Megan Robb

English 1010
12/09/16
12:30
Does reincarnation exist?
I have always been intrigued by religions. The many different kinds of religions and
beliefs really fascinate me and there are so many that there is always more to learn about and
discover. As someone who does not really have a religion, I am very open minded to different
beliefs and considering them, but I will also question them. Reincarnation is one of the beliefs
that I continue to question and am completely and totally intrigued by. Reincarnation is the
rebirth of a soul in a new body. For this research project, I will be researching reincarnation
using the question, Does reincarnation exist? I know that I will probably never find a set,
factual answer to this question, but I am very interested to learn about different points of view on
the topic and the many different ways reincarnation is perceived. I will start my research by
simply typing the question, Does reincarnation exist? into google and then continue to work
from there.
The first article I come across is an article called, 10 Things Everyone Should Know
About
Reincarnation, Barry, talks about the basic things in knowing about reincarnation. He
explains how the soul exists and is a divine light filled with love and is absolute perfection. The
soul experiences many lifetimes from all different kinds of perspectives. The soul does not have
a race, gender, or nationality; the soul will take on many perspectives as both female or male,
black, white, hispanic, etc. The soul takes on its mission by evolving, learning, and growing
through these many different perspectives. To evolve as a soul is to become increasingly
self-aware and self-capable as a unique expression of Spirit. By evolving, the soul changes in its
level of beingness and consciousness, from newborn innocence to greater and greater levels of
love, power, and wisdom. (Barry, Paragraph #12). Throughout its lifetimes, the soul will just
inhabit a new vessel in order to live on the human plain. The souls plan out each of their
lifetimes with what they will experience and what relationships they will have in order to learn
what they need to grow as a soul. Souls will make agreements with other souls in order for the
souls to experience certain things. For example, lets say the soul wants to experience being
compassionate towards children. The soul may decide that the life to come should include it's
own childhood experience of abandonment by the mother. This would help drive the personality
in adult life to want to help abandoned children. Another soul will then agree, out of love, to be
the mother who abandons this soul in childhood. (Barry, Paragraph #17). Barry addresses that
some people wont reincarnate because they have reached the end of the cycle, while others are
just beginning, so they have many lifetimes ahead of them. Reincarnation is the norm for all
human beings. It is universal. It is what we are all doing here.(Barry, Paragraph #23).
I found this article very interesting and much more informative than I was expecting. Ive
always thought of reincarnation as many different things, but they never really clicked together

or made complete sense. Barry really opened my mind to many things and sort of made some of
those things actually click. As someone who is spiritual, but not entirely sure what she believes
in, this article really helped me to understand what I could possibly be looking for in life. I am
not sure if this is something that I completely believe and am sure of, but it is very intriguing to
me that I am interested in furthering my research and learning more about the topic. The way this
article portrays life as everyone being equal and going through the same things, but being
completely different and each soul being unique in its own way is so amazing to me and in a
way, comforting. Some lifetimes are explicitly set up for the soul to undergo a particular
learning experience (such as being a teacher, for example), while some are actually undertaken
for the benefit of others learning experiences. For example, we might opt to live a life as a
much-loved child who suddenly dies while still young, purely in order to help another soul
undergo the experience of tragic loss. (Barry, Paragraph #17). As sad as something like this is,
to think of it like somebody is just learning through this tragic experience in order to grow and
better themselves and both souls subconsciously knew that it was going to happen because they
came to an agreement, it makes it almost seem not as bad; that it was always what was supposed
to happen in order for the souls to get that one step closer to reaching enlightenment. However,
now I come to the question of how can one prove these things? And where is the evidence?
Easily enough, by typing into google, Evidence of reincarnation, the first article to
come
up is, 10 Claims

of Physical Evidence For Reincarnation. In this article, Kindree Cushing

addresses multiple claims of physical evidence for reincarnation. She shares a handful of stories
that are not all scientific evidence, but might make even the skeptical mind pause. (Cushing,
Paragraph #1). In one story, she talks about transfered birthmarks. In this story, she talks about a
tradition in Asia. The idea is that when somebody dies, relatives will mark their body leaving a
scar, so in future generations if a child is born with the same mark they know that the person who
had previously died has now been reincarnated into the child's body or can be shown as evidence
that the soul has been reborn. In one case, K.H., a boy from Myanmar, was noted to have a
birthmark on his left arm in the same place where his grandfathers body had been marked. His
grandfather had died 11 months before K.H.s birth. Many people, including family members,
saw the grandfathers mark made by a neighbor from charcoal of the underside of a pot.
(Cushing, Paragraph #4). The child that was said to be his grandfathers soul reborn, seemed to
have certain traits or would do or say certain things that only his grandfather would have said or
done. Making it seem even more evident that he had the soul of his grandfather.
In another case, a six year old boy named, Taranjit Singh, had claimed since age two that
his name was actually Satnam Singh and was born in a village 60 Kilometers away from where
he was actually born. He also claimed that he was much older, 15 or 16, and that his father's
name was something different as well. The boy began to tell his father of the story of how
Satnam died. The story was so odd and detailed that his father decided to look further into it. The
story of Satnam's death matched perfectly with what really happened. They took to pictures of
Satnam; Taranjit was able to pick him out instantly. A forensic scientist read about Taranjits

story in the newspaper and took it upon himself to investigate further. What he found was that
Satnams and Taranjits handwriting was almost identical.
Seeing and hearing about evidence like this really blows my mind. You want to be
skeptical and say, Oh, it is just a coincidence. However, when things are completely spot on
and young children are knowing things about people from past lives that they have no reason for
knowing is completely insane and almost incomprehensible to me. Even if a child were to tell me
the name of somebody who died a long time ago and there is no reason for them to know, I
would be freaking out; over just one name. And it just makes me think, if a kid is coming up to
you and saying things like that, some people might just say, Kids say the darndest things. But,
if you really go deep into what the kid is saying you might discover the craziest things. To be
honest, that is really scary to me, yet so cool at the same time. It makes me think, what if when
kids are saying the darndest things and we just laugh and blow over it, but what if what they
are saying is stone, cold, proof of another soul being reborn? It is just so mind blowing. Seeing
physical evidence really can make even the skeptical mind pause, (Cushing, Paragraph #1). but
where is the evidence? The scientific evidence. What is the science behind reincarnation?
In the article, The Science of Reincarnation, Sean Lyons beings with a story of a young
4-year-old boy named, Ryan Hammons. Ryans parents would always find Ryan directing
imaginary movies in his room. It was never a problem until Ryan would wake in the middle of
the night screaming and holding his chest saying that his heart had exploded while he was in
Hollywood. Doctors assured the parents that it was just night terrors and Ryan would soon grow
out of it. However, Ryans parents began to think different when one night when going to bed,
Ryan grabbed his mother's hand and then claim that he used to be someone else. He said he
remembered a big white house and a swimming pool. It was in Hollywood, many miles from his
Oklahoma home. He said he had three sons, but that he couldnt remember their names. He
began to cry, asking Cyndi over and over why he couldnt remember their names. (Lyons,
Paragraph #4). Ryans mother, Cyndi, then went on to search the internet and get books from the
library hoping to find answers for her son. One day, as Ryan and Cyndi were going through the
books they came across a black and white picture from a 1930s movie, Night After Night. Ryan
pointed out some of the people in the picture claiming to know them, one of them being himself.
It is said that many claims made by children of having a past life are between the ages of
2 and 6 years old. A lot of the children being able to give enough detail to be able to trace back
to an actual person. I understand the leap it takes to conclude there is something beyond what
we can see and touch, says Jim B. Tucker, who served as medical director of the Universitys
Child and Family Psychiatry Clinic for nearly a decade. But there is this evidence here that
needs to be accounted for, and when we look at these cases carefully, some sort of carry-over of
memories often makes the most sense. (Tucker, Paragraph #12).
This article and its story about Ryan Hammons is much like the previous article I talked
about. So much evidence for reincarnation comes from children claiming to remember previous
lifetimes. Is it really a claim though if one is able to trace back information given by a 2-year-old

to an actual person who once lived? We think anything from a 2-year-old usually makes no
sense. They are usually still learning to talk and form sentences, so how could anything that a
2-year-old claims be taken seriously? But, then again, a 2-year-old could possibly have some
type of knowledge from a past life and if, as their guardians, we dont question what they say and
look deeper into it, we let it go over there heads and our own and then the child ends up
forgetting about it so when they are grown enough to fully speak their mind they dont have
anything to say about it anymore because theyve forgotten.
In the article, they talk about how in most cases the children who make these claims are
between the ages of two and six. It makes me think that before these children knew how to talk
they are constantly thinking about their past life and dreaming of their past life because if you
think about it, what else could they be thinking and dreaming about? They have little to
absolutely no other knowledge or experiences to reflect on. Who knows, by the time they can
actually begin to talk and tell these stories, maybe they have already forgotten most of the details
if not all of them. What if all of us, as newborns, can remember our past lives? But, forget
through all the new things we are being taught; eating, crawling/walking, and talking.
In another article I came across, a man named Topher Williams, tells his personal
reincarnation story. He begins by saying that previous to the experiences he is about to tell, he
never believed in reincarnation. I used to scoff when people talked about it. I used to think its a
ridiculous notion. (Williams, Paragraph #2). His beliefs began to altar when he took his first trip
to Maine with his wife. As a child, Topher had an interest in drawing lighthouses, but had never
been to or seen a lighthouse in person. Upon arriving to Maine, he claims to have felt a sort of
comfort while arriving. He was no longer excited to have landed in Maine, but just simply felt as
if he had arrived at home. Previous to beginning their travels to Maine, he had described to his
wife what he thought Maine was going to be like. I was talking about what I thought the air
would feel like and how Maine looked and felt, in general. She asked me Are you sure youve
never been there? I hadnt at this point, but I was spot on. It was all coincidences and good
guesses, as far as I was concerned. (Williams, Paragraph #6).
As they traveled through Maine, Topher claims to feel a sense of familiarity. After
meeting his wife's parents, they visited Portland Head Light. I walked up to the lighthouse,
touched it and pictured myself standing in front the light house I drew the one with more of a
flat top. It made absolutely no sense, and typically I would brush feelings like this aside, but
when the picture flashed in my head I felt so much peace. I felt different. Maybe it was pride?
Maybe Happiness? I dont know. Once reality set in, the whole situation freaked me out, because
even though it was a little picture in my head, it was real to me. (Williams, Paragraph #10).
Once arriving home from his trip from Maine, Topher decided to see a physiotherapist. During
his session he reach three different regressions. The first one taking place in Massachusetts in
1780 as a Captain named James. He ended up becoming emotional when remembering this when
he began to feel guilt for killing innocent people for the land he had just acquired. The second
one taking place in Chicago in the 60s. He was an innocent black man brutally beaten to death.

The third one taking place in a place he described as nothing, just white. His friend, Sammy, is
there asking him what he had learned and if he learned his lesson. Sammy also tells him that he
has to go back and that he will be there to help Topher be the best soul he can be.
After his session, Topher, decided to do research on his regressions finding proof of a
Captain James Buxton who was awarded 300 acres of land in Massachusetts. Many other facts,
lined up perfectly with his memory. Unable to find information on the black guy in the 60s, he
continued his research in the nothingness he described in the third regression. While looking
into it I stumbled upon something called LBL Regression. It stands for Life Between Lives.
There are quite a few people who have had them. The atmosphere and the surroundings vary
depending on the person, but there are always more than one being present and they are always
Elders. In every LBL regression somebody has a guide which is a more advanced soul. They
usually remember being asked What did you learn? or something similar. These are people
from all over the world. People who have never met one another, people who really cant share
stories. Yet they all have similar accounts, just like mine. (Williams, Paragraph #58).
Hearing about people's experiences like these where they are able to find proof is really
what makes anybody possibly consider reincarnation to exist. Many people will talk about
having little coincidences, maybe similar to Tophers with the lighthouses he drew as a kid, but
they hardly ever find any sort of proof. So many people will talk about things theyve seen,
known, or experienced that could possibly be evidence of reincarnation, but without having
actual evidence and proof to back themselves up, that is usually when those people get called
weird or crazy. Obviously, the cold, hard facts is what makes it easier for people to believe, but I
feel like in order to further research on reincarnation and have more opportunities to find more
answers, one must be open minded to the simplest, little coincidences that many people may
have. This is a topic where when trying to look for the answers, you usually only come across
more questions, so it is necessary to not cast aside the small coincidences because the biggest
answers can be found in the smallest places.