Exactly, Amos. I'm all for skepticism ... in my experience it's the safest, healthiest approach to matters metaphyical anyway. Especially for the novice!

Regarding "empirical evidence" - as I mentioned above, a few weeks ago a talented psychic healer and friend of mine (ok ok it was Two Bears, and he is just AWESOME at what he does thank you so much my friend!) gave me some details about about my own previous incarnations. I know I am very fortunate that historical records have been kept for centures about the family I belonged to last time around.

The way my skeptical Western mind works, even though I've come to trust my friend's remarkable abilities (I've seen him be right so many times I have no choice anymore!) I simply could not have accepted any of his story as truth unless I could somehow physically prove or disprove at least some of it for myself. So, much to his surprise I started working on doing just that, and came up with ....

Fact: Online research proved without a doubt that the person I allegedly "was" did indeed exist historically (even though her "branch" of that family has been extinct for a couple hundred years now);

Fact: she lived and died exactly when and where and in the manner he'd "seen";

Fact: any information/records specifically about her are not only very difficult to find but written in C17 German. This proves to me that even if my friend was lying or trying to deceive me (which I very much doubt) he could not possibly have known anything about her anyway. I doubt anyone else on the planet has ever heard of her, except for the present-day family members who own those geneology sites.

Fact: I have a list of personal anecdotes as long as my arm which support the theory. I even gave one of my sons her name 22 years ago! (male version of course) As a child I remember wishing I could have named myself, just so I could have called myself that name! I was sure I'd been "named wrong" somehow ...

My other son's name reflects her Scandinavian roots.   I always loved those names, was never sure why until now. The names threw my family for a bit of a loop. They are not "family names", and there is absolutely no Scandinavian DNA on any side of the (current) family tree.

Anyway, these facts are among many more, plenty "empirical" enough to satisfy this particular mortal mind, this time around anyway. If they don't satisfy Bill's or Wolfgang's or the Big Pink Lad's or anyone else's, that's only to be expected.   And even if someone reads this and does "believe", is there any real benefit in that "belief" until it's backed up by personal experience???

In other words, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. I'm just enjoying the practice of honestly sharing my experiences and theories in public. IT's therapy, in a way. So thanks to Mudcat for the venue to do just that, and thank you all so much for the excellent dialogue!


daylia