The Science of Rebirth

Several years ago, after the publication of my first book, My Journey Through Time: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Rebirth, I received an email from a dear friend who had been head of an important Christian institution, saying that he had read the book and wanted to speak with me about it. I hesitated and didn’t respond, wondering what my Christian friend would think of my description of memories from several previous lives. But he emailed again, this time more urgently, and finally we spoke.

The book had led him to a study of the research that has been done on the subject of rebirth, and he encouraged me to read several books on the matter. I have never done any research into rebirth, because I don’t need to be convinced. I have my own memories. But I read one of the books he recommended and was amazed at how much research there is now, so many examples of people whose memories of previous births have been proven, providing solid scientific evidence. “The evidence is irrefutable,” said this friend of mine.

About a year later, another friend, a Catholic priest, contacted me after having read the book, and his response was the same. “Rebirth does not contradict anything in my religion,” he affirmed. I had not realized the extent to which rebirth is now acknowledged in the West. In the East, it has always been a given.

After looking back and in some sense reliving so many of my past lives, the question naturally arises as to who I am. After reading the book, one dear friend told me that she recognized me in each of the personalities. I also recognize myself in those past personalities, but I am no longer those people, just as I am no longer the child I once was. Each life offers us opportunities to grow and change, and yet we take certain things with us. We take our relationships, which follow us from one birth to the next, the people we have loved, the ones with whom we still have difficulties, our talents and ambitions, desires and behavior patterns, and, most precious of all, those teachers with whom we have established bonds.

The institutions of the Abrahamic religions claim we live only once, and there is truth in that. We only come around one time in our current personality and current circumstances, but we shouldn’t limit our identity to that as we are so much more. We should appreciate the opportunities given to us in this life, as next time it will be different, but we should know that whatever is unfulfilled in this life will be fulfilled in the future, which we ourselves are creating. Our current situation was created by our past actions and thoughts, and so our future is being created as we live our lives now.

In When the Bright Moon Rises: The Awakening of Ancient Memories, I go back in time to a very ancient memory and show how it stirred in me certain emotions and desires that took a long time to be fulfilled. I describe four lives in that book, each one linked to the next, and I also describe the times between births. Every act, every thought, vibrates in the ether and creates a reaction, and it may take hundreds or even thousands of years for that reaction to show itself.

What I have gained most from the recall of memories is a greater understanding of the law of cause and effect, which has shown me how one life feeds into the next, different chapters in one continuous journey of life. I call rebirth a science because it is subject to law, laws that may be difficult to perceive at our current stage of human development but which one day will be better understood. There is nothing haphazard or accidental about it. The process is designed to give us innumerable opportunities to perfect ourselves as we grow and, hopefully, gain wisdom and a more expansive love from the experiences we encounter.

When we find an actor we admire, we like to watch all the different dramas in which that actor has partaken. We recognize the actor despite the different roles and can admire the actor’s ability to play different parts so convincingly. It is the same with us. If we can step back and watch ourselves assume different roles, we will know that the deepest part of us does not change. Deep inside, we are still the same, but we must perform according to each new set of circumstances.

There is a phenomenon called the hundredth monkey phenomenon. When enough members of a species gain a skill, that skill suddenly spreads throughout the species. I believe that as more and more people regain even glimpses of their past this knowledge will spread among humanity, and the law of rebirth will be as widely accepted as the law of gravity.

However, there is a purpose in the forgetfulness that overcomes us when we are born. If we were to dwell too much on the past, we would miss opportunities offered by the present. One doesn’t need to know the details of one’s past, if they don’t naturally awaken. It is enough to know that we have a long history behind us and a future that we ourselves are creating.