Is there proof of reincarnation?

Many people are frightened of death or what may come after it; the thought of leaving loved ones behind and ceasing to exist is terrifying. Quite often, people seek solace in an afterlife whether in Heaven or Akhirah; but some believe that the soul moves between bodies and that death is merely the end of the physical being. In a recent survey, it was found that a quarter of UK residents believe in reincarnation. As it is not possible to die and report back, there is no real way of proving what lies after death. There are many recorded stories of children claiming to have been reincarnated, recalling snippets of their past lives.

Starting in 1960, Professor Ian Stevenson began looking into children who claim to have been reincarnated, later being joined by Professor Jim Tucker. Together, they have collated over 2,500 cases from across the globe. They found that most of the children were between the ages of three and five years old; after this age many of the participants stop speaking about their memories, which then start to fade. The children spoke with both emotion and conviction, recalling their ‘previous life’ with such detail that it is hard to ignore. The lives they spoke about were often ordinary, not elaborate tales that a child would invent, and contained many old family members and friends. The experience of this memory can generate a strong urge to return and feeling of loss, it is common for subjects to beg to return ‘home’. The pair state that their studies are merely to give weight to the theory of reincarnation, not to prove its existence outright.

Together, Stevenson and Tucker worked to document everything the child remembered and attempted to match these memories with the life of a deceased person. They found that the average age of the deceased was 28 and the majority had suffered a traumatic death. The death modes were often displayed as birthmarks on the children and these correlated with the wounds inflicted on the previous spirit host. Between the time of death and rebirth, there was an average time of 16 months; 20% of the claimants could recollect this. According to their statements, the ordeal is akin to stories of near-death experiences; a transcendental existence. There were three stages that were shared by those who went through this phase: first, the Transitional stage- the deceased observes their funeral; next, the Stable stage- they stay in one place and encounter other spirits; lastly, the Conception stage, their spirit may chose new parents and in some cases gaining entry to their new mother. Those who remember this phase are more likely to recall their mode of death and have a stronger link to their past life.

To distinguish between more conceivable and inconceivable stories, Tucker designed a ‘Strength of Case Scale’ (SOCS) in 2000. This scale was based on a series of questions with points scored for more believable answers. For example, those with birthmarks corresponding to the deceased’s medical history score eight points, whereas those who are related to the deceased lose two points. From a pool of 799 cases, there was a large range in scores, from 49 to -3, with a noticeable skew towards the lower end (mean 10.4). When comparing each section to the others, the scale displayed a great deal of consistency. Stronger cases were found to speak of memories earlier than weaker ones, perhaps due to the strength of their memories.

This research has, unsurprisingly, been criticised by many in the scientific community. Professor Wiseman ran an experiment of chance, in which he asked children to manufacture a ‘previous life’. These stories were then matched with real people, he found that the stories matched those lives with near the same amount of success as the ‘reincarnated’ children. Therefore, it may be argued that the stories that correlate to real lives, told by all subjects, are a matter of coincidence not the supernatural. Further to this, it has been hypothesised that children may overhear or be directly told about the death of a person, after which the child ruminates on these statements and absorbs them as their own stories. Once contact is made with the family of the departed, both families long to believe the truth to feel comfort. It is also true that many participants who came forward are from a culture that actively believe in reincarnation so are bias towards ‘proving’ its existence.

To combat the chance of confounding factors influencing the strength of case scale, Edelmann and Bernet suggested a method of collecting evidence without the two families meeting. They proposed that interviews be conducted with the two families, separately and simultaneously. Along with this, the child will be observed and adults that encounter them will be interviewed to gauge whether they have been swayed to believe they were reincarnated. Further, a control family within the community of the deceased will be interviewed to allow for chance. All this data will then be assessed by the project manager, who will run statistics to judge the significance of the claim.

Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, it’s easy to see how this subject is hard to prove either way. Spirituality is a difficult phenomenon to capture, only the dead know what truly happens when you expire. Coincidence may play a role in explaining the stories told but it does little to cover the sheer number of stories. The lines between science and belief are very close but will always remain divided, it is possible that in the future they may cross, but this is doubtful. These stories bring comfort to the family of the deceased, but the situation is susceptible to extortion. It is possible that parents could coerce their child to memorise and act out a story of a past life for publicity or monetary gain. Whilst I think ‘reuniting’ a family with a lost love one is a marvellous thing, I do believe that this should be met with scrutiny and caution.