman temples and amphitheatre, the drill ground, and the forum, even showeng a spot where Julius Caesar had made his camp. It was, Patton later told his nephew, "As if someone were at my ear whispering the directions."

Patton may have credited his continuing military success, in part, to having been a soldier in other battles, in past lives. Once, in North Africa during World War ll, a British general complimented Patton: "You would have made a great marshal for Napoleon if you'd lived in the eighteenth century." Patton merely grinned, " But I did," he replied."

Modern Western lifestyles have suppressed the spiritual aspects of life. Our ancestors, even just 100 years ago, were much more accepting of the cycle of life and death and the concept of a soul. How much more fulfilling life could be if we were to accept that there are some things that we will never understand, nor should we try to do so.

Noel

Time is a peculiar thing. As I read this thread I was thinking of mentioning Patton (the Langres example is but one of several occasions when he did the same thing). The strangest is when he went on honeymoon to Normandy and made his wife walk and drive right acros the region. His explanation was that "one day I shall have to fight a battle here".