Past Lives and Reincarnation Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the evidence for past lives?
The concept of past lives is not new. It shows up in many religions, in fact, there
are references in the Bible to past lives. In modern times the best evidence for
past lives is in the work of hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is commonly used in
treatment for smoking cessation, weight loss, and phobias. Individuals are
routinely regressed back to earlier stages of this life to get at the root of many
problems. Some individuals are able to go back before their birth and give
detailed accounts of their lives in previous times.
2. What are some alternate theories?
One theory is that these are not past lives at all, but fantasies made up by our
own very creative imaginations based on books and movies. Some also
theorize that in the hypnotic state, these people are tapping into the "collective
unconscious," a place where the collective experience of humanity resides.
Certainly the degree of accuracy and detail of these regressions suggests that
there is something more going on that mere fantasy. Most hypnotherapists
believe that regression hypnotherapy is a useful tool even though it cannot be
completely explained.
3. Does everyone have a past life?
That is not known. Contrary to the popular belief that everyone when regressed
comes up with an extraordinary lifetime as Cleopatra or Napoleon, more often
the accounts given are of quite routine and mundane lives. Some people seem
to live many lifetimes with little time between ("little" here means perhaps
100-200 years). Others have many centuries separating their reincarnations.
Some souls have few incarnations perhaps because it was not an important for
them to experience multiples lives.
4. Why can't we recall our past lives?
These memories exist in the subconscious mind which is quite separate from the
conscious mind. The memories of even one lifetime are too much to hold in the
conscious mind. Some hint of a past life can come through, however, in the
form of natural talent or ability, or in that strange feeling of having known
someone before although you've just met.
5. What about the argument that there are not enough souls to go around, that
is, the Earth's population is so much larger now than in past times?
The logic here is that Earth populations are believed to be quite small in the
ancient past. This would leave very small pool of "souls" available for the
population of nearly 5 billion living on Earth today. This argument seems to lack
a conviction because we have so little information about own history on Earth
or how many souls there were in the beginning.
One suggestion is the idea of "simulaneous lifetimes" put forward by Dr. Bruce
Goldberg, author of Past Lives, Future Lives, it is conceivable (to carry this
idea further) that one soul occupied many bodies in a time in the far past.
Goldberg gives an example: "If one soul occupied three bodies in the year 3000
B.C., for example, and if each of these subsouls occupied three additional
bodies each, it would not be difficult to see how one soul could occupy one and
a half million bodies in the matter of thirteen lifetimes."
A couple of good books that develop this theory as a fictional account are "The
Education of Oversoul Seven Trilogy" and "The Legend of Altazar"
6. Can I be harmed by doing a past life regression?
Past life regression therapy is considered a very safe procedure. For one thing,
our subconscious or superconscious is very protective of the conscious mind.
Delores Cannon, an author and hypnotherapist who has done thousands of
regressions often had trouble obtaining specific historical information because
no information was given that would go against the will of either the past life
being examined or the subject in the hypnotic state. There are also techniques
to protect the subject from being too close to a painful event or emotion.
7. Can everyone undergo past life regression?
There are very few people who cannot be past life regressed. Some people
have a greater ability than others in acheiving the deep hypnotic state, however,
with patience and trust in the therapist even the most difficult subject can often
be regressed.
8. What is karma?
Karma is the law of cause and effect which determines the lessons to be
learned in a particular lifetime. Some would say that karma is always a negative
debt, that is, you don't accumulate positive karma. Karma can be expressed in
many ways throughout lifetimes. A common example is that if you harm
someone in a lifetime, your karmic debt may include being harmed yourself so
that you will learn the lesson.
9. What is the purpose of studying past lives?
Hypnotherapists who do past life regression often report that their patients have
made great breakthroughs in understanding their own behavior. Some use it as
a tool to discover aspects of history through the eyes of those who actually
lived it. Study of past lives and reincarnation when studied as a whole also give
us some insight as to the meaning and purpose of our lives.
10. Where can I do some further reading on the subject?
Other Lives Other Seves: Roger Woolger, Ph.D.
Past Lives Future Lives: Bruce Goldber, D.D.S
Through Time Into Healing: Brian L. Weiss, M.D.
Many Masions "The Edgar Cayce Story on Reincarnation": Gina Cerminara
Jesus and The Essenes: Delores Cannon
Conversations with Nostradamus (Vol. I-III): Delores Cannon
The Education of Oversoul Seven Trilogy: Jane Roberts
The Legend of Altazar: Solara
Journey of Souls: Michael J. Newton, Ph.D.
Copyright 1996 by Susan Richey