Young Children Remember Life Before Conception

New research indicates some children recall their lives before they were born and, even more strangely, even before they were conceived.

The concept of life preceding physical fertilization is common for people who believe in reincarnation. But is such an idea learned? Or is it based on an innate feeling about our own immortality?

New research analyzes answers given by two groups of children—one urban, one rural—suggests the children revealed glimpses into their own immortality. It seems children intuitively believe that their own existence, at least in the form of feelings and wants, pre-dated their conception.

“Even kids who had biological knowledge about reproduction still seemed to think that they had existed in some sort of eternal form,” says lead author Natalie Emmons, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at Boston University. “And that form really seemed to be about emotions and desires.”  

Emmons and co-author Deborah Kelemen interviewed two sets of children in Ecuador—one in an urban area outside the capital of Quito, where the population is overwhelmingly Catholic, and another in an indigenous Shuar village in the Amazon basin. They were curious to discover whether the Shuar children, who grow up in a natural environment and learn early on about the cycle of life and death, would have different assumptions than kids raised in an urban setting.  

While looking at the image of their pre-pregnancy mother, the kids were asked specific questions about their “pre-life capacities.” After answering such questions as “Could you be hungry?” and “Could you feel sad?” they were asked to explain the reasoning behind their answers.

Researchers found the urban and rural children gave pretty much the same answers. But by ages seven and eight, they rejected the notion that they had “bodily capacities” such as sight or hearing before conception.

Click here for the article.

A Well-Documented Reincarnation

Here's an astonishing story of reincarnation. In fact, some are calling it the most fully documented case of reincarnation on record. It's the account of 11-year-old James Leninger, who recalls in detail his previous life as a World War II pilot, his death near Iwo Jima, and even his former friends and relatives. You have to see this to appreciate the impact of the boy's story.

The same story is told in the 8-minute video below from ABC News, though I recommend the video above as a more complete account.



ABC, of course, trots out the typical cranky skeptic to poo-poo the boy's story, all in the network's attempts at "balance," but it only weakens their report and, in my opinion, doesn't begin to dent young James Leninger's astounding recollections.

Young "Buddha" Returns to Nepalese Jungle

The young man many believe to be Buddha-reincarnated blesses a Tibetan monk Friday shortly before returning the the jungle to continue meditating.

Ram Bahadur Bamjan, a Nepalese teenager revered by many as a reincarnation of Buddha, yesterday returned to the jungle to meditate after emerging less than two weeks ago.

Bamjan, 18, reappeared November 10 after several months of meditation. His followers say Bamjan has been meditating beneath a tree without food and water ~ sitting for months on end without moving, with his eyes closed ~ since he was first spotted in the jungles of southern Nepal in 2005.

Thousands Turn Out to be Blessed

Bamjan made an appearance yesterday when thousands of followers lined up near the jungle of Ratanpur, about 100 miles south of Katmandu, to be blessed by Bamjan. He tapped the believers on their foreheads but did not speak to them individually.

He then returned to the jungle to meditate. It was not clear when he would return again.

Several Buddhist scholars have been skeptical of the claims that Bamjan is a reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, who was born in southwestern Nepal roughly 2,500 years ago and became revered as the Buddha, or Enlightened One. Some say that being Buddha indicates the final birth and the highest level that can be achieved and that there can be no reincarnation of Buddha.

Click here for the Associated Press article.