Reincarnation Theories (Ian Stevenson and Others) - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World

[@TheProdigalMeowMeowMeowReturns]

47 minutes in and so far this is absolutely as close to perfect of an analysis as possible. I’ll update after finishing.

[@jp_5764]

Any updates?

[@TheProdigalMeowMeowMeowReturns]

@@jp_5764 9.8 out of 10!

[@thorobreu]

It goes downhill fast at minute 48

[@TheProdigalMeowMeowMeowReturns]

@@thorobreu false

[@ryanofsantanvalley4220]

I really enjoyed you on Pints with Aquinas. I wouldn't have had the pleasure of finding this truly fascinating and truly Catholic entertainment without being introduced by Matt. Thank you, Jimmy!! Could I bother you for a prayer for my family. "Rivas fam" I look forward to telling all my friends about your fine work. God love you!!

[@JimmyAkin]

God bless you! Praying for you and your family!

[@wewe5415]

This is my first time watching the podcast verse just listening to the audio. What a joy. God bless you Jimmy and Dom and to all you listeners as well.

[@trulyawesomenewmexicocatho1775]

Been looking forward to this part 2!

[@rezkerry8809]

This was timely, as I recently had a conversation with a Hindu friend who told me she believed her son to be the reincarnation of her father. I can see how that could be a comforting thought, although I do not believe in reincarnation. The psychic link at least sounds plausible, especially if the person who died suffered a traumatic death and was doing some kind of emergency outreach. I have had psychic dreams myself about my sister when she was undergoing some traumatic events. The dreams I had were extremely vivid and realistic. I actually woke up sobbing after one of them, and they disturbed me enough that I called her up in the middle of the night to tell her about them. The next morning I had voicemails from her telling me I must be psychic because what I dreamed had actually taken place. I’m still awed by it. But I can see how a receptive child could receive a sort of psychic SOS signal from someone in serious trouble.

[@mariegiselegirishya4056]

It is surprisingly that nobody has come up with the psychic link theory until now! You're awesome Jimmy.

[@Shonaalexandra416]

Great show. I looked forward to watching all week

[@ignastyler]

I gave it a good read. I am not convinced. First, the complete lack of description of his experimental methods isn't encouraging. The only source linked in the article is his organization's website, and the link yields a 404. I searched again, this time from the website's front page, but couldn't find anything about his experimental methods. I'll come back to that later. Secondly, the alleged sample size. The article claims he found 2000+ children with memories matching events from a dead person's life they probably knew nothing about (wikipedia says 3000+). The article states that only 1 in 500 children were "in the right emotional space to remember their past lives" (which itself is an unproven assertion). That implies the 2000-3000 affected children were part of a 500x larger sample size. That means 100 000-150 000 children interviewed in total over a period of 40 years, that's 7-10 children interviewed on average every single day over 40 years. That's a MASSIVE sample size with a very small portion of positive results. That will also matter later. Then, there's the evidence. Children who hint at events that took place before their birth. Those include an unknown number of the following : Deaths related to their phobias. Deaths related to their physical defects or birth marks. An alleged strong reaction to their assumed killer. If asked for how they died, the children might have perceived an expectation for an answer and felt pressured into making things up on the spot. They would most likely have used elements from the environment, including their own bodies and experiences, as a base for their stories. They might look at themselves and use that as inspiration to make up a story that would include these details. And if asked for how you might have died in another life, wouldn't you instinctively think of the things that scare you the most ? What is fear if not the suspicion that something might kill you ? How did Ian control for these potential interferences from his results ? We don't know. I can't find any information about that, not in the article, nor on their website. We also don't know how many of the 2000 children had marks that matched lethal wounds (besides the 3 examples given in the article). The fact they could be matched to just about anyone that ever died, and that despite this, the single most convincing example of the girl who claimed to have drowned after being pushed by her brother had several elements contradicting her best match. They're most likely all coincidences, unless there are enough cases to be significant, but if it was the case they would say as much instead of listing the 3 cases. Whether among a total sample size of 2000 or 150 000, 3 instances of it happening isn't statistically significant. As for the third point, how did they notice those strong reactions to their alleged killers ? Did they cross them in the street and catch the murderers this way ? Did they visit the murderers in jail ? How did they safely expose the children to convicted murderers without telling them those were murderers ? Wouldn't the children be scared of strangers locked up in a jail cell anyway ? How did Ian control for these problems ? And how many of the 2000 kids reacted this way ? Again, we don't know. Without further information, it all sounds... if not made up, skewed to fit a preexisting expectation And i'm not the only one who thought that, even among his peers. According to Ian's wikipedia page, several people criticized his work including fellow philosopher Paul Edwards. Paul was anti-reincarnationist and might have looked to fit his own preexisting expectations, but it's not the case of another philosopher and "psi researcher" C.T.K. Chari (who was head of department of philosophy a Madras Christian College in India). They pointed out instances where Ian asked the children leading questions, the fact that some children or the children's parents might have lied to him, that he often relied on translators to communicate with the children who might have inaccurately translated his questions or the children's answers, and that Ian didn't count children who didn't fit his theory as evidence against it. They reached the conclusion that Ian fell victim to motivated reasoning/confirmation bias driven by his personal belief that reincarnation was real without considering the possibility that it might not happen at all. Overall, i wouldn't qualify his work on reincarnation as coming "from the point of view of a materialist skeptic", far from it.

[@smedrano1964]

This was one of the most convoluted explanations I've ever heard l

[@thorobreu]

Great video guys!

[@martinfranek7747]

I don't like the thought of absorbing the residue of another person 😅

[@IRISHBee4]

Great episode Jimmy!

[@mwdiers]

I am very glad to hear Jimmy's theory on this. Based on some personal experiences in the medical realm, I have come to the same conclusion. The idea that a direct link can exist between two individuals is certainly the case. I only have experience in such links that are living-to-living. For example, I was once muscle tested as a surrogate for my mother, while we were trying to track down some allergy issues she was experiencing. She was in Oregon. I was in Minnesota. Substances were identified as possible candidates that she might be sensitive to that were later confirmed by in-person testing. I was also surrogate tested for my toddler son who, while present in the room, was not directly being tested, and as a result of that testing we were able to cure his full-body eczema by identifying the cause. Intent seems to be sufficient to initiate such a link, and the various types of equipment that are sometimes used in such testing serve more as a means to reinforce and focus such intent. As a father of 6, I also have seen numerous times when my wife began to lactate moments before one of our babies woke up at the other end of the house and started crying, with no discernible pattern to these occurrences. When one has done research in this area for enough time, it is really only a small step to accept that temporal distance is no more an impediment to such a link than is physical distance. Memory transference, and in extreme cases, personality transference, is not that big of a leap further, particularly when one considers how often such causes involve trauma. As further evidence, I believe there are cases in the literature where one was experiencing the accurate memories of another individual, only to later discover that the individual in question was in fact still alive.

[@suzihixon3998]

Very interesting! I feel lucky that Jimmy had crossed my path!

[@b0ondockz838]

I hate the idea of reincarnation. After losing my 9 y/o daughter to cancer i cant imagine having to come back to this world over and over again. No thank you! Not only that, but from a spiritual perspective i feel reincarnation would diminish the value of our lives and individuality since we don't recall any past lives while we're supposedly back here living out a new life. So we just jump from body to body as if we're changing costumes? What's the point? Its meaningless. It almost sounds like we're some kind of spiritual parasite jumping from host to host. Some believe we reincarnate to pay a karmic debt, but again, what's the point of that if we have no recollection of what we did wrong or what we're supposed to do to make up for it? It doesn't make any sense to me. Lastly, if you die and you're "reincarnated" into a new body/person, what happened to the old you? If you're in a new body, the old you was essentially wiped out. The old you is dead and forgotten. So is that really reincarnation, or is it more like recycling raw consciousness? Sounds more like being an organ donor but instead of organs your donating your consciousness in an endless cycle. It's almost as if Christianity offers a better version of "reincarnation." In Christianity if your physical body dies and you're in good standing with God everything that is YOU never dies, but rather is reinstantiated in a higher plane of existence (Heaven) to a greater degree. This is what I hope for.

[@JohnDoe-hr5cg]

Sorry to hear about your daughter❤ 🙏

[@JohnDoe-hr5cg]

You will see your daughter again🙏🏼 in heaven 😇

[@daisyviluck7932]

I’m sorry for your loss 😔♥️🙏🏻🕊

[@Fiona2254]

Sorry for your loss and I agree 100% with you. Viva Cristo Rey! He is Risen!

[@Nikator24]

But the idea of people being eternally tortured is more appealing to you and not unreasonable at all....right

[@tonydeegan6303]

Never expected to come across a mention of Swamp Thing. Love the show.

[@FromTheRiverToTheSea2046]

When I was around 4 or 5 years old, my mother was curling her hair with hot rollers. Old fashioned, I know, but it was around 1980. She said that I noticed she left the curlers on and told her that it was how I died in my other life, in a fire. I have no memory of this conversation but I do remember some very scary things happening throughout my childhood. Demonic, ghosts, poltergeist? Not sure, but maybe I could have been influenced by whatever was there in the house.

[@xravenx24fe]

Hi Jimmy, have you ever talked about John Dee on Mysterious World? His workings seem right up the show's alley!

[@markiangooley]

We need a parody song about magicians, “The Sloop John Dee.”

[@JimmyAkin]

John Dee is on The Big List of future topics!

[@jamienorton8062]

Awesome video as always! Well researched and delivered!

[@amsimkiss]

Jimmy, I was just recently introduced to your podcast by a friend, and I am hooked! I love your "Thomist" methodology 😄 You mention the acronym PK a few times in this episode, but I missed where you must have told us what that stands for. Can you please remind me? Also, what episode(s) do you recommend to learn more about psychic links and other psychic abilities? I jumped to the ones on St. Thomas Aquinas after this one. Thank you, and God bless!

[@manny41]

I think PK is psychokinesis.

[@dr.g7980]

Great episode Jimmy! I appreciate your thoughts on on reincarnation 🙏

[@erincarter1469]

Really good The psychic link theory was the one I came up with to explain Reicarnation stories.

[@manny41]

What about Michael Newton's work? Has this been addressed or will it be addressed in another episode?

[@sarararah18]

favorite episode!

[@Bazerkly]

Jimmy, I am a non Jewish Catholic and my family have been Catholic for probably 1,000 years or more. Since childhood I have been interested in things Jewish… I am now 70 years old. A number of years ago I came across a Psychologist who was doing a study on Non Jews who were knowledgable on things Jewish in memories or dreams. One of his areas of study were of former Nazi's who worked or ran Jewish camps. His theory was that many of these former Nazi’s reincarnated in this life in Jewish families…. Food for thought….

[@tabithamotta8753]

Whoa... The dude who possessed the teenage girl - is this story on The Big List? Because that's pretty awesome, and I'm curious as heck about it! It would be interesting if you could go into detail about it! Although... given how big The Big List has probably gotten, maybe I should just read the good Father's book...

[@JimmyAkin]

There's not much more information about it (in English, that I have), but we will be discussing it in a future episode on dybbuks!

[@evelynbaldwin3212]

I tend to agree with link explanation for reincarnation and most psi phenomena. Quantum thinker, David Bohm, gives the analogy of time as a ball of string and a strand is pulled from the ball -- our experience of 'now ' is that single string segment. That image would indicate that our experience is already linked because the 'string' is still part of the whole -- not cut off from past and future. Also, I know that in my dreams, I am seeing through the eyes of one person in the dream and seeing that person as me. That person in my dream may be a different age, gender, or nationality than I am in the waking world. That wouldn't indicate recall of past experience. Stories of nightmares that often are presented as recalling past life never convince me because dreams of identifying as someone not who you are awake seems normal dream fantasy.

[@earthgirl369]

would you please do a show on the dalai lama narrative? thx!

[@JimmyAkin]

I've been trying to arrange an interview with him!

[@nightyew2160]

​@@JimmyAkinOoh, that would be such an awesome episode. I am praying for your success. Does he speak English?

[@thedangeroussaint]

@@nightyew2160He does but usually also has a translator for certain words

[@aprilblake2784]

Reincarnation is topic that has come up between my dad and I as being one of the beliefs he holds that disagrees with the Catholic faith. I'll share these videos with him, he might find them interesting since you do really go in depth on the topic.

[@ericfaith2810]

Psychofor? Is that the same or different than a psychopomp? Before my dear mother passed, it seemed that she kept saying, 'I love you,' to someone that neither I or my relatives could see. I am reminded of the movie 'Song of Bernadette,' which is one of her favorite movies when St. Bernadette sees Our Blessed Mother before she departs. I have also seen purported videos where a golden light (Shekinah perhaps) lowers to a hospital window and you can see a figure moving down towards the window for a minute or so, and then you see two figures exit the window and ascend up the golden light, which disappears. Beam us up, guardian angel? 🤔

[@steveszymanski1807]

Why are there so many commercials in the last few episodes? Quite annoying compared to the past.

[@nightyew2160]

I think the channel hit the point where it is popular enough that KZbin wants to monetize it. The commercial breaks happen at really awkward points, such as in the middle of words, so it seems unlikely that SQPN is putting ads in their videos.

[@Paul71H]

The information presented on the CORT case histories (in the first episode) was fascinating. But I thought that this episode was bloated and repetitive. I think 30 to 40 minutes could have been trimmed from this episode without omitting anything important. I suspect that Jimmy may have a tendency that I have as well -- to write long rather than to write short. It often takes much longer for me to write a short message than to write a long one, because I have to edit the text again and again to convey the same points in fewer words.

[@nightyew2160]

Regarding the birthmark, I read that Richard the Lionheart died due to a gangrenous infection from a crossbow bolt wound in his arm. Coincidence? 😉

[@Emschough]

Cool

[@sugar_pappee1818]

I like what I am hearing :)

[@clonmany1000]

Very interesting theories, I'm open to the idea of reincarnation now, whether it be of the person or "residues" or psi. I'm sort of on the fence on regression hypnosis, but watched a documentary from 1983 on reincarnation by Peter Ramster that had the Australian researcher regress a few women in Sydney and explore what they said, they all went to Europe to see if anything cab be validated, its well worth a look and quite astounding, especially the Scottish and Somerset cases. Remember no google in 1983. Its on KZbin, put in' reincarnation 1983 ramster' should get it. Also Jenny Cockell had multiple memories from other lives,but also some in between lives memories. Good show.

[@Silas008]

Are there any other examples you could provide for why the residue theory is wrong? I’m just having a bit of trouble understanding.

[@myrrhsolace5875]

Was there a “Faith” discussion with this episode?

[@JimmyAkin]

Yes. It starts at 1:52:09

[@ChristopherGlendenning]

So, what about section 1013 in the catechism? The latest sentence is clear there is no reincarnation after death. How would you respond to this Jimmy?

[@JimmyAkin]

@@ChristopherGlendenningYou seem to misunderstand my position. I'm *not* a believer in reincarnation. I agree with the Catechism.

[@trad-lite]

​@@JimmyAkinHey Jimmy, I keep missing you on Catholic Answers live. I would LOVE to hear you speak on the idea of "generational demons" that many exorcists are pushing on KZbin. I'm not particularly in favor of it personally as I believe it undermines the efficacy of the sacraments, but I would really appreciate your take on it. Thank you so much for all of your work! 😉👍🏻✝️🇻🇦

[@erric288]

Assuming the psychic link theory is correct, would these events constitute a kind of psychic assault on the children affected?

[@JustErics101]

The fascinating thing about this data is that it can be viewed in multiple ways. I tend to think something non-materialist is going on. I also tend to think that reincarnation is going on in many of the cases, others could be, or they could not be. It can be hard to distinguish between living agent psi/Akashic record or genuine reincarnation. Ultimately there isn’t a clear answer, you just have to have your interpretation and state it with some tentativeness ultimately.

[@joseluisenriquez5779]

Hello Jimmy and Dom, I enjoy listening to your show and just recently subscribed to your youtube channel. When I was much younger, I had a lot of time to read and I came across something that I believe I did not hear about in the Reincarnation episodes. If we consider the possibility that some souls would take longer to reincarnate than others, then, if there were a closed universe of souls, meaning that there is only a set number of individual souls, then as the end time approaches, a larger number of souls could be given "one last chance" at rectifying their karma. This could then explain in some fashion the increased population of this world, given the rapid increase in corrupted activity. Would like to hear your comments.

[@pulsar403]

Jimmy's birthmark indicates he was stabbed by a tactical mustache in a past life.

[@larrywells5908]

How does Doctor who fit into this topic?

[@JR-tl8tg]

Hey Jimmy, What are your thoughts on 5-year-old boy Luke Ruehlman who claims that he was an African American woman named Pam killed in a fire and reincarnated.

[@shellbackbeau7021]

Court?

[@JimmyAkin]

CORT = Case(s) Of the Reincarnation Type

[@shellbackbeau7021]

@@JimmyAkin ahh, thanks!

[@caterinadc5567]

In a spirit of pure playfulness: your birthmark could reflect a fatal snakebite. Just proposing as you said it was hard for you to imagine a possible scenario! Snakes can open their mouths quite wide to latch on, and the imagery of two triangles mirroring each other like that does evoke the triangular upper jaw and triangular lower jaw of a snake biting something larger than itself.

[@TheProdigalMeowMeowMeowReturns]

In which cultures are mediums most successful ? And how often do mediums in pro-reincarnation cultures say they can’t make the connection? Also, I do think that at least some of the different cultural ratios can be harmonized with actual reincarnation. Speaking for myself, I loathe the idea of “coming back” as there’s just too much suffering for my taste. BUT perhaps my inclination would be different/more open if I had been raised in a culture that reveres the concept and sees wisdom in it-perhaps we retain a degree of the same inclinations we had while living. In that note, how many people in the west (specifically in areas where reincarnation isn’t seen the same way), raised in and by the west and its values, say that they *would* reincarnate if they could?

[@1001011011010]

In reincarnation cultures it can be seen as a bad thing. In Buddhism for example, a big point is to escape the cycle of rebirth. But it can also be seen as a method for getting a better life, even into heavenly realms and is a method of built in justice (your karma) whereby the just flourish and the evil are punished. Being evil can make you become a subhuman animal like a chicken or something, while being good can make you be reborn even to a heavenly realm mayhap.

[@michaelbruns449]

Soul Farm Earth.

[@trad-lite]

1.) It's always aliens 2.) It's always demons 3.) And now introducing... it's always psychics 🙄

[@pokezeldamaster39]

I prefer number 2

[@ismarril]

As we all know from the best sci-fi, it's always psychic alien demons.

[@victorolson5663]

1:26:11 If I did that, I'd be the dead man.

[@ellobo4211]

I just found out that in an ancient sect of jewdaism, they also believed in reincarnation..

[@JimmyAkin]

Actually, belief in reincarnation is not documented in any ancient *sects* of Judaism. However, it did become a belief in Qabbalistic sects of Judaism beginning in the Middle Ages.

[@JohnDoe-hr5cg]

What about the people believing Jesus might have been a reincarnation of one of the prophets?

[@tafazzi-on-discord]

​@@JohnDoe-hr5cgthat's a misreading of Matthew 16. The question that Jesus asks is "who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The Son of Man is the divine figure predicted by Daniel to arrive at around that time. So the jews thought that figure was one of the prophets that would return. So the people that thought the Son of Man would be Elijah didn't think that Jesus was the Son of man

[@JimmyAkin]

@@JohnDoe-hr5cg The passage does not indicate people were thinking in terms of reincarnation. They may have viewed Jesus as one of the prophets returned to life (resurrected) or just as a new person in the line of existing prophets.

[@irishgirlintexas]

​@biddyearly9262Sadducees

[@smedrano1964]

The reason this is so weak to me is that the explanations are without end. A bird or a dog overheard or saw something and the child is drawing from that. One could say that the grass and the air have a consciousness and the reincarnated people got it from that. We could say that the stars and the moon are watching us and our.actions. As believers We could say that since God maintains reality in his thoughts all his creations have access to his thoughts and knowledge through this connection. But only to information not to be inheriters or to be given or receive someone else's soul or a portion of a soul. The soul belongs to GOD who created it and it returns to its GOD to be judged. Since Catholics believe that we live once and then there is the judgment.. Reincarnation is not an option because the life that you live is judged once you die.

[@1001011011010]

Well, even if they're not evil, hearing the way you described the way "upper" classes are supposed to act makes them sound like they're culturally conditioned to be a bit of a jerk (from my very American point of view of course). So in terms of "karma" under this hypothesis, I at least could see them accumulating bad karma even if they're not these evil sinners. But since they're still people, it's not like they accumulated too much bad karma since in Karmic systems you can reincarnate to be a subhuman lifeform like a chicken etc, from my understanding.

[@JohnDoe-hr5cg]

What would you say Jimmy to a Buddhist critique of God of the old testament being petty and a jealous God? A God that to Buddhists seems cruel and vicious? They say to themselves why believe in a God capable of being governed by all the afflictive emotions of his creation does? I know the answer is an explanation of anthropomorphic language. But the fact remains God to Buddhists remains flawed in his character (to them)

[@marvalice3455]

The only difference between this and an atheist who says the same is the language I would use in talking about it. But the overall point is identical

[@alejandromartin8347]

The problem I see with the physic link is that you need to make a lot more assumptions. You need to believe in physic phenomenon. You need to believe that the phenomenon is not bound by time(to a certain extent). With the soul theory you just need to believe that a soul can attach itself to a body. The physic phenomenon even though I think there is evidence that shows it may be likely. Its not certain. While the soul is certain. We all have one. Let me define a soul as the part of us that isn't physical. We are all beings/experiencers. We all have conscious experiences and we all have a will. Assuming philosophical zombies don't exist. All those properties are part of us that is immaterial. There is some connection to the material body but its not total. As far as the faith perspective. I don't see why God couldn't allow for a person to live again. Although I'm not too well versed on scripture I haven't seen anything that prevents this from happening.

[@tafazzi-on-discord]

>With the soul theory you just need to believe that a soul can attach itself to a body. No, you also need the assumption that a soul can act as a "psychophore", so we are 2 assumptions against 2 assumptions. There is good evidence of psychic ability, there is scarce evidence for cross temporal psychic ability there is no evidence that a soul can attach itself to a new body there is scarce evidence that a soul is the seat of memories. For the faith perspective, have you watched the "faith" segment episodes 93 and 94?

[@alejandromartin8347]

@@tafazzi-on-discord I think this comment is the only one I disagree with. "there is no evidence that a soul can attach itself to a new body" We know that a soul can be attached to a new body. Because there was a time in which we didn't have a body and now we do. However whatever process that involves is unknown. So the first objection I don't think it has any relevance.

[@tafazzi-on-discord]

@@alejandromartin8347 That assumes that the soul existed before the body, but it's not a teaching of the church. The most common opinion is that your soul is created at the moment of your conception

[@tabithamotta8753]

Hmm... That whole "It's appointed that man dies once, and then the judgment" thing bugs me now, because if Elijah was the only person to be assumed into Heaven without dying, I could say that he was such an exception that there aren't any others, but then we have a couple of other exceptions to the rule - Mary, of course, was Assumed body and soul, without dying, and Jesus raised Lazarus after he died and had already received judgment, didn't he? So Lazarus died twice, Tabitha was raised by God at the request of St. Peter and SHE died twice, and Elijah and Mary didn't die at all... If God is going to make exceptions to His rules, they're always going to be very logical and important exceptions that matter and require a good exception, you know? I can't see Mary dying under any circumstances. If God's going to allow reincarnation as an exception, it has to be for a particularly stand-out reason that really matters and makes perfectly logical sense. I don't know if allowing the pre-born to reincarnate is on the same level as Assuming Mary, you know?

[@daisyviluck7932]

But, we’re Enoch and Elijah assumed into Heaven, or just taken to a place to wait until the End Times, at which they will die? (I’m not a theologian 🙂)

[@tookie36]

Reincarnation makes hell and heaven make so much more logical sense

[@JohnDoe-hr5cg]

Someone who truly believes in reincarnation may scoff at the idea of being told reincarnations is false by a religion that seems contradictory? Jesus states to fear God and yet st. John states there is no fear in love? And goes so far as to say God is Love! If God is love then fear is ungodly and ahy are Cjristians told to "fear" the source of love? This love that has the power to cast the soul into hell? To someone believing in reincarnation to them is seems the more loving option than eternal death

[@SydneyCarton2085]

When I was a child, I both loved and feared my parents lol.

[@irishgirlintexas]

Fearing God=respecting God No fear in love=you're not living in fear of them, and they're not afraid of you

[@marvalice3455]

The fact that words can be used very differently in different contexts is not comparable to an idea that is contradictory on its face

[@JohnDoe-hr5cg]

@@SydneyCarton2085 this is true. Good point

[@JohnDoe-hr5cg]

@@irishgirlintexas that's not what the original languages describe in the word fear but nonetheless is the best way to look at it

[@JimmyGray-ds6gc]

When in heaven you remember all. while on earth in various incarnations you remember nothing of past lives or of the afterlife because you would know the game. "Game" for lack of a better term. Soul growth through suffering.Doing good for no reward.

[@tafazzi-on-discord]

I think that the "naturalistic explanation" fails to explain *why* belief in reincarnation exists in many cultures 54:00 onwards. So you explain a datum (cultures that have X belief, have more accounts that conform to X belief) with an unexplained datum (cultures have X belief). Under your psychic link theory instead, you can explain both *why* this belief exists and why it follows certain patterns depending on the culture: if psychic abilities are a biological phenomenon, as that seems to be the least ad hoc explanation, and also your working hypothesis, then a person that is randomly born with the ability to establish psychic links to some advantage to himself would spread the genes responsible for this ability, and therefore a pattern would emerge about supposed reincarnation, and the pattern would depend on the mechanism determined by the biology of the psychic link. So the people that supposedly only reincarnate between family members, may have formed that belief from observing that these reincarnation-like events happened only within families, and that was determined by the specific mechanism that evolved in that specific group of people to form psychic links