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BS: more weirdness--past lives
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Subject: more weirdness--past lives From: Ely Date: 30 Sep 00 - 12:01 AM Since we've been having some good discussions on other aspects of the "paranormal" (hey, Hallowe'en is on the way) and this is something that has interested me for a long time, I thought I'd ask. Does anyone have thoughts on past lives? The reason I ask is that my mother has told me for years that, when I was little, numerous people told her that I was an "old soul". She had one friend who could not stand to be left alone with me (although he thought I was a good kid and had nothing against me personally) because he could not get over the feeling that I was an older person in a small child's body and he was a little afraid of me. I also, instead of an imaginary playmate, had an imaginary home. I repeatedly described to her in detail my cabin in the mountains (down to the kinds of flowers in the pots on the porch), my pets (we had none at the time--I had never experienced having animals in the house), and my old pickup truck. She thought for a long time that I simply had an unusually vivid imagination, even for a kid, but later thought it was odd that the details were so consistent, for I described them in the same way on many separate occasions. I was probably three or four at the time and cabins and old pickup trucks were not at all part of my life experience. She now thinks I must have lived there in a past life and had not completely left them behind. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Mbo Date: 30 Sep 00 - 12:06 AM Ely, now you're scaring me! ;-) I don't believe in past lives, but for some reason, when writing tunes, I almost ALWAYS find myself drifting, and these Middle-Eastern-sounding tunes seems to come to mind very easily. Very strange. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ely Date: 30 Sep 00 - 12:28 AM Hee hee! Who knows? I'm not sure I believe it, either, but I surely can't say I DON'T believe in it. I just don't know. But if Mom's right, I guess I could think of it as getting a head start . . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:08 AM I do believe in them and know of a couple of mine, at least. (No, I wasn't anybody fmaous.**BG**) My youngest daughter was obviously an "old soul" from the time she was very little. She really startled us one time, when she was about 3 years old. It was the first time she'd been to a city we were visiting. At the time, she didn't know any of her grandfathers and had no idea what or who they were. Imagine our surprise then, while we were driving down a busy blvd, when she started telling us, in detail, how she had lived there with her "grandad." Also, she and I are fairly certain she was my parent in past lives together. It is a common experience in places such as India, for parents to encourage these memories in their children. After parents discover *who* their child was in a past life, I've read stories about how they then take their child to the family of their former self, thus assuaging the grief of their previous family, in knowing they continue to live, albeit as a new *person*. This is a spiritual belief of mine, which I hold with deep conviction through demonstration of events etc., so I hope nobody takes potshots at me. Thanks, kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: BigDaddy Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:19 AM Yes, Ely & Kat. My six year old son (Ian) has also been referred to as an "old soul" for most of his short life. When he was younger, he used to ask me, "Daddy, do you remember when you were little and I was big and took care of you?" I have three friends, each of Irish ancestry, who, although they don't know each other, have told me on separate occasions that Ian and I have "been together before." And one is a practicing Catholic!. Ian used to refer to his "ghost brothers," and said "the best of us died back in '24." Most children seem to start losing these memories when they are about four years old. If we start taking potshots I'd be glad to continue this discussion via e-mail. J. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Rich(bodhránai gan ciall) Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:23 AM Past Lives lyrics and music by Maury Rosenberg (Hypnotic Clambake) I was a farmer, I was a flower I was an onion that had a lot of power. I was a lobster, I was a crab. I was a lady with a shopping bag. I left this body when I was Hypnotized. I started talking about my bast lives. Here I am going back in time. I wonder what I'm gonna find........... Here I am racing round inside my brain in some strange town. Flying a plane into a hill, next thing you know my name is Bill. Sitting in the bathtub, drying my hair, next thing you know I'm a grizzly bear. Chasing around into a tree, next thing you know I'm a bumblebee. As a bumble bee I die of old age, now here I am in a different stage. I left this body when I was Hypnotized. I started talking about my Past Lives. Here I am going back in time. I wonder what I'm gonna find. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: mg Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:39 AM I think I can sort of remember 2 past lives....one was a s a slave or captive of the vikings...I think I was from Scotland maybe...I tanned hides I think...also I think I was a Ukranian mother taken out and shot before WWII..I have been told I was also the mother superior of a convent who was a botanist or herbalist...mg |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:40 AM Cute, Rich! Thanks for posting it. Potshots or no, BigDaddy, there is much I know that I wouldn't put in a public forum. It is interesting stuff, isn't it? Thanks for your posting. Ya'll might find my TFTD thread interesting for this Sunday. I met up with one of my ancestral relations in the form of a tree, this time round.:-) kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: AllisonA(Animaterra) Date: 30 Sep 00 - 08:47 AM When my daughter and I first began getting involved in the sheep biz thru 4H, I took delight in the sight and smell and sound of the animals. My hands reveled in the feel of wool and the few times I've tried spinning I took to it immediately, to the surprise and delight of my teachers. Once, driving to or from a sheep fair, my daughter was asking me about my childhood memories, as she often does. I always need to pause and think for a bit, since a lot of my childhood was spent in daydreams and the memories are a bit misty. Suddenly I had a flash of a vivid image of myself as a little girl, standing outside a stone cottage with a shabbily thatched roof in sad need of repair. An older woman sat by me, spinning, I think, and an old man came out of a shed next to the house carrying a sheep. The air was cool. That's all I had of the image, but it shook me- I've never been in such a place as far as I know, nor known any sheep people until the past few years. Was it a past life memory? Or collective unconscious from my Irish ancestry? I don't know! |
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Subject: Lyr Add: THE HIGHWAYMAN (Jimmy Webb) From: Mbo Date: 30 Sep 00 - 09:32 AM Here's a great song about past lives. I sung this one on HearMe a few nights ago...it came out when I was 6 years old...simply one of the greatest songs ever.
The Highwaymen |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 30 Sep 00 - 09:48 AM Thanks, Mbo, great song! |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Troll Date: 30 Sep 00 - 10:16 AM This may take a little time... About 16 years ago, my wife, son and I were going to visit friends in England. I had never been there and had seen no pictures of their cottage. One night just before we left, I had a dream about the cottage. As we drove out of Wooster I remarked that the road seemed familiar and eventually I said that the turn-off was over the next hill but that I'd rpobably miss the road. My wife kept silent and as we rolled by I said,"Thats it but theres a place around the curve where we can turn." There was. We turned into the lane and at the first house she said," Here we are." "No "said I,"It's on up the lane." It was. We went straight into the kitchen . My wife told about what had happened and our friend, Colin, asked me to describe the rest of the house, which I did. When he asked about the up-stairs I replied that I had never been up-stairs. I said this without thinking how strange a statement it was. Several days later my son, who was 21/2 at the time, went for a walk in the woods by the cottage.We circled around and came out at the far side of the property. There was the view I had seen in my dream. I later found out that the fireplace in the cottage dated from the 14th century. About a year later, I read that there was a Roman trade road that ran through the area so when I called Colin to chat with him I asked him if he knew of it. Yes, he said, the gully that ran along the edge fo his property was part of it. The view of the cottage in my dream was from the vantage of that road. I don't believe in reincarnation and all that but... troll |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Naemanson Date: 30 Sep 00 - 12:52 PM To start with I do not believe in past lives. I refuse to take pot shots at anyone so you can all relax. You believe what you want to and I'll believe what I want to. What you believe doesn't diminish my respect for you. Vive la difference. Having said that, when I was young I felt an immense attraction to Africa. I never made it there but I used to devour any literature I could find about that continent. I think I was the only one in my class who knew that Sir Richard Burton was not an actor. I have felt the same pull to England and Ireland but almost none for Scotland or any of the continental European countries. I have no idea what this means. I have heard a number of people talk about past lives (both here and outside of this discussion) and almost none of them seem to have experienced life as another race than their own. The sole exception is that some of them seem to have been Indians at one time or another. Whatever the cause of these feelings(?)/memories(?)/experiences(?) they do send a lovely shiver of delight and connection into the soul and I like that. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Little Hawk Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:02 PM I've reached the point where I think it's weird if people DON'T believe in past lives! More on this later... |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:06 PM Naemanson, my husband, brother and I all know that we've been different races, in particular Asian and Egyptian at some time in the past, as well as Native American. Thanks for the respect. It is appreciated and equally extended to you. esp. since you appreciate the *shivers*.**BG** kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Morticia Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:10 PM when my daughter was small and I ticked her off or thwarted her she would often ask to be taken back to her 'other mummy' or her 'real mummy'.....she would also hold long conversations with someone I couldn't see but who apparently was standing right behind me......since she was only 2 I can't believe it was purely imagination.....sometimes who ever it was would make her laugh and a 2 year old can't fake that.......I have no explanations but it's interesting |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ebbie Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:10 PM In meditation once, I watched as a young girl- maybe 7, maybe 5 - her brown hair in two braids, wearing a purplish dress that kind of hung from her shoulders, came through a doorway that had a single cloth, also purplish, hung in it rather than a door. The little girl was playing and she came forward and ducked under a rough table- I heard the slap, slap of her bare feet on the stone floor. The table's legs were crossed in an X. Behind me- from my observer's viewpoint- was a wall with windows set high -way above eye level- through which the sun sent long beams onto the gray floor. To my right was an unlit fireplace. To my left, way down the hall were 4 or 5 men grouped at the far end of another long table, laughing and loud as they were eating. Beyond them was a large lit fireplace. As I watched the little girl, it came to me that this was the scullery maid's daughter and that she died at 10 years when she was raped and killed. And I knew it was me. ( Remember, brought up as I was, I never saw a movie until I was 17 years old. I believe in reincarnation more than I do not because no other explanation makes as much sense to me.) Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Lepus Rex Date: 30 Sep 00 - 01:26 PM Well, my entry isn't really a past lives thing, but just some goofy weird thing... About... 8 years ago or so, while visiting my mother's house, I had a weird experience. I woke up one morning, sweating and breathing heavily, hearing myself cry out a strange 'word' over and over. I got up, grabbed a pen, and wrote the word, 'KIMWE,' on a piece of paper. I couldn't remember any dream, and since I don't have (or at least enjoy when I do have) nightmares, I don't know what got me so worried in my sleep. I'm not sure if 'kimwe' means anything, but I saw somewhere that it might mean something like the number 'one.' The only place it ever came up when I searched on the web was on sites written in a Rwandan language. Was I, in some other life, a Rwandan beet-monger, murdered while arguing over the price of my wares? (Killer-"I want TWO beets for that price!" Me-"No, you get ONE!" Killer-"No, TWO!" Me-"One!" Killer-*stab* Me-"One! Aaaaiieeee!") Or maybe I just had a really weird dream;) (About the violent life of Rwandan beet-mongers?) ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ferrara Date: 30 Sep 00 - 04:22 PM Well, I do like the tone of this thread! -- Light and non-confrontational, and very interesting stories. I've always wondered if past life "memory" was behind the thought I woke up with, morning after morning, when I was touristing in the Scottish Highlands 30 years ago: "Oh, it's so nice to be back where I was born and raised! It's so nice to be home!" This was accompanied by a feeling of happiness and joy. Once I was fully awake, I'd realize that I was born and raised in Washington, DC, not Scotland. I don't even have Scottish ancestry, far as I know. I didn't even want to visit Scotland, but went grudgingly because my travel mate wanted to go. But every morning those same words went through my mind, and I felt joy from the moment we entered the highlands. Another interesting bit: the grandfather of a friend of my parents stated firmly, from the time he could talk, that he remembered his "previous life." He said he had gone out fishing with his father when he was 10 and they both drowned. This was a no-nonsense guy from a no-nonsense family, but he knew what he knew... and insisted all his life that he remembered his prior life clearly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: hesperis Date: 30 Sep 00 - 07:52 PM Some crazy-cool stories here so far. (That is a compliment.) I don't remember any lives other than this one - I have trouble remembering this one sometimes! What I do have, is a facility with musical instruments, and an almost physical sense of having played certain instruments before. Mandolin, definitely. Possibly violin, even though my fingers are too large for it now. I played some kind of flute before, and some kind of brass instrument. I tend to almost remember the feel of playing the instrument, and this feeling of joy at being reunited with a loved instrument has sometimes been so strong that I started to cry. I have often started playing at a little beyond beginner level, as if I'd learned that already. Has anyone else had that kind of experience? |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Mbo Date: 30 Sep 00 - 08:53 PM To quote Oasis: "I got to be myself I can't be no one else I'm feeling supersonic!" |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Little Hawk Date: 30 Sep 00 - 09:29 PM Here are some notable people who believe(d) very strongly in reincarnation:
Johhny Cash I've had very clear insights into lives as a Native American (Little Hawk), a German, a Japanese, an Englishwoman, an Englishman, a Scot, a Russian, an Egyptian, and so on...both male and female lives...as to that gender thing, it's as easy as changing the clothes you wear. This is why I give no credence whatsoever to the notion of a "war between the sexes", nor do I empathize with attempts to separate people according to gender, race, culture or whatever. We are all one, and have shared in these various experiences together. We are all part of a single unity. So, whoever you are, blessed be. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ebbie Date: 30 Sep 00 - 09:43 PM Hesperis, don't you suppose that many of our musical prodigies have had the same response as you- as though they instinctively understood the relationships of notes and phrases? I think it's entirely possible. Maybe someday we'll use the term 'bleedthrough' much more commonly than we do now. Little Hawk, your view and that of many other mudcatters, notably kat/laughing, simply affirms in my mind the existence of another realm. My reasoning is that being aware of what I have experienced, I know there are others who see more clearly and much farther than I. I plan to learn a good deal more as I travel along but the journey itself is wonderful. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: hesperis Date: 30 Sep 00 - 10:26 PM Yes, Ebbie. "Instinctively understood the relationship of notes and phrases". Not that I'm a prodigy, just someone with a haunting sense of familiarity with the language... |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Little Hawk Date: 30 Sep 00 - 10:27 PM Ebbie - Yes, it's wonderful. Although we all enjoy specially dramatic accounts of past life memory, for most people the most accessible route to past life awareness is to simply take careful note of one's talents, fears, prejudices, likes, dislikes, loves, special interests, etc...then see if there is a clear present life reason for same...if not, it probably comes from a past life influence which is recorded in the soul memory, though not in the memory of the conscious surface of the mind. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Mbo Date: 30 Sep 00 - 10:33 PM Well, I can say I've NEVER had any experiences like that! The strange things I used to say when I was very very small weren't "old soul" stuff, they were just little Mbo bein' Mbo. For instance, when I was 3, I pointed to the crescent moon in the sky and said "Look, someone broke the moon!" (on the other hand, my sister at that age said "Look, it's King Kong's toenail!". Once, after seeing the shadow of a pigeon outside my bedroom window when I was little, I said to my mother "I just saw The Holy Spirit." No "old soul" here, 'cause my soul was unprecedented! They broke the mold when they made me BAY-BEE! ;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 01 Oct 00 - 12:34 AM I would like to say I agree with Ferrara, that this is a good and non-confrontational discussion and I really appreciate it. Ebbie, it took me a while to decide whether to post this or not, but after reading your posting about the little girl who was you and your later posting, I would like to share a bit more. Just because of the way of the world and the history of women (no offense intended to you guys), I am sure rape is probably a fairly common experience from past lives, for those of us who believe in them. One regression I went through brought me to the highlands of Scotland. I was a young woman, in my teen years, saying goodbye to an older gentleman who was obviously a favourite relation. I didn't want to leave but was excited all the same. I was going down a river to a larger ship which would sail to France where I was to marry, I believe. I never made it to France, as I was raped and abused by the crew of the ship. I had a distinct feeling of leaving my body and watching while they threw it overboard in a shroud as I had died. Coming out of the regression, I realised that that was one reason why I've always been so homesick for Scotland, as I expected to return from time to time after that journey and of course, never did. I also realised it was why I've always felt I knew my paternal grandfather (this lifetime) even though he died one year before I was born. He was the kindly older relative who'd loved me so in Scotland and died of a broken heart not knowing what had ever happened to me. kat
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: BigDaddy Date: 01 Oct 00 - 12:54 AM Dante Gabriel Rosetti wrote a poem called "Sudden Light." I have been here before, But when or how I cannot tell: I know the grass by the door, The sweet keen smell, The sighing sound, the lights around the shore. You have been mine before, How long ago I may not know: But just when at that swallow's soar Your neck turned so, Some veil did fall, I knew it all of yore. Has this been thus before? And shall not thus time's eddying flight Still with our lives our loves restore In death's despite, And day and night yield one delight once more? |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 01 Oct 00 - 12:59 AM BigDaddy! Thank you for posting that! It would be wonderful if you came to the Poetry HearMe tomorrow and read it for us, please?**smile** kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Mbo Date: 01 Oct 00 - 01:00 AM kat, how do you get these regressions? Is it a dream or a meditation thing? |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 01 Oct 00 - 01:13 AM That particular one, Mbo, I went through hypnosis regression. I've also had it happen in meditation and dream. Mostly, though, with Scotland, I've always just *known*; spoke with a Scottish accent a lot of the time when I was young. Words cannot begin to express the homesickness and incredible belonging I feel for Scotland. kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Lepus Rex Date: 01 Oct 00 - 02:19 AM I'm not sure I believe in all this, but it sure is interesting to read about all your experiences. I have a few more not-really-reincarnation-things, all of which probably have mundane explanations: Some times, when she was about three years old, my niece would occaisionally babble in what sounded like German, which we thought was odd... Quite a few times, I've seen pictures, ones that I haven't seen before, of musicians from the first half of the 20th century, and instantly known their names... Maybe I was a fan in another life? ;) And my cat, Lemmy... When he was young, was really SMART. I know, everyone thinks their cat is a genius, but he was truly strange. People often commented that the way he looked at you was un-cat-like, more like the way a deranged person might look at you. I know some of it's not so strange, but here's some of the things he did: After a fight with another cat in our house, he picked up a steak knife with his mouth and charged the other cat (we stopped Lemmy before he got to him). We caught him painting on the wall several times. He would sneak over and dip his feet into our paint when we turned our backs, and would smear it on the wall. His best 'artwork' was a circle with lines radiating from it. He often used our toilet, which we never taught him to do, and learned how to turn on and off various lights and appliances. We watched as he seemed to try to teach another cat, Gollum, to use a light switch. He set Gollum down in front of the switch, then demonstrated several times how to use it. Lemmy then sat back, and waited for Gollum to try it. He became angry when Gollum just sat there. He was also very violent (yeah, he's a cat, I know). He had to kept away from our other male cats because he repeatedly raped them (and a couple times, tried to kill them). Another odd thing he did: He would catch hornets, kill them, remove their stings, and hide their stinger-less corpses. We discovered his cache while he was munching on it like cereal. Other things, too, but this is getting too long;) After he was neutered, he changed. We expected the rape and excessive violence to end, and it did, but his 'smart' behaviour seemed to decline as well. Over the years, he's become more 'normal.' Oh, I just made it sound like my cat's a psychopath. Oh, well. ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: sophocleese Date: 01 Oct 00 - 11:18 AM Lepus Rex have you ever heard this song by The Arrogant Worms? William Shakespeare's in my Cat, by the Arrogant Worms.
I never much believed in reincarnation
William Shakespeare's in my cat, my kitty is the bard
He wrote Romeo and Juliet
Wiliam Shakespeare's in my cat, he rarely ever talks
He wrote Romeo and Juliet |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Lepus Rex Date: 01 Oct 00 - 01:22 PM Funny song, sophocleese:) Never heard that one before. But I'm scared to think who's in my cat, now... A violent but artistic sex-criminal who eats bugs? Oh, this can't be good... :O ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Lepus Rex Date: 01 Oct 00 - 03:50 PM Oh, a friend just reminded me some about another thing my cat did that was strange, so get ready for MORE creepy cat story boredom! :D Years ago, my girlfriend at the time was taking a bubble bath at my house. Lemmy was sitting on the counter, staring at her, when she fell asleep. When she woke up, she saw this little wet, grey furry head staring at her out of the suds, right between her knees. She tossed him out, telling him to 'get the hell out,' but from then on, he always would try and get into the tub with her. He also liked to watch women undress; not men, just women. Which is sort of odd, considering he seemed to prefer male cats to female cats (female cats tended to beat him up, though...) Another annoying thing he did was throw things into the toilet (books, newspapers, whole rolls of toilet paper) and try to flush them. At the time, I was interested in reincarnation and all that, so we figured he was just some deviant bastard in another life, and somehow managed to hold on to something from it. So, that's why I bring up all these dopey stories HERE. :) ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ebbie Date: 01 Oct 00 - 04:40 PM Oh, Lepus Rex, if Spaw gets hold of that bathtub story...! Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 01 Oct 00 - 05:21 PM Never mind Spaw! What about Cleigh O'Possum??? Oh no an ocarina getting blown in the tub! I have a cat of similar ilk, Lepus Rex! |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: celticblues5 Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:46 AM Great cat stories! Great song, Mbo! I've believed in reincarnation since reading about it in primary school - it just 'clicked' and made sense & was the only belief system, to my sensibilities, where God didn't come off as either indifferent or petty. Since then, I've met a lot of people who work with that sort of thing (regressions, etc), and they mostly say many of the same things that have come up on this thread already - that if you're strongly drawn to a particular place or time period, it's likely that you have been there, and that seeming prodigies (Mozart, etc) can be explained by reincarnation - and, by the same token, that if you work hard on developing a talent in this current life, then it will be easier for you to come back to that talent in a future life. I've heard of quite a few small children who talked about "when they were big." Another interesting idea that some have told me is that works of "fiction" are actually stories of real lives that someone, somewhere has lived, and that these have filtered through an author's subconscious from the universal unconsciousness. I don't know that I'm so inclined to believe this as the other concepts (above), but it's something to muse upon. Another suggestion I've seen along these lines is that people who are born "gender-confused" is that they may be people who were the opposite sex in the immediately-previous life and reincarnated too quickly, not spending enough time between lives to assimilate what they had just learned - and so still identify with the sex they recently were instead of their current one. So many interesting ideas out there! |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Wolfgang Date: 02 Oct 00 - 11:23 AM Believe whatever you want to believe, I have no issue with that. However, with respect to some of the stories you tell in support of the concept of reincarnation, I'd like to mention two well supported ideas from memory research: cryptomnesia: The (unconscious) retention of material learned by the normal channels of information processing (e.g., hearing a story, reading, seeing a movie, personal experiences). Since the persons having these memories have completely forgotten the prosaic source of their memories these seem to come either from another world or to have no rational foundation. They can, however, be very vivid. confabulation: a phantasy that replaces fact in memory. It may be partly based on fact or completely based on imagination. The occurence of these 'memories' is well documented and has been used for prosaic explanations of experiences similar to some of the ones reported above. Hypnotic regression is known to be inducive to the creation of false memories held with great conviction. Wolfgang |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Skeptic Date: 02 Oct 00 - 12:32 PM I'm new to the group so apologies for diving in. Wolfgang, A dose of rationality is always welcome, even if its not as much fun as believing in past lives. I myself have distinct memories of being trapped in a windlowless room, dealing with endless bureaucratic trivia.....oh, sorry, that was last week at work. Those interested in another side of the picture might want to read "The Myth of Repressed Memeory" by Elizabeth Loftus. While the core subject is "recovered memory" and the false memory syndrome, it covers the nature of how memory works, confabulation and to a lessor degree cryptonesia. She deals with hyponosis and offers some fairly interesting examples of just how creative the human mind can be in creating a believed and believable memory of something that never happened. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Mrrzy Date: 02 Oct 00 - 12:32 PM My jury is still out on reincarnation. It is the case that when my (now X2B) and I met for the first time, there was a CRASH of recognition on both of our parts, which is one of the reasons I married him, despite the many, many danger signals. We both felt it likely that we had met in a prior life and had been emotionally coupled then too... Now (20:20 hindsight, or would that be 40:20 if looking into pat lives?), I wonder if we killed each other, it would make more sense that way! |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ringer Date: 02 Oct 00 - 12:41 PM Ah, a breath of reality. Thanks, Wolfgang. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ebbie Date: 02 Oct 00 - 12:55 PM In response to 'skeptics of every color' let me go on record as saying I don't believe that this is a thread where we are interested in arguing the reality of the issue. We've covered that pretty well in another thread. To me, this thread is a gentle relating of personal belief and experience. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Little Neophyte Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:01 PM Now I remember Wolfgang, in one of my most previous past lives you were my psychiatrist. Little Neo, who is wondering why she would ever want to look at her past lives when she has enough on her plate with this one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Penny S. Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:03 PM There are, so I've heard, more people alive than dead. Depending how you define people, I suppose. Penny |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: mousethief Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:27 PM I always wondered why people who write books or go on the chat shows about their past lives always seem to be princesses or kings or something in their past lives. It seems like the overwhelming odds are that they were serfs or peasants or slaves or something. (Indeed the overwhelming odds in most periods of human history is that they died in infancy!) Maybe only the "lucky" ones go on the chat shows, and the former serfs just keep quiet about it. I have no memories or pseudo-memories which seem to be from a previous life, so I can't say much either way about it; it is not for me to tell somebody else how to interpret their own inner states. I've met and gotten along with people who believe strongly in many things I have no experience in, and/or no belief in. And that's okay. One of my best buddies is a Pagan (with a capital P) (no, not Wiccan, PM me for details), and I am a Christian. Neither of us tries to convert the other, we respect the other's right to believe what he believes, and we get along fine.
Alex |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:33 PM Thank you, Ebbie, I couldn't have said it better myself and IMO, it bears repeating: "In response to 'skeptics of every color' let me go on record as saying I don't believe that this is a thread where we are interested in arguing the reality of the issue. We've covered that pretty well in another thread. To me, this thread is a gentle relating of personal belief and experience." kat
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Little Neophyte Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:45 PM I'm sorry guys, I did not mean to offend anyone. I am quite sure if I looked at my past lives I would see why I have been given the hand of cards I was dealt this time round. My apologies if I offended anyone, I was just being silly. Bonnie |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: Ringer Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:50 PM And, evidently, personal "don't believe"s? |
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Subject: RE: BS: more weirdness--past lives From: katlaughing Date: 02 Oct 00 - 01:52 PM LilNeo, you certainly didn't offend me, darlin'. No need to apologise, as far as I am concerned. luvyakat |