| THE EXPERIMENT'S PURPOSE: |
To
test a scientific model that appears to account for empirical evidence
of the apparent inheritance of a "past-life legacy" during human
reproduction.(This site is dedicated to a natural science
approach to evaluation of the concept of linear reincarnation. In
addition to reporting on the ongoing pilot project, it also describes the research included in Paul Von Ward's book The Soul Genome: Science and
Reincarnation.) |
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CAN SCIENCE PROVE REINCARNATION?
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More than half of
the world's people believe in reincarnation, and polls suggest at least
a quarter of U.S. citizens do. What is it that they believe? Is it
based on delusions or wishful thinking? Is there something real at the
root of such ideas?
It is beyond the current tools of science to definitively prove the
general theory of reincarnation to a skeptical public.
Likewise, it is also beyond the tools of modern science to disprove it.
However, this project is designed to test whether a body of empirical
evidence exists that can provide the basis for scientific validation of
psycho-physical links between a person alive today and a past-life.
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| Do Newborns Have A Past-Life Legacy? |
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SCIENCE VALIDATES ASSUMPTIONS BASED ON VERIFIABLE DATA
The Eastern metaphysics of Hinduism and
Buddhism, their religious derivations, and early Judaism and
Christianity describe reincarnation in terms that cannot be
easily, if at all, tested by the nonbeliever. Such supernatural beliefs require unquestioning credulity. A historical overview of some of these religious and spiritual beliefs can be
seen by clicking here.
However, much of the physical and behavioral evidence that led to such ancient beliefs can be found in the lives of people living today or who have died and left documented information about themselves and their lives. This project employs such tangible or observable evidence to build its data-base of empirical evidence for reincarnation.
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BELIEFS BASED ON NATURAL OBSERVATIONS CAN BE TESTED
Early human and later aboriginal
societies based their beliefs in reincarnation on observations of their
contemporaries that revealed similarities with known people who had
lived and died before those being observed were born. Over several
generations, people collected many persuasive correspondences between
the present personalities and various ancestors that they posited some
carry-forward of legacies from the past. As an example, an African
tribe used the terms "babatunde" and "yetunde" to indicate the possible
reincarnations of boys and girls, respectively, from earlier
individuals two generations removed.
The cases described on this website and in the book The Soul Genome:
Science and Reincarnation provide credible examples of such
observable data which cannot be more plausibly explained than by a
reincarnation hypothesis. The author's perspective places the experiment in
the context of emerging research findings in physics, biology,
neuroscience, and evolutionary studies. |
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FROM SUBJECTIVE TO OBJECTIVE RESEARCH
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The objective evidence that led
nature-oriented societies to postulate a process like reincarnation
includes physical features and psychological factors. Facial
architecture, body types, hair patterns, ear forms, hand-finger
proportions, voice, and odor have been noted to correspond in two
separate lifetimes. Some physical similarities also include special
markings, birthmarks and deformities. Matching psychological traits
include levels of mental development, emotional patterns, styles of
interacting with others, and areas of creative interest.
All these factors seem to make up a psychoplasm (an information-rich,
energetic field) that enfolds and animates the genomic material
synthesized at conception.
Considerable empirical research now suggests that what a person
accomplishes in terms of self-development and learning becomes the
legacy his or her soul genome/psychoplasm transmits to the next generation.
Click here to see the forms that can be used to develop a scientific
data base for a particular case. They can be used for one's own case or
for someone else's.
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| Premier Effort to Assess Reincarnation from a Comprehensive Scientific Perspective |
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CAVEATS
While the preliminary results from this
project offer promising leads to a testable scientific approach to
reincarnation research, readers should be aware that no reincarnation
hypothesis has yet passed the standards required by science to gain
widespread acceptance. Conversely, science has not been able to
disprove a general reincarnation theory. At this current project's stage of data
collection, evaluation, and statistical analyses, it is possible to make only preliminary claims about how it works and about specific past-life identifications.
However, this experiment is the first ever effort to treat the reincarnation
phenomenon as a natural process that can and should be subjected to
scientific analysis. For that reason alone, it provides a
credible data base for interdisciplinary discussions and evaluations of the psychoplasm (or soul-genome) hypothesis.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The project seeks reports of
credible cases from anywhere in the world. The testable research
results of other parties are welcome for inclusion in the archives of
this project. See Cases in Progress. CLUES LEADING TO POSSIBLE PAST-LIVES
Many people receive hints of possible
past lives that cannot be considered as definitive proof of
reincarnation or of a specific past-life connection. Some come through
extrasensory channels such as dreams, visions, intuitive feelings, or
hypnosis. Some may come from other-dimensional sources such as psychic
readings or through channeled messages from apparent disincarnate
beings.
Since neither such sources nor the information from them can be accessed by independent observers, they provide only potential clues
that require validation by third parties. Nevertheless, they should not
be dismissed out-of-hand as they may lead to verifiable evidence to
support the posited past-life connection. |
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