Coming Back For More

 

According to a 2018 Pew Research Poll, 36% of Vatican II sect members believe in the pagan teaching of reincarnation; up from 28% just eight years earlier. Reincarnation is the belief that people's souls go through cycles of birth, death, and re-birth until they achieve Nirvana (which means to be "blown out" like a candle) so as to escape the cycle and achieve "oneness" with the universe (a type of pantheism). The idea that people keep "coming back" as other people after death continues to grow in popularity  while the notion of returning as another life form, e.g., a dog, is by and large  rejected by "modern reincarnationists."

(See pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans).

 Before 1965, almost all who believed in reincarnation were either Hindus or Buddhists. Since then, there are those who have converted to those pagan religions because of that doctrine. Now, there's the new development (especially in the wake of Vatican II) of "mixing and matching" beliefs to fit personal desires about what people want to be true rather than seeking truth itself--even to the point where chosen ideas are mutually exclusive. There are three major reasons for this continuing rise and acceptance of reincarnation: 

1. Ecumenism fostered by Vatican II. 

The Vatican II Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate,  states in paragraph #2:

Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an unspent fruitfulness of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek release from the anguish of our human condition through ascetical practices or deep meditation or a loving, trusting flight toward God... Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination...The Catholic (sic) Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.

There is no condemnation of these pagan religions both of which teach reincarnation, instead they are lauded. Reincarnation was explicitly condemned in the schema of the Dogmatic Constitution De Deposito Fide Pure Custodiendo, which was drawn up by thoroughly orthodox theologians and canonists under the direction of Cardinal Ottaviani during the preparatory phrase of the Council. Roncalli saw to it that it was rejected and replaced by the Council because of its paucity of "ecumenical character." The heretical ecclesiology of Vatican II makes it clear that even pagan religions have "elements of truth," and that "all paths lead to God." If so, why not choose "the path of least resistance"? 

Accepting reincarnation erodes morals because you can live like a heathen and there is no Hell, just another life to try and "get it right" and achieve nirvana, which is basically extinction--so no one suffers in the end. This wicked idea would mean that there is no real difference between being Joseph Stalin or St Francis of Assisi; Stalin would only need to be reincarnated more times than St. Francis. If the Church (sic) "regards with sincere reverence...those precepts and teachings...differing in many aspects from the ones she (sic) holds and sets forth..." why not be a "reincarnation-believing Catholic (sic)"? 

2. It's in vogue with pop culture. 

Even as Christianity is mocked and disdained, the idea of reincarnation has found favor with the media. Hollywood elitists produce many movies on the subject. Three recent examples:

• I Origins (2014). The movie revolves around the life of a molecular biologist that is fascinated by the iris of people's eyes. He soon falls in love with a girl with beautiful eyes. But later the girl has an unfortunate death. When he loses her, he sets out to see whether he can find someone with similar eyes. Although he starts out as an atheist, this scientist’s very fundamental beliefs get shaken when he does indeed find a match in a young girl who may be his lost love’s reincarnation.

• Cloud Atlas (2012). This movie is sci-fi drama where Tom Hanks and Halle Berry take on new lives as they reincarnate from civilization to civilization. The directors Andy and Lana Wachowski tell the story of how everything and everyone is connected.

• Birth (2004). The movie showcases the story of Anna who becomes a widow. Anna tries to move on in her life and gets engaged to a different person. Soon after that, she meets a young boy who tries to convince her that he is the reincarnation of her dead husband. The more she starts spending time with the boy, the more she starts to questions her life’s choices.

(All movie descriptions are taken from republicworld.com). 

In music:

The Beatles. In 1965, a Hindu presented each band member with a book on reincarnation. George Harrison began a life-long association with pagan Eastern religion, as did all the band members for a brief time in the late 1960s. Only Harrison remained openly enamored with paganism until his death in 2001 from lung cancer. His ashes were scattered in India in alignment with Hindu tradition. Harrison's song My Sweet Lord has actually been used at the Novus Bogus "mass" because of its "Christian lyrics." However, the song is really about the demon "gods" of Hinduism. Harrison repeats part of a Hindu mantra in the lyric when he sings, "Hare Krishna... Krishna, Krishna" in the background. The Hare Krishna movement is a branch of Hinduism, formally known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Its name comes from its chant — Hare Krishna — which devotees repeat over and over.

Journey. Most of Journey's album covers feature a scarab beetle (pictured at the top of this post). The Evolution album and subsequent work depict the "winged globe" which signifies the omnipresence of the false sun "god" Ra. The album Captured shows the scarab beetle in a mirrored image. Beetles of the Scarabaeidae family (dung beetle) roll dung into a ball as food and as a brood chamber in which to lay eggs; this way, the larvae hatch and are immediately surrounded by food. For these reasons the scarab was seen as a symbol of a "heavenly cycle" and of the idea of rebirth or regeneration. This explains their presence in being buried with the deceased.  The world of Egyptian magic has long been embraced by secret societies condemned by the Church, including Rosicrucian orders, Freemasonry, Theosophy, and the Golden Dawn. 

Famous people who claim to be reincarnated (only a small, partial list):

Actor Sylvester Stallone claims to be a reincarnated American Indian.

Singer, drummer, and high-ranking Freemason Phil Collins said he was the reincarnation of a soldier at the Alamo.

Country singer Loretta Lynn says she was reincarnated six times; one of her past incarnations was as a Cherokee Indian princess.

Actor, martial artist, and Buddhist Steven Seagal, has been declared as the reincarnation of the 17th-century translator-teacher Terton Chungdrag Dorje.

Actor and Buddhist Richard Gere believes he and his current "wife" (34 years his junior) were married in several past lives.  

(See e.g., Time magazine, 9/10/84, pg. 68; caledonenterprise.com/whatson-story/6900241-richard-gere-s-reincarnated-love/; japanese-buddhism.com/steven-seagal-buddhist.html).

3. Alleged Evidence of Reincarnation. 

Among the strongest reasons people come to accept reincarnation are the alleged evidences offered in support. The evidence even has those who reject the doctrine flustered regarding how to answer. Reincarnationists keep coming back (pun intended) with more and different "proofs." The Vatican II sect jettisoned all apologetics and polemics since its inception and is no help, as usual. 

Even Traditionalists are unsure of how to respond. I did a post showing the inherent theological and philosophic bankruptcy of reincarnation. (See introiboadaltaredei2.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-sensation-of-reincarnation.html). However, I didn't pick apart the evidence at length. A couple of weeks ago, a commenter wrote: How would you respond to such alleged "evidence" of reincarnation?

"People who remember past lives with obscure historic details they do not know, a 5-year-old kid who can show that he can fly a military plane on a simulator, all kinds of children geniuses with innate skills for art or music they never were taught, people starting speaking foreign languages ​​in a sleep or trance, people being healed from phobias or chronic illnesses by past life regression, etc. "

Your article "A Sensation Of Reincarnation?" it does not disprove all such "evidence."

This post will tackle those "evidences" head on. Theologically, we know  St. Paul tells us in Hebrews 9:27, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment." Philosophically, we know reincarnation is nonsense. The following "evidences" of reincarnation will be debunked in the next section:

• Past Life Recall and Cures
• People with Seeming Specialized Knowledge from a Prior Life

I hope this will make up for the deficiency of depth in my prior post on this subject.

I Remember...Or Do I Really?

Evidence: People under hypnosis remember past lives and details of people that lived long ago. This can only be true if they were that person in a past life. Furthermore, "past-life recall" has cured people of phobias; e.g., if it were found out they died by drowning in a past life, they are cured of their current fear of water/drowning after they confront the past. Other people, even children, have demonstrated specialized knowledge (of mechanics, etc.) without having had any exposure to the subject. How can these phenomena be explained apart from reincarnation being true?

I present a seven-part rejoinder comprised of both original research and past citations I used in my previous post:

 

(a) False memories.

In a recent study, 28 percent of subjects who underwent hypnosis were induced by a researcher to develop false memories about recent incidents in their lives. This occurred even after these subjects were warned that "hypnotized participants may confuse what they imagine with what really occurred."

About 44 percent of participants who were not warned about possible false memories -- also called pseudomemories -- were induced to develop a false memory.

The results suggest that many people have unrealistic and distorted views of the power of hypnosis, said Joseph Green, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Lima campus.

"There's a cultural expectation that hypnosis will lead to more accurate and earlier memories, but that's not true," Green said. "Hypnosis can be helpful for some people, but it is subject to the same restrictions and pitfalls of any other memory-retrieval method."

A perfect case in point was  that of Bridey Murphy. Through hypnosis, a woman allegedly regressed to 18th century Ireland. She suddenly spoke Gaelic, described the coastline where she lived, discussed the customs and spoke like a life-long Irish native. Upon further investigation, "Bridey Murphy" (the name of the person she allegedly was in this "past life") never existed but was a figment of the woman's imagination. She was raised by her grandmother who spoke Gaelic and kept history books on Ireland which she related to her granddaughter. The hypnotic subject had forgotten the language and history as she got older, but it was brought back under hypnosis with the mind giving life to the memories by manufacturing a name from her actual past. It was later revealed that she grew up near a woman named Bridie Murphy-Corkell. The subject never believed that she was reincarnated, but rather thought that her mind was playing tricks. This part was never revealed by the author, Morey Bernstein--who was also the hypnotist! Bernstein's obituary from The Washington Post in 1999 reads thus:

Publication of The Search for Bridey Murphy made him a celebrity, and he was convinced that Tighe's[the woman allegedly Bridey Murphy] recollections about a previous life in Ireland were authentic, according to his brother, Robert A. Bernstein, of Bethesda. Tighe, he said, was never totally convinced that she really ever had been Bridey Murphy. (Emphasis mine). 

(b) Cultural Conditioning. Dr. Ian Stevenson, who investigated children claiming to have "spontaneously recalled" a past life, the doctor himself admits of bias in his study due to cultural conditioning. He wrote, "...the principal sites of abundant reported cases are: northern India; Sri Lanka; Burma; Thailand; Vietnam; western Asia, especially south central Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria; and northwest North America, among the natives of that region. The peoples of these areas (of the groups among whom the cases occur) believe in reincarnation." (See Stevenson, Ian, "The Explanatory Value of the Idea of Reincarnation," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Sept. 1977, 308).  He further admits, "Neither any single case nor all the investigated cases together offer anything like a proof of reincarnation." (Ibid, 325). 

(c) Inherent dangers from the hypnotist and hypnotic process. 

In his Allocution "Anesthesia: Three Moral Questions" of 1957, His Holiness Pope Pius XII discusses hypnotism as an anesthetic [used in conjunction with medicine by physicians] and had this to say:

But consciousness can also be reduced by artificial means. There is no essential difference, from the moral standpoint, whether the result is obtained by administration of narcotics or by hypnosis--which can be called a psychic analgesic. But hypnosis, even considered in itself, is subject to certain rules...

The subject which engages us here is hypnosis practiced by a doctor to serve a clinical purpose, while he observes the precautions which science and medical ethics demand equally from the doctor who uses it and from the patient who submits to it. The moral judgement which we are going to state on the suppression of consciousness applies to this specific use of hypnosis. But We do not wish what We say of hypnosis in the service of medicine to be extended without qualification to hypnosis in general. In fact, hypnosis, insofar as it is an object of scientific research, cannot be studied by any casual individual, but only by a serious scholar, and within the limits valid for all scientific activity. It is not a subject for a group of laymen or ecclesiastics to dabble in, as they might in some other interesting topic, merely for experience or even as a simple hobby.

(See AAS 49 [1957], 140-141; Emphasis mine).

 According to hypnosis expert James E. Parejko in an article published in the Journal of the American Institute of Hypnosis (Jan. 1975), he listed four factors of subconscious intervention during hypnosis: (a) Expectations of the hypnotist, (b)  diminished critical thoughts in the mind that accompany deep trance states, (c) a triggering idea by the hypnotist, and (d) the ability of the mind to hallucinate. Hence, if the hypnotist is specifically looking for "past lives" there is a good chance he will produce them artificially  in the patients. 

(d) Answering the unique case of James Leininger.  James Leininger is the subject of books and TV shows and countless articles citing him as proof of reincarnation beginning in the early 2000s. In 2009, his parents published a book, Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot. Briefly, James Leininger was born in 1998, and had a fixation on airplanes. By the age of two, he knew many models by name, especially those most commonly produced as toys and featured in books: fighter planes, like Mustangs, Corsairs, and Spitfires. His parents took him to aviation museums, and he loved the WWII fighter planes.  James had recurring nightmares that he was in a plane crash. He came up with details of a fighter pilot named James M. Huston Jr. who was shot down on March 3, 1945 by Japanese Zero planes. Bruce and Andrea Leininger were convinced their son was Huston reincarnated because of all the information a three year old couldn't possibly know.

Sounds convincing, right? That is, until you start to put other pieces of the puzzle together. Carol Bowman is the author of several books on "reincarnated children" and promotes herself as a "past life regression therapist"--as if that's some legitimate occupation with necessary education, training, and licensure. From her own blog, here is a description of her involvement with the case:

 In 2001 I got an email from a mother in Louisiana, Andrea Leininger. She told me that she had just gotten a copy of my first book, Children's Past Lives, and she believed that her two-year-old son, James, was having nightmares about a past life. He would wake up screaming about 3 or 4 times a week about his plane crashing... I told her to follow the guidelines in my book for helping James work through his nightmares...(See carolbowman.com/blog/soul-survivor-the-book).

Therefore, James' parents had decided a priori that their son was having problems that stemmed from a past life and tied it in with his love of airplanes. The boy's mother was influenced by her mother--a believer in reincarnation. Andrea Leininger was more than open to the idea. Bruce, father of James, was a believing Protestant. This made them the perfect "victims" for someone who wants to promote reincarnation because if they can win over someone who professes Christianity (and thereby does not believe in reincarnation) it adds an aura of credibility to the story. 

Bowman's advice was to repeatedly assure this toddler that he was, in fact, a reincarnated WWII fighter pilot. The Leiningers wrote in their book:

Carol advised Andrea to tell James that what he was experiencing were things that had happened to him before, that it was now over, and that he was now safe. (pg.57)

The boy's parents, under the guidance of a strongly motivated self-described "past-life regression therapist," put the ideas into James' head themselves. Bruce began researching everything in front of his son in the house. This, in turn, can evoke in James cryptoamnesia, defined as "The phenomenon of perceiving a latent or subconscious memory as an original thought or idea; latent or subconscious recollection." (See lexico.com/en/definition/cryptomnesia). 

Bowman had taken advantage of James for her agenda. Again, from her blog cited above:

I encouraged Andrea and her husband, Bruce, to write a book about James's memories. Finally, after three years, they were ready to do it. I introduced them to my wonderful agent, Al Zuckerman, and their book, Soul Survivor, will be released at the end of May.

The book is not about a reincarnated pilot from WWII, but a badly exploited little boy, who might have much to suffer psychologically as a result. James Leininger is 22 as of this year, and I don't know how this experienced has shaped him. One can only hope and pray he is doing well by God's grace.

(e) Cures of phobias and illnesses. Virtual reality can be a powerful new tool for curing phobias. According to one group of researchers, "Behavioral therapy techniques for treating phobias often includes graded exposure of the patient to anxiety-producing stimuli (Systematic Desensitization). However, in utilizing systematic desensitization, research reviews demonstrate that many patients appear to have difficulty in applying imaginative techniques. This chapter describes the Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT), a new therapeutical approach that can be used to overcome some of the difficulties inherent in the traditional treatment of phobias." (See pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10350911/).

According to a 2012 study in the peer reviewed journal Consciousness and Cognition 21 (2) 969-975, it was suggested recognition based on familiarity can cause a sensation of deja vu. Using virtual reality technology, it was found that similarity between a scene's spatial layout and the layout of a scene previously experienced (but not recalled) can lead to a subjective feeling of "having been there before despite knowing otherwise." Therefore, "past life regression" can cause vivid imagination, much like virtual reality, and desensitize [even cure] phobias like VRT. Likewise, it can produce a placebo effect in lessening [or even curing] illnesses like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Yet in neither case is the "past life" needed to be anything more than a vivid imagination, devoid of any basis in reality, in order to produce the effect. 

(f) Special knowledge. Some children show a seeming innate ability to do things (e.g., put together complex toys without instructions at a young age) thereby "proving" they learned how to do it in a "past life." This can be explained as a form of "idiot savantism." There are people who are retarded yet know how to play the piano like an expert. Darold Treffert, a world-renowned expert on savant syndrome believes savants are the best example of innate talent and "represent ‘nature’ in its most basic form.” To explain the emergence of savant skills, Treffert proposes the notion of “genetic memory,” which he defines as the biological transfer of proclivities and knowledge that don’t require additional instruction or learning. He argues that this knowledge is “factory- installed” in all of us but remains dormant because we tend to use the same well-worn pathways and circuits that serve us well. He believes this inhibits the "little Rain Man in all of us.” (See blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/where-do-savant-skills-come-from/) Some of these kids could have a form of savant syndrome.

(g) Demonic manifestation. In all the above, we can not rule out the intervention of the forces of Hell. It's interesting that someone can claim they were reincarnated and be looked upon with awe in modern society, but say you believe in Satan and you become a superstitious laughingstock. Demons not only have an ability to predict future events with some degree of accuracy, they also have knowledge of past events. Just as they are able to communicate their knowledge of the future to a human devotee, so too they are able to communicate their knowledge of the past to a human whom they desire to convince that reincarnation is a reality (or whom they desire to use as a means of convincing others that reincarnation is a reality). In hypnosis undertaken for non-necessary medical purposes, the subject opens himself up to an altered state of consciousness where demonic influence is a real possibility. (See e.g., theologian Delaporte, The Devil: Does He Exist and What Does He Do [1872]). 

Conclusion

It has been shown that the "evidence" for reincarnation is far from convincing. If you ask someone who believes in reincarnation, "If we are all reincarnated, why don't we remember who we were without hypnosis?" you will get an answer such as, "The pain of birth makes you suppress the memories," or "You are made to forget so that you make moral progress on your own." Even these so-called explanations, just like the "evidence" they use, are without merit. First, the explanations presuppose reincarnation to be true. Second, these are just ad hoc hypotheses with no factual, theological, or philosophical basis. There is no medical evidence that birth erases/supresses data from the brain. Theologically, who "makes you forget"? God doesn't exist as a personal agent in pantheism. Philosophically, why do you need multiple lives to "become moral"? What difference does it make if a person lives 7,000 years in various incarnations or 70 years in one lifetime when compared to eternity? Are not both infinitesimal in comparison? Isn't getting multiple chances to be moral a disincentive to get it right while you're here this time?

Reincarnation is a lie from Hell. Live as a good Christian and obey Christ's One True Church. Members of the Vatican II sect foolish enough to think they can have "multiple lives" to do what is right may find out too late (God forbid) that there's no second chances after death.