Best reincarnation books according to redditors
We found 128 Reddit comments discussing the best reincarnation books. We ranked the 39 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 128 Reddit comments discussing the best reincarnation books. We ranked the 39 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
You're wrong about the evidence. There are case studies on so called "veridical near death experiences" where information is gathered during the out of body state that could not be otherwise perceived.
A good book (ignore the cheeky title) is Stop Worrying! There Probably is an Afterlife which covers several of these cases in addition to much more evidence.
Indeed, the place you go when you die may be the same place you were before you were born, and you may simply have lost your memory/ability to perceive that place.
There's the nineteenth century school of spiritualism that has a lot to say and describes a system like you're asking for.
Then you have the entire world of nde's and everything they describe, which is mostly judgment and reincarnation. Life after life is good place to start or ian stevensons books.
Then you have hypnotic regression and the whole Michael Newton school of thought.
Then you have plain Jane religion, especially Buddhism, especially the esoteric stuff like the Tibetan book of the dead.
Personally, the best book on this subject I've read on this subject is this and it touches of most of the above. I suggest you check it out as a starting point and work your way from there:
https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Worrying-There-Probably-Afterlife-ebook/dp/B00GBLRNTS
If he was in the military and overseas, then I suppose he never really was an option as a possible explanation. I would feel safe in ruling him out.
These are the only facts that you have.
Now, here are some assumptions that you made that weren't warranted:
Actually, there are cases of family members being seen in places where they couldn't have been. Showing a few pictures could have turned up something interesting.
There are even more cases of people reporting dead family members (sometimes their death was unknown to the witness) being where they shouldn't have been. Again, showing a few pictures might have produced interesting results.
So you go through a family album with your son (at the time; too late now) and rule all that out.
(If you are interested in reading a balanced book that deals with some of these things, check out Greg Taylor's Stop Worrying! There Probably Is an Afterlife. http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Worrying-There-Probably-Afterlife-ebook/dp/B00GBLRNTS )
If you had ruled those things out, then you might have some kind of glitch. As it is, I think this probably belongs in a paranormal sub somewhere.
You asked earlier, "And please elaborate on how evidence can guide us to most likely solutions is full of unwarranted assumptions from the 1920s." That isn't exactly what I said. I said, "There's a load of assumption in that, and those assumptions haven't been warranted since the 1920s at least."
Here's a wiki quote: "In the mid-1920s, developments in quantum mechanics led to its becoming the standard formulation for atomic physics."
That, and what it implies about the nature of reality, is something that should be common knowledge by now. But it isn't. (In fact, just this week there was an announcement about new evidence pointing toward there being multiple universes, some even lying very near our own, yet invisible to us. This comes shortly after other evidence that "bruising" evident in the background radiation suggests our universe has "bumped into" other universes in the past.
I'll just give you a sample of some recent articles discussing the issue of the multiverse and its implications:
> Last month, a team of scientists at the South Pole announced that their telescope, Bicep 2, had discovered gravitational waves, colossal ripples in space time. The finding, which has been disputed and has yet to be confirmed, would not only back up our models of the Big Bang but also provide strong evidence for inflation and the reality of the multiverse.
> Recent discoveries like this suggest space may have inflated to an infinite extent after the Big Bang. Physicists believe that the inflationary process was capable of creating matter as well as space, in similarly infinite quantities.
> In which case, go far enough and you will see an exact “repeat” of the stars and galaxies we see around us, including another planet Earth and another you – and every variation thereof, including worlds where Elvis lives, where Hitler won the Second World War, and where strange creatures like unicorns graze on alien pastures. This is a respectable idea. “To get rid of that conclusion,” Tegmark says, “either inflation is wrong … or space is in fact not infinitely stretchy.”
Here's another with some very interesting implications:
> A second possibility is that our universe is part of a larger system called the multiverse in which all possible values for m and b can occur and lead to many -- in fact, an infinite number of -- separate, logically consistent universes. Most of those values lead to universes in which life does not exist, while others have randomly selected values for m and b that are within the very narrow range to allow life to eventually emerge. We observe the weird values for m and b because we are here to experience them. This is called the anthropic cosmological principle, and it represents the dilemma facing physicists today.
>
> If we live in the first kind of universe, we expect that at some point we will eventually understand all there is to know about it and come up with a single, complete mathematical theory explaining all of its significant details. There will be no impediments to making all the necessary observations and creating the ultimate logical model with no unprovable assumptions to launch the mathematics. For example, all the fundamental constants in nature will be derivable from inside the mathematical theory and will no longer be quantities that we have to observe and measure.
>
> If we live in the second kind of universe, we have a problem. If the multiverse exists, we can never observe any of these other universes to prove or disprove their existence. The fundamental constants that make our universe look the way it does and make life possible are not unique and derivable from some grand supertheory but are randomly assigned and can in principle take on any value from 0 to infinity. We are simply lucky to be living in a life- and sentience-friendly universe where the constants we see and even the laws of nature make this possible.
There's a long chain of thought and experiment that brought us to this point. I think everyone should be more familiar with it, but especially if one is interested in the unexplained.
You have something that is bothering you, but you have been a bit like the fellow who lost his keys and is looking for them under a lamppost. Another fellow comes to help him look, but together they still can't find the keys. Finally the second fellow says, "We've looked everywhere, are you sure you lost them here?"
"Oh, no; I lost them over there," says the first fellow, pointing into the darkness. "But the light is so much better over here."
If you want books, I'd recommend Life Before Life and Return to Life by Jim B. Tucker, along with anything by Ian Stevenson.
For documentaries, there's "Supernatural Science: Previous Lives", "Extraordinary People: The Boy Who Lived Before" (which is based on a case that Dr. Tucker investigated), and "Reincarnation in America".
Edit: I got around to watching "Unmistaken Child", and while it's not the most scientifically backed documentary, it is quite fascinating. At one point the child chooses items from his past life, and I estimated choosing the correct ones to have a 0.0093% chance of being luck, or 1 in 10,000. Not concrete proof by any means, but extremely out of the ordinary regardless.
From life to death, beyond and back | Thomas Fleischmann
​
More proof:
Easily digestible tier:
https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/day-i-died/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwyVFW9kT8k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw3oaNUR1iI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhANf60Y4Nk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W-PLmMwl2o
https://vimeo.com/7464750
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PX2x0FxDTs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzz-nG5pjFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnoIf2NwaRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5or66dI6akU
​
World-leading research tier:
​
http://www.horizonresearch.org/Uploads/Journal_Resuscitation__2_.pdf
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799144/m2/1/high_res_d/vol21-no1-5.pdf
https://www.amazon.com/dp/159477451X/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594773564/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594774528/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997560800/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826499236/
https://trans4mind.com/spiritual/Does-consciousness.pdf
In my opinion, the best place to start review of the evidence for reincarnation is with Dr. Jim Tucker's Life before Life. He's got more recent books. And you'll eventually want to go to the source, his mentor Dr. Ian Stevenson's seminal research. But start with Tucker's balanced review of the evidence and arguments. Don't prejudge it with assumptions about what is "keerazzy" or what does or does not exist. Just look at the data and draw your own conclusion.
Have you ever heard of Dolores Cannon? She presents an interesting theory in her book The Three Waves of Volunteers:
"In 1945 when the atomic bombs were dropped in WWII, our “protectors” and “watchers” in outer space saw that Earth was on a collision course with disaster. The prime directive of non-interference prevented them from taking any action, but then they came up with a brilliant plan to save Earth and assist her in her ascension..."
http://www.amazon.com/Three-Waves-Volunteers-New-Earth-ebook/dp/B0053YHPS8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406592965&sr=8-1&keywords=dolores+cannon
I also highly recommend these 3 documentaries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LicNQpUh0o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0C-qrHtlok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggdx4-oGIvM
Pointing you to these books is the best I can do at this point.
'Hitler's Suppressed and Still Secret Weapons and Technology'
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitlers-Suppressed-Still-Secret-Weapons-Stevens-ebook/dp/B005LQQYM6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501720012&sr=8-1&keywords=hitler%27s+suppressed+and+still+secret+technology
'UFOs in the Year of the Dragon'
https://www.amazon.co.uk/UFOs-Year-Dragon-Lou-Baldin-ebook/dp/B009L40WBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501720033&sr=8-1&keywords=UFOs+in+the+year+of+the+dragon (this book is more challenging).
Related: Carol Bowman's books on children talking about past lives: http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Past-Lives-Memories-Affect/dp/055357485X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452956781&sr=8-1&keywords=carol+bowman
http://www.amazon.com/Return-Heaven-Beloved-Relatives-Reincarnated/dp/0061030449/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1452956781&sr=8-2&keywords=carol+bowman
Yes! I used to have a book written by someone who researched alongside Stevenson.
https://www.amazon.com/Return-Life-Extraordinary-Children-Remember/dp/1250063485/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482511061&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=children+who+remember+their+past+lives
> We had an ultrasound (state law) and I got to see the heartbeat.
That's just cruel to do that to someone who knows she can't continue the pregnancy. It's not about "saving" babies, it's about punishing/torturing women.
> I have a little picture of it still but I almost never look at it. It's too painful. But sometimes I do, I clutch the little photo to my chest and close my eyes and wish I could change things.
hugs
> I had to cut contact with a good friend because she said any mother who isn't willing to sacrifice her health/life for her baby isn't a real mother
Yes, it's better that both of them should die, right?? OMG, people like this infuriate me! 😡
> I feel such intense shame and guilt, but most of all I feel heartbroken. What if they're right? What if I did a heartless, cruel thing to what was an innocent creature?
You didn't know you were pregnant, and so you took pills and drank. It's likely that had you had the baby, it would have had multiple issues and probably a very low quality of life. IMO, you did the compassionate thing by not bringing a child into this world only to suffer. 😞
> This wasn't what I wanted, but it didn't feel like there was a choice, I would not have been giving that baby anything near the start in life she deserved.
You're absolutely right!
> Now, I feel such immense grief to think I abandoned that child, that I let her down or made her feel unloved and unwanted, that she suffered. I know some of that sounds a bit irrational, but I was exposed to a lotttt of propaganda that peddled ideas like that growing up, and let's be real, I'm projecting my own RBB pain onto her.
I'm sure she understands. I don't know if you believe in reincarnation, but if you're open to it you might want to check out Carol Bowman's books on the subject, specifically the one about souls reincarnating into the same family. There's even a chapter in there addressing situations like yours.
> I guess I'm sharing this because I want to know if it's even worth trying to set a boundary with uBPD mom and her family to not talk about this sensitive topic that is extremely upsetting for me. I don't want them to ever know what I went through because I know it would be detrimental to my mental health (and honestly the idea makes me fear for my physical safety with the vitrol I've heard them spew, that may sound dramatic but I am being completely serious), but I just can't deal with the things they say.
Have you considered going NC with these people? You're never going to make them see sense, and putting down any kind of boundary around that particular topic is bound to arouse their suspicion. I believe you when you say that you fear for your physical safety; these people are unbalanced and possibly dangerous.
hugs
This book has a chapter of stories like that.
https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Worrying-There-Probably-Afterlife-ebook/dp/B00GBLRNTS
Sure! A couple books I can recommend:
Stop Worrying! There Probably is an Afterlife
Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for an Afterlife
Both of those authors have videos on youtube and podcasts and such.
You may also be interested in the Orch-OR theory of consciousness.
Thank you for that long and thoughtful response! I've really been overwhelmed by all the responses I've gotten here, I thought I would be downvoted to oblivion with just a few dismissive replies, so I'm impressed! Time to reply to everyone! :)
>There's no reason to conclude that spirit realms are real based on descriptions of NDEs or psychedelic trips
Actually, there's every reason to do it. Here's how I see it. Temporarily disregarding the fact that the scientific analysis of NDEs clearly leads to the conclusion that it cant' be the brain that's producing them, everyone who has a deep NDE gets convinced of an afterlife. Full stop. There are no exceptions in the literature. Doesn't matter whether it's you, me or Richard Dawkins himself. Once we've gone far enough into the light and encountered the being of infinite love and intelligence, we would be convinced. Here and here are the two most famous examples of that, but it applies to millions of people.
In light of that fact, I can't pretend that my armchair skepticism is of any value. I mean these people also understand the skeptical arguments - the close correlation between everyday thoughts and brainwave activity, how it seemed to them before their NDE that we were just our brains, that it's theoretically possible that these experiences were hallucinations, etc. They heard all those arguments. The problem is, those considerations are just jokes to them now, in light of their experience. They often describe the NDE world as "hyperreal", and say that this life here is the deep, deep dream in comparison to what it's like over there. I think this response really summarizes it.
I recognize that the only reason I or anyone else believe in the exclusivity of this reality is because that's all we've experienced and have any memory of, and that once that is no longer the case, it's only rational to let go of that belief.
>The trouble is that sensitive people get offended by such themes over at /r/psychonaut, and threads about them often devolved pretty quickly into arrogant pricks enthusiastically attacking from both sides.
Woah, really? I had no idea. I mean I'm not offended by people talking about materialism as a way to explain the deep psychedelic experiences, I just think it's uninformed and treat it with a smile. But it is indeed a problem across the board as you say - these subjects touch the core of a person's worldview, and most people are not even close to being able to dispassionately discuss alternative worldviews and question their own. The history of religion is the prime example of that fact.
>So really this is not the place to entertain "other realms/realities" theorizing, unless you have scientific evidence to discuss, which I secretly would love to see, but is still lacking to the extreme.
To the contrary, there's an abundance of it. I've already linked a piece of it in my last reply, but that's just a drop in the ocean. For a comprehensive analysis, see for instance this and this, this, this presentation, this, this, etc. I mean, I'd say that the evidence we have for an afterlife/disembodied consciousness is at least as strong as what we have for the existence of Neptune. So it's not as strong as the evidence we have for, say, the existence of the Sun, but it's overwhelmingly in favor of its reality nevertheless. If that sounds completely outrageous to you or anyone reading this, I wish to emphasize that it's only because you're not familiar with that evidence that you think it sounds completely ludicrous.
But when it comes to just the psychedelic experience - ignoring all that afterlife evidence - it's still rational to conclude that there is something to it when so many people come back from those heroic dosages of DMT, Ayahuasca and Magic Mushrooms fully convinced of the reality of something beyond this life. The plural of testimony is data, not just a collection of anecdotes. There's a clear pattern observed here.
I emphasize heroic dosages, because it doesn't apply to normal dosages. I want to be very clear about that: Most psychedelic experiences are probably best explained by neurology. It is only the complete breakthroughs that even begin to be relevant to the question of other realms. Smoking 35mg DMT out of a pipe will not make you meet God, for instance. Not even a tiny chance. But 100mg DMT out of a gravity bong? That's something different. Same with Ayahuasca. 3g rue and 5g Mimosa? Forget it. But 6g rue and 15g Mimosa? Say hello to it from me. I mean I've even done 2g rue + 10g Mimosa myself, and it was completely, redonkulously insane. But I didn't meet God, and the experience on its own would never lead me to believe in anything spiritual. But I recognize that higher doses are something completely different. See for instance this reply:
You wouldn't, actually. I'm familiar with this drug and you don't want to go where it will take you without guidance.
Look, I get where you're probably coming from with with this. You don't want the pseudo-religious spiritual stuff. That's cool, I'm an atheist too. Ayahuasca is not for us.
There's no "grounded" on ayahuasca. You'll trip your face off. You will experience the end of everything that exists. You'll cry. You will meet god. Doesn't matter that you don't believe in one. You will while you're tripping. He won't be fucking happy either. And this drug is dark. I know that everyone thinks they can handle it. I did. Maybe you've done mushrooms or LSD and think you know what a trip is. I thought so.
>descriptions of an "afterlife" from people who are still alive, it's fair to say, are highly dubious
Why? I don't see a problem with it whatsoever. Why is it a priori unreasonable to visit the afterlife when your heart temporarily stops beating, and come back when it starts again to talk about it?
But even if there is something unreasonable about that, there's still the fact that the evidence we have from people who are still not alive (death-bed visions, death-bed coincidences, After Death Communication, etc) is still overwhelming.
>"metaphysical science" is something I'd like to see more of, except with the input of intelligent, skeptical people rather than all the kooks and the overly obsessed, true-believer types who get upset when they're lacking a palatable explanation
Then you might be interested in visiting this forum.
>But such speculation is not for /r/RationalPsychonaut. Thanks for the well presented criticism of what this sub is, I'm sure many people would agree with you; The last critic just linked to the wikipedia page for scientism and left it at that, pretty lame really.
Thank you and everyone else as well for the replies. I think this subreddit has potential, but you don't need to equate logic, rationality and science with materialism, it only hurts your credibility and perceived open-mindedness. It's OK to think that psychedelics are best explained by neurology. It's OK to think it's rational to be a materialist. But it's not OK to think that psychedelics must be explained with neurology, or that rational people must be materialists. If you must have such a subreddit, it would be better called r/Itsallinyourbrain or r/MaterialisticPsychonauts or whatever. Also, linking to RationalWiki in the sidebar really hurts your credibility, because that site is demonstrably run my militant materialists.
I get that you don't want to talk with people who think that everyone in the new world order smokes DMT to contact their lizard overlords, etc. There's a lot of incomprehensible nonsense out there. But not every non-materialistic idea is irrational, and treating it as such doesn't warrant the prefix 'rational'.
Edit: Changed 'g' to 'mg'.
From life to death, beyond and back | Thomas Fleischmann
​
Easily digestible tier:
https://topdocumentaryfilms.com/day-i-died/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwyVFW9kT8k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw3oaNUR1iI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhANf60Y4Nk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W-PLmMwl2o
https://vimeo.com/7464750
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PX2x0FxDTs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzz-nG5pjFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnoIf2NwaRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5or66dI6akU
​
World-leading research tier:
http://www.horizonresearch.org/Uploads/Journal_Resuscitation__2_.pdf
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799144/m2/1/high_res_d/vol21-no1-5.pdf
https://www.amazon.com/dp/159477451X/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594773564/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594774528/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0997560800/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0826499236/
https://trans4mind.com/spiritual/Does-consciousness.pdf
There is also a book on kindle about reincarnation which may be of interest to people. It covers the whole process from beginning to end to why we are reincarnating.
ni li ike ala tawa mi!
mi lukin kin e lipu ni: lipu "lipu pi kon moli ike" pi jan Posi.
mi lukin kin e lipu ni: lipu "o pilin pona tan ni: ken la moli li moli ala" pi jan Telu
mi lukin kin e lipu ni: lipu "ilo mute pi pali toki" pi jan Losepete
Well, I'm generally skeptical but some legitimate researchers think there is something to seriously consider regarding near death experiences and what they might mean. Such as some people recalling in detail aspects of a hospital room above the operating table or other rooms while clinically dead. There is apparently a body of evidence which MAY point to our consciousness surviving in some form after death. Perhaps it's related to the way consciousness operates on the quantum level. I know that word "quantum" is used and abused but it's an interesting proposition. There are also other things regarding kids who have remembered lives of people generations past to specific detail without any prior knowledge, which is highly strange too. I just recently bought this book but haven't read it yet, it was written by an investigative journalist and might interest you:
https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Death-Journalist-Investigates-Afterlife/dp/0553419617
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0918024307?keywords=schrodinger&qid=1450233393&ref_=sr_1_3&sr=8-3
https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Relativity-Social-Conception-Lectures/dp/0300028806/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443776539&sr=1-5&keywords=Charles+Hartshorne
https://www.amazon.com/Inquiry-into-Good-Kitaro-Nishida/dp/0300052332
https://www.amazon.com/little-book-life-after-death-ebook/dp/B00N52L19Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454362314&sr=8-1&keywords=fechner+life+death#reader_B00N52L19Y
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=+Tillich%3A+A+Guide+for+the+Perplexed
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262693518/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1PA5HM0MRCFT0
Honestly, the best evidence and narrative defending the paranormal has been compliled lovingly into this easy to read book:
https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Worrying-There-Probably-Afterlife-ebook/dp/B00GBLRNTS
It covers a wide range of topics and is impeccably researched, regardless of its goofy title.
I find anything done for video/tv/movies is sensationalist, driven entirely by a profit incentive, mostly dishonest, and frankly - pretty stupid.
I have written a book on The Case for Reincarnation, which covers the process and the reasons for you to have multiple lives. Please check it out on Amazon and look at the contents. I hope this helps you in your spiritual journey.
I'm very sorry for your loss. Just a few points...science is not ye close to explaining what consciousness is or providing an explanatory mechanism for how it arises from electro-chemical brain activity. And with that, no can say what occurs at death with irrefutable certainty. I wouldn't look for scientific evidence of an afterlife...I don't believe science to be the appropriate medium for this (I say this as a scientist myself and someone who is passionately pro science). Direct experience is a much better medium I think. If you are interested, I would recommend you research near death experiences, death bed visions, death bed phenomena witnessed by others, after death visitations, and maybe talk to sympathetic hospice people who have a lot of experience of being around the dying. I'm not sure any of these things will provide anything approaching hard evidence, but taken together they are at the very least strongly suggestive that death is something far more mysterious than what mainstream science understands, and the relationship of brain to consciousness is likewise also something more mysterious.
A recommended book that explores all this evidence without trying to convince you, it just lays it all out there and allows one to make up their own mind (if they wish). Interesting stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/Stop-Worrying-There-Probably-Afterlife-ebook/dp/B00GBLRNTS
As an atheist ... I am thrilled with the amount of research being done into NDEs, currently reading this, and actually hopeful for the rainbow bridge, real hope, inspired in no small part by the moving tributes I read in this subreddit, and by my own kitties of course. Kitties are love.
Highly recommend Return to Life.
It's about the most scientific bent you'll find on reincarnation, and it has some truly interesting anecdotal evidence.
More cases from the kindle book: 100 Reincarnation Cases In Pingyang: Extraordinary True Stories of Kam People Who Recall Past Lives
How is animal's afterlife? Do animals around us understand our human's language? I would like to quote some accounts from a reincarnation case from my book for your reference. A boy told us the things happened exactly on the day when his previous body as a pig was discussed, chased, roped and killed. He still remembered the conversation between the previous master of the pig and the three butchers. A pig never talks as human does not mean it is not able to understand our language.
Excerpt from case 32#. "...Yongyang had been able to speak in simple phrases since he was a year and eight months old, but his speech was not always very clear. One day, Yongyang was playing by the pavilion in the village when he noticed an old woman harvesting hogweeds nearby. He immediately made his way over and stopped her, exclaiming: “Don’t use those kinds of hogweeds - they are super spicy!” The old woman was surprised to hear this coming from a small child who couldn’t have been more than two years of age, so she asked him, “And how would you know that?” “I’m a pig!” Yongyang answered matter-of-factly, seemingly too young to be bothered by the fact that he had just declared himself to be a pig. Amused by his answer, the old woman asked, “And which family might you belong to, little piggy?” To her surprise, Yongyang immediately gave a rather specific answer: “I am from Rongmei’s family!”
This was the first time little Yongyang had ever mentioned his past life as a pig; perhaps seeing the old woman harvesting hogweeds sparked his memories. Later that day, the old woman mentioned their conversation to Yongyang’s mother, Jutao Lu, who was very surprised to learn about her son’s unusual past life.
After this initial event, Yongyang began to produce more and more fragmentary accounts of his past life as a pig. As it turned out, he was a white pig - one of the several kept by the family of a local villager named Rongmei, who fed the pigs by cooking hogweeds harvested from the hills with rice and bran. All the other pigs finished their meals without the tiniest bit of leftover, but this one particular pig had always been especially picky, leaving the less tasty bits in his trough. The owner would often get angry about the wastage and yell at him while striking his snout with a tree branch.
One day, his owner got together with three butchers who made their living selling pork, one of whom was named Yongyao Rong. While the butchers spoke with his owner, the white pig listened and realized that his owner intended to sell him to this group of men to be killed for meat. Terrified, the white pig waited for the butchers to open the gate, and bolted from the pigsty onto the streets, then made his way frantically towards the hills. The three butchers, along with his owner, chased after him with ropes and eventually caught up with him, bringing him back to the village firmly secured.
As they prepared for the slaughter, one of the butchers jokingly told him, “Hey, remember that it ain’t us two doing the slaughtering, yeah? It’s this guy, Yongyao - don’t you go after the wrong man, now!” The white pig listened and understood. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of Yongyao, who was ready to kill him. Yongyao did not notice anything out of of the ordinary, so he killed the pig as usual.
His soul departed the body of the white pig and had nowhere in particular to go, so it simply returned to the pigsty at Rongmei’s family, where it spent another half a year. During this time, Jutao was pregnant with child, and often passed by the Rongmei family home on her way to visit her mother - which she did on a regular basis during her pregnancy. Even on the last couple of days immediately prior to the birth of her baby, she would go by Rongmei’s place and its pigsty on her way to see her mother. When Yongyang was little, someone asked him, “how did you come to be here?” To which Yongyang would reply: “I came along with my mother!”
The butcher Yongyao had a daughter named Yanli Rong, who was Yongyang’s friend as well as a member of the same clan. When someone asked Yongyang, “who slaughtered you when you were a pig?” Yongyang answered, “Yanli’s dad did.” Yongyao, hearing about this, came by and verified that it was indeed him who did the slaughtering. Afterwards, Yongyao swore to never slaughter another pig again for as long as he lived.
Growing up, Yongyang had never taken to eating pork, and rarely ate any other kinds of meat. His mother grew worried and told him, “You have to eat some pork, otherwise you will be malnourished!” But for whatever reason, Yongyang had to this very day never eaten pork (and rarely any other kinds of meat). Jutao recalled that little Yongyang would often wake up from his sleep in the middle of the night bawling his eyes out, and could not be consoled.
At around 4 or 5 years of age, Yongyang’s grandmother began to feed him..."
This book is originally written in Chinese,published in Taiwan 2018. It's English version is translated by American and Canadian native professionals.
Kindle E-book
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D4LSK82
The photo of the subject
Link here, it's broke up there. Tain't free anymore neither.
No kidding, you and me both! My first wife died when I was 34 (she was 30), and my second wife has come far too close on a couple of occasions. At some points in the past few years my obsession about death has turned into a deep, depressing anxiety.
I am generally an agnostic, at different times I have either believed or not believed in the afterlife. When I didn't, it was even more crushing than ever because I was obsessing about what it "feels like" to no longer exist. I would read stories in the news - sometimes I would purposefully seek them out - about people who were killed in accidents. Then I'd play a fake scene in my head. "Man, that guy, he was rounding that corner, not a care in the world, and literally two minutes later he's gone. Never knew his time was coming up so quickly. I wonder what that felt like? I wonder what he's feeling right now?" Etc....
After reading a number of things, I decided that I do in fact believe in an afterlife, and it will be pleasant. This book in particular was a big help for me:
http://www.amazon.com/Return-Life-Extraordinary-Children-Remember/dp/1250005841/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408998224&sr=8-1&keywords=jim+tucker
It's about the closest thing you can get to scientific verification of the afterlife.
This book could shed light on your (and your child's experience). Seriously.: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Before-Childrens-Memories-Previous/dp/031237674X
Here is a book on the topic:
http://www.amazon.com/Old-Souls-Scientific-Evidence-Lives/dp/068485192X?tag=particculturf-20
I've read numerous reports from people I trust about kids who know stuff they shouldn't, and even some kids who speak languages they shouldn't.
There are also examples where you have child geniuses who talk about remembering Heaven and stuff like that - a great example is this girl:
http://www.artakiane.com/vid-cnn-spiritualyoungartist.htm
Not only does she have memories of heavenly realms, but she has an incredible talent with which she paints her memories. She also engages in abstract philosophizing which is far beyond her age.
Almost all parents are familiar with how young kids talk about seeing and remembering things that the parents don't see. Lots of kids claim to talk to ghosts, have invisible friends, things like that. Eventually they lose these friends as they mature, usually around age 7 they die off for good. But a Buddhist would claim that the child, being fresh out of the womb, still has a partial ability to see the Heavenly realm where he existed between incarnations.
The Buddhist interpretation of Heaven/Hell is that between lives, you go to an astral realm made of spiritual light that appears like a concrete world but is actually a reflection of your inner being. So if your inner being is full of hate and jealosy, between lives the world you live in will have hate and jealosy as components (but you still won't suffer in the same way you suffer on Earth because you are incorporeal and feel no pain or misery)
Likewise, if your inner experience is of love and joy when you go to the realm between lives you will be in a world of love and joy.
Most people forget these realms when they incarnate, but some people retain memories of them. Some people can find the memories through meditation practices and stuff like that, and some psychics seem to be able to peer into people's past lives and dig up information that is not available to the psychic otherwise.
Also, it's worth noting that multiple people can share the same karmic ancestor. So for instance you might actually have 3 different people now who, in past lives, were Napoleon. The Buddhists speak of this as a soul being like a fire - it can be spread into several fires but is still the same fire. You can have simultaneous reincarnations that are all the same soul. It's not time-bound.
So when 3 different people say they are reincarnated from Napoleon, according to the Buddhists they may all be correct. Of course, they may also all be wrong :)
Buddha always said, and his followers still do say, that belief is irrelevant. It's not important whether you believe these things or not - what is important is that you seek the truth through your own inner experience.
The Dalai Lama says, "If a scientific fact contradicts a teaching of Buddhism, then that Buddhist teaching will have to be changed to fit the truth."
The Buddha himself, if you read his philosophy, was a very scientific man. He believed in first hand proof and only first hand proof. Instead of a microscope though he used his own consciousness and discovered many supernatural things.
Stevenson did some very interesting work tracking down the stories of children who remembered previous lives, and there's a more informal account of his work here: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Before-Childrens-Memories-Previous/dp/031237674X
His angle was to collect stories and then try to confirm the details of the stories, finding the specific previous life the child remembered. Working in cultures which accepted reincarnation enabled him to more easily find subjects and check their details. The birth defect study is an off-shoot of that.
this is a neat book
Interesting. There is research done by Dr. Ian Stevenson on past lives. He has many cases where a person described how they were killed in a previous life and had birthmarks matching the wounds they describe.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003J5UIRS/
This may be worth a read for you.
Ajahn Brahm - Loving Your Sufferings
Ajahn Brahm - Addictions & Obsessions
Ten years ago I worked with two young men who had duchenne, like you. So I know a bit about your situation. It lifts me up to see, that you are working on yourself instead of just giving up.
Why not take refugee in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha?
Why not take comfort in believing in rebirth? This life might be very hard. But you can still develop your mind with meditation. Especially Metta Meditation. And this way you will build up a lot of good karma, which will come to fruition in your next life. Reflect on this.
There are some good books on reincarnation. And there is real scientific evidence on it. It is very convincing. And why not take comfort in that?
Life Before Life: Children's Memories of Previous Lives
And check out more of Ajahn Brahm. He is a magnificent buddhist teacher, and his compassionate teachings have helped me so much in my life.
The whole teachings of buddhism are about one question: How to end suffering? And the buddha found the ultimate answer. He found the ultimate escape from all suffering, from all disappointment, from all misery. And all you need is your own mind. No money, no career, no girlfriend, no sex, and not even a healthy body - just your mind.
Check out Ajahn Brahm - he is powerful.
With lots of Metta! Good Luck to you!
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.in
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
amazon.fr
Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
Everything is Karma! by Burt Wilson.
You might find this book interesting.
Oh wow. As to specific books. Hmm. That's sort of all over the place but each one had something to offer. The ones I remember are:
Books on my list to read:
I have also dabbled in the study of Zen and a few types of Buddhism, Tao, other Eastern Religions and philosophies as well as some Western religions, ho'oponopono, mindfulness and reiki.
Deepak Chopra and Eckhart Tolle have some good techniques for separating yourself from your ego.
I'd recommend checking out this book: https://www.amazon.com/Souls-Earth-Exploring-Interplanetary-Lives-ebook/dp/B075W1S6FC
I still don't know for sure if it's real but the stories are really intriguing. It definitely opened my mind to some fascinating possibilities!
I like these books :
https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Physicalism-Reconciliation-Science-Spirituality/dp/1442232382
https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/1401953425/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541433567&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=boy+past+lives&dpPl=1&dpID=51XVBER6UbL&ref=plSrch
https://www.amazon.com/Life-Before-Childrens-Memories-Previous/dp/031237674X/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541433596&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=ian+stevenson+reincarnation&dpPl=1&dpID=41TryJKvduL&ref=plSrch
Read this book. It might allay your fears a bit.
https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Death-Journalist-Investigates-Afterlife/dp/0553419617
Yes, that's quantum immortality. I'm also an INFP. There's an assumption that we're alien Volunteers (mostly non-Earth-native humans) and that's why this planet is so fucking foreign to us. See Dolores Cannon's The Three Waves of Volunteers: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Waves-Volunteers-New-Earth-ebook/dp/B0053YHPS8/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1
>is it possible for the concept of mysticism to be relevant to philosophy in some way? Is there any contemporary work on mysticism that is worth investigating?
Not only is it possible, but some would argue that it is inevitable and necessary. And yes, there is a lot of it, but these days it is regarded as going under the umbrella of survival research. Here is an article that elaborates on that point and on the current state of affairs regarding survival research, although it has begun to improve a bit since the writing of that article. Additionally, here are the best books written by a philosopher on these topics (1, 2, 3).
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Before-Scientific-Investigation-Childrens-ebook/dp/B003J5UIRS
Here is a kajillion more.
http://michaelprescott.freeservers.com/online-bibliography.html
Go in youtube and watch videos by scientists Dean Radin or Rupert Sheldrake. They will explain their dozens of peer reviewed Psi research. Its all proven man. There are literally thousands and thousands of studies and books.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0098O9F32/ref=kina_tdp?ie=UTF8
This guy goes over 125 years of independent research and rules out frauds and hoaxes. Read the description of the book.
I totally get your position man, but there comes a time when you gotta drop the skeptic attitude and do some research. Occams razor says this stuff is real.