Is it possible some--perhaps all--of us have lived previous lives? Even before U.Va. researches found intriguing evidence to support the possibility of reincarnation, Gen. George Patton firmly believed that in a prior existence, before the birth of Christ, he had fought the Romans at Carthage. ap archives

Reincarnation: What's the science?

Date published: 4/26/2008

Many Americans believe in the possibility of an afterlife, but what about the possibility of a before-life? Is reincarnation possible?

Dr. Jim B. Tucker, a child psychiatrist and research director at the University of Virginia Division of Personality Studies, attempts to answer these questions in his book "Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children's Memories of Previous Lives." Dr. Tucker is now researching children's reports of past lives around the globe.

Children can not only demonstrate detailed knowledge of what they claim to be their past lives, says Dr. Tucker, but also often express strong and enduring emotions attached to these memories. Children as young as 3 have thrown fits in their homes, claiming that their parents are not their real family. These children often insist that they be taken "home" to villages and cities far from their homes, often places where they have never before visited. Once there, they can identify landmarks and often lead family members to the homes of their "past personalities."

Recently, John Whitehead, president of the Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute, interviewed Dr. Tucker for the institute's online feature "Oldspeak."

John Whitehead: What was it that made you believe in the possibility of past lives?

Jim Tucker: You phrased that correctly. I believe in the possibility of reincarnation. The work we do at U.Va. is taking a scientific, objective approach. We are not trying to be zealots for any point of view, but are just looking at an interesting phenomenon and trying to understand it.

JW: Doesn't your work point more to the factual nature, rather than the possibility, of reincarnation?

JT: It does point to it, but it doesn't prove it. The cases we've studied supply evidence that there can be a carryover from one life to another, but that is certainly not the same as saying the cases prove reincarnation.

But if you look at our strongest cases as a group, the best explanation is that there can be times where memories and emotions and sometimes even physical traumas can carry over from one life and somehow be passed to another.

JW: Are you saying there is an entity such as a soul?

JT: It's hard to know. Dr. Ian Stevenson, who started this work here at U.Va., coined the term "psychophore" to describe an entity that would carry this force on to the next life. What that entity might be like, there is no way of knowing.

Different religions that believe in reincarnation have very differing views of what the process entails. There are some that essentially believe a soul moves from one life to another. But then there are others that believe there is this sort of continuation but not necessarily a separate entity that continues on.

JW: You have used the word "spiritual." Do you believe there is a possibility reincarnation is spiritual?

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Date published: 4/26/2008

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