Have I been here before...?

Hello, non-existent readers!

A topic I've been pondering about (again) recently is that of reincarnation. Rather than my usual "here are some facts, the proof of which being these random people's websites" post, I am just going to muse about the subject.

I have had a few "past life memories". A few come from dreams - one that sticks in my mind is a dream I had when I was about 10. I was watching the scene on a television, but some oriental girl (a princess? or someone less prestigious) had to walk up some stairs - inside a narrow building with big blocks, like the inside of a castle. Scary-looking men stood and watched her walk up, they had strange white make-up on their faces and what looked like Chinese or Japanese dress. It was old, I'm sure, about 1200... there were snakes near the top of the stairs, around the sides, and at the top she put her head on a guillotine. I remember horrible blood on her porcelain white face, and I tried to turn the TV off, unplug it, even leave the room, but I couldn't. For years I thought that perhaps I was that girl, but from the perspective perhaps I was one of the guards, forced to watch and stand aside while an innocent(?) girl was executed.

Another was one I had at a past life regression workshop - just a vague imagination, but one that I wasn't controlling. I was a small girl, about 5, carrying around a very ragged doll with me. I seemed to be in a rural village, like Wales, and the year 1872 flashed for me. I went into my house, where I saw a woman (my mum) and a man who wasn't my dad, but her friend (I just knew). The house was very basic and poor, with a kitchen/dining room and a big bedroom. When asked to look around the place, I saw a big, black, looming village hall which filled me with dread, and a big forest in which we weren't allowed to go. As I walked away from the village I felt quite sad, but relieved.

And the other night - when I realised that I was dreaming, I decided to make the most of it and "visit past lives". Briefly, I was a school boy (in Greece?), quite young, but my entire class of boys and I decided to gang rape the teacher (a young girl)!!! It was horrible, but kind of not that rare apparently, but I felt lots of guilt. Then I jumped into another life... I asked to see my first life but this seemed to be my latest. I was an overweight, unhealthy businessman, in danger of having a heart attack. I had a wife and two daughters, one a baby and one about 5, and the house looked as if it was from the 60's. I fast-forwarded 10 years, saw my daughters older and the house re-done, but somehow ended up having an affair with one of my daughter's friends (uwww)... quite vivid... 5 years later I wake up in a shitty little flat, top floor over a dirty city with some skanky woman... stumble out of bed to "work" in the same building - it looks amazing, until I realise I'm the toilet cleaner, and in charge of the tropical fish tanks... my manager also hates me, and I've thrown away my life for a brief fling.

Now, I realise that all of these could have been simply dreams, fantasies, imagination, symbology or distorted actual memories. In a way, I find the idea of past lives quite fluffy, and lacking in evidence. The skeptic part of me tells me that past lives are a fantasy created from our fear of death... in the same way that any afterlife myth exists. It's a way for us to cope with how short and meaningless our lives are. The reported experiences are often fantasy - somebody with a specific pain or scar will manufacture a story to fit with it, some "explanation" for why they are the way they are. People underestimate the power of the imagination... I mean, if you write, or create characters when acting, then you are capable of creating an imaginary life... or does it mean that every character I dream up is in fact a past version of myself? I don't think so. We are capable of great fabrication and imagery, and shouldn't attribute everything to something more mystical like a past life memory or a message from spirits. Your mind is an amazing, powerful tool. Then again, what if what we are doing is tapping to the universal consciousness - not viewing a life that WE have lived but just picking up on some memory, some ghost or echo - chosen randomly or perhaps the memory of a passing spirit? Some beliefs state that we are all One and the same, God's mind etc, so surely we have been and will be EVERYONE, regardless of a time continuum - I've even considered deja vú to be when we meet someone that we have already been, rather than someone we knew in a past life!

However, I too want to believe in past lives. Why? Am I afraid of becoming nothing once my physical body dies? You bet. I'll admit this. But... can matter be created or destroyed? If our soul does exist and has a physical presence, then something must happen to those atoms once we die... unless they simply disband and become one with the universe, in which case little parts of us will end up in some way reincarnating. Alternatively, they stay together and try to find a new home. Perhaps all the lost souls are just waiting until they can reincarnate again - maybe they have a time limit or wait to find a suitable host? ... reincarnation is a very popular theory across cultures, so you do have to wonder about why. As for "memories" later being proved to match up with facts, I think media sensationalism and confirmation bias are guilty parties in a lot of cases. Ie everything remembered which doesn't turn out to be true is ignored. I did go to a workshop on regression once, though, and we were told some amazing stories of "memories" which turned out to be based on subconsciously learned things. However, the therapist admitted that some cases do seem to be genuine, although when people start rattling on about how they were a princess or famous figure he rolls his eyes and thinks "you too, huh?"... "Scientifically there is no proof for past lives" - well. No. There is nothing in pre-existing scientific theory (as far as I know) which can be used to come up with a valid explanation, nor is there a fool proof way to test it. But if you take the scientific METHOD - proposing a hypothesis, testing it, analysing the data... well, case studies and qualitative data are valid forms of scientific data (in the social sciences, anyway, psychology IS a science!!!) - so the cases in which people have accurately described times, places and people that they never could have known are case studies into the theory of reincarnation. Sure, there is no way we can build a soul-detecting time machine to prove whether they were just very lucky or possibly read some historical records once and forgot about it, but the "facts" that they somehow knew are there... surely this is in some way scientific? People really need to stop seeing science as their new religion. The scientific method is so far the best way to prove or disprove things, but scientific THEORY is not gospel; as you know from history, things that are held as truth can later be proved wrong.

Whew. So, also, let's have a look at some of the things out there on past lives. I'm currently reading Same Soul, Many Bodies by Brian Weiss. This here blog discusses some of the evidence - http://eteponge.blogspot.com/2007/09/reincarnation-examination.html. Dr Ian Stevenson's life work was to scientifically prove reincarnation using the memories of young children - who supposedly remember their past lives before they're convinced by society that this isn't right... From a Hare Krishna site (odd source, I know) - here's a reincarnation FAQ. I'm sure there are other, better ones somewhere, but many of the ones I found were very biased and discussed reincarnation as hard fact rather than theory. If you're interested in being regressed by a past life regression therapist (a lot of Hypnotists do this anyway) then have a look here - you can even train to become one, if you wish!! And, just for fun, find out what animal you were in a past life here ...

Feel free to comment with your own experiences!!!


References:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Same-Soul-Bodies-Brian-Weiss/dp/0749925418
http://www.brianweiss.com/
http://eteponge.blogspot.com/2007/09/reincarnation-examination.html.
http://reluctant-messenger.com/reincarnation-proof.htm.
http://science.krishna.org/Articles/2003/12/001.html
http://www.reincarnationstation.com/
http://www.pastliferegression.co.uk/database.htm

"The Secret" - can you guess what it is yet?

So I watched that documentary...

The Secret begins by promising to uncover the secrets of success. Supposedly, all the really great people in history knew the secret... Newton, Einstein, Shakespear... it was hidden from the public, but now it has been released... and if you learn it, then you too can sculpt your own reality! So, are you on the edge of your seat already? Are you wondering what this amazing secret could be... the key to success, to making all your dreams come true?

Well... it's thinking. That's right, thinking... positively. Did you know, that whenever you think something, you're sending out a message to the universe? So, if you're always thinking "my life is shit" then it will be... however, if you employ the mechanism of denial, and say "my life is amazing!" then it will come back to you. It's called the law of attraction.

The idea itself isn't new, not at all. Praying, casting spells, affirmations - they're all the same principle. From a psychological point of view, you see, you're doing nothing but suggesting something to yourself so much that it sinks into your unconscious (ok, this is a theory, bear with me) - thus distorting your perception of reality so that you feel better, and increasing your confidence so that you actually go out there and change your life in the way that you want to.

I don't know if I'm generalising but... surely people know that if they want something good to happen in their lives, and I'm talking things like getting a new house, a new job or losing weight, they have to get up off their posteriors and actually do something about it. It's all very well and good sitting in your living room thinking "I wish I was thin", or, if you have watched The Secret, imagining really hard that you are thin - which reminds me of all the "Think Yourself Thin" ideas which are flying around. No offence, but I don't think that eating what I do, not exercising - but *imagining* that I am thin is going to do much more than possibly give me body dysmorphic disorder.

Methinks it works like this... focus on your goals, that way you are more likely to actually follow them, and notice things that you may not have done previously which will help you on your way. Yes, it MAY be due to some force in the universe, but good old self-motivation can't be ruled out either. Of course, being massively American, it concentrated mostly on material things... cars, bikes, houses... what if my dream is to be healthy, or for world peace? It is similar to that idea of cosmic ordering... ask the universe for something, and it shall find its way to you. However, The Secret goes against my usual example of "it's not as if you can just ask for a new bike and it will appear outside your door, though". But, I'm pretty sure that my lover came to me through cosmic ordering, especially considering that we only really noticed each other in "that" way due to him having a "random" urge to kiss me ;)...

The Secret also discusses the negative side, though. I find it kind of patronising to be told that everything bad in my life is due to me thinking/complaining about it, though. It's true (ish) that you can make yourself ill with worry, as hypochondriacs show, but some things are just out of our control. People claimed to have cured their cancer and stopped their bullying. Well... it's possible. There are some studies that show that people who are positive about their illness, and who use visualisations, have better prognosis than those who don't. But the message that The Secret basically gives here is "ignore your problems... dwelling on them will make them worse". Not the best thing to do when you're being hounded for money, or falling ill, really.

The Secret concludes with the platitude "you can be anything you want to be"... very nice, but surely this is going to encourage viewers to sit around daydreaming about things? I have visualised many a scenario, and they never actually happened... and I doubt that all these powerful, successful people got to where they are by thinking positively. Especially as many "geniuses" were known to suffer from things like manic depression.

It was a nice decoy, guys, but I'm not buying it.

References:

http://www.thesecret.tv
http://www.thinkyourselfthin.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_Ordering
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=256#evidence
http://www.oflikeminds.com/GeniusMentalIllness.htm

On an azure ocean wave... there's a f***ing massive vortex of plastic waste

All I really need to say is: read these articles.

http://www.viceland.com/int/v15n2/htdocs/oh_this_is_great.php
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2007/10/26/notes102607.DTL
And watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9oSikW3eUM