But just as we are not giving up on the study of the fields of psychology and sociology because of the difficulties in studying human experiences, I believe that we shouldn't give up on the study of psychic or mystical experiences. Rather this research and study should be embraced and encouraged by universities and governmental and private grants, openly funded and promoted.
Still, there are many that would argue that profound human experiences like past life memories are tales that have little value.
I think the best argument against past life regressions is that the hypnosis allows the person to tap into some sort of fantasy that they are holding in the unconscious.
Still there has been scientific research on the recall of previous lives by Dr. Ian Stevenson and he has found that many of the events and people in these reincarnation stories seem to be authentic.
I have personally had 2 spontaneous past life memories that have had a profound impact on my own life. I approach this topic not as a true believer and certainly not as a closed minded skeptic, but open to the possibility that there are other explanations for memories of past lives besides the Reincarnation hypothesis.
It could be entirely possible that these memories of past lives are not fantasies, or even memories of our own past lives, but a way the mind has found to tap into memories of other people's previous lives. If all minds are in some way interconnected through an infinite consciousness that we all possess, then it would seem likely that people could tap into these various stored memories and mistake them for their own.
What is profoundly important is the therapeutic value these past life recalls seem to have on people. Very often, as in the video below, the recall of the past life offers a great sense of relief and healing. In therapy, a person can often begin to find some healing from a cathartic re-visiting of an earlier painful event in that person's life. An honest openness to the emotions of the event often serves as a way for people to come to terms with deep seated emotional pain leading to psychological growth.
Just as in the Near Death Experience, people that have memories of past lives often find some growth occurs from it. Perhaps it is the psychological benefit that come from the perception that life doesn't end in death. Or perhaps the benefit can be found in the perception that life has some deeper meaning and that this life is just a part of a process to discover and live that deeper meaning.
Whatever the truth of these events, the evidence seems clear that generally these experiences are transformative.
Obviously more scientific research needs to be done on the subjects of reincarnation, near death experiences, para-psychology, remote viewing, and various so called 'mystical' experiences, but often these subjects are generally off limits to research funding. Dr. J.B. Rhine did important work on the subject of parapsychology at Duke University, but the argument has been that tests were not easy to duplicate.
Part of the problem with testing is likely that most people have little ability to willfully connect to the vast power of their subconscious. Mainly this lack of ability, I believe, comes from societal conditioning that closes people off to their psychic powers because of the negating of their awareness of these energies and information outside normal waking consciousness. It is societal conditioning that often closes us off to our true potential.
The power of our minds are generally explored in occult or secret practices or even in secret CIA or other governmental intelligence programs. Certain eastern religions acknowledge them, are open to them, and often encourage them. But generally people in the western world are expected to focus their attentions on the material of existence and an exploration of the psyche and its powers are suspiciously looked upon as dysfunctional or even 'crazy.'
It is true that few people would ever play a musical instrument if they thought that it was impossible, weird, or even demonic to explore the beauty of music. In the same way, most of us are closed to the beauty and wonders of our minds and hearts by a societal conditioning that discourages the exploration of certain realms of life. These realms are then generally only available to us in our dream states or in certain acts of creativity, where we can experience them without conscious regulation.
Reincarnation events and other profoundly transformative experiences need to be embraced and understood not only as effective therapeutic tools that can greatly enhance our life and understanding. But also these psychic experiences should be studied and explored from an intellectual, scientific perspective that takes a holistic approach to the study of human experiences.
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