The word “reincarnation” is translated as “re-incarnation.” The theory of reincarnation includes two components:

1. The soul, and not the body, represents the true essence of man. This position is consistent with the Christian worldview and is rejected by materialism.
2. After the death of the body, the human soul is embodied in a new body after some period of time. Each of us has lived many lives on Earth and has experiences that go beyond the current life.

Identifying oneself with the body makes a person experience a strong fear of death. After all, after it he will completely disappear, and all his works will be meaningless. This causes people to act as if death does not exist. In order to escape from the idea of ​​the finitude of their existence and the lack of meaning in life, people try to lose themselves in fleeting affairs and entertainment. This could be a focus on your family or a strong immersion in work. A person can also resort to such dangerous entertainment as drug use. Belief in the finitude of life creates a spiritual vacuum in people's hearts. Belief in the eternal nature of the soul allows you to regain the meaning of life.

Reincarnation is a law that affects a person regardless of his faith. The doctrine of reincarnation says that a person is responsible for his own actions. The subsequent birth depends on his actions in previous lives. In this way, justice is established and the difficult circumstances of life of those who have not yet sinned are explained. The subsequent incarnation allows the soul to correct its mistakes and move beyond limiting ideas. The very idea of ​​constant learning of the soul is inspiring. We can get rid of our obsession with current affairs and find new look to difficult and depressing situations. With the help of abilities developed in past births, the soul is able to overcome those problems that were not resolved previously.

Many of us have no memories of our past lives. There may be two reasons for this:

1. We were taught not to remember them. If the family belongs to a different faith or one of the family members is an atheist, then such memories will be suppressed. Child's statement about details past life may be perceived as fiction or even as a mental disorder. Thus, the child learns to hide his memories, and subsequently forgets them himself.
2. The memories may be difficult or shocking. They can prevent us from maintaining our identity in our current life. We may not be able to stand them and actually go crazy.

The idea of ​​reincarnation has been supported by various scientists and sages for thousands of years. On at the moment The doctrine of reincarnation is largely preserved in Hinduism. Many people travel to India to come into closer contact with this religion and gain spiritual experience. However, there were also followers of this theory in the West. Below we will look at the great personalities of different historical periods who support theory of soul reincarnation.

The doctrine of transmigration of souls in the religions of the East

The doctrine of reincarnation is central to many Indian religions. It is also present in Buddhism. For representatives of Eastern faiths, the idea of ​​reincarnation is natural.

The concept of reincarnation of souls is central to Hinduism. It is written about him in sacred texts: in the Vedas and Upanishads. In the Bhagavad Gita, which contains the essence of Hinduism, reincarnation is compared to changing old clothes for new ones.

Hinduism teaches that our soul is in a constant cycle of birth and death. After many births, she becomes disillusioned with material pleasures and seeks the ultimate source of happiness. Spiritual practice allows us to realize that our true Self is the soul, and not a temporary body. When material attractions cease to control it, the soul leaves the cycle and moves into the spiritual world.

Buddhism states that there are five levels at which one can incarnate: hell dwellers, animals, spirits, humans and deities. The conditions in which the soul will be born next time depend on its activities. The process of rebirth occurs until the creature disintegrates or reaches emptiness, which is accessible to few. The Jatakas (ancient Indian parables) tell of the 547 births of Buddha. He incarnated in different worlds, helping their inhabitants find liberation.

Reincarnation in the philosophy of Ancient Greece

IN Ancient Greece Pythagoras and his followers were adherents of the concept of reincarnation. The merits of Pythagoras and his school in mathematics and cosmology are now recognized. We have all been familiar with the Pythagorean theorem since school. But Pythagoras also became famous as a philosopher. According to Pythagoras, the soul comes from heaven into the body of a person or animal and incarnates until it receives the right to return. The philosopher claimed that he remembered his previous incarnations.

Another representative of philosophers in Ancient Greece, Empedocles, outlined the theory of the transmigration of souls in the poem “Purification.”

The famous philosopher Plato was also a proponent of the concept of reincarnation. Plato wrote famous dialogues, where he conveys conversations with his teacher Socrates, who did not abandon his own works. In the dialogue “Phaedo” Plato writes on behalf of Socrates that our soul can come to earth again in a human body or in the form of animals and plants. The soul descends from heaven and is first born in the human body. Degrading, the soul passes into the shell of an animal. In the process of development, the soul again appears in the human body and receives the opportunity to gain freedom. Depending on the shortcomings to which a person is subject, the soul can incarnate in an animal of the appropriate species.

Plotinus, the founder of the school of Neoplatonism, also adhered to the doctrine of reincarnation. Plotinus argued that a man who killed his mother would in his next birth become a woman who would be killed by her son.

Early Christianity

Modern Christian teaching claims that the soul is incarnated only once. It seems that this has always been the case. However, there are opinions that early Christianity was favorable to the idea of ​​reincarnation. Among those who supported this idea was Origen, a Greek theologian and philosopher.

Origen had great authority among his contemporaries and became the founder of Christian Science. His ideas influenced both Eastern and Western theology. Origen studied with the Neoplatonist Ammonius Sax for 5 years. At the same time, Plotinus studied with Ammonius. Origen said that the Bible includes three levels: bodily, mental and spiritual. The Bible cannot be interpreted literally, because in addition to its specific meaning, it carries a secret message that is not accessible to everyone. Around 230 AD e. Origen created an exposition of Christian philosophy in his treatise On Principles. In it he also writes about reincarnation. The philosopher wrote that souls prone to evil can be born in the shell of an animal and even a plant. Having corrected their mistakes, they rise and regain the Kingdom of Heaven. The soul enters the world with the strength of victories or weakened by the defeats of a previous incarnation. The actions committed by a person in this life predetermine the circumstances of birth in the next.

In 553, the theory of reincarnation of souls was condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Council. The council was established by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. By voting, the council members decided whether Origenism was acceptable for Christians. The entire voting process was under the control of the emperor, some of the votes were falsified. Origen's theory was anathema.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

During this period, the doctrine of the transmigration of souls developed in Kabbalah, an esoteric movement in Judaism. Kabbalah spread in the 12th-13th centuries. Medieval kabbalists identified three types of migration. Birth in a new body was designated by the term “gilgul”. In the description of gilgul, Jewish texts are similar to Hinduism. The book “Zohar” says that the next birth is determined by what addictions a person had in the previous one. The last thoughts before death also affect him. Kabbalah also mentions two other types of reincarnation: when the soul moves into an already existing body with evil or good thoughts.

Among other figures of that time, the concept was adhered to by Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher. From the school curriculum we know that he supported the heliocentric views of Copernicus, for which he was burned at the stake. However, few people know that he was sentenced to burning not only for this. Bruno said that human soul after the death of the body, it can return to earth in another body. Or go further and travel through the many worlds that exist in the universe. A person’s salvation is not determined by his relationship with the Church, but depends on a direct connection with God.

New time

In modern times, the concept of reincarnation was developed by Leibniz. This manifested itself in his theory of monads. The philosopher argued that the world consists of substances called monads. Every monad is a microcosm and is at its own stage of development. Depending on the stage of development, a monad has a connection with a different number of lower-level subordinate monads. This connection forms a new complex substance. Death is the separation of the main monad from its subordinates. Thus, death and birth are identical to the usual metabolism that occurs in a living being in the process of life. Only in the case of reincarnation does the exchange have the character of a leap.

The theory of reincarnation was also developed by Charles Bonnet. He believed that during death the soul retains part of its body and then develops a new one. Goethe also supported her . Goethe said that the concept of activity convinces him of the correctness of the theory of transmigration of souls. If a person acts tirelessly, then nature must give him a new form of life when the currently existing one cannot hold his spirit.

He was also a proponent of the theory of reincarnation. Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer expressed his admiration Indian philosophy and said that the creators of the Vedas and Upanishads realized the essence of things more clearly and deeply than weakened generations. Here are his thoughts on the eternity of the soul:

• The conviction that we are inaccessible to death, carried by each of us, comes from the awareness of our originality and eternity.
• Life after death is no more incomprehensible than this life. If the possibility of existence is open in the present, then it will be open in the future. Death cannot destroy more than we had at birth.
• There is that existence which cannot be destroyed by death. It existed eternally before birth and will exist eternally after death. To demand the immortality of individual consciousness, which is destroyed along with the death of the body, means to desire the constant repetition of the same mistake. It is not enough for a person to move to better world. A change needs to happen within him.
• The belief that the spirit of love will never disappear has a deep basis.

XIX-XX centuries

Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist who developed the doctrine of the collective unconscious, also believed in reincarnation. Jung used the concept of the eternal Self, which is born again in order to comprehend its deepest secrets.

Famous political leader Mahatma Gandhi said that the concept of reincarnation supported him in his activities. He believed that, if not in this, then in another incarnation, his dream of universal peace would come true. Mahatma Gandhi was not only the political leader of India. He was also its spiritual leader. Following his ideals made Gandhi a true authority. Gandhi's worldview was formed thanks to his understanding of the Bhagavad Gita. Gandhi rejected any form of violence. Gandhi made no distinction between simple service and prestigious work.

He cleaned the toilets himself. Among Gandhi's many achievements, the main ones are:

• Gandhi made a decisive contribution to improving the condition of the untouchables. He did not go to those temples where untouchables were prohibited from entering. Thanks to his preaching, laws were passed that prevented the humiliation of lower castes.
• Securing India's independence from Great Britain. Gandhi acted through the tactics of civil disobedience. Indians had to give up titles given by Britain, jobs in the civil service, the police, the army and the purchase of British goods. In 1947, Britain itself gave independence to India.

Russia

L.N. Tolstoy is a widely known Russian writer. Many studied his works in school. However, few people know that Tolstoy was interested in Vedic philosophy and studied the Bhagavad Gita. Leo Tolstoy recognized the doctrine of reincarnation. Discussing life after death, Tolstoy showed the probability of two paths. Either the soul will merge with the All, or will be born again in a limited state. Tolstoy considered the second more probable, because he believed that knowing only limitations, the soul cannot expect an unlimited life. If the soul lives somewhere after death, it means that it lived somewhere before birth, as Tolstoy claimed.

N. O. Lossky is a representative of the Russian religious philosophy. He was one of the founders of the intuitionist movement in philosophy. Here is how the Russian philosopher proves the idea of ​​reincarnation:

1. It is impossible to grant salvation to a person from the outside. He must deal with his evil himself. God puts a person in situations that will show the insignificance of evil and the power of good. To do this, it is necessary that the soul continues to live after physical death, gaining new experience. All evil is redeemed by suffering until the heart becomes pure. This kind of correction takes time. It cannot happen within one short life person.
2. By creating a person, God gives her the power to create. A person develops his own type of life. Therefore, he is responsible for his actions, for his character traits and for his external manifestation in the body.
3. Lossky noted that forgetting is a natural property of humans. Many adults don't remember parts of their childhood. Personal identity is not based on memories, but on basic aspirations that influence the path a person takes.
4. If the passion that caused an unseemly act in the previous incarnation remains in the soul at the next birth, then even without the memory of the committed actions, its very presence and manifestation lead to punishment.
5. The benefits and hardships that newborns receive are determined by their previous birth. Without the theory of reincarnation, different conditions of birth are contrary to the goodness of God. Otherwise, the being being born creates them itself. Therefore, it is responsible for them.

Lossky, however, rejected that a person in his next incarnation could be born in the shell of an animal or plant.

Karma and reincarnation

The concept of karma is closely related to the theory of reincarnation. The law of karma is the law of cause and effect, according to which a person’s actions in the present determine his life both in this and in subsequent incarnations. What is happening to us now is a consequence of the actions of the past.

The text of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, one of the main Puranas, says that the actions of a being create its next shell. With the advent of death, a person ceases to reap the benefits of a certain stage of activity. With birth, he receives the results of the next stage.

After physical death, the soul can be reincarnated not only in a human shell, but also in the body of an animal, plant, or even a demigod. The body in which we live is called the gross body. However, there is also a subtle body, consisting of mind, intelligence and ego. When the gross body dies, the subtle body remains. This explains the fact that in the subsequent incarnation the aspirations and personality traits that were characteristic of her in the previous life are preserved. We see that even a baby has its own individual character.

Henry Ford said that his talent accumulated over many lives. He accepted the doctrine of rebirth at age 26. The work did not bring him complete satisfaction, because he understood that the inevitability of death made his efforts in vain. The idea of ​​reincarnation gave him the opportunity to believe in further development.

Reincarnation of relationships

In addition to personal relationships, there are more subtle connections. In previous incarnations we have already met some people. And this connection can last several lives. It happens that we did not solve some problems for a person in a past life, and we must solve them in the present.

There are several types of connections:

• Kindred souls. Those souls who help each other move to a new level of consciousness. They are often of the opposite sex to balance each other out. Meeting with soul mate may not last long but have a strong impact on a person.
• Twin souls. They are very similar to each other in character and in their interests. They often feel each other at a distance. When you meet, you get the feeling that you have known the person for a long time, and a feeling of unconditional love arises.
• Karmic relationships. Such relationships are often difficult, and you need to work hard on yourself. People need to work through some situation together. If there is some debt left to a person from a past life, then it’s time to return it.

Lossky also wrote about the connection of souls in subsequent lives. Beings of the God Realm have cosmic body and are connected to each other. A person who has true love for another person is united with him by an indestructible bond. With a new birth, the connection remains at least in the form of unconscious sympathy. At a higher stage of development, we will be able to remember all previous stages. Then the opportunity arises for conscious communication with the person whom we have loved with eternal love.

The soul cannot be satisfied with material pleasures alone. However, the highest pleasures can be achieved only through spiritual experience, which helps to realize one’s spiritual nature. The concept of reincarnation teaches us not to get hung up on passing moments, it allows us to realize the eternity of the soul, which will help in solving complex problems and finding the meaning of life.

The question of reincarnation has concerned theologians and philosophers throughout the history of humankind. Is death forever, or is it to be continued? If yes, which one?

In this article

Is it possible to count lives or remember them?

One incarnation or seven hundred in geometric progression? Or maybe there are nine of them, like a cat? ? Some believe that it is possible to be reborn at least fifteen times, others insist that seven attempts are enough to realize your destiny.

Rebirth

Nobody knows the true answer. Only strange or terrible events make you think about the eternal.

Most ordinary people are interested in the external side; They perceive everything as a joke, a computer game or fun.

1. What is the previous body's appearance and gender?
2. What part of the world or country did I live in?

Knowledge about rebirth will allow you to correct the present and future. The past has great power, so we need to work on mistakes.

Special meditations or deep hypnosis will help refresh your memory. Having tuned in to the right wave, we plunge into a trance and go on a journey through memory.

Meditation as one of the ways to remember your rebirth

In dreams we see distant worlds and past lives

Dreamers say they go to places that don't exist in real life, but clearly recognize them. While traveling on the astral plane, we meet acquaintances, but when we wake up, we understand that these are strangers. It is possible to feel in the subconscious the foreign presence of thoughts, emotions, desires. What other signs indicate reincarnation?

1. Constant nightmares with similar plots.
2. Bright, colorful pictures of foreign countries.
3. Own transformations or amazing metamorphoses of familiar things.
4. Fantastic dream scenes.
5. The extraordinary reality of what is happening in the world of illusions.

All these phenomena indicate that the soul is painfully trying to remember its previous place of residence.

Strange Memories

The older the Mind, the less likely it is to remember the past, say parapsychologists and occultists. Unconscious visions come to children, but parents usually attribute them to wild imagination. Sometimes they are afraid of revelations and forbid the child to talk about an illusory vision of reality. Non-existent interlocutors or friends are not a figment of a sick imagination and are not a reason to take a child to a psychiatrist. Try to talk in an interested and friendly manner. Suddenly the child will be able to remember and realize himself in previous incarnations.

There is a legend that the cry of a baby at birth symbolizes knowledge. But at that moment the guardian angel puts his hand on his head and makes him forget what happened before. Erases memory to keep the secret.

Intuition as a reminder of a previous life

From the point of view of official science, intuition is a projection of the subconscious into reality. Scientists believe that there is nothing mystical or irrational: the brain constantly records and processes information, and at the right moment suggests the right decision. It seems to us that it came from outside, but in fact we generated it ourselves.

It happens to everyone: you’re walking down the street and you think about a friend you haven’t seen for a long time. After a few steps you see a familiar face in the crowd. Esotericists will call this a premonition. Fundamentalist scientists will shrug their shoulders and say: you first saw your friend in the crowd out of the corner of your eye, and then you thought about him. And not the other way around.

Occultists believe that the higher the level of consciousness and the more rebirths, the more powerful the intuitive flow.

In this video powerful mantra, revealing intuition:

Trust in inner voice saves lives. The media has described many examples of how, feeling discomfort and danger, passengers returned plane or train tickets before the disaster. They didn’t get into a car that was involved in an accident a few hours later. We took a different road instead of the usual route and avoided terrorist attacks.

Deja vu

Moments that elude understanding appear under the influence of stress, unusual or unpleasant situation. Smells, sounds, surroundings - you never know when you will feel an amazing feeling.

Scientists studying quantum theories suggest that déjà vu directly indicates the multivariance of the Universe and the presence of parallel spaces. Parapsychologists say that these are echoes of experienced memories. The greater and more often the effect is observed, the older the age of consciousness.

Empathy as a sign of rebirth and a highly developed soul

Who are empaths? These are people who are able to physically sense the experiences of others. And not only mental, but also physical. The degree of involvement in other people's problems is so high that the empath feels them as his own. They perceive common grief as part of themselves.

Depending on their religious affiliation, they are called Saints, Righteous or Prophets. In the secular tradition, they are awarded with the epithets: “doctor from God”, “teacher by vocation”. Such lamps of Light burn brightly and go out early. Often their fate is tragic. Example: Elizaveta Glinka (Doctor Lisa).

The gift of foresight

Strong seers come to Earth once every century, and sometimes more. Knowledge gained from mysterious images cannot always be fully deciphered or openly transmitted to descendants. The famous quatrains of Nostradamus are an example of foresight. Due to the peculiarities of the time, the Master was unable to clearly present the information.

Occultists consider Mikhail Lermontov’s poem “I Go Out Alone on the Road” as direct evidence of his involvement in the host of Mature Souls. The verses contain the following lines:

It’s solemn and wonderful in heaven!

The earth sleeps in a blue radiance...

In Lermontov's time, space exploration was far away. But how could he have known that the planet looked exactly like this from orbit: surrounded by a bluish halo?

This is what the Earth looks like from space

Lermontov's works indicate that his spirit went through dozens of reincarnations. The tragic death of the poet confirms the fact. He lived exactly as long as required.

A look into the past

Information from the past comes in the form of fragmentary memories, unrelated chaotic visions. People are able to remember historical events that happened hundreds of years ago. A tourist from America, visiting Rome for the first time, amazed the guides with the accuracy of her descriptions of places she had never seen before.

Maybe Jerusalem syndrome, which doctors consider a mental disorder, is a memory?

Jerusalem syndrome is called short-term insanity in particularly sensitive people. Men imagine themselves as Jesus wandering to Calvary, women experience the suffering of the Virgin Mary, who lost her only Son.

Mental and biological age

It's not about how a person looks outwardly, but how young he feels. It happens that children are serious and focused, and adults feel like teenagers until they turn gray. Parapsychologists associate the phenomenon with the true age of the soul.

The fewer incarnations there were, the brighter and more emotional the Spirit manifests itself. Everything seems new, unusual and attractive to him. He never tires of being surprised and discovering the facets of existence. Travelers and tireless wanderers most often have young hearts. Examples: Jacques Cousteau, Fyodor Konyukhov.

From this video you will find out how old your soul is:

Inexplicable attraction to a foreign culture, language, customs

Someone is interested in the philosophy of the East or has a thirst for knowledge of the culture of Ancient civilizations. Desire to study foreign language or dressing in costumes of a certain era can be explained by the theory of life reincarnation.

A striking example is a popular phenomenon among young people - cosplay. Boys and girls choose a similar real or fictitious image and recreate it with the help of makeup, hairstyle or clothing.

Unexplained fears, phobias and concerns

Psychologists believe that we develop all our complexes and fears in childhood. Fear of heights, falling or water indicates a violent death in the past. By unraveling the tangle of phobias, you can get closer to unraveling the origin and purpose of the soul.

Phobias are a product of fears from the past

The feeling that the Earth is not your home

Unreasonable anxiety, chronic fatigue, anxiety, a feeling of unreality of what is happening. Such emotions arise as a result of the aging of Consciousness. It gets tired of endless reincarnations and strives to leave earthly boundaries as quickly as possible. Loneliness, lack of friends, alienation and hostility of relatives are indirect signs pointing to a soul ready to go into Space.

The feeling is based on the premonitions of old people who accurately name the date of departure. The tired clearly know the duration of their stay on Earth and do not regret their imminent death.

They passionately desire to return to their origins, to the boundless space of the Universe and take a break from the difficult path.

Films and books about soul reincarnation

Popular science and fiction are devoted to issues of life and death.

1. First on this list is Raymond Moody's Life After Life. The author collected the experience of patients who experienced clinical death and realized that going beyond the physical shell is real.
2. Denise Lynn, Past Lives, Present Dreams. In the book, the author gives simple and accessible techniques for realizing your “I”.
3. Sam Parnia "What Happens When We Die" In the scientific work, the professor of medicine talks about studies conducted with patients who survived coma and short-term care.
4. The book and film of the same name “The Secret” will interest those who are concerned about the cause-and-effect relationships between our actions and the reaction of the Universe.

Memories, reincarnation and expanding the boundaries of consciousness have always been of interest to directors.

1. The cult American film Flatliners was released in 1990. A remake was filmed in 2017. The film tells about the posthumous visions of a group of young doctors who decided to undertake a risky experiment.
2. “Anesthesia” is not recommended for viewing in anticipation of major surgical interventions. But it can be confidently classified as a film that expands the boundaries of consciousness.
3. The historical painting “The Mummy” will allow you to look at the problem of embodiment from a different point of view.
4. Among domestic TV series, we recommend watching the recently released film “The Other Side of Death.”
5. The multi-part mystical drama “Premonition” will tell how, as a result of an accident, a woman acquires the gift of clairvoyance.

The soul is immortal

There are more questions than answers. Are post-mortem sensations real, or are these the last bursts of brain activity before complete extinction? Visions, premonitions, intuition - what is behind these concepts? World experience of numerous reincarnations or blind Faith. Everyone is free to choose a point of view that corresponds to religious or other beliefs. Or maybe just follow Vysotsky’s advice:

Isn't it better to be a decent person while alive?

A little about the author:

Evgeniy Tukubaev The right words and your faith are the key to success in the perfect ritual. I will provide you with information, but its implementation directly depends on you. But don’t worry, a little practice and you will succeed!

In the survey of the rebirth of the soul - “Is there life after death?” - worries many. Some say that after human life comes eternal life for the soul, and depending on how you lived this life, it depends where this eternity will last, in hell or in heaven. Others are of the opinion that it is quite possible to be reborn again in such a world, but not only as a human, but also as another living being. Still others claim that we live once and will never be born again. There are different opinions on this matter, mostly people ask this question religious movements, building on this the moral and moral principles put forward, however, people from science periodically make attempts to prove the phenomenon of rebirth, while knowledge about rebirth often motivates ordinary people to a more good life today.

The rebirth of the soul has been painstakingly studied by researchers such as Raymond Moody, Ian Stevenson, and Michael Newton. In their works, they described in detail the experiments and research carried out and tried in every possible way to scientifically prove the existence of this phenomenon. Of course, they were not immune to criticism, however, this does not mean that they were not right. Things are different in eastern countries, where Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism are widespread. For these movements, rebirth is a central and integral concept of the teaching. But first things first.

Scientific evidence for soul rebirth

The most famous scientific figures who at one time studied the rebirth of the soul were Raymond Moody, a psychologist and physician, and Ian Stevenson, a psychiatrist and biochemist. Naturally, not everyone in scientific circles was ready to accept their work. However, both Moody and Stevenson tried to approach the study of this problem as scientifically as possible. Raymond Moody used regressive hypnosis in his research, often used to study the rebirth of the soul. Possessing a great deal of skepticism on this issue, the first thing he did was go through this procedure himself and, remembering several of his past lives, seriously began studying rebirth and published the book “Life Before Life.” Before that, he was known for his other work “Life after Life” (or “Life after Death”), which declared the unconditional existence of the soul and its further journey; it described the experiences of people who suffered clinical death. There is another well-known book on this subject by the author Michael Newton, Ph.D., hypnotherapist, “The Journey of the Soul,” which also describes cases of people being immersed in deep regressive hypnosis, through which clients experienced an out-of-body experience and remembered their past lives.

Ian Stevenson has been researching soul rebirth for 40 years by looking for evidence to support children's statements about their past lives. That is, facts were compared, for example, a child claimed that he lived in a certain city, with specific people, was afraid of something, etc. And Stevenson went to this place and checked the data, looked up archives. Often what the children said was confirmed. Over the years, about 3,000 cases have been studied.

Why do scientific circles doubt the rebirth of the soul?

The main reason for doubts about the rebirth of the soul in scientific circles is the incompletely studied human brain and its capabilities. It has already been proven that any information, be it a sound, a picture or a smell, is immediately imprinted on our brain. And in critical situations, in illness or spontaneously, a person can remember this information and pass it off as his own experiences. There is a known case when a woman, delirious, began to speak Hebrew and Ancient Greek, which she had never learned. It turned out that she worked as a maid for a shepherd, who often read sermons in ancient languages ​​at home, and these texts were involuntarily imprinted in her subconscious. From this we can understand the doubts of scientists about the rebirth of the soul, especially in modern world, where a huge barrage of information is pouring into the heads of the population around the clock through the media, and it is not so easy to discover where a past life really takes place and where it is a fantasy.

Rebirth in Buddhism

If earlier we talked about the rebirth of the soul, then, unlike other faiths, Buddhism speaks of the rebirth of the mind, represented by the flow of impressions, experience or cittas. In Pali, rebirth is called punabbhava, which means 'to exist again'. You can often find a comparison with a burning candle, where the wax is the physical body, the wick is the sense organs, the oxygen particles are the objects of perception, and the flame is consciousness or mind. A burning candle is like a living person: from the outside it may seem that the candle is always the same, but every time a new particle of wick and wax burns, and every second the flame interacts with a new particle of oxygen. When the candle burns out completely, which symbolizes death, the flame can move to a new candle, and this is a new body, rebirth, but can we say that the flame is still the same? According to the teachings of Buddha, yes. Buddhists are of the opinion that a new body is caused by accumulated impressions and karma. It is believed that rebirth occurs due to a passionate desire to continue living, enjoying, and receiving impressions. The Buddha called this desire a seamstress: just as a seamstress sews different pieces of cloth, so this passionate desire connects one life to another. In this case, the cycle of lives and deaths is called samsara. Being in samsara is considered an unfavorable state of affairs, and one of the main themes of Buddhism is practice to break this vicious cycle.

Traditionally, Buddhism distinguishes six worlds of samsara, that is, six possible paths of rebirth:

• World of the Gods;
• World of Asuras;
• World of people;
• Animal World;
• World of Hungry Ghosts;
• Hellish worlds.

It is interesting to note that all six worlds are reflected in each of them. For example, in the human world you can meet those who live as if in hell, that is, a person can be subjected to torture and bullying; children in hungry areas of Africa are like hungry ghosts, despite the fact that there is enough food and water on earth, it is practically inaccessible to them, and they suffer from hunger and thirst; there are people who live like animals - they sleep on the street, eat whatever they pick, etc.; There are also those who live like human beings; people filled with envy, while not needing anything, represent the world of asuras; There are, of course, those who live like gods, they already have everything in the human body, they are beautiful, healthy and do not know troubles. And thus, each of the worlds can be considered. Still, it is widely believed that being born as a human is one of the most precious births, since here there is development and the ability to move forward, which is difficult to achieve, for example, in the world of the Gods, since there is no incentive for development due to the lack of need for anything. Rebirth into one or another world occurs on the basis of accumulated karma, i.e. certain reasons must be created for birth in a specific world and circumstances. In general, for a soul to end up in Christian hell or heaven, conditions must also be created during life - why not karma?

The symbol of samsara in the Buddhist tradition is the wheel of rebirth, or bhavacakra. Traditionally, he is depicted clutched in the paws and fangs of the death god Yama. In the center are a pig, a snake and a rooster, symbolizing ignorance, anger and lust - the sources of suffering that keep the being in the wheel of samsara. Next, people are depicted striving upward - towards spiritual life, and downwards - unvirtuous ones, who are led to hell. Then the six worlds of samsara are located, and the twelvefold formula of existence (causes and consequences) completes the picture.

According to the statement of the 14th Dalai Lama, the consciousness that we have now will pass on to the next life, and we also had it in our previous life. Consciousness has no opposing factor that would lead to its stop, to its cessation. In the deep layers of consciousness there are memories of past lives, and a person with a sufficiently high level of development is able to access these memories. With further sharpening of consciousness, it becomes possible to foresee the future. The Dalai Lama also emphasizes that if you live a meaningful life every day, you can guarantee a good next incarnation for yourself.

What does recognition of the phenomenon of rebirth give us?

This is perhaps one of the most important questions, the answer to which explains the position of opponents of the rebirth of the soul. The fact is that when a person understands that he not only lives more than one life, but that the quality of this life affects the next, that nothing passes without a trace and that he will have to atone for all his sins and reap the fruits of his actions, then the realization comes that living like this The way most of us live today is simply not possible. But is such a position beneficial to those who promote unbridled consumption, living one day at a time and putting material values ​​above spiritual ones? Of course not. It is worth thinking about why people who have experienced clinical death or gained experience of past lives, for the most part, change for the better. Apparently, they saw something that led them to the need to reconsider their lives now. In any case, the understanding that life does not end with this incarnation, and may even just begin, fills what is happening with meaning, allows you not to lose heart and realize your responsibility and involvement in what is happening. That is, what we have today is the fruit of our past actions, and blaming someone else for it turns out to be stupid.

In Tibet and India, the majority do not even question the question of rebirth; this is considered an undeniable and even obvious phenomenon. As mentioned above, in these cultures it is argued that being born as a human is a precious birth that must be earned, I am silent about being born in a body white man, for Indians this is comparable to divine incarnation. If a person could not live this life as a human being, then welcome to the lower worlds: animals, pretas or hell. This theory undoubtedly makes you not only think, but appreciate and cherish the chance to go through this life in full awareness and with the opportunity to influence your development. For example, animals are practically deprived of such an opportunity, since, according to people who have had the experience of remembering life in the body of an animal, instincts rule in that world and there is practically no room left for the manifestation of volitional conscious actions. Even a person, saving his life or being in need, is often unable to think about anything other than meeting his needs, let alone animals.

I am very close to the statement of one lama Dzongsar Khyantse Norbu Rinpoche. According to him, we develop habits from life to life. For example, depressed and angry people may have developed the habit of being sad and angry over five hundred lives, and this habit is reinforced from incarnation to incarnation so that the person is no longer aware of it and controls him. But as soon as he realizes that this is not him, but just his habit, then at that very moment he can begin to form another, more beneficial habit, which will strengthen from life to life and, on the contrary, make it easier. life path. Combining this idea with the generally accepted Buddhist view that birth is driven by craving, we can think about what desires and habits drive us in this incarnation, and where they will lead us in the future. Suppose a person constantly thinks about food and eats without noticing it, that is, this is his habit that cannot be controlled, then does he need a human body for this, or might the body of some animal be sufficient? Of course, all the qualities inherent in this individual are important here; perhaps they still weigh in favor of the world of people. However, as we discussed above, human life can also be different; you can be born in an environment where there will be no opportunity to gain consciousness.

In conclusion, I would like to say that regardless of whether we believe in the rebirth of the soul or know that it exists for sure, we must justify our involvement in the human world. Is it really necessary to prove that in the future you will have to answer for everything? Your personal conscience may be enough to live with dignity, respecting yourself and others now, striving for development not in order to deserve something in the future, but so that this life is filled with meaning and high ideals.

We have all heard about such a phenomenon as Reincarnation. Some have read about this in books, some have seen films about it, heard from friends, but for the most part, this is where acquaintance and analysis often end this concept. But understanding this phenomenon and process plays an important role for each of us.

The one who is born will certainly die, and the one who dies will be born again...

Bhagavad-gita, 2.27

Reincarnation, or reincarnation, is the opportunity given to us by God to be born again. The entire Universe and man as its particle develops and lives according to certain Laws. They are called Divine or Cosmic Laws. These Laws state that everything that exists in the Cosmos - minerals, plants, animals, humans - undergo certain Cycles of Evolution. These Cycles are usually called Epochs.

The Earth revolves around the Sun in one astronomical year, our solar system revolves around the center of the Galaxy in 25,788 years, and our Galaxy revolves around the center of the Universe in about 200 million years. All these are cycles, eras, time. And the life of the human Soul is subject to these cycles. As the soul goes through a cycle, it evolves, and at the end of the cycle it passes an exam for maturity. And the measure here is the well-known Galactic Law of Cause and Effect, commonly known as Karma. And the driving force behind the evolution of the soul is reincarnation.

Most people in the world have always believed in reincarnation - the transmigration of souls. This belief was widespread not only in the East, but also in the West. Before the era of Christianity, it was adhered to by early Greek philosophers- Plato and Socrates. For them, reincarnation was not a matter of religious faith, but rather - philosophical faith.

Plato argued that there is innate knowledge, that is, knowledge not acquired through learning in this life; the fact that some of the knowledge that a person possesses cannot be obtained by being guided by the senses was, in his opinion, evidence of the experience of a previous life.

Someone may ask why you need to know this and what is the benefit of it? The benefits are actually huge. It’s as if our cravings and desire for knowledge, our interest in understanding ourselves and the world around us, have been taken away. After all, every person must ask himself the question: Who am I, why do I live, and what will happen next? People need to see a deeper meaning in life than satisfying their physical needs at the level of existence. Human life is not just vegetation, as they try to convince us. A person has this natural interest and questions to which deep down he strives to find answers, but the social environment does everything possible to prevent this from being realized.

So to the question “What happens next?” answers, including such a phenomenon as reincarnation. More precisely, it reflects the answer, but there are other sources of the answer. Essentially every religion has this answer. The phenomenon of reincarnation of souls is considered in most Indian religions, but I would like to pay attention to where the Hindus got their knowledge about this, and what quality it was. The Hindus themselves know that the knowledge - the Vedas, including about reincarnation - was passed on to them by white people from the north. Hindus do not shout about this at every turn, but try to pass it off as their own. And what country is located north of India and what kind of white people they are, I think it’s not difficult to guess. It turns out that this knowledge of reincarnation is not alien to us.

What do other religions say about what will happen to a person after death? Take Christianity, for example. The answer to this question in this religion is that after death a person goes to either hell or heaven, i.e. This is where life in the physical body ends, according to the concepts of Christianity, and the soul ends up where it deserves to go. But few people know that the idea of ​​reincarnation previously existed in Christianity and was excluded from its doctrine only in 1082 at the next Ecumenical Council.

Here, for example, is a fragment from the Gospel of John, chapter 9, verse 2:

“One day, seeing a blind man on the threshold of the temple, the disciples approached Jesus and asked: “Teacher! Who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?”

It follows that Jesus' disciples knew that the future incarnation would be affected by the quality of a person's life, and that the reincarnation of souls was a natural process. It turns out that in the past, most of the world, if not the whole, adhered to the idea of ​​reincarnation. So why was this concept suddenly excluded from Christianity? Has the phenomenon of reincarnation become so untenable that everyone has forgotten about it? Are there really no facts to support this?

There are quite a few. Take, for example, Ian Stevenson's book "Evidence of the Survival of Consciousness from Memories of Previous Incarnations." The author, having been dealing with this issue for almost thirty years, collected huge amount facts. It turns out that in the past the peoples of the world had reason to believe in reincarnation, just as today there is plenty of evidence of this “phenomenon”. So why are we taught the clearly opposite - that a person lives only once, and then best case scenario to heaven or hell?

Let's see what they say famous people who, to one degree or another, were engaged in understanding the world, looking for answers to such important questions. Here is what the writer Voltaire says on this topic:

“The concept of reincarnation is neither absurd nor useless. There is nothing strange about being born twice and not once.”

Here are the words of Arthur Schopenhauer:

“If an Asiatic asks me to define Europe, I will have to answer: “It is a part of the world that is under the influence of the incredible delusion that man was created out of nothing, and that his present birth is his first entry into life.”

Srila Prabhupada constantly addresses the issue of reincarnation in commentaries on the sacred Vedic scriptures Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita, in lectures and essays, essays and private correspondence. In a letter to the famous heart surgeon Dr. Bigelow, he writes: “The soul is individual and moves from one body to another in the same way as a person passes from infancy to childhood, from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to youth and, finally, to old age. Then there is a change called death, where we exchange the old body for a new one, just as old clothes are exchanged for new ones. This is called the transmigration of the soul" (The Science of Self-Realization, p. 72).

In the last decades of the outgoing 20th century, the public worldview in the West began to lean towards the recognition of reincarnation. Scientists working in different fields of knowledge - biologists and doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists, religious scholars and mythology specialists - began to pay close attention to this issue in their research. Observations and evidence of various kinds began to accumulate and systematize. The a priori denial of reincarnation as such was gradually replaced by an analytical approach with attempts to come closer to understanding the essence of this phenomenon.

Let us cite the statements of modern scientists who study this problem in matters of their competence. Mythology specialist Joseph Campbell: “Reincarnation suggests that you are more than what you think you are. There are dimensions of your being, potential for realization and consciousness that you do not include in your concept of yourself. Your life is much deeper and broader than you imagine it to be while here. What you experience are just scattered hints of what is truly within you that gives you life, breath and depth. But you can live in relation to this depth. And when you are able to know it through experience, you will suddenly see that all religions talk about exactly this.”

The words of these people make us think about understanding reincarnation or denying it. Knowing that reincarnation exists, a person will consciously acquire and accumulate the best qualities in himself, strive to gain positive experience, new knowledge and understanding in order to advance even further in the next life. And vice versa, by rejecting, a person in ignorance can make a mistake, for which he will then have to pay in the next incarnation or even fall out of the circle of incarnations, which often happens with suicide and other violations of the laws of nature. As they say, ignorance of the laws is no excuse.

And here it’s worth asking the question: “Who benefits from this?” Who benefits from people living their empty lives, not realizing themselves and their destiny, and often also creating problems for themselves that will then need to be sorted out? Let us remember that ideology is a powerful weapon in dark hands. With each change of power in states, the ideology changed, and the one that was beneficial to one or another ruler was established. The people often only had to accept, what someone decided for them was often imposed by force, and gradually people forgot everything old and believed in the complete opposite, as if by a magic wand. Thus, everything important that man knew and realized was gradually forgotten, including the idea of ​​reincarnation.

I would also like to draw attention to why reincarnation exists and what some of its mechanisms are based on. Apparently the soul, or to put it another way, the essence, requires a physical body to accumulate experience at a certain stage of development, otherwise the essence would not incarnate again and again. And here the interesting point is why a person, being born in a new body, does not remember his previous incarnations. Supposedly someone blocked our memory so that we would not go along the already beaten path, but would take a new path, since the previous path apparently turned out to be not so correct. It turns out that even nature itself disposes us at this moment to develop.

It should be noted that in most cases, information about previous incarnations is not available to a person during his lifetime. This is due to the fact that information is recorded on the qualitative structures of the entity. And in order to “read” this information, a person in a new incarnation must reach the same level evolutionary development that was in a previous or previous lives. And only when a person has progressed further evolutionarily during his life than in any of his previous lives, is it possible to open and read all the information accumulated by the entity over the entire history of its existence.

But how can a person move forward if he doesn’t know that he needs it, or rather, it was instilled in him so. The illusion that we live once is detrimental to the development process. Thus, fertile ground is created for various manipulations and traps. Especially for young people, when the concept of freedom is substituted, presenting it as licentiousness and permissiveness. Slogans such as: “Life must be lived in such a way that you would be ashamed to remember later” are a consequence of a social illness that arose as a result of a stolen worldview and understanding of the laws of nature. Following the logic: “you only live once, you have to do everything,” and a person without understanding and proper education goes to great lengths in pursuit of pleasures, entertainment and imaginary happiness. But happiness still doesn’t come and doesn’t come.

All this negatively affects not only the individual, but also society as a whole. People were deliberately deprived of the core that would help them resist many temptations. People have been taught to be passive. With the ideology of a single life, the fear of death, the fear of getting problems, losing a job, money, home dominates a person, but if a person knows about reincarnation and the laws of karma, then the situation will change radically. The worst thing is not to die, but to step over such concepts as conscience and honor. Human once again I would think before committing a crime, because then I will have to work it out in the next incarnation. After all, repentance will not correct the situation and there is no one who could atone for us all the sins of humanity. Imagine what society could be like if the correct worldview prevailed in it.

Then a person becomes responsible for his own life. Injustice in society is no longer perceived as someone’s punishment or test, but as something that a person himself has the right to cope with. Without putting your vices aside, but starting to work with them, while changing yourself and your future, the future of your people and society as a whole. A person becomes responsible for his every action and thought. At the same time, he consciously develops positive qualities not only for himself, but also for his future descendants, wanting to leave them goodness, not problems. But all this happened once, we just need to remember and figure it out. In conclusion, I will quote the words of Eduard Asadov:

“It’s not enough to be born a person, you still have to become.”

It is known that at the moment of death the soul leaves the physical body. But the abandoned body may not be completely hopeless. For some time after the soul has left the body, it is likely to be revived. And at these very moments, the soul of some other person who has just died can move into the body abandoned by its own soul.

That man died completely and irrevocably. His soul had no choice but to leave the physical flesh. But, having left it, the soul, for some reason, did not fly off to other worlds, but found itself a new body - exactly the one that its own soul had left and which could still be revived. In life it looks like this: sick. He has a clear consciousness, but does not recognize any of his relatives and acquaintances and does not remember his life. But suddenly he begins to remember someone else’s life...

1970s - a lot was written in the foreign press about 12-year-old Elena Markard, from West Berlin. The girl suffered a serious injury and was unconscious for a long time, and when she came to, she stopped recognizing her family and understanding her family. German. But instead, she began to speak well Italian, which she had never learned.
According to her, her name was Rosetta Castigliani. She lived her life constantly in Italy and died there at the age of 30 after an accident. Helena Rosetta aroused the interest of scientists. She was brought to Italy. The girl recognized her town and her house, and when she saw her aged daughter, she called her by her childhood nickname, familiar to both of them.

A similar incident occurred in the 20s of the 20th century at the height of the Spanish flu epidemic, which, according to various estimates, claimed from 50 to 100 million human lives. In a crowded Prague morgue, one of the corpses suddenly came to life. According to hospital records, it was a certain Karel Turny, a resident of Prague. He did not recognize the relative who came to visit him. He was discharged from the hospital that same day. But he did not go to his city apartment, but somewhere in the countryside. In a certain village, he entered one of the houses and declared that he was the boss here. He gave his name and surname to the owner and gave many details of “his” life here.

Later, the police found that the real owner died of the Spanish flu almost simultaneously with Karel Turny, and their corpses were in the same morgue. It remains unknown how Turny learned so much about the deceased owner of the house, because no one in that village had ever seen him.

Maniac - he is also a maniac in another body

1964 - Two dozen guards and prisoners were killed during a riot at the Texas State Penitentiary. Security guard Jimmy Home could not come out of a coma for a long time. When he came to his senses, it turned out that he did not remember anything of what happened to him before the injury. But he developed uncharacteristic habits and a Mexican accent. After being discharged from the hospital, he left Texas without even saying goodbye to his family.

Some time later in different places There have been a series of attacks on women in the American Midwest. The police recognized the characteristic handwriting of one maniac known to them, a Mexican by birth. But this maniac was caught long ago, he was kept in a Texas prison and was killed during a prisoner riot. To make sure that he was dead, his grave was opened and his body was examined. There was no doubt that it was his corpse. But, in this case, it turned out that his double, an exact copy, was chasing the women...

Home was eventually caught and subjected to psychiatric evaluation. He confessed that he was not Home, but the same Mexican who was in prison and died during the riot. He became this way after his death and has no idea how he got Home's body. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he soon died. His secret remained unsolved.

Resurrection artist

It is believed that they most often occur during mass deaths - epidemics or wars. The most famous of these cases occurred during World War II.

David Chitlahe Paladin was a typical native of the American outback. He studied at an ordinary school, like everyone else, and was not particularly diligent; rather, on the contrary, he ended up in a correctional prison for teenagers several times. 1944 - he arrived in Europe as a soldier. In battle, he was seriously wounded, was captured and tortured. The Germans, dying, placed him in a concentration camp. The British who came here found him among the corpses. The body was identified by fingerprints and was about to be sent to America when they suddenly discovered that the young soldier had a pulse.

David was treated in hospitals in Europe, then transported to his homeland. For two and a half years he did not understand anything and did not recognize anyone, and when he finally came to his senses, he told those around him in broken English: “I am an artist, my name is Wassily Kandinsky.”

At first they decided that he was not himself, but the young man very soon proved to everyone that he was mentally quite healthy. True, he spoke English with a strong accent, which was previously unusual for him. And, what’s even more surprising, he knew Russian and French well, which he had never studied. Moreover, he spoke Russian without an accent and quite competently.

Later, when journalists and scientists became interested in this case, it was discovered that the famous Russian avant-garde artist Wassily Kandinsky died in 1944 in France at the age of 78 in those days when David Paladin lay in the corpse barracks of a German concentration camp.

David tried to learn as much as possible about his life in America. For this purpose, he conducted active correspondence with Paladin’s relatives and acquaintances. Then, without learning this anywhere, he began to paint in oils. The art critics to whom they were shown were convinced that these were Kandinsky’s originals.

Later, David moved away from Kandinsky’s painting style and generally began to pay less attention to drawing. He became interested in playing the piano. And there was an explanation for this in his previous life: researchers found that the real Kandinsky had a musical education and played this instrument perfectly. Already 5 years after his miraculous revival, Paladin headed an art studio and at the same time (having completed only 6 classes of a regular school!) lectured on theology at the University of Denver.

A logical question arises: why in the cases described were the bodies revived by other people's souls, and not their own?
We will probably not hear the answer from scientists any time soon. But occultists have their own opinion. They believe that the soul can be strong and weak. A strong soul, unlike a weak one, is able to re-inhabit the human body. Souls usually inhabit the bodies of infants. But they can also inhabit the bodies of adults, replacing them with their soulmates. According to this theory, the souls of Kandinsky, the Mexican maniac and the Czech villager were strong. That's why they revived the practically dead Paladin, Home and Karel Turny.

Cancer