Unfolding the Enfolded...

During the past hundred years, numerous scientists have investigated the phenomena of past lives (often referred to as reincarnation). Among them is psychiatrist and distinguished scholar, Ian Stevenson, who has devoted more than three decades to investigation and documenting hundreds of cases of past lives experiences.

Award-winning journalist, writer and Washington Post  Sunday Style editor Tom Shroder has written a revealing book, Old Souls, primarily about Dr. Stevenson's work on past lives. Shroder had the great fortune to accompany Dr. Stevenson on several field trips to Lebanon, India and the American South, recounting fascinating stories of past lives experiences revealed during Dr. Stevenson's follow up investigations.

Near the end of the book, Shroder, relating a discussion with a friend and colleague, says,

...I'm willing to say flat out that there is no way all those kids and all those families and all the other witnesses are simply lying or deluded or wrong. Those kids knew stuff they shouldn't have known.  I'm accepting that.

He goes on,

...saying, "These kids know what they know because they are reincarnated." That seems too simplistic to me. Too linear. It's assuming we know things we don't know, like what 'time' is, for instance, or 'personal identify.'

So I think I'm reaching the same conclusion I reached the first time, that these children are less important for what they say about the specifics of what happens after we die, than for what they say about how the world works--that it's mysterious, that there are larger forces at work, that--in some way--we're all connected by forces beyond our understanding, but definitely not irrelevant to our lives. [Shroder,p. 239]