Originally posted by ELECTRICkoolaidZOMBIEtest
if this story is true, i dont think it necessarily means reincarnation
For all we know he could be tapping (partially) into some great universal consciousness or something like that.
That is true. There is no way for us to know with certainty the source of the memories. In fact, even if reincarnation is true, there must be a
rational explanation for the mechanism involved in the recall of memories which pre-date the conception of the "new host" and formation of the
brain.
However, It is notable that in this case, and many others, the child or person has such a strong attachment to one particular individual, with no
other similar attachments.
When looking for evidence of reincarnation, I don't think that it should be assumed that all claims have equal value. Certainly you must begin by
eliminating cases of multiple personality disorder. I think that channelings and regressions should also be treated with a higher degree of scepticism
and analysed separately from those where the memories arise spontaneously, with no attempt of deliberate retrieval.
While I acknowledge there might be some value to memory regression, there is certainly the possibility that the person under regression is
subconsciously creating the "information recalled".
All that said, there is a whole lot that science does not know about the operation of consciousness and memory function. It is not "rational" to
simply dismiss every claim with the assumption that every case must be a hoax or simply a product of wishfull thinking on the basis that this is "a
simpler explanation".
And from my perspective, looking at this from a spiritual perspective and the realm of personal beliefs, not grounded in science, if one assumes the
existence of a human "soul" which survives death (and I am not assuming that humans would be unique in pocessing a "soul", then the idea of
reincarnation makes much more sense to me than the Christian concept that a soul goes through one incarnation followed by some "final judgement"
that is based on whether one has chosen the "correct saviour".
There is little doubt that science is limited in its ability to answer some fundamental questions regarding the "purpose of existence" or if there
is any possibility that our consciousness and identity may survive death.