5 yr old remembers past life as a Chicago woman who died in a fire

Some reincarnation stories are very convincing. The relationship between the boy and the deceased in question was non-existent and random to the extreme. It would be quite difficult for a child to concoct such a story. The tale of the late Arthur Flowerdew was also very convincing. As are several others.

All these seemingly credible reincarnation stories frighten me to my core, however. I don't think much of life on this planet and would never voluntarily be here.

The whys of reincarnation are profound and put me off the subject when I think about them. It doesn't make sense to repeat something over and over again without knowledge of past experiences or sense of purpose or duty. In fact it sounds like torture and those who report reincarnation stories sound like victims of some repetitive hell.

On the other hand they do provide some scant evidence pointing towards life not ending at death. Its a terrible conundrum for me.

I wonder, if we weren't taught to believe in God ---- who would we assume we encountered on the other side?

I had OBEs as a child. I encountered a tall man that looked like Jesus. Would I think he was just a man if I hadn't been taught about Jesus?

I personally do think evolved beings are instrumental in our creation. But, not a god.

My grandson talks about being a girl in a past life. He's talked about getting his drivers license. It is my impression the girl was of teenage years when she died. If I ask him any questions, he gets a blank look on his face and won't talk about it.

originally posted by: Frith
Some reincarnation stories are very convincing. The relationship between the boy and the deceased in question was non-existent and random to the extreme. It would be quite difficult for a child to concoct such a story. The tale of the late Arthur Flowerdew was also very convincing. As are several others.

All these seemingly credible reincarnation stories frighten me to my core, however. I don't think much of life on this planet and would never voluntarily be here.

The whys of reincarnation are profound and put me off the subject when I think about them. It doesn't make sense to repeat something over and over again without knowledge of past experiences or sense of purpose or duty. In fact it sounds like torture and those who report reincarnation stories sound like victims of some repetitive hell.

On the other hand they do provide some scant evidence pointing towards life not ending at death. Its a terrible conundrum for me.

Some say we repeat our lives to finish what we never started, some for other reasons. As you said, interesting conundrum.

Hindu reasons for reincarnation

Reasons for Reincarnation

Hindus provide several reasons why the jiva takes on various physical bodies:

1.To experience the fruits of one's karmas: This is the main reason for rebirth. Sattvika (good or righteous) karmas reward one with the pleasures of Svarga. Rajas (pleasure-seeking) karmas reward one with mrutyuloka (mortal realm or earth). And Tamas karmas (actions related to inertia, laziness and evil) condemn one to patala-loka.

2.To satisfy one's desires: When a person indulges in material pleasures, he or she subsequently develops a stronger desire to enjoy more of it (Vāsanā). This unending craving to satisfy one's desires causes the jiva to assume new physical bodies.

3.To complete one's unfinished sadhana: When an aspirant making spiritual efforts for liberation from maya dies without attaining his or her goal, the jiva gets as a natural cause-effect another human body to complete its sadhana.

4.To fulfil a debt: When a jiva is indebted to another jiva, it gets a human birth to fulfil its debt and receive what is owed to it. The jiva comes in the form of a relative, friend or an enemy.

5.To undergo sufferings because of a great soul's curse: A person's grave error or sin may incur the wrath or displeasure of God or a Rishi. This results in the jiva of that person getting another birth, not necessarily into a human body.

6.To attain moksha: By the grace and compassion of God or a God-realized guru, a jiva gets a human body to purge itself of the layers of base instincts.

To me, this is the best explanation as any. BTW, most sites say it is not in the Bible, and not in Christianity, as a new Christian, if anyone has a take on reincarnation and spirituality, I'm all ears. It seems this child remembers God, my daughter remembers being in Heaven. Other children as well. To me, that is proof enough it is ok to believe both. Until I'm struck by lightning of course.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: FlyersFan

I wonder why some people are forced to reincarnate and others are not. I have major hopes not to have to come back here. I don't like being stuck in a sickly body.

lol, my wife and I talk about this all the time. We wouldn't want to come back. Living day to day can sometimes make you feel like your programmed. Living in a body with all the aches, pains and sickness that go along with it, isn't exactly my idea of fun. Any part of life we do like, is drowned out by all the hate, crime, wars, being a slave to your job and boss and seeing people suffer. No, I want one ticket to paradise.

What a lot of fun you sound!!

It might be a test, god isn't happy because he has given you every chance to experience your own paradise, but you haven't taken it, you just sit and count the days until you die to go somewhere you don't have to work to make it better.

So god will send you back as a lab test rat or a citizen of Somalia and you will see what suffering is.

God will then send you back and you will make the most of your life...

I'm an atheist anyway and I can't help thinking stories like this are made up by mum looking for easy money on the Jerry Springer type circuit!

originally posted by: caladonea
a reply to: Anyafaj

People should pay attention...many, many children remember their past lives and what it was like being in Heaven before they reincarnated; they are a true testimony that reincarnation does exist.

I'm with you. Children are very sensitive to what we call "paranomal". I have always been interested in the reincarnation phenomenon. There are some very well documented cases of reincarnation where young children can tell you where they lived, who they were married to, even what they did for a living and how they died. I would provide a link to one of the better cases but my so called "smartphone" is showing showing strong signs idiocy. Just google past lives remembered by children and have at it.
One interesting thing that seems to be a constant is that the children seem to start losing their memories of the past lives and sensitivity to other things such as seeing people that no one else can see ie. "imaginary friends" around the age of five.

I believe in reincarnation. I am a hypnotist and I have done past life regressions and I have had people tell me details about times in history and places that I can't explain without me accepting the very great possibility of past lives. I have also done past life regression self meditations on myself and gained extreme incite also leading me to the conclusion I am sure of. Many have lived lives before these.

Apologies if I ramble here, sleep meds are kicking in but this is an interesting topic to me:

I believe in past lives, I've always been interested in what mine are. Perhaps one day I'll find out... it's a subject I think about daily. I've never had a dream of the past but I frequently have them of the future and they come true (they tend to be very trivial things, nothing worth reporting to others), I even keep a journal of them to track when they happen, the shortest so far took 2 days and the longest a year... so perhaps I've got the latent psychic ability to look into it.

Anyways, back to reincarnation. Some thoughts I've had on it: If the Buddhists and Hindu's have it right, then doing good in the world allows you to ascend. That would mean that us and everyone around us is then a genuinely bad person. Proof is that we're here and not there. I can't find myself believing that. There are genuinely good people out there, and every action taken, even when bad is usually thought to be justified and the right thing to do by the person committing it. If we can't gauge karmic impact by our own actions, then why even try?

Another thought is why are we only reincarnating on Earth? Can we only reincarnate into humans? Anyone who has ever had a pet cat, dog, or bird can tell you those animals definitely have souls. Do they only reincarnate into their own species?

When we reincarnate do we have any say over where we go? I got quite lucky with my parents and place of birth this time around, I would like to think it wasn't purely random chance. I could have ended up in Uganda and sold off as a slave. Is our entire fate really purely random or was it the result of an arbitrary decision by a higher power? In which case we are all truly equal as any one of us could have just as easily been anyone else. From king to peasant to criminal.

If we continue to reincarnate it surely must be for some sort of reason. We seem to have nearly no access to the knowledge of our past lives and that strikes me as a critical design flaw in the human soul. It takes us 30 years to become decent people, another 30 to work in the world, and then another 30 to age away. Imagine how far ahead of the game you would be if you had a lifetime of knowledge from 5 years old. That would equip you to further human thought on anything you knew about, to a depth not possible by any experts due to age. This knowledge seems to be locked away and disappears though, so the question becomes: What is the point of life?

I hope reincarnation doesn't exist... the only problem is I have faint memories of doing this human thing before and my mother was convinced I was her mother ... I apparently said some things to convince her when I was very little. She was agnostic and didn't know about it until that incident.

My gf had spontaneous memories of past lives that hit her out of the blue... convinced her of either detailed hallucinations about living before, or actually living before... and when I was a kid I had recurring dreams of getting shot in the face during what seemed like the American Civil War... a very detailed dream where I remembered a house and family and joining a recruitment parade as it went through town... training... people... and getting shot in the first moments of our first engagement when a forest erupted with smoke and whizzing bullets.

I really have no clue... could all be brain misfires and mistakes... or a few billion people are correct and this stupid experience is repeatable.

originally posted by: EternalSolace

originally posted by: Anyafaj

That is, until a psychiatrist told her it wasn't nice to lie and tell fairy tales.

What a stupid psychiatrist...

I would say it's sound advice to give a child with delusional thoughts. Even if reincarnation exists you'd have to think statistically most of these accounts are simply delusions. I'm not sure what physchiatrist you're referencing either, this is more of a general statement, just so I don't offend anyone by misinterpretating you're opinion.

Children, up to a certain age, I think see, hear & remember things that they shouldn't. Past lives & imaginary friends. Apparently I used to have an imaginary friend when I was 2 or 3. I don't remember this happening, but both my parents say I did.
It must be kind of strange remembering a past life, especially at such a young age. everything is new, big & confusing.

I still see & hear things now, but it seems to come and go every few months.

Children have such a different view of the world than we do. I think there maybe something in it, remembering past lives as a child.

a reply to: Anyafaj

The Daily Mail? And a really bad TV show which likes to lead the audience down specific paths while ignoring all the inconvenient facts and creating a false narrative of what actually happened?

I'm sorry, I do believe there is a lot we cannot explain, and I certainly believe in the transfer of energy (remember, we function on electrical impulse, and energy never dies, it's transferred, so where does it go when our bodies can no longer contain it?) but this is all totally unfounded nonsense as far as I'm concerned.

There seems to be a lot of leading going on here, and a lot of influence from the parents. It's more likely they created this story themselves, believing in something and encouraging their childs imagination through feeding him information.

Plenty of kids have imaginary friends, create stories in their minds and weave all kinds of fantastical tales, but all of what I have read about this tells me the parents are the ones responsible for leading their child into this story, probably from something almost insignificant.

I love how people here instantly believe this though, considering it's from the Daily Mail, and considering it's from one of those TV shows that likes to stretch the truth through suggestion and fiction to create the story in your mind. The motto here is supposed to be "deny ignorance", but far too many are willing to swallow any nonsense without proof when it suits what they want to believe.

originally posted by: Voyaging
a reply to: FlyersFan

If you are interested in reading more about reincarnation, I would recommend reading the book titled, Journey of Souls, by Michael Newton. It is very fascinating if true.

I love that book! My Mother gave me a copy to read - I remember being up very late cuz I just couldn't put it down- I always recommend it to friends when I get into these types of conversations.

There ARE references to reincarnation in the Bible! For instance, John 9:2 - The disciples ask Jesus whether this man or his parents sinned that said man was born blind. If there is no reincarnation, how could this man have sinned in order to be born blind? In the womb??? The disciples believed in reincarnation, obviously.

I personally believe in reincarnation, which is taught by most world religions. And, Firth, I just want to give you a big hug. Don't be afraid. Everything is how you look at it. Of course I may be wrong, but I believe that in the spirit we are in our 'full' essence and 'see' everything without fears/worries/concerns. Once we are born (again), though, and especially once we forget about the afterlife, what we decided in 'our full essence' to come here and do isn't quite as easy. I think we are supposed to forget about the afterlife, otherwise we'd be lazing around, just waiting to die and get back to the afterlife. But since we forget...and have doubts about what happens after life...we are tested fully, we are able to really work on what we came here to do. And these stories about people remembering the afterlife give us a little hope, a little more strength to carry on... (imo)

Also, I like the idea of reincarnation, not to mention I'm a stickler for justice. This current life of mine has been rather difficult. I could say that's not fair. I could say, "Why do some other people have it all, while I and others have been denied?". But, if I and others also get at least one life wherein we get it all, then it's easier to accept a difficult life, plus it's just and fair.

I hope the above has been clear enough. I have a physical condition wherein it's getting harder and harder to voice my thoughts. Thank you for your patience and understanding, though.

originally posted by: dr1234

originally posted by: EternalSolace

originally posted by: Anyafaj

That is, until a psychiatrist told her it wasn't nice to lie and tell fairy tales.

What a stupid psychiatrist...

I would say it's sound advice to give a child with delusional thoughts. Even if reincarnation exists you'd have to think statistically most of these accounts are simply delusions. I'm not sure what physchiatrist you're referencing either, this is more of a general statement, just so I don't offend anyone by misinterpretating you're opinion.

Pretty sure there was nothing ambiguous about my post. I called the psychiatrist the OP referenced stupid. It wasn't a general statement.

Even if reincarnation exists you'd have to think statistically most of these accounts are simply delusions.

Most does not equal all. I've heard some crazy things come out of the mouths of children. I tend to listen when things begin to get specific.

a reply to: Anyafaj

When I was a kid I had reoccurring dreams of drowning in a past life. I remember wearing a red and black lumberjack and seeing a blonde girl with pony tails drowning with me under water. I knew this to be my sister. It happened over and over exactly the same as a memory being played. Unlike any other dream I had I remembered this one in every detail mind you other dreams all being different.

I was sure as if I knew this to be my past life somehow ?

a reply to: Anyafaj

Soon they will offer the book and then years later they will say it was a hoax.....oh wait that already happened with the last child and god meeting.

Kids say weird # all the time. Hate to say it but I can't find them credible....ever. I used to work with kids and their imaginations are wonderful and they will say things to please adults. So if mommy and daddy are religious its only natural they would say something like this.

Good thread though nonetheless mate.

originally posted by: rockpaperhammock
a reply to: Anyafaj

Soon they will offer the book and then years later they will say it was a hoax.....oh wait that already happened with the last child and god meeting.

Interesting how some take one hoax, then blanket any similar case as the same.

Maybe it's better to individualize.

a reply to: Realtruth

lol , but your avatar is a picture with an angel with wings on it. He looks pretty happy maybe you should try it too.

originally posted by: FlyersFan
I wonder why some people are forced to reincarnate and others are not. I have major hopes not to have to come back here. I don't like being stuck in a sickly body.

Everyone is "forced" to come back, just hardly anyone remembers it.

Many also volunteer to come back because they are faced with the horrible realization that sickness and death is a feature of EVERYTHING, and in no way shape or form has corruption been stopped , creeping slowly across all of creation.

This environment here was created as a last ditch attempt to try and recreate something that could again reconstruct "God" "Source" that dissolved itself completely into all things, to forget, forever.

All attempts at finding this "God" have failed at all levels, and caused more and more damage AKA "falling" until now we are the at the end of the rope.

Either find a way to PASS beyond what created everything, or doom to forever slowly worsen, disconnected in this HELL, all pervasive HELL that is now even chasing the Angels from the delusions of Heaven.

Unfortunately the ones that originally destroyed countless galaxies and genetically modified our souls, and physical forms died , and their offspring are slightly less than them, and now fear completely rules them, the fear that the HUMAN FORM, IS the key to Salvation, for ALL, the perfect bridge between all REALITIES, and they do everything they can to stop us from leaving them behind, but they KNOW they cannot kill us, we are the only reason they can even exist.

And so how to "Re-Create" the Creator, while being shepherded by super advanced yet useless beings??

Start with crumbling the religions, like a sand castle in the surf.

a reply to: Annee

Sure it is better....but im not buying this crap. Kid says im reincarnated and everyone comes running saying omg its true! I don't just seems odd to me. It does make for a cool story and thats about it to me.