Remembering past lives. Yes, apparently it's a thing.

[George-ananda]

Genetic Memory: How We Know Things We Never Learned

I met my first savant 52 years ago and have been intrigued with that remarkable condition ever since. One of the most striking and consistent things in the many savants I have seen is that that they clearly know things they never learned.

www.scientificamerican.com

Sorry, don't know why it's saying that you're saying it but whatever.

That article was talking about the savant phenomena and genetic memory. It's about having extraordinary abilities but nothing there suggests it could explain a detailed scene from one unique individual's life.

As a believer in reincarnation myself, I think the savant phenomena is better explained through reincarnation, channeling, semi-possession and other 'paranormal' things. It sounds like the author was restricting discussion to the 'normal'.

 

[Kathryn]

That article was talking about the savant phenomena and genetic memory. It's about having extraordinary abilities but nothing there suggests it could explain a detailed scene from one unique individual's life.

As a believer in reincarnation myself, I think the savant phenomena is better explained through reincarnation, channeling, semi-possession and other 'paranormal' things. It sounds like the author was restricting discussion to the 'normal'.

OK but you believe in reincarnation and I do not.

 

[Quintessence]

My moniker here is rooted in my remembering/experiencing what I interpret to be past lives...Hence, I've been here before, before and again.

I don't expect anyone to believe me...heck, I'm not even sure I believe myself. But I have memories that are just like other memories I have, only they are of living in very different times and places than I have in this life.

This is so amazing to hear - I'd often wondered about your username. Very poetic!

Sometimes I wonder if things like this are indicative of past lives, or if it is indicative of the deep connections we have to things beyond ourselves. Our existence is very much defined by those around us - where does the "I" end and "thou" begin? With all beings part of a grand interconnected web it would be stranger if we did not experience these types of connections, regardless of what the "real" cause or reason for them is. As is often the case, knowing the reason for something is routinely secondary to the meaning we assign to it.

I think my favorite thing about past lives as a mythos is it reminds us of that interconnectedness. Mainstream culture is really bad at honoring our roots and our ancestors and our history. Anything that helps remind us to take a look at the wisdom of history is a good thing, in this one's book.

 

[George-ananda]

OK but you believe in reincarnation and I do not.

In my first post in this thread I discussed the reasons for my belief in reincarnation.

What are your reasons for not believing? Heck, if I'm wrong I want to know.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

This is so amazing to hear - I'd often wondered about your username. Very poetic!

Sometimes I wonder if things like this are indicative of past lives, or if it is indicative of the deep connections we have to things beyond ourselves. Our existence is very much defined by those around us - where does the "I" end and "thou" begin? With all beings part of a grand interconnected web it would be stranger if we did not experience these types of connections, regardless of what the "real" cause or reason for them is. As is often the case, knowing the reason for something is routinely secondary to the meaning we assign to it.

I think my favorite thing about past lives as a mythos is it reminds us of that interconnectedness. Mainstream culture is really bad at honoring our roots and our ancestors and our history. Anything that helps remind us to take a look at the wisdom of history is a good thing, in this one's book.

My experiences don't fit with genetic of line memory, as it appears to my memories that I was a mixed-race Australian merchant marine who loved Aussie Rules Football and who died in a shipwreck in the 1920s, and as a young woman who worked with horses in a Spanish-speaking desert area and who had a daughter in the 1950s before succumbing to an illness. I was born in late 1958.

However, I have heard a lot of people talk about genetic or line memory experiences; a friend described it as "The Grandfather lives on in the grandson."

But yes, the web of interconnections makes the inconceivable seem possible...

 

[Kathryn]

In my first post in this thread I discussed the reasons for my belief in reincarnation.

What are your reasons for not believing? Heck, if I'm wrong I want to know.

My reasoning for not believing in reincarnation is that I just don't think it's necessary, so it's a superfluous belief in my opinion.