Reincarnation

Chart of Divine Self In the modern Western world, the concept of Reincarnation is rejected by the major religions of Christianity and Islam, and also by atheists and skeptics. However, it is estimated that over half the world's population do in fact believe in reincarnation, and such beliefs go back thousands of years. It is well documented that it was purposely removed from the Bible at the Council of Nicea in AD 325. Prior to that it was a common tenet. The Tibetan religion is based upon the continual reincarnation of the Dalai Lama (currently the 14th reincarnation).

There have been well documented cases of young children displaying birth marks or possessing memories of recently deceased persons that were in no way connected with the family. Such documented evidence has been vigorously debated, and is by no means accepted by the scientific or academic community. The fact is that the vast majority of people do not remember past lives, and so the notion of reincarnation is suspect.

On this page I want approach it in an open-minded manner, and see if there are any possible mechanisms or hypothesis that could explain it, and indeed whether it could be proven.

Definition

"to be made flesh again"

The belief that some part of the human being (possibly the "soul") survives death and is reborn in a new physical body.

(Note: some people use the term "reincarnation" to apply specifically to a spiritual teacher or master such as Krishna or Jesus, and the term "rebirth" is used for common individuals. An avatar is a divine being that specifically chooses to be born into this physical world for the purpose of teaching mankind.).

Mechanisms

Referring back to my Framework, is there a mechanism that could possibly explain this phenomena? I do not see how the ego can survive death, and this would be in keeping with the Buddhist teachings on rebirth which reject the notion of a permanent identity or self. I view the ego as being a construct in the neocortex, the outer brain. This will not survive death; but the ego is not the "soul". Most of our memories are with reference to the individual ego.

I have considered some possible physical mechanisms for reincarnation memories:

Transfer of physical matter from the previous living person to the womb where the newborn child is forming. This could certainly happen as physical matter does pass between humans very quickly - carried by wind, water, disease, etc. How exactly minute specs of dust could transfer memories is not clear, particularly as the mechanism by which memories are stored in the brain is not understood. This also doesn't explain the time difference of years (in some cases hundreds or thousands of years) that can exist between the previous death and the memories of the reincarnated individual.
The memories existing as a type of electromagnetic wave on a plane that we do not normally access. This could be part of the collective subconscious terminology used by Jung. For some reason the young child (perhaps in the womb) accesses these memories and they believe that they are part of their consciousness. What I mean here is that reincarnation of a previous soul has not taken place, simply that the memories of all humans are stored somewhere (collective Akashic records) which we may accidentally access. This theory could also be used to explain dreams and visions. However, this doesn't explain why the reincarnation memories are rare.

If you refer to my precis of the current models of the Universe from the physicists, we may in fact have a mechanism for reincarnation. If the LHC substantiates the n-dimensional brane model, then it is quite likely that there are multiple parallel universes and also a mechanism for the transfer of particles between universes. Consciousness could be a particle that could move between dimensions. So, for example, birth could be the transfer of a large number of consciousness particles (the "soul") from another universe to this one where the consciousness is temporarily trapped in the body (this is essence of the Gnostic teaching). At death these consciousness particles are released back to the other universe, where they may disperse or perhaps remain together as a group and become reassociated with another physical body in this universe and therefore transfer some memory of the previous physical body to the new one. I can't prove any of this, I am simply pointing out that a mechanism for reincarnation may exist.

Why don't most people remember their previous lives? Because when we drink from the river Styx our memories are erased! Perhaps the analogy of our souls as "waves from the sea" (so often used by Eastern sages such as Paramahansa Yoganada) is correct. At birth we are simply a small part of the great ocean of consciousness, a wave that for a short period has an existence of its own. At death the wave slips back into the ocean and disperses - the soul has not died, simply returned to the great ocean (like Odo and the other Founders, Deep Space 9). But in some cases the wave doesn't slip back but emerges again with much of the same water as the first wave - simply a random occurrence, which may result in some memories carried forward.

Can it be Proven?

I am not sure how I could convince a skeptic that reincarnation actually takes place. We are dealing with quite a lot of new concepts that would need to be proven. First the issues of soul, and life after death need to be addressed. What could be a convincing scenario?

A dying person writes down something in consultation with a reputable person in controlled conditions, and the papers are secured in a safe and the persons with direct knowledge of what has been written down are sworn to secrecy.
A few years later a young child on attaining the powers of speech (ie at least 3 or 4 years old) reveals their identity and reproduces the contents of what was written down and stored in the safe. They would recognise the supervising persons and know their names - "Hi Mr Smith, I wrote down xxx and its stored in the safe with combination xxx, and God says 'Hello'!"

It's not going to happen like that. If you examine the process the Tibetans go through when identifying the reincarnating Dalai Llama it is not that clear. They identify suitable young boys and place personal objects from the previous Dalai Llama in front of them to see if any objects seem familiar. The specific details of language, names, and other knowledge (that would have been held in the neocortex) is not carried through. A young child showing an interest in a set of beads or metal ring is not going to convince a skeptic that the consciousness of the previous Dalai Llama is not inhabiting the child.

Does it matter?

If there is no such thing as the soul, and we are simply the product of random manifestation with a short life followed by oblivion, why is it so important to "be good"? Other than making for a more harmonious society, if I spend my life raping, murdering and stealing, what does it matter? Once dead its over. The doctrines on reincarnation are that it does matter. In the mainstream religions naughty people such as myself would be condemned for the rest of eternity in hell, which hardly seems fair considering that the all-loving God has allowed my neighbour into heaven for the rest of eternity because they were a good person for the first 4 years of their short life. There is a problem with such models of existence. For the Hindu's, a good life would result in rebirth to a good family whilst a bad life would result in rebirth to a poor family (or perhaps into the body of an animal). A really good life could result in rebirth into a higher plane transcending human existence. Again, there are problems with these models of reincarnation. Nevertheless, some of the greatest minds throughout history have considered these questions and in general believe that our actions do matter.