Some professional research results on past lives...

I find this article extremely interesting and recommend people to buy the books mentioned in the article.

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Evidence for Reincarnation from Western Medical Research: (Part II) Descriptions of Existence between Incarnations

• Evidence for Spirit

Author:
Qing Di


When you consider all the research published about reincarnation, the book Reliving Past Lives - The Evidence under Hypnosis by Dr. Helen Wamback is, in this writer's opinion, the most comprehensive and informative. In this book, Dr. Wamback systematically analyzed one thousand documented cases of reincarnation experiences and categorized them in terms of gender, economic status, birthplace, race, customs, dining tools and foods. She discovered that the case's stories correlated accurately with history, and were not something purely from fantasy or fiction. For an article about her research, see: http://www.pureinsight.org/pi/articl...0/21/1165.html
The majority of research done on reincarnation has focused on recalling past lives. The research did not focus on exploring what happens to a person between the different lives. Life Between Life: Scientific Explorations into the Void Separating One Incarnation from the Next, published in 1986 by Joel L. Whitton and Joe Fisher recorded a ten-year study by Dr. Whitton on the spiritual experiences between one life and the next. The book is rather difficult to follow and understand. But it did describe several cases in a fluid and easy to understand manner. One case actually described a person who was able to recall the ancient languages of the Near East and Virgin Islands. The verification by linguists that the person was actually speaking these two perished languages was very impressive.
The most insightful and comprehensive study on the spiritual world of reincarnation was performed by Dr. Micheal Newton. Similar to the experience of Dr. Weiss, Dr. Newton's study on previous lives started accidentally. One day Dr Newton gave unclear instructions directing one of his patients to recall one of her past lives. While continuing to study her past lives, he accidentally discovered an even broader area for research through yet another unclear instruction. The person who opened both doors for Dr. Newton was a middle-aged woman. She was a very lonely woman who had come to Dr Newton for help. One day after she recalled one of her previous lives, Dr. Newton asked her to go back to where she lost her partner. He also asked her if there was a group of people that she missed very dearly. Suddenly the woman began to cry. When Dr. Newton asked her what was wrong she replied by saying, "I miss my friends, this is why I have felt so lonely in this world." Dr. Newton was very confused, and asked her, "Where are your friends?" She answered, "They are at my 'eternal home.' I am looking at them right now."
Accidentally, the woman's consciousness had traveled to the "other side" which she referred to as her "spiritual home." During this experience she was able to see the companions of her previous lives. From that point on Dr. Newton started to study the world on the "other side." He gradually developed methods for directing his patients' consciousnesses to experience the "other side." He also found that it was more important to direct the patients to the "other side" than to simply let them recall their previous lives. Among the patients of Dr. Newton were faithful religious followers as well as atheists. However, most of the people were somewhere in the middle, believing in various philosophies. Surprisingly, Newton found that when his patients entered the dimension of the other side, what they described was very similar to one another. Some people even used similar terms when they described their experiences. Of course the accumulation of cases was very slow. But after ten years of study, Dr. Newton finally established a model to explore the other side. During those ten years, Dr. Newton never disclosed his findings to the public. At the same time he did not read any metaphysical books in order to avoid forming any preconceived notions.
Newton's 300 page book Journey of Souls was published in 1994. This book recorded, in chronological order, the spiritual journey of several patients as they reincarnated from one life to the next. A large portion of the book was dialogues between Newton and his patients. Seven years later, on request from his readers, he published his second book, Destiny of Souls. This 400 page book was even more comprehensive in its documentation. Many people at that time were applying Dr Newton's method in search of answers for their own lives.
Of course, the world on the other side is often indescribable by our modern human language. The concepts of time and space are also totally different from ours. The description of the other world by Newton's patients should be understood as their interpretation about the "other side" based on their own limited experience and point of view. The patients saw the world on the other side as their true places of origin and their real homes. They simply separated from their material flesh bodies and returned to their home. An analogy can be made to a scuba diver who just surfaces after having been in the deep sea. The diver surfaces and can once again breathe fresh air and see sunshine. In their description, the spiritual world is a vast beautiful space that is vivid and shining. The reason we call them spiritual worlds is to draw a comparison to our material world. A better way to look at it is that the spiritual world is a more real and fundamental world with high energy. The beings there have no suffering and are in total peace. Their bodies appear weightless and they can float in the air effortlessly. The spirit of a man is a form of energy that can transform into mundane objects in our world. Once a person enters the spiritual world they are no longer deluded by our material world. Their Lives become pure as gold, full of joy. Every being has plenty of love for all other beings.

All lives belong to different groups and they reincarnate in groups. They accompany each other from one life to the next. The partners for any one particular individual will play various roles in his life. They could be his wife, parents, children, brother, friends or enemies. Of course they also have some type of predestined relationship with other groups. Of all the predestined relationships the relationship between husband and wife is the most significant. One's spouse is usually the closest person to you in your group, although in life we might match up with the wrong person for various reasons. Among Newton's patients there was a couple who used to live during the time period of ancient Rome. During that lifetime the woman was a slave who cooked for gladiators. One day that woman fell deeply in love with one of the gladiators. The night before that gladiator was killed in battle, he told her, "I love you forever." The reuniting of that couple during this lifetime fulfilled that oath. In China, loving couples pledge to each other, "Let's be husband and wife through all our lifetimes." This phenomenon actually does exist.
When a person returns to his spiritual home, he will find those people that he just couldn't forget going about their normal lives. How joyful he must feel! A person's spirit can divide just like a holographic picture. A person can even reincarnate into different people and experience several different lives at the same time, although this is rare. When a person reincarnates a part of his energy is left on the other side and it leaves a kind of movie like picture. If a person wants to view his mother who died 30 years ago he can, even though she might have already started a new life somewhere else.





Sometimes a person is not able to immediately return to his own group because he has committed some bad deeds in the world, and his energy becomes damaged. His body is all black. He is sent to places similar to the emergency room, where his energy can be adjusted. Seen from a distance, the place looks like a black sea. However, if his sins can not be forgiven he is sent to earth and becomes the victim of the same type of violence that he has once done to others. In the spiritual world, one is absolutely honest, and never tries to find excuses for one's sins. Because everything is obvious and clear, there is no room for excuses. All wrong doings, no matter if they were committed intentionally or unintentionally, will be repaid in the next life. If someone's wrongful deeds harmed a lot of people in this world, he has to pay it back by suffering similar types of hardships over several lifetimes.

very interesting!

Here is the end of the story:

Dr. Newton discovered that some people choose not to reunite immediately with their own group after they pass away. One patient was a solider in Morocco who fought against French colonialists. In 1934 he was arrested by the French and escorted from Mt. Atlas to the Sahara Desert. There he was tortured for information. The soldier's will was so strong that he would rather die than disclose any information. Later, he was bound to the ground, and died slowly under the baking sunshine. This person came from a relatively high level and in turn his ability to endure suffering was also high. He was so confident that he only brought 50% of his energy when he reincarnated into the world, although he knew how difficult it would be. When he returned to the "other side" it took him 25 to 50 years to recover. From these cases it becomes evident that some strong souls choose to reincarnate into the world but they do it not to suffer for their previous sins but to accomplish something even more precious. Although the soldier only brought part of his energy with him he was able to endure all the suffering without any compromising. It is truly admirable.

In his book Dr. Newton described an interesting phenomenon regarding energy. In other dimensions a souls' energy manifests as colors, and they are indicators of a person's spiritual enlightenment and development. It starts from pure white then goes to red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally purple. The souls who are at the yellow level or higher are eligible to guide others. A person's level of enlightenment is not necessarily correlated with the amount of time in reincarnation. Dr. Newton had one patient who finally gave up his jealousy after 4000 years of incarnations. Dr. Newton also stressed that there is a hierarchy in the spiritual world, but this structure is very harmonious. It is completely different from the social classes and political hierarchies on earth. People on Earth believe that absolute authority results in absolute corruption, which has almost become the standard on Earth. However, patients of Dr. Newton find that there is honesty and freedom everywhere in the spirit world. Souls of higher levels treat souls of lower levels with compassion and tolerance, and everyone is respected and loved.

After joyfully reuniting with friends in the spirit world, souls come to meet higher level beings that become their spiritual guides. The highest level beings that Dr Newton's patients came in contact with had purple colored energy. Souls feel very close to those who guide them and have tremendous amount of respect for them. When souls meet with their spiritual guides it is somewhat similar to a student going to the principal's office. The soul tells the guide things they did right, things they did wrong and how they will compensate for it in their next lifetime. During one of Dr Newton's sessions a patient's spiritual guide mentioned a brief encounter that the patient had at a bus station during his present lifetime. The patient was very confused by this. One day while the patient was rushing to his office he heard a woman weep. He then stopped and sat beside her trying to comfort her. After a few minutes he left and never saw the lady again. The patient was very surprised that his guide brought up this brief encounter. He had donated money to charity groups throughout his life, but his spiritual guide did not comment on that. The guide appeared more interested in the brief encounter. In fact, the kindness the patient showed the woman from bottom of his heart was no less benevolent then his lifelong donations. It appears that everything a person does, whether it is good or bad is recorded in detail.

Just before souls are going to reincarnate they are brought to a place to choose a body. The soul is allowed to see glimpses of the future in a ring shaped screen. He can even use part of his energy to enter into his future body and experience what it will be like. One musician described seeing and experiencing New York before his incarnation. Souls often choose an imperfect life with hardships and tribulations in order to pay off past debts or rise up to higher levels.

After making decisions about their next life souls are sent to a circular performance like hall, where they are allowed to preview important events that are to take place in their next life. One particularly important moment viewed is the time when their spouse enters into their life. In ancient times a marriage was mainly arranged by a person's parents and this event happened very smoothly. However, in modern society it's hard to find your spouse among sentient beings, because personal interests and vanity often sway people. People tend to rely more on reasoning than their intuition. As a result, they sometimes miss the opportunity to meet their prearranged spouses.

One patient told his story of how he met his wife. Before the patient reincarnated he was told by his guide to remember some cues before entering into this lifetime. These cues were to act as landmarks during his life journey. The most important cues were his wife's laughter, his wife's eyes and the way she smelled when they danced together for the first time. His wife Melinda was told to remember the patient's big ears. She also needed to remember that he was a clumsy dancer and that he would step on her feet when they danced together. The patient and Melinda did not know each other while growing up. He lived Iowa, and Melinda lived in California. He almost got married to his girlfriend in high school before he moved to the west with his family. When he first arrived in California he did not know anyone and came up with the idea that he was going to go dancing. This was somewhat unusual since he was clumsy and did not enjoy dancing. That night he met Melinda at a dance. While talking with Dr Newton he realized that it was his guide, playing the role of matchmaker, who put the thought of going dancing into his mind.

In the spirit world, souls discuss with their mentors various lessons they learned from their previous life. They also go to a place similar to a library where they continue their studying. In one case, Amy returned to her spiritual home after living in a small British village. She had committed suicide in 1860 at the age of 16. At the time she had been pregnant for two months. Before committing suicide her fiancé had fallen off a top of a building while repairing a home and died. Amy was so distraught that she desperately jumped into a pool. In the spirit world, she saw herself in a library. In the library a spiritual guide wearing a white robe and holding several pictures came to her while shaking his head. He said to Amy you came back too early. In the spiritual world suicide is considered a big crime and Amy knew this. After a while, she resentfully said that she wanted to hit her guide with the pictures that he was carrying in his hands. She told him why don't you try and experience what she went through during that life. The spiritual guide looked at her very kindly and left the room. Amy thought that he was leaving to give her a chance to calm down for a while. But soon after he returned with a book. He turned to the first page and showed Amy a time when he was a young man in ancient Rome. During that lifetime he was taken to a coliseum and was torn to pieces by a lion because he would not give up his faith. He then put down his book of life and opened Amy's. In it showed several possible directions that her life might have gone if she hadn't committed suicide. Some of the endings were very good. It becomes clear that a sentient being's life can be changed by a person's free will. At the same time, we also see that the spiritual guide's endurance and persistence qualified him to guide Amy not to give up in the face of adversity.

Dr. Newton's patients also recalled that they learned some unique capabilities while in the spiritual world. Some of them reported being able to create and improve some small galaxies and low-level beings in other dimensions. Some of them also experienced incarnating into non-material dimensions. Through the supernormal ability of precognition and retrocognition (foreseeing the future and the past) some patients recall seeing the decline of a civilization developed by yellow-green people. In the spiritual world respecting virtues is far more important then learning knowledge.

Before finishing the review of Dr. Newton's research and other researchers I would like to clarify an issue. I have discovered that most scientists who do research in this area have realized that what their patient sees while in trance is controlled by beings in higher dimensions. If those beings want to intentionally block the patient from seeing something, no matter how hard the researcher tries the patient won't be able to see it. So why have these higher level beings decided to reveal these secrets to human beings during these past 30 years? Are there any reasons behind this?

Part two continued:

Epilogue

The research I reviewed in this article is only a small percentage of the studies done on reincarnation. Since I have been very busy working on various projects I have not had time to review all the research out there. Furthermore, several topics related to reincarnation, such as out of body experiences, clairvoyance, and the ability of precognition and retrocognition, are not addressed in this paper.

We are living in a time when science prevails and we should look at these studies from a scientific perspective. I am very open to all of my readers' questions and doubts. After all science is a continuous process that is constantly evolving and renewing itself. From a modern scientific perspective, physical phenomena ultimately obey a set of mathematical laws and theoretically everything, including chemistry, biology, and society, must follow laws. Since the events we discussed in this article cannot be explained by modern science they are considered to be impossible. Should we consider everything that science cannot explain to be fiction? According to this theory, phenomena that modern science cannot explain are impossible.

Although physicists believe that everything in this world is strictly ruled by a set of mathematical equations, science is still very far away from having a unified theory of physics that explains how all matter and energy interacts with one another. Even if we finally find a universal set of equations that unifies the various fields of physics including gravity, weak electrical forces, and strong nuclear forces we still cannot exclude the possibility that other substances or forces exist. Of course, we may prove by other mathematical rules and observations that this set of equations covers everything; it still would only be relatively true. Both Newton's gravitation theory and Maxwell's electromagnetism are already considered to be perfect, but they are only a small picture of the even larger theory of general relativity and quantum electrodynamics. Therefore, I do not believe modern physics can deny the existence of multiple dimensions or space-times. On the contrary, recently the super-string and membrane theory has already pointed out the necessity of the existence of other space-times.

From the perspective of cognitive sciences, many researchers believe that consciousness and the mind are nothing more than reflections of neural networks running in the brain and body. For example, our sense of color can be attributed to linear resolution of light by three sensitizing cells in our retina. However this is only one explanation. It is far from being a universal truth. In other dimensions beings can also sense color, but they use some other corresponding physical structure. Looking at it from this perspective the thoughts in our minds might be independent from the central nervous system in our human body. It is very likely that the role our central nervous system plays in this dimension is only to process the data obtained by our sensory organs into a message that our main spirit can understand. Maybe if our human bodies didn't exist our main spirit might be able to obtain the information directly. From this perspective our human body's sensory organs could be obstacles for our main spirit.

If reincarnation does exist then our dimension is just like a big stage. Everybody plays a role here. "When you finish your show it's my turn. We even begin to believe the stage is our real home." The atmosphere on the stage is so real that when we arrive on the stage and breathe the air here, we revel in our roles. We forget who we really are and what the truth is. At the same time every single action we make on this stage is a reflection of our true selves and what we play will become experiences and lessons for our true selves. Our true self will take responsibility for what we do on this stage. If the stage is not puzzling enough and if actors do not devote themselves to playing their roles, the stage won't make any sense and our true selves will not be able to get the experience and wisdom that they came here for. In order to make this stage bewildering enough, our material world has to run automatically within the limited area that humans can observe. Furthermore, all traces of higher levels of life must be hidden from us. This is why all our memories about past lives and higher dimensions are completely erased from our minds. It is just like when a student does his homework, he is not supposed to have the answer key. He needs to find out the answer himself in order to master the knowledge.

Knowing that this stage is a maze, why can researchers disclose some answers to us then? Why are they allowed to tell us that we are actually part of this play? As a matter of fact very few people will believe them and they know that. Therefore, the riddle is still a riddle. For those who believe what they have said, they will try to play their roles better. Perhaps the hints themselves are part of the play and behind them lies something very profound.

These researchers have contributed a lot to our culture, but we have to point out the limitations of their work on a spiritual level. What they learned and observed through the heart of their patients was limited to a certain level and a certain range. Furthermore, what their patients saw was might not have been the true scene. They also deciphered what they saw according to their different cultural backgrounds and understandings. Hence conclusions made based upon what they saw or experienced might not be necessarily correct. For example, none of the patients mentioned seeing or experiencing hell, so some researchers have claimed that hell does not exist. This conclusion is as ridiculous as asking those who are not here please raise your hand. In addition, because a person's main spirit can stay or leave the body of an embryo or fetus and it is not completely combined with the human body, some researchers have even concluded that abortion was okay. This conclusion is definitely not correct. Even without a main spirit the human flesh body itself is a living being. In fact, besides our main spirit and our human flesh body, there could be a lot of other kinds of beings associated with a person. For example, the Taoist school in China believes one person has three spirits and seven souls, while the Buddha school believes that there are more than one immortal consciousness. Although hierophants did not describe the details of higher levels, Jesus did not mention reincarnation at all, and Confucius even said "we do not understand life, and how do we know death?", the author still thought that traditional values were much closer to correct and what Jesus and Buddha told people were fundamental to people.

I myself have practiced Falun Gong for the past few years. Actually Master Li Hongzhi has addressed all the questions and topics raised in this article. Here are only a few examples.

"We have also observed this situation: When a person is born, a profile of his whole life will exist in a specific dimension. In other words, where he is in his life and what he should do are all included in it. Who has arranged his life? It is obviously done by a higher life. For instance, in our ordinary human society, after birth one belongs to a certain family, a certain school, and upon growing up a certain workplace; various contacts in society are made through a person's job. That is, the layout of the entire society has been planned this way." (Zhuan Falun)

"During In-Triple-World-Fa cultivation, the energy that people can have in the very beginning is red, after that it will turn orange, yellow, green, …… totally nine colors and they are red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, colorful and colorless. The level of one person is very easy to determine. Continue practicing after colorless state, it will be Beyond-Triple-World-Fa cultivation." (Zhuan Falun II)

"We've also found that, because there's this kind of relationship, that is, a person has kindness and spite in one lifetime, has close relatives and good friends, has a wife and children, and so forth, then it's very likely that there's kindness and spite within this group—someone treats another well, someone treats another badly, one person repays another person… These things will then cause them to reincarnate as a group in the next life. But they don't come together; it's not that they'll reincarnate together. The timing of their arrivals in this world will vary, so some will be older and some younger. Anyway, there will be certain connections among this group of people, who will reincarnate at different times. You'll find that someone who walks down the street and doesn't belong to your group, who doesn't have a predestined relationship with you, or have anything to do with you, will seem to be in a totally different world from you. You won't seem to have anything to do with him. You'll also find persons who seem to be of a different type of people. Then these people aren't from your group, and you don't have any predestined relationship with them at all. So people usually reincarnate as a group and arrive at different times". (Falun Buddha Fa , Lectures in the United States)

"Committing suicide is another sin. This is because a person's life is pre-arranged. You have disrupted the sequence of the god's entire layout. Through the obligations you carry out to society, between people there is this kind of interrelationship. If the person dies, won't this entire sequence disrupt the god's arrangement then? If you disrupt it, he will not let you go. Therefore, committing suicide is sinful." (Falun Dafa, Lecture in Sydney)

What Master Li has told us are principles of cultivation. Master Li has explained the answers to many fundamental, momentous and age old questions in very plain language. According to different people's educational backgrounds and ways of thinking, Master Li has used words and examples from modern sciences to help allow people to understand his teachings. But the words and examples Master Li uses have completely different meanings. His lectures are not scientific seminars and not all the people listening to his lectures are people from scientific circles. The meaning of words that Master Li cites like "atom" and "molecule" are not limited to the definitions made by modern science. It is our hope that our friends from different scientific circles will not emphasize the form alone without looking deeper for the truth.

To conclude, I would like to cite a poem by Master Li:

The Big Stage
Five thousand years of human civilization,

has China Proper1 as the stage.


Foolishly absorbed in what unfolds in the play,

the grotesque scenes seem beautiful.


Awakening, people look at one another,

and realize the stage was being set for the Fa.


Li Hongzhi
February 1, 2002

References

Helen Wambach，Ph.D.，Reliving past lives - The evidence under hypnosis.
Joel L. Whitton, M.D. Ph.D. and Joe Fisher, Life between life: scientific explorations into the void separating one incarnation from the next.
Michael Newton, Ph.D., Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives.
Michael Newton, Ph.D., Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives.

Here is part one(sorry..):

I find this article extremely interesting and recommend people to buy the books mentioned in the article. The 1% deviations is just astonishing in the past life stories, to me that shows reincarnation is real and tangible and we all need to carefully assess our actions in life.

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Evidence for Reincarnation from Western Medical Research: (Part I) Dr. Wambach's Past Life Regression Studies

* Evidence for Spirit

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Author:
Qing Di

Is reincarnation a beautiful fantasy or reality? After hypnosis, many people claim that they can recall prior lives and seem to be able to describe them in great detail. Are they true or just fantasies? Can this be proven scientifically? Has data been collected systematically and analyzed to prove or disprove such contentions? Yes, scientific research is based on a hypothesis, in laymen's terms a question or questions, and subsequent proof or disproof of the particular theory. In the scientific community, a hypothesis won't be accepted until evidence shows it has a high probability of being true. It is well known, though, that the scientific community will subject the prediction to still further scrutiny. It is no surprise, then, that the researcher under discussion, Dr. Helen Wambach, a psychologist, maintained a questioning attitude with respect to her study on reincarnation. As a matter of fact, Carol Moore stated that the late Dr. Wambach wanted to "debunk" reincarnation. Dr. Wambach's books Reliving Past Lives and Life Before Life, published in1978 by Bantam paperback books, discussed evidence of reincarnation found under hypnosis [1], and described her research in detail. In the first half of her book Reliving Past Lives, published in 1978, Dr. Wambach talked about how she became interested in spiritual phenomena, and what got her started with her studies. She also told readers her experience of being confused, even cynical. However, she decided to continue with her research after she found what she believed to be truthful data among the vast amount of data collected. In the second half of the book, she described the data she collected and her analysis.

Dr. Helen Wambach was a lecturer in an institute. Beginning in the late 1960s, Dr. Wambach conducted a 10-year survey of past-life recollections under hypnosis among 1,088 subjects. For historical accuracy, Dr. Wambach asked specific questions about the time periods in which people lived and questions about the daily live in the given periods. Dr. Wambach collected her purposive samples by organizing workshops of about a dozen people each. Dr. Wambach led them on a "four-stage journey" which lasted a full day. She charged minimal fees to fund her long-term study.

The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis describes hypnosis as a state of inner absorption, concentration and focused attention. Hypnosis is a procedure during which a health professional or researcher suggests that the subject experience changes in sensations, perceptions, thoughts, or behavior, i.e., an altered state of consciousness. A cultivator understands that based on brain wave differences, being hypnotized is not similar to sleep, but similar to traditional Buddhist or Taoist meditation. Under such conditions, people could possibly use his/her wisdom eye to observe and experience his/her previous lives.

Under regression therapy to a prior life, the individual can identify with a certain individual of a particular prior time period. Apparently, he/she will experience whatever the individual experienced at that particular point in time, as well as communicate verbally or orally in an ancient language. Interestingly, after awakening from regression therapy the individual will no longer be able to recognize the ancient languages. Sometimes, the individual's present personality may be able to partake in the regression in a passive role, that is, the individual will view the prior life as if he/she was watching a movie. He/she may hear the words without understanding what is being said.

During the hypnotic session, the hypnotized individual may recall the time and location of the events but somehow fuse it with his personality from this lifetime or the prior lifetime. Sometimes the individual may gain supernormal abilities. He may be able to know the time and location of the particular recall. For example, when a hypnotized individual was asked a specific question about the time period and location, he/she saw with the wisdom eye a date from the Christian era, even if the hypnotized subject recalled a pre-Christian period, or a non-Christian environment. What this tells us is that pinning down the exact space-time location of the recollection can be difficult, though some hypnotized individuals may be able to pinpoint the location on a map.

I believe that these messages were either from a higher being, or from the "clear side" of the hypnotized individual. A higher being is what the Buddha school calls an enlightened being. A "clear side" may refer to what is called in the Buddha school the enlightened side of an individual that can see other realities. It is clear that one cannot achieve an enlightened state under hypnosis. Under the hypnotic state the object's mind is very relaxed, thus the true self of the individual may dominate. For further information into the subject matter, please refer to two books by Dr. Michael Newton [3][4].

First, Dr. Wambach put the person into a hypnotic state and then asked questions that allowed the individual to recall prior lives. The individual will be aware of everything that is taking place and after emerging from hypnosis; he/she may be able to recall everything that took place during the session. Dr. Wambach's hypnotized 1,088 people for her study. After careful analysis of the data, Dr. Wambach concluded that the information collected under hypnosis was, with respect to historical records available to her "amazingly accurate" with the exception of 11 subjects. For example, one individual said that he played piano in the 15th century, when, in fact, the piano was invented two centuries later.

Among the eleven subjects, nine gave information that deviated only slightly from the historical time frame. It is amazing that only 1% of the population was found to be inaccurate in the information provided under hypnosis. It is clear to me that if all those memories are mere illusions, such a low fail rate is impossible. Of course, one can not exclude that
some were merely imaginary, as not everyone is able to use his/her wisdom eye. Compared with China, clinical hypnosis is relatively well documented and readily available in western society. I believe that the reason for this is that the mind of westerners is less complex -- a consequence of cultural influence. The wisdom eye of westerners is easy to open.

Carol Moore stated that Dr. Wambach asked specific questions about the time periods, including social status, race, gender, clothing, utensils, money, housing, and the like. She used charts and tables to record this information so it would be easier to compare it to the given time period.

With respect to social status, Dr. Wambach categorized people as upper class, middle class and lower class. She found that her population could be separated into10% from the upper class, 20-35% from the middle class and the remaining 55-70% from the lower class. Although the proportion of middle class cases was relatively higher around 1000 BC, the proportion later dropped, and increased again after 1700 AD, comparable to that of 1000BC.

Historical records indicate that craftsmen and merchants were mainly found near the east Mediterranean Sea during that era. Business enterprises were well established. However, approximately between 60-77% of the population lived at or below the poverty level. They wore home made clothes and lived in simple thatched cottages. The majority were farmers who labored every day in the fields. None of the hypnotized individuals recalled being a famous historical figure. Those who recalled a high social position seemed highly dissatisfied with their lives, as if it was a burden to be alive. Those who recalled being a farmer or a member of a primitive tribe appeared to be content with their live. Evaluation of he data strongly suggests that it is highly unlikely that these recollections are from the imagination of the individual. Generally, people imagine themselves as a famous historical figure or a nobleman and not something as mundane as a farmer or member of a primitive tribe.

With respect to the race of the subjects, Dr. Wambach selected mainly middle class whites from California. Their recollections indicated that they had lived in different geographic areas and their hair color was different during the prior life. Dr. Wambach divided them into several categories: Caucasians, Asians, Indians, Blacks and Middle Eastern descent. Around 2000 BC, only 20% of the subjects were Caucasians. They lived widely dispersed throughout what is now known as the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Europe and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc., called central steppe during historical times). The subjects' recollections appeared to be mainly of two different races (approximately 40% each).

Five subjects stated that they lived in Central Asia between 1000 and 2000 BC. They seemed to have lived in tents, which was common to the migrating population in what is called Central Asia today. Amazingly, they found themselves to have white skin color and yellow or golden hair . It doesn't appear to make any sense, as historical facts indicate that the people of that particular area should be of darker skinned and black hair.

Three of the subjects appeared to have similar recollections. They wore pants made of leather. Historical records also indicate that a limited number of Caucasians, those of white skin and light hair color, had migrated to that region during that time. However, subjects did not think that their recollections had merit, as their historical knowledge did not indicate that Caucasians lived in that region during that era. However, Dr. Wambach believed the recollections to be true. Such discrepancies were found quite frequently among the collection of the data collected by Dr. Wambach. Given that the subjects did not trust their recollections, we believe that it was not imagination, built from the person's education/reading during this lifetime.

The average age of the subjects was around 30 years and most were born after 1945. Forty-five of the subjects recalled prior lives between 1900 and 1945. One third were Asians. Death from unnatural causes among those living between 1900 and 1945 appeared to be very high. Many of them died during the two world wars, as well as civil wars in Asian countries. Thus, these people reincarnated shortly after they died. Surprisingly, Dr. Wambach found that 69% of the subjects who had died during the1850's were Caucasians, while between 1900 and 1945, only 40% were Caucasian. It seems that transmigration of the different races increased after 1945. What could have happened during that era? Dr. Wambach joked: that most likely many devotees of the Congregational Church reincarnated into communist China.

Of interest is also that the subject's gender may not be the same during different life times. For example, a man was surprised that he was a female in a prior life and lived around 480 B.C in China. Another man was an Indian woman in his prior life, who died of dystocia (dystocia is the condition when a fetus cannot be delivered naturally because of its position in the mother's womb). He described the pain he felt, and became rather upset. Unexpectedly, the ratios between males and females among the subjects were found to be mostly the same during any of the ages.

The subjects' clothing during their former lifetime also corresponded with historical records. For example, a subject who lived around 1000 B.C in Egypt described different types of clothing worn by the upper and lower classes. The upper classes wore either a half-length or full-length white cotton robe. The lower classes wore something like an exotic-looking type of pants that was wrapped downwards from the waist. The researchers viewed historic records of clothing worn during the respective periods and could therefore compare it to the descriptions of these subjects. The descriptions were found to be correct. We are also quite sure that these subjects were not familiar with what the ancient Egyptians wore.

A female subject recalled that she was a knight in A.D. 1200. She said, "I feel it is very impractical. I must have illusions." She continued, "I lowered my head to look at my feet. I saw a pair of triangle-head boots. I thought they would be round-headed, just like the armor I saw in the museum." Later on, she found such triangle-head boots in an encyclopedia. According to the encyclopedia, this type of boots was worn in Italy before A.D. 1280. She had recalled that she was in Italy at that about time since she had died in 1254.

Eating habits of people who lived around 500 B. C. were not that bad. Twenty percent of the subjects recalled that they ate poultry and sheep meat. However, between A.D. 25 to A.D. 1200, people's eating habits were rather poor. Though, the subjects recalled that the food was tasteless. One young man said: "I will never bad-mouth McDonald's food". It is not surprising that those who recalled the best tasting food were those who recalled a prior life in of China. One of the women subject told Dr. Wambach that she ate radishes a lot in her former lifetime. She said: "I have not eaten radishes during this lifetime, so it is a mystery to me how I knew it was radish." Several months later, her husband and she ate at a restaurant. There was some white odd-looking vegetable in one of dishes her husband ordered. After she tasted it, she told her husband it was just like the flavor of radish she ate in her former lifetime. They asked a waiter who told them that it was a radish. Another person recalled that he had lived during A.D. 800 in what is today called Indonesia. He remembered having eaten some kind of nut, that he had not had eaten or even seen in this lifetime. Later on, he saw a picture of such nuts in a magazine. "It is exactly what I had seen under hypnosis!" He said, "The article said that these nuts are only found on the island of Bali."

Dr. Wambach also found from the recollections that the world's population has increased over time. After A.D. 1500, the population increased even more rapidly. It is even now rather difficult to interpret some of the data, because one has to painstakingly research connections and links to historical times. Also, earlier life times may not be as easily recalled as more recent lifetimes, although Dr. Wambach found that the degree of clarity of the subjects' recollections of former lifetimes was unrelated to time. Dr. Wambach could not explain the reason for the ever-increasing population, which is today called the population explosion. In fact, if we see the world as a huge stage, with a fixed number of actors, the number of people on the stage would still change. Furthermore, the researchers concluded that the time between death and rebirth, i.e., samsara seemed to be shorter in modern times than in ancient times.

Dr Wambach also questioned those under hypnosis, during recollection of a given lifetime, the reasons for their deaths and their experiences. To protect the subjects from anguish and suffering, Dr. Wambach instructed them to suppress their negative feelings from that time. The subjects' experiences were very similar to the near death experiences reported by today's doctors and researchers. They left their bodies, looked down on their own bodies, saw light, and the relatives who had passed away earlier. They felt free from their worldly bonds and at the same time sad for those relatives still alive. Among all the subjects, 62% died of old age and illness, which the ancient Chinese called "died in his bed." Eighteen percent died violently during war, or some other manmade catastrophe and the remaining 20% died in accidents. Some subjects said that they already left their flesh bodies even before they were fatally injured. We found that in 1000 B.C. and A. D. twentieth century the ratio of people who died violently peaked. There seemed to be many localized battles among tribes during 1000 B.C. In the twentieth century, many died during an air attack when bombs were dropped on civilian areas. Usually, these people had died of smoke suffocation caused by the bomb. This information could easily be verified from recent historical records. Again we believe that the subjects' description was not an illusion, as not many people had been aware of this.

Dr. Wambach's book presented a number of figures and tables, as well as the questionnaires used for her survey. Some subjects mentioned that some people they knew in former lifetimes were among those they associated with during this lifetime. I believe that this corresponds to the karmic relationship the cultivators talk about. Reincarnation may best explain Dr. Wambach's research data. We believe that to call the survey data "imaginary" would do grave injustice to a truth not fully discovered yet.

For example, many readers might be familiar with Chinese history. Some are quite familiar with the events that occurred during five thousands years of Chinese history. However, we doubt that a satisfactory answer will be given by those who are familiar with "The Annals of Food and Goods" if questioned about details of lifestyle, eating habits, or type of clothing worn in the Zhou Dynasty, Song Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.

Dr. Wambach was not a religious believer. She called the data she collected a "myth" of life. She also encouraged readers to obtain their own "myth". Nowadays, a great number of books about reincarnation are being published. Some of the data collected by more recent researchers are more comprehensive, profound and insightful than the data collected by Dr. Wambach. Names which come to mind include Dr. Byran Jamison [2] and Dr. Michael Newton. Nonetheless, Dr. Wambach's book is still valuable because she is so far the only investigator who completed a statistical analysis to test the hypothesis of reincarnation with a large data sample.

Addendum

I. Does reincarnation exist after all? Scientific data collected as of date seems to suggest that reincarnation is a fact of life. Here are some supporting pieces of evidence:

1) Scientific research has discovered many cases of prior life memory recollections among young children. These recalls were studied, categorized and confirmed through rigorous research.

2) Details that subjects recalled about their prior lives correspond to historical records. Furthermore, there was great consistency among prior life recollections of the same time periods and geographical areas.

3) Subjects recalled ancient languages and words that they did not learn during this lifetime. Furthermore, after the hypnotic state ended they no longer could speak or understand those languages.

4) Some subjects among relatives, friends, or even strangers, recalled the same people, events and details independently.

5) Recalling past lives' agonies and events were instrumental in addressing and often alleviating today's ills and problems, such as terror and long-time pain.

It is very difficult to explain these phenomena as illusions. But they may not be readily accepted by modern science as evidence for the concept of reincarnation.

II. Some readers from mainland China might ask: did these researchers cheat? I ask the indulgence and understanding of these researchers. China at this time is in denial about all data has not already been proven with modern science. Thus, a more detailed explanation for the Chinese reader is necessary.

1) These researchers are well known and respected in their academic fields. For example, Dr. Ian Stevenson, M.D., Professor of Research at the University of Virginia (UVA), Department of Psychiatric Medicine and Division of Personality Studies (DOPS) is prominent in his field of study, which includes the study of reincarnation. He is famous for studying past life recollections of children for more than 36 years.

2) These researchers gain nothing from fabricating such data. Publishing data on reincarnation will not get them promotions. On the contrary, publication on such controversial subjects may lead to being ostracized by their peers or it could have a negative effect on their careers.

3) Whether their data supports or denies reincarnation, their research breaks through into a previously taboo subject matter. Actually, since reincarnation is not accepted in western culture, denying reincarnation maybe more beneficial to them.

4) Many researchers are not religious believers; therefore, they don't have any intention of searching for evidence to support their religions or trying to spread their religions. Some of them were exposed to harassment from religious extremists; as western religions do not acknowledge reincarnation.

5) The information they obtained is consistent.

6) People who believe in reincarnation all know that good is rewarded with good and evil meets evil. No one dares to lie.

7) Books on reincarnation are less popular in western society. Some of the books may be difficult to obtain in bookstores. So, the motive for earning money is not there.

Of course, you should judge for yourself if reincarnation exists or not. You should judge based on your personal experience and belief system. I have written this article to raise your interest about the subject of reincarnation. The reader should decide for her/himself. Nevertheless, whether we wish it or not, reincarnation is part of our culture.

I just wanted to say how much I liked Dr. Newton's research and books. They held me together back when I lost my religion and needed something to believe in.

And here is another one from his book:

Another one coming here(the part with the Nazi camp women intrigued me):

Some Thoughts on Western Research on Transmigration: Arrangement and Agreement before Reincarnation

* Evidence for Spirit

Author:
Qing Di

[PureInsight.org] The great poet Li Bai wrote, "Living people are passing guests, while the dead are the returning lives. A back-and-forth journey between heaven and earth, mourning for the eternal path." Human life is short and bitter like the glint of a horse flashing across a chink in the door. This is already enough to cause people to feel melancholy. However, for some people, life is filled with even more frustration and sorrow. Why on earth is everything like this?

Over the last twenty or thirty years, many in-depth research projects on transmigration and reincarnation have been done in the Western medical field. The main technique used is to guide subjects into a state of hypnotic trance, which is similar to the tranquil state reached through the Buddha school's meditation. This makes the subject recall and re-experience his or her previous lives, and even the worlds on the other shore between reincarnations. Researchers have discovered that a human's life is actually pre-arranged by higher beings and that, in some cases, the person even agreed to living that life before his or her incarnation.

For example, Dr. Michael Newton has studied the occurrences in the spiritual world between peoples' reincarnations using the method of hypnosis. He has described many cases in his two books - Journey of Souls [1] and Destiny of Souls [2]. He has found that if a person's death in his or her next life is arranged to happen due to a premature fatal illness, murder, or disaster, the person is often told before his or her incarnation. Tragedies in this earthly world are actually not accidents that happen at a wrong time or at a wrong place, instead they all have their predestined relationship. The purpose of these arrangements is for the person to repay the debts incurred in previous lives, to temper his or her soul through hardships, or to provide an opportunity for others to ascend through the tribulation.

In one case, a subject recalled that she had died in a Nazi concentration camp in her previous life. It turned out that this being and three other beings had volunteered to be reincarnated into Jewish women. In 1941, they were arrested in Munich and taken to a concentration camp located in Dachau separately, and were jailed in the same barracks. These events were all pre-arranged. The girl died in 1943 in that life. She was only eighteen years old. What she needed to do in the concentration camp was to take care of the younger children, and try to help them survive. She fulfilled her predestined mission courageously.

In another case, the subject was a woman, who in her previous life died on a farm in Texas two years after she got married. Before her reincarnation, she was given three options on how she would die. She could be hit by a bullet from two drunken men shooting at each other, fall off a horse, or drown. This woman chose to be shot by the bullet from the two drunkards. Her choice of leaving this world two years after getting married was because her husband had to experience the pain of losing his deeply loved one, further repay his debt owed in previous lives, and to learn some lessons. The fate of this woman was completely for her husband's paying back his karma and upgrading his level.

By recalling these types of cases, I do not intend to say that there is no need to feel sympathy for these peoples' suffering. Actually it's exactly the other way around. Everybody in this earthly world has the responsibility to try his or her best to resist evil and promote goodness, and stand up for justice and protect the innocent. Being apathetic, refusing to help someone in trouble, or crowing over other's suffering and adding insult to injury are committing crimes. They will certainly have to be paid for in the next life.

In dimensions higher than the human world, cultivators can also see that everything has its karmic arrangement and is not accidental. This is also why a person who has reached a certain level in cultivation is able to see these arrangements and the future. This is called Precognition and Retrocognition (suming tong).

From these cases, we might be able to understand what Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, has talked about in his recent lectures. That is why some higher beings (the old forces) in the universe arranged the persecution against Falun Gong. These arrangements and agreements do not conform to the principles of higher dimensions and therefore must be rejected. We can also note that what Falun Gong practitioners are doing is not only for the sake of human rights and freedom, but also has an even deeper and more far-reaching significance.

References:
[1] Michael Newton, Ph.D., Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life between Lives, Llewellyn Publications, 1994.
[2] Michael Newton, Ph.D., "Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life between Lives, Llewellyn Publications, 2000.