Having seen quite a bit of experiment in the social sciences, and having designed experiment, I am well aware of its shortcomings. The problem is human beings are so complicated it is very difficult to exclude external variables, especially in field experiments. Very well then, what I’m about to offer is ‘anecdotal’ and ‘proves’ nothing, but it does add to the weight of evidence.
Recently I was asked to give a talk on Reincarnation in a Spiritualist church. It went very well; I was asked many questions, and the material I wanted to give, along with a lot more, was given in answers to these. Any teacher will tell you what a difference it makes to have an audience that much engaged.
Despite having overrun my time considerably, the group wanted an experiment, in the end it meant leaving an hour and a half after the time planned. It was worth it.
The group had only a dozen or so members, experienced ‘psychics’ including the church president. I was able to invite them into meditation with only a minimal instruction – “find the past life in which you last met someone else now in this room.”
The meditation was a short one, 10 minutes, with 20 minutes planned for feedback. The aim was simply to show there were hidden relationships behind the superficially random accident that they were all members of the same church. I had no prior knowledge of any past-life connection between any of the group members.
As I moved round the group, asking each member for their impressions in meditation, one after another pointed to other group members, recounting scenes in which both took part. Only one person was unable to report any past-life experience and a number reported past-life scenes but could not identify any other group members.
What we did was remarkable. If, in any case, the meditation produced verifiable facts such as names or events this alone would be evidence for reincarnation. If anyone produced evidence of someone else’s past life then this would further show either a very high level of mediumship or evidence of group reincarnation. For any two group members to agree on the same scene would require that both had regressed to that same scene, and on the face of it that would seem extremely improbable.
From a 10 minute meditation I had not expected, or asked for, facts which could be considered proof in the rational world. Someone familiar with meditation knows enough to identify the subjectively genuine experience and differentiate it from fantasy or something made up. Those present believed their experiences genuine, or, if they were too vague to be certain, they said so.
As an example of how the conscious mind can interfere, let me give this little anecdote: with such a circle it is not unusual for the leader to ‘link-in’ with what the members are doing, one member had told me his family name was McDonald, and as I linked-in I saw him as a highlander in a kilt. What he reported was being a samurai, and the ‘kilt’ was a leather skirt forming part of his armour.
As I linked with another group member I found a sea captain in the 13th century, I had been a passenger on his ship, which had been bound from the continent to London. Severe storms blew us to the north and we made landfall in Scotland, I remember the captain’s extreme embarrassment at having failed in his contract, for all he’d saved the lives of all of us on the ship. I already knew of this life because the detour gave chance for the development of a relationship between me and another passenger, a relationship which would be worked out in later lives.
Counting that last episode, the meditation produced 4 sets of images which both parties could acknowledge. No, none of it is proof of reincarnation, or group reincarnation, but these results wildly exceeded my expectations. The feedback took getting on for an hour, and I was invited back for another occasion.
Recently I was asked to give a talk on Reincarnation in a Spiritualist church. It went very well; I was asked many questions, and the material I wanted to give, along with a lot more, was given in answers to these. Any teacher will tell you what a difference it makes to have an audience that much engaged.
Despite having overrun my time considerably, the group wanted an experiment, in the end it meant leaving an hour and a half after the time planned. It was worth it.
The group had only a dozen or so members, experienced ‘psychics’ including the church president. I was able to invite them into meditation with only a minimal instruction – “find the past life in which you last met someone else now in this room.”
The meditation was a short one, 10 minutes, with 20 minutes planned for feedback. The aim was simply to show there were hidden relationships behind the superficially random accident that they were all members of the same church. I had no prior knowledge of any past-life connection between any of the group members.
As I moved round the group, asking each member for their impressions in meditation, one after another pointed to other group members, recounting scenes in which both took part. Only one person was unable to report any past-life experience and a number reported past-life scenes but could not identify any other group members.
What we did was remarkable. If, in any case, the meditation produced verifiable facts such as names or events this alone would be evidence for reincarnation. If anyone produced evidence of someone else’s past life then this would further show either a very high level of mediumship or evidence of group reincarnation. For any two group members to agree on the same scene would require that both had regressed to that same scene, and on the face of it that would seem extremely improbable.
From a 10 minute meditation I had not expected, or asked for, facts which could be considered proof in the rational world. Someone familiar with meditation knows enough to identify the subjectively genuine experience and differentiate it from fantasy or something made up. Those present believed their experiences genuine, or, if they were too vague to be certain, they said so.
As an example of how the conscious mind can interfere, let me give this little anecdote: with such a circle it is not unusual for the leader to ‘link-in’ with what the members are doing, one member had told me his family name was McDonald, and as I linked-in I saw him as a highlander in a kilt. What he reported was being a samurai, and the ‘kilt’ was a leather skirt forming part of his armour.
As I linked with another group member I found a sea captain in the 13th century, I had been a passenger on his ship, which had been bound from the continent to London. Severe storms blew us to the north and we made landfall in Scotland, I remember the captain’s extreme embarrassment at having failed in his contract, for all he’d saved the lives of all of us on the ship. I already knew of this life because the detour gave chance for the development of a relationship between me and another passenger, a relationship which would be worked out in later lives.
Counting that last episode, the meditation produced 4 sets of images which both parties could acknowledge. No, none of it is proof of reincarnation, or group reincarnation, but these results wildly exceeded my expectations. The feedback took getting on for an hour, and I was invited back for another occasion.
