Reincarnation, literally "to be made flesh again", is a doctrine or metaphysical belief that some essential part of a
living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. This essential part is often
referred to as the spirit or soul, the "higher" or "true" self, "divine spark", or "I". According to such beliefs, a new
personality is developed during each life in the physical world, but some part of the self remains constant throughout the
successive lives.
Belief in reincarnation has ancient roots. This doctrine is a central tenet within the majority of Indian religious traditions, such as Hinduism (including Yoga, Vaishnavism, and Shaivism) and Jainism. The idea was also entertained by some
ancient Greek philosophers. Many modern Pagans also believe in reincarnation as do some New Age movements, along with
followers of Spiritism, practitioners of certain African traditions, and students of esoteric philosophies such as Kabbalah,
and Gnostic and Esoteric Christianity. The Buddhist concept of Rebirth although often referred to as reincarnation differs
significantly from the Hindu-based traditions and New Age movements in that there is no unchanging "soul" (or eternal self)
to reincarnate.
During recent decades, a significant minority of people in the West have developed a belief in reincarnation. Feature
films, such as Kundun, What Dreams May Come and Birth, contemporary books by authors such as Carol Bowman and Vicki
Mackenzie, as well as popular songs, regularly mention reincarnation.
Some researchers, such as Professor Ian Stevenson, have explored the issue of reincarnation and published evidence of
children's memories of earlier lives in peer-reviewed journals and elsewhere. Skeptics are critical of this work and say
that more reincarnation research is needed.
Eastern religions and traditions
Eastern philosophical and religious beliefs regarding the existence or non-existence of an unchanging 'self' have a direct
bearing on how reincarnation is viewed within a given tradition. There are large differences in philosophical beliefs
regarding the nature of the soul (also known as the jiva or atman) amongst Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Jainism
that do accept such an idea.
The concept of reincarnation (along with karma, samsara, and moksha) was first developed in India by non-Aryan people
outside of the caste system whose spiritual ideas greatly influenced later Indian religious thought. Buddhism and Jainism
are continuations of this tradition, and the early Upanishadic movement was influenced by it. Reincarnation was adopted
from this religious culture by Brahmin orthodoxy, and Brahmins first wrote down scriptures containing these ideas in the
early Upanishads.
Buddhism
According to the scriptures, the Buddha taught a concept of rebirth that was distinct from that of any known contemporary Indian teacher. This concept was consistent with the common notion of a sequence of related lives stretching over a very long time, but was constrained by two core Buddhist concepts: anattā, that there is no irreducible ātman or "self" tying these lives together; and anicca, that all compounded things are subject to dissolution, including all the components of the human person and personality. At the death of one personality, a new one comes into being, much as the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another.
Since, according to Buddhism, there is no permanent and unchanging self (identity) there can be no transmigration in the strict sense. Buddhism teaches that what is reborn is not the person but that one moment gives rise to another and that this momentum continues, even after death. It is a more subtle concept than the usual notion of reincarnation, reflecting the Buddhist concept of personality existing (even within one's lifetime) without a "Self". Instead of a fixed entity, what is reborn is an "evolving consciousness" (M.1.256) or "stream of consciousness" (D.3.105), whose quality has been conditioned
by karma.
Buddhism suggests that samsara, the process of rebirth, occurs across five or six realms of existence. It is actually
said in Tibetan Buddhism that it is very rare for a person to be reborn in the immediate next life as a human. This
depends on the karmic potentialities (or "seeds") they have created with their actions and upon their state of mind at the
time of death. If we die with a peaceful mind, this will stimulate a virtuous seed and we shall experience a fortunate
rebirth; but if we die with a disturbed mind, in a state of anger, say, this will stimulate a non-virtuous seed and we shall
experience an unfortunate rebirth. This is similar to the way in which nightmares are triggered by our being in an agitated
state of mind just before falling asleep.
Tibetan Buddhists also believe that a newborn child may be the rebirth of some important departed lama.
Skeptic Carl Sagan asked the Dalai Lama what would he do if a fundamental tenet of his religion (reincarnation) was
definitively disproved by science. The Dalai Lama answered. "If science can disprove reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism would
abandon reincarnation... but it's going to be mighty hard to disprove reincarnation."
Hinduism
According to Hinduism, the soul (atman) is immortal, while the body is subject to birth and death. The Bhagavad Gita states
that: Worn-out garments are shed by the body; Worn-out bodies are shed by the dweller within the body. New bodies are donned
by the dweller, like garments. (Verse 2:22)
The idea that the soul (of any living being with a consciousness - including animals and humans) reincarnates is
intricately linked to karma, another concept first recorded in the Upanishads. Karma (literally: action) is the sum of
one's actions and the force that determines one's next reincarnation. The cycle of death and rebirth, governed by karma,
is referred to as samsara.
Hinduism teaches that the soul goes on repeatedly being born and dying. One is reborn on account of desire: a person desires
to be born because he or she wants to enjoy worldly pleasures, which can be enjoyed only through a body. Hinduism does
not teach that all worldly pleasures are sinful, but it teaches that they can never bring deep, lasting happiness or peace
(ānanda). According to the Hindu sage Adi Shankaracharya, the world - as we ordinarily understand it - is like a dream:
fleeting and illusory. To be trapped in samsara is a result of ignorance of the true nature of our existence.
After many births, every person eventually becomes dissatisfied with the limited happiness that worldly pleasures can
bring. At this point, a person begins to seek higher forms of happiness, which can be attained only through spiritual
experience. When, after much spiritual practice (sādhanā), a person finally realizes his or her own divine nature—i.e.,
realizes that the true "self" is the immortal soul rather than the body or the ego—all desires for the pleasures of the
world will vanish, since they will seem insipid compared to spiritual ānanda. When all desire has vanished, the person will
not be reborn anymore.
When the cycle of rebirth thus comes to an end, a person is said to have attained moksha, or salvation from samsara.
While all schools of thought agree that moksha implies the cessation of worldly desires and freedom from the cycle of birth
and death, the exact definition of salvation depends on individual beliefs. For example, followers of the Advaita Vedanta
school (often associated with jnana yoga) believe that they will spend eternity absorbed in the perfect peace and happiness
that comes with the realization that all existence is One (Brahman), and that the immortal soul is part of that existence.
The followers of full or partial Dvaita schools ("dualistic" schools, such as bhakti yoga), on the other hand, perform their
worship with the goal of spending eternity in a loka, (spiritual world or heaven), in the blessed company of the Supreme
being (i.e Krishna or Vishnu for the Vaishnavas and Shiva for the dualistic schools of Shaivism). The principal Hindu
Gods are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and their consorts Brahmani, Lakshmi and Parvati. While there is hardly any text
describing reincarnation of Brahma and Brahmani, the rest of the Gods are known to have reincarnated in various forms under
different circumstances. Lord Vishnu is known for his ten reincarnations, namely Dashavataras.
Jainism
In Jainism, particular reference is given to how devas (gods) also reincarnate after they die. A Jainist who accumulates
enough good karma may become a deva, but this is generally seen as undesirable since devas eventually die and one might then
come back as a lesser being. This belief also exists in a number of other schools of Hinduism.
Sikhism
Sikhs believe that every creature has a Soul; on death, the Soul is passed from one body to another until Liberation. The
journey of the Soul is governed by the deeds and actions that we perform during our lives. If we perform good deeds and
actions and remember the Creator, we attain a better life. On the contrary, if we carry out evil actions and sinful deeds,
we will be incarnated in “lower” life forms – snakes, ghosts, animals, etc. There are believed to be 84 million form of
lives on earth with human being, the most superior. The person who has evolved to spiritual perfection attains salvation –
union with God.
The Karmas of a person will definitely have their effect, both good and bad. No worldly power can change the course of their
movement. But according to the Sikh thought, the Almighty God, with his Grace, may pardon the wrongs of a person and thus
release him/her from the pangs of suffering. Reincarnation, simply stated, is the law of cause and effect: reincarnation
does not create any caste or differences among people: past and present life's actions simply have a bearing upon a specific
individual. Reincarnation in no way makes one superior to another.
Taoism
Taoist documents from as early as the Han Dynasty claimed that Laozi appeared on earth as different persons in different
times beginning in the legendary era of Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. The (ca. 3rd century BCE) Zhuangzi states:
"Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is continuity without a
starting-point. Existence without limitation is Space. Continuity without a starting point is Time. There is birth, there
is death, there is issuing forth, there is entering in."
Western religions and traditions
Ancient Greek philosophy
Among the ancient Greeks, Socrates, Pythagoras, and Plato may have believed in or taught the doctrine of reincarnation. Several ancient sources affirm that Pythagoras claimed he could remember his past lives. An association between Pythagorean
philosophy and reincarnation was routinely accepted throughout antiquity.
In Plato's Phaedo dialogue, Socrates, prior to his death, states; "I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, and that the living spring from the dead." However, Xenophon, our other main informant of Socrates' life, does not mention the latter as believing in reincarnation.
Plato presented detailed accounts of reincarnation in his major works. It may be questioned whether Plato's accounts, such
as the Myth of Er, which also contain many fabulous details irrelevant to reincarnation, were intended to be taken
literally. Marsilio Ficino (Platonic Theology 17.3-4) argued that Plato's references to reincarnation were intended
allegorically.
In the Hermetica, a Graeco-Egyptian series of writings on cosmology and spirituality attributed to Hermes
Trismegistus/Thoth, the doctrine of reincarnation is central.
Christianity
The overwhelming majority of mainstream Christian denominations reject the notion of reincarnation and consider the theory
to challenge basic tenets of their beliefs. Certain churches indirectly address the subject through teachings about death
(see Particular judgment). A few consider the matter open to individual interpretation due to the few biblical references
which survived the purging of texts considered to be heretical in the founding years of Christianity as a church. New Age
Christians contend that reincarnation was taught by the early Christian church, but due to bias and mistranslations, these
teachings were lost or obscured. Many of the philosophies associated with the theory of reincarnation focus on "working"
or "learning" through various lifetimes to achieve some sort of higher understanding or state of "goodness" before salvation
is granted or acquired. Basic to Traditional Christianity is the doctrine that humans can never achieve the perfection God
requires and the only salvation is total and complete forgiveness accomplished through the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross
wherein he took the sins of mankind. There seems to be evidence however that some of the earliest Christian sects such as
the Sethians and followers of the Gnostic Church of Valentinus believed in reincarnation, and they were persecuted by the
Romans for this.
A number of Evangelical and (in the USA) Fundamentalist Christian groups have denounced any belief in reincarnation as
heretical, and maintain that any phenomena suggestive of it as deceptions of the devil. Although the Bible never mentions
the word reincarnation, there are several passages through New Testament that reject reincarnation or the possibility of
any return or contact with this world for the souls in Heaven or Hell (see Hebrews 9:27 and Luke 16:20-31).
The Bible contains passages in the New Testament that could be taken out of context to allude to reincarnation. In Matthew
11:10-14and 17:10-13, John 1:21, the Jews ask John the Baptist if he is Elijah and John replies clearly that he is not,
implying that Jesus' reference was meant in a figurative sense (which is what most Christians accept). It should be noted
that Elijah never actually "died," but was "raptured" in a chariot of fire. Furthermore, the prophetic texts stated that
God would send Elijah back to Earth, as a harbinger of Jesus Christ. As cousins they were born respectively to barren
Elizabeth and Zacharias; Jesus, firstborn of Mary and Joseph, was the first to rise from the dead visibly demonstrating
his power over death.
There are various contemporary attempts to entwine Christianity and reincarnation. Geddes Macgregor, wrote a book called
Reincarnation in Christianity: A New Vision of Rebirth in Christian Thought, Rudolf Steiner wrote Christianity as Mystical
Fact and Tommaso Palamidessi wrote Memory of Past Lives and Its Technique which contains several methods which are supposed
to help in obtaining memories from previous lives.
Several groups which call themselves Christian, supporting reincarnation include the Christian Community, the Liberal
Catholic Church, Unity Church, The Christian Spiritualist Movement, the Rosicrucian Fellowship and Lectorium Rosicrucianum.
The Medieval heretical sect known variously as the Cathars or Albigensians who flourished in the Languedoc believed in
Reincarnation, seeing each soul as a fallen angel born again and again into the world of Matter created by Lucibel
(Lucifer). Only through a Gnostic 'Rebirth' in the Holy Spirit through Christ could the soul escape this process of
successive existences and return to God.
American psychic, Edgar Cayce supported the idea of reincarnation. He would reportedly go into trance and impart "life readings" of "previous lives" of people.
Gnosticism
Many Gnostic groups believed in reincarnation. For them, reincarnation was a negative concept: Gnostics believed that the
material body was evil, and they believed that they would be better off if they could eventually avoid having their 'good'
souls reincarnated in 'evil' bodies.
Judaism
While ancient Greek philosophers like Plato and Socrates attempted to prove the existence of reincarnation through
philosophical proofs, Jewish mystics who accepted this idea did not. Rather, they offered explanations of why reincarnation
would solve otherwise intractable problems of theodicy (how to reconcile the existence of evil with the premise of a good
God).
Reincarnation appeared in Jewish thought some time after the Talmud. There is no reference to reincarnation in the Talmud
or any prior writings. The idea of reincarnation, called gilgul, became popular in folk belief, and is found in much Yiddish
literature among Ashkenazi Jews. Among a few kabbalists, it was posited that some human souls could end up being
reincarnated into non-human bodies. These ideas were found in a number of Kabbalistic works from the 1200s, and also among
many mystics in the late 1500s. Martin Buber's early collection of stories of the Baal Shem Tov's life includes several that
refer to people reincarnating in successive lives.
Among well known (generally non-kabbalist or anti-kabbalist) Rabbis who rejected the idea of reincarnation are Saadia Gaon,
David Kimhi, Hasdai Crescas, Yedayah Bedershi (early 14th century), Joseph Albo, Abraham ibn Daud, the Rosh and Leon de
Modena.
Saadia Gaon, in Emunoth ve-Deoth, concludes Section vi with a refutation of the doctrine of metempsychosis (reincarnation).
While refuting reincarnation, the Saadia Gaon further states that Jews who hold to reincarnation have adopted non-Jewish
beliefs.
Crescas writes that if reincarnation were real, people should remember details of their previous lives.
The belief is common in Orthodox Judaism. Indeed there is an entire volume of work called Sha'ar Ha'Gilgulim (The Gate of
Reincarnations), based on the work of Rabbi Isaac Luria (and compiled by his disciple, Rabbi Chaim Vital). It describes the
deep, complex laws of reincarnation. One concept that arises from Sha'ar Ha'gilgulim is the idea that gilgul is paralleled
physically by pregnancy.
Many Orthodox siddurim (prayerbooks) have a nightly prayer asking for forgiveness for sins that one may have committed in this gilgul or a previous one, which accompanies the nighttime recitation of the Shema before going to sleep.
Islam
Though mainstream Islam rejects the concept of reincarnation, a number of sufi groups believe in the concept of dawriyyah
(cycles) which has many points in common with reincarnation, claiming that this concept is mentioned in the Quran (Koran),
the central religious text of Islam: "How can you deny God, when you were dead and God gave you life? Then God will cause
you to die, and then revive you, and then you will be returned to God." (Quran 2:28)
Mainstream interpretations of this verse either relate this to the worldly human life and the consequent resurrection in
the hereafter, or, in the esoteric (Sufi) tradition, dying to oneself (giving up the ego) within an earthly lifetime and
thereby finding new life through God.
Shi'a Muslims also believe to Raj'a that can be understood as a limited reincarnation. Most Ismaili Shi'a Muslims completely
accept the idea of reincarnation.
Modern Sufis who embrace the idea of reincarnation include Bawa Muhaiyadeen (see his To Die Before Death: The Sufi Way of
Life). However Hazrat Inayat Khan has criticized the idea of reincarnation as unhelpful to the spiritual seeker's quest for
unity with God, as it focuses the aspirant's attention on the past and the future, rather than achieving spiritual
transcendence in the present moment.
Reincarnation has also been used to reconcile the Quran's apparent identification of Miriam, the mother of Isa as the sister
of Aaron and daughter of Amran, all of whom lived well before the first century CE.
Another verse of the Quran that may support the theory of reincarnation is: "Thou [God] makest the night to pass into the
day and Thou makest the day to pass into the night, and Thou bringest forth the living from the dead and Thou bringest forth
the dead from the living, and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou pleasest without measure." (Quran 3:27)
Some verses of Quran that seem to discount repeated lives:
- "And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah. "They are dead." Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it)
not."(The Quran, 2:154).
- "From the (earth) did We Create you, and into it Shall We return you, And from it shall We Bring you out once again."
(The Quran, 20:55).
- "And Allah has produced you from the earth, Growing (gradually), And in the End He will return you Into the (earth), And
raise you forth (Again at the Resurrection)." (The Quran, 71:17-18).
- "Nor will they there Taste Death, except the first Death; and He will preserve Them from the Penalty Of the Blazing Fire."
(The Quran, 44:56).
- "Is it (the case) that We shall not die, except our first death, And that we Shall not be punished?' Verily this is The
supreme achievement! For the like of this Let all strive, Who wish to strive." (The Quran, 37:58-61).
Native American nations
Reincarnation is an intrinsic part of many Native American and Inuit traditions. In the now heavily Christian Polar North
(now mainly parts of Greenland and Nunavut), the concept of reincarnation is enshrined in the Inuit language. The survival
of the concept of reincarnation applies across these nations in varying degrees of integrity, as these countries are now
sandwiched between Native and European traditions.
Norse mythology
Reincarnation also appears in Norse mythology, in the Poetic Edda. The editor of the Poetic Edda says that Helgi
Hjörvarðsson and his mistress, the valkyrie Sváfa, whose love story is told in the Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar, were reborn
as Helgi Hundingsbane and the valkyrie Sigrún. Helgi and Sigrún's love story is the matter of a part of the Völsunga saga
and the lays Helgakviða Hundingsbana I and II. They were reborn a second time as Helgi Haddingjaskati and the valkyrie
Kára, but unfortunately their story, Káruljóð, only survives in a probably modified form in the Hrómundar saga
Gripssonar.
The belief in reincarnation was probably commonplace among the Vikings since the annotator of the Poetic Edda wrote that
people formerly used to believe in it, but that it was in his (Christian) time considered "old wife's folly":
Sigrun was early dead of sorrow and grief. It was believed in olden times that people were born again, but that is now
called old wives' folly. Of Helgi and Sigrun it is said that they were born again; he became Helgi Haddingjaskati, and she
Kara the daughter of Halfdan, as is told in the Lay of Kara, and she was a Valkyrie.
Naturalism
During the 1990s Thomas W. Clark, founder of the Center for Naturalism, published a metaphysical argument for a type of
naturalistic-compatible form of reincarnation. It is entitled: "Death, Nothingness and Subjectivity". It is not the
conventional or traditional concept of reincarnation, Mr. Clark termed it "Generic Subjective Continuity". The paper was
published in the Humanist and republished in "The Experience of Philosophy". His argument states that "nothingness" is never
an experienced actuality for conscious beings, and therefore subjective experience does not cease at death, as the common
secular conception holds, but relocates into other conscious beings, where no supernatural entity literally transmigrates
from one being to another. Another philosopher and author, Wayne Stewart, also created an argument directly parallel to
Mr. Clark's entitled: "Metaphysics by Default" in 1999.
Contemporary perspectives
During the Renaissance, a new flowering of public interest in reincarnation occurred. One of the prominent figures in the
revival was Italy's leading philosopher and poet Giordano Bruno, who was ultimately sentenced to be burned at the stake by
the Inquisition because of his teachings about reincarnation.
During the classical period of German literature metempsychosis attracted much attention: Goethe played with the idea, and
it was taken up more seriously by Lessing, who borrowed it from Charles Bonnet, and by Herder. It has been mentioned with
respect by Hume and by Schopenhauer.
Irish poet and Nobel Laureate William Butler Yeats proposed a novel theory of reincarnation in his occult treatise A Vision.
According to Yeats’ view reincarnation does not occur within a framework of linear time. Rather, all of a person’s past and
future lives are happening at once, in an eternal now moment; and the decisions made in any of these lifetimes influence all
of the other lives (and are influenced by them).
Hermann Hesse, Literary Nobel Prize, 1946, expressed a viewpoint of "...reincarnation as a mode of expression for stability
in the midst of flux."
Anthroposophy
Reincarnation plays an important role in the ideas of Anthroposophy, a spiritual movement founded by Rudolf Steiner. Steiner
described the human soul as gaining new experiences in every epoch and in a variety of races or nations. The unique
personality, with its weaknesses and abilities, is not simply a reflection of the body's genetic heritage. Though Steiner
described the incarnating soul as searching for and even preparing a familial lineage supportive of its future life, a
person's character is also determined by his or her past lives.
Anthroposophy describes the present as being formed by a tension between the past and the future. Both influence our present
destiny; there are events that occur due to our past, but there are also events that occur to prepare us rightly for the
future. Between these two, there is space for human free will; we create our destiny, not only live it out, just as we build
a house in which we then choose to live.
Anthroposophy has developed various spiritual exercises that are intended to develop the capacity to discern past lives and
the deeper nature of the human being. In addition, Steiner investigated the karmic relationships of many historical
individuals, from Karl Marx to Julian the Apostate.
Theosophy
The Theosophical Society which draws much of its inspiration from India, was the first institution in modern times
responsible for widely spreading the concept of reincarnation in the West. It has taken reincarnation, as well as karma
and spiritual evolution, as one of its cardinal tenets; it is, according to a recent theosophical writer, "the master-key
to modern problems," including heredity. In the Theosophical world-view, the soul in man is originally pure, but it lacks
self-consciousness and its powers are potential. Reincarnation is the vast rhythmic process by which the soul in man
unfolds its spiritual powers in the world of form and gets to know itself.
First, the soul descends from its sublime, free, spiritual realms, to inhabit a baby form. While living in a human form,
it gathers experience through its effort to express itself in the world. After the lifetime is over, there is a withdrawal
from the physical plane to successively higher levels of Reality, in what we call death. It involves a process of
purification and assimilation of the wisdom from its past life experience. Finally, having completely withdrawn and cast
off all instruments of personal experience, it stands again in its spiritual and formless nature. After that process is finished, the soul is ready to begin its next rhythmic manifestation and to descend into matter in a new effort to unfold
its spiritual nature and to gain consciousness of its divine origin and nature.
From such a view point, which covers vast periods of time, what is called a lifetime is as a day in the life of the true
spiritual human being. This spiritual entity moves forward on a vast pilgrimage, every lifetime bringing it closer to
complete self-knowledge and self-expression. According to Theosophy, then, that which reincarnates is the part of man which
belongs to the formless non-material and timeless worlds. It is neither the physical body and all of its characteristics,
nor the emotional nature, with all its personal likes and dislikes, nor the mental nature, with its accumulated knowledge
and its habits of thinking, that will reincarnate. That which is above all these aspects is that which reincarnates.
However, when the formless essence of a human being begins its process of reincarnation, it attracts the old mental,
emotional, and energetic karmic patterns to form the new personality. Thus the soul with the added powers developed during
its previous lives and the post-mortem process of assimilation, deals with the old hindrances or shortcomings it was not
able to work out in its previous lifetimes.
Scientology
Past reincarnation, usually termed "past lives", is a key part of the principles and practices of the Church of Scientology.
Scientologists believe that the human individual is actually an immortal thetan, or spiritual entity, that has fallen into
a degraded state as a result of past-life experiences. Scientology auditing is intended to free the person of these
past-life traumas and recover past-life memory, leading to a higher state of spiritual awareness. This idea is echoed in
their highest fraternal religious order, the Sea Organization, whose motto is "Revenimus" or "We Come Back", and whose
members sign a "billion-year contract" as a sign of commitment to that ideal. L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology,
does not use the word "reincarnation" to describe its beliefs, noting that: "The common definition of reincarnation has been
altered from its original meaning. The word has come to mean 'to be born again in different life forms' whereas its actual
definition is 'to be born again into the flesh of another body.' Scientology ascribes to this latter, original definition
of reincarnation."
The first writings in Scientology regarding past lives date from around 1951 and slightly earlier. In 1960, Hubbard
published a book on past lives entitled Have You Lived Before This Life. In 1968 he wrote Mission Into Time, a report on a
five-week sailing expedition to Sardinia, Sicily and Carthage to see if specific evidence could be found to substantiate
L. Ron Hubbard's recall of incidents in his own past, centuries ago.
The New Age movement
There are people who say they remember their past lives and use that knowledge to help them with their current lives; the belief in this kind of occurrence is central to the New Age movement. Some of the people who remember say they simply remember without any effort on their part. They simply "see" previous times and see themselves interacting with others, occasionally even different creatures besides people themselves.