ABSTRACT
Reincarnation has been a topic of interest for millennia. The belief that one’s essence continues after death has been held not only in several ancient cultures, but also by philosophers, scientists, and modern-day researchers. Religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism, as well as most versions of Paganism, all believe in reincarnation.
For this research paper, the perspective of reincarnation through religion and culture will not be discussed, but rather will review several alternate ideas that use the scientific method to substantiate the possibility of reincarnation. Through the exploration of plausible theories such as the near-death experience and its relationship to reincarnation; examining concepts in quantum physics such as entanglement, non-locality, and the first law of thermodynamics; and finally, by evaluating the most famous case of past-life recall as conducted by well-known psychiatrist and researcher, Dr. Ian Stevenson, substantial evidence for the existence of reincarnation will be presented.
Keywords: reincarnation, Dr. Ian Stevenson, entanglement, non-locality, quantum physics.
INTRODUCTION
Your choice to start all over again is what is called death (Nithyananda, 2009, p. 154). “Reincarnation, also referred to as rebirth, or transmigration, is a belief that some non-physical aspect of ourselves transcends mortal life after our physical death” to begin again in a different form (McClelland 2010, p. 24–29). That which leaves the physical body has been theorized to be the spirit, consciousness, mind, or some other energy which surpasses a single lifetime to be born-again in some unified cycle (Kumar et al., 2013). The beliefs on reincarnation vary by culture, with no two having exactly the same philosophies (Kumar et al., 2013).
Statistically, the idea of having this ‘infinite’ aspect of ourselves, is accepted by approximately 23% of Americans polled over 20 years (Kutkajtis, 2018). A poll conducted by the Angus Reed Institute in 2015 in Canada, showed that 77% of people believe life after death is possible, and 42% outright believe in life after death in some form (Korzinsky, 2015). These statistics show a substantial part of the population have some believe in transmigration, and implores us to investigate possibilities from different angles to provide the full answer.
Many religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism, as well as most versions of Paganism, all hold belief in reincarnation as a central tenet, although there are many other religions that refer to the concept of reincarnation in some way (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012). The belief held is that the birth and death cycle is endless, until one completes all their spiritual lessons (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012). The above noted religions differ however in their beliefs of who, or what can reincarnate, how reincarnation may occur, and the process that leads to completion of the cycle (Juergensmeyer & Roof, 2012).
The religious perspective of understanding reincarnation will not be further discussed as this research paper aims to review several ways of validating reincarnation through exploring the near-death experience and it’s relationship to reincarnation; by evaluating quantum theories such as entanglement, non-locality, and the first law of thermodynamics which provide possible scientific explanations into reincarnation; and finally by reviewing the most famous reincarnation case conducted by psychiatrist Dr. Ian Stevenson, who researched thousands of cases of children who recalled their past lives, in order to provide substantial evidence for the concept of reincarnation.
LITERATURE REVIEW
BACKGROUND
There have been many well known scholars over the centuries who were fascinated with the idea of reincarnation. Plato, for example, described the journey of the soul about to be reborn in his book The Republic (Plato, ca. 370 B.C.E./1943). In the 1800’s, German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, “we find the doctrine of reincarnation springing from the earliest and noblest ages of the human race, always spread abroad on the earth as the belief of the great majority of mankind” (Schopenhauer, 1893, p 181). Dr. Carl Jung wrote in Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, that as a boy, he recalled in great detail being an elderly man living in the eithteenth century (Jung, 1969). “This concept of rebirth necessarily implies the continuity of personality that one is able, at least potentially, to remember that one has lived through previous existences, and that these existences were one’s own” (Jung, 1969, p. 113).
One notable 20th century psychiatrist who devoted much of his life to the study of reincarnation was Dr. Ian Stevenson. He investigated only cases of children with first hand accounts of past life recall, and in his 40 year career, conducted over 2,500 on-site interviews with children and their families. Once a skeptic, who had originally received a grant to disprove the notion of rebirth, Stevenson went on to spend his life validating the idea of reincarnation with the opinion that “memories, emotions and even features of the individual’s physical body may be transmitted from one life to another” (Hopkins Tanne, 2007, p. 1).
THE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE AS EVIDENCE OF REINCARNATION
One of my most vivid memories, is a near death experience I had as a young child of only one and a half years. My family was coming back from a vacation in California, where I had developed a serious bowel infection. I recall being very unwell travelling by car to get home; weak and experiencing a high fever. Once arriving home, my parents immediately took me to the family doctor, and I was placed on antibiotics, however they were difficult to administer and thus not getting into my system to fight the infection. My mother took me back to the doctor, Where I was then given tetracycline, which we now know, causes irreversible health problems in children, exacerbating the already bad situation. I still remember the feeling of being so ill, that I would be in and out of consciousness. One night at the worst point of the illness, I was sleeping in bed beside my dad. I awoke, feeling light and peaceful. I recall floating up out of my body, higher and higher towards the ceiling. We lived in a house built by a gentleman who had come from Italy, and the ceiling had a beautifully ornate hand-sculpted design in the plaster. I turned and looked down, and saw my dad sleeping and recall wondering who was sleeping beside him. Shocked, the realization came that it was me! Next, a bright light appeared in the corner of the room, and I turned to look. It was a beautiful, almost unexplainable light, that seemed to illuminate from within, like the glow of a thousand candles. In the light I could see the shape of a Being, yet the details of their face were indiscernible from the brightness of the light around them. I heard a man’s voice speak as clear as day; not aloud, but rather inside my mind. I remember how much I wanted to go towards this light, to feel that oneness more deeply, and to leave the separation of this world. I had a feeling of excitement to return back to my true home, beyond this physical world, that I missed deeply. The voice spoke to me, and said it was not time; that I needed to go back and complete my life. I remember being very disappointed, and feeling very rejected, that I was being told to come back. Then, as I looked down at my father sleeping, I knew that I could not abandon my parents; I knew it would destroy them, as I was their only child. Most of all, I remember this strong feeling that I had an important purpose, and that the direction to return, was not a punishment, but rather a Divine gift.
For myself, the experience of the dying process is filled with highly vivid imagery, that left a memory which is to this day more real to me than any of my waking life. I emerged with heightened intuition, became empathic (able to feel other’s emotions), clairvoyant, clairaudient, clairsentient, and claircognizant. I could see patterns in everything, and had an amazing ability to discern truth, from untruths. Most notably, I awoke, to my parent’s amazement, completely healed of the infection.
The near-death experience (NDE) is an occurrence that supports the argument for reincarnation. Over the past hundred years, may individuals have written fascinating accounts of their experiences, which leave one with a general understanding of the process that may await us at the moment of death. Dr. Eban Alexander is one such experiencer. In his book, Proof of Heaven, Alexander admits to having no belief in the afterlife whatsoever, until his own experience. As a highly trained neurosurgeon, the author believed that NDE’s were merely fantasies produced by the brain under extreme stress (Alexander, 2012).
In November of 2008, Dr. Alexander contracted a lethal bacterial meningitis brain infection, and was given a one in ten million chance of survival. After spending seven days in a coma, he came to and began recounting his experience of a journey into another realm, which he notes felt more real that this life (Alexander, 2012). One specific memory he had, involved meeting a deceased sister, that he never even knew he had (Alexander, 2012). The experience changed Alexander’s paradigm, and left him having to reconsider much of what he thought he knew. After all, his brain had completely shut down, and was no longer functioning; yet this incredible otherworldly journey that he so vividly experienced had to exist so it must have occured somewhere outside of his brain (Alexander, 2012).
The nature of this experience provides antidotal, yet verifiable evidence that our memories, or ‘mind’ continue, even when the brain is not functioning (Alexander, 2012). Dr. Alexander, once an atheist and non-believer, was transformed into accepting the unconditional love of God, and ideas regarding consciousness and spirituality (Alexander, 2012). When we consider fully his experience, we find that consciousness is not dependent on the brain, but rather appears to be rooted elsewhere (Alexander, 2012). Quantum physics presents concepts which offer new insights into understanding consciousness, and the possibility of an infinite nature.
REINCARNATION DEFINED BY QUANTUM PHYSICS
Over the past century, the evolution of physics has offered a new cosmology, with greater understanding of the connections between the mind and the brain, suggesting that consciousness is the fundamental element linking the two (Schwartz et al., 2005). Our paradigm continues to shift from Newtonian physics, where the reductionist, materialist view sees everything as separate, and reduced to its smallest elemental parts; to quantum physics where everything is looked upon as interconnected and observed in its entirety.
Two concepts born of quantum physics, that of entanglement and non-locality, provide a valid understanding of how interconnection takes place. These concepts were first described by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen in 1935, in a paper entitled “Can Quantum Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?” (Einstein et al. 1935). The paper presents an interesting case where two quantum systems interact in a way so as to link both their linear momentum, and spatial coordinates, even when the systems are greatly separated from each other (Einstein et al. 1935). As a result of the ‘entanglement’ of the two systems, determining the position and momentum for one, would determine the position and momentum of the other (Einstein et al. 1935). Entanglement, therefore, is when two particles or systems interacting with one another become permanently connected, with each depending on the state of the other (Vaidman, 2019).
Entanglement ties into non-locality, which is the ability of objects to instantaneously know about the other’s state, even when they are separated by great distances (possibly even billions of light years), making it appear as if the universe can arrange particles in anticipation of future events (Einstein et al. 1935). Non-locality occurs due to the phenomenon of entanglement, when particles that interact with each other become perpetually correlated, whereby they effectively lose their individuality and appear to behave as a single entity (Winsberg & Fine, 2003). The two concepts of entanglement and nonlocality are succinct as facets of quantum systems, which have been repeatedly demonstrated in laboratory experiments (Winsberg & Fine, 2003).
In contemplating non-locality and entanglement, the concepts may be utilized to better understand reincarnation. If we again refer to Dr. Eban Alexander’s experience, it could be suggested that his consciousness is non-local, or that it exists on some level, outside of the brain. It could also be suggested, that through entanglement, his consciousness may be residing both inside the brain (when it is well, and functioning), and outside of the brain (at the time the brain ceases to function) simultaneously.
Entanglement and non-locality provide us with science-based explanations that we can apply to understanding how consciousness, in thousands of near-death cases, returns to the body with memories fully intact, when the individual wakes from their journey beyond life. We can infer based on these near-death experiences that the consciousness (spirit, or essence) may well continue to exist beyond the death of the physical body, where death itself is simply the next step in the journey of our infinite nature into the afterlife, and possibly our next rebirth.
Physics gives us one other interesting way of looking at reincarnation. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed (Gislason & Craig, 2002). Rudolf Clausius is credited with the first complete statements of the law, in 1850. Energy exists in many forms, such as heat, light, chemical energy, and electrical energy (Gislason & Craig, 2002). It is electrical energy that creates the thought processes in the brain (Ruffini et al., 2005), and it is the loss of electrical energy in the brain, and body at the end of life, that stops the biological processes from continuing (Tennant, 2010). Therefore, it may be possible that when life ends, the electrical energy of our thoughts and memories (consciousness) is transferred elsewhere, since according to the First Law of Thermodynamics, it cannot be destroyed (Gislason & Craig, 2002).
THE WORK OF DR. IAN STEVENSON
Some of the most respected scientific data that appears to provide substantiative proof that reincarnation is real, is the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson, a Canadian-born American psychiatrist who authored approximately three hundred papers, and fourteen books on reincarnation. He passionately researched the topic for over four decades, travelling the world from India to Virginia, investigating and documenting over 2,500 cases of children who remembered some account of a former life. Stevenson’s work differed from other researchers in that instead of relying solely on hypnosis to see whether an individual may recall any details, he instead collected first-hand accounts from thousands of children, and their families, who spontaneously, and without hypnosis, were able to remember a past life (Stevenson, 2016). In his book, Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation, which was first written in 1987, and later revised in 2016 to include new material, Stevenson brought forward interesting new evidence including links between birthmarks or birth defects, and their correlation to the recollection of a fatal injury sustained in a former life (Stevenson, 2016).
One such case study, that proves without any reasonable doubt that rebirth exists, is the story of Shanti Devi. The account was so profound, that Mahatma Gandhi appointed a committee of 15 notable citizens including parliamentarians, media members and national leaders to accompany Shanti to the village where she remembered having a past life, and record the event (Gupta et al, 1936).
Shanti Devi was born in Delhi, on December 11, 1926. Devi only began to speak around the age of four, which is when she began talking about her husband, and children, and telling her current mother and father that they were not her true parents (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). By the time she was six years old, Shanti Devi had provided a great deal of detail to her now parents including her former name being Lugdi Bai, the name of the village where she had lived, her husband’s profession, the location of his cloth shop, and even details of her death following childbirth (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). She talked about her house in Mathura, foods she enjoyed, and the type of dresses she used to wear, and recalled very specific information about her husband’s physical appearance including his skin tone, glasses, and a distinctive facial mole (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). Devi’s parents, concerned about their daughter, reportedly contacted a physician, who himself was amazed at how the young child was able to discuss medical details of a complex surgery she had undergone in this past life (Rawat & Rivas, 2005).
Through a series of events at the age of nine involving one of Shanti’s teachers, she was reunited with a former relation living in Delhi, and immediately recognized him as her past husband’s cousin, Pandit Kanjimal (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). Kanjimal was so impressed, that he immediately arranged a meeting in Deli, for Pandit Kedarnath Chaube, the former husband of Lugdi Bai, now Shanti Devi, to visit Delhi (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). At the time of the visit, they tried to trick Shanti, by saying that Kedarnath was her huband’s older brother, but she immediately corrected them, while also providing many other details that no child of that age would have known (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). It was when she laid eyes on her former son, Navneet, that she became emotionally overwhelmed, and tearful as she embraced him (Rawat & Rivas, 2005). Kedarnath had requested time alone to speak with Shanti in the evening, and later said that he was convinced she was his former wife, Lugdi Bai, as she had spoken of things no other person could have known (Rawat & Rivas, 2005).
Dr. Ian Stevenson had the privilege of meeting Shanti Devi. He interviewed her, Devi’s father, and Kedarnath, among others, stating that his prior research into her case indicated that at least 24 statements regarding her memories as Lugdi Dai could be verified (Stevenson, 1977).
The story of Shanti Devi, perhaps the most famous case study of a child that recalled a past life, provides us with compelling corroborative evidence to suggest that reincarnation does exist, and that some subtle aspect of our being is reborn to experience life again, and again. The substantial amount of information Shanti Devi presented from ages four and up, which was thoroughly investigated and referenced with all members of both her family and Lugdi Bai’s family, were validated by Stevenson.
CONCLUSION
There are many ways in which the idea of reincarnating lifetime, after lifetime, may be explained. The detailed investigation of first-hand accounts of near-death experiences validates occurrences that the experiencer was unaware of. Dr. Eban Alexander recounts meeting his sister on the other side while in a lengthy coma; a sister who he had no knowledge ever having been born and who had died, demonstrates that these experiences connect us with information unknown to us in life. His experience confirms that a part of us does exist outside of our physical body, and that our consciousness is able to remember interactions in that in-between time (Alexander, 2012).
Looking to quantum mechanics, a relatively new paradigm in physics, we learn that theories such as entanglement and non-locality, provide real possibilities for explaining the science of reincarnation. Einstein himself, while working on The Theory of Relativity, spoke of “spooky action at a distance” in a discussion he had with Neils Bohr about entanglement, and the double slit experiment (Beller, 1996).
Finally, the life work of Dr. Ian Stevenson, in which he presents the details of well over 2,000 first-hand accounts of children who remember their past lives, provides us with a vast, methodically researched volume of data corroborating the belief that we live more than one life. The story of Shanti Devi, a child who began remembering intimate details of her past life as Lugdi Dai at the age of four, became one of the most famous accounts of reincarnation of the twentieth century. The substantial volume of cases presented by Stevenson demonstrate irrefutably that remembering a past life is not as rare of an event as sceptics would have us believe, and may in fact may becoming more common (Stevenson, 2016).
Our infinite nature can be defined as that part of us that survives the physical body, containing the essence of our soul, and collective experiences. It is the part of us that goes on to experience different lifetimes in order that we will reach completion, where we incarnate into the physical, no longer. In the book Living Enlightenment by Paramahamsa Nithyananda, he provides an insightful spiritual account of our journey after physical death.
I am going to reveal the mystery of death now. This may be surprising, even shocking to many of you. But this is the truth. Whether you believe it or not, accept it or not, this is what happens at the time of death. We do not just have one body…
When you leave the physical body, your consciousness will be torn from the body and
you will immediately fall into coma…
If the life force does not have to take another body to fulfill its remaining desires it then enters the seventh layer of nirvanic body, which is enlightenment. If the life force has to come back assuming another body to fulfill its desires, it is death (Nithyananda, 2008).
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