Armed with half a dozen or so simple questions and a yellow pad, I sought out individuals throughout the city of Vancouver and casually stated I was taking a personal survey on past-life regression.
My first question went right to the soul of the matter and let me know if they would willingly answer more. “Do you believe you have lived before?”
72% said yes! The rest didn’t necessarily say no, they just didn’t reply. Understood. Coffee breaks can be short. No one needs to be bothered.
When I asked, “who do you think you were in a past-life?” I prefaced it with “you don’t have to necessarily believe in past-lives. In your imagination, if they could have lived before, who did they think you could have been?” The answers flowed….
57% came up with famous and infamous people from the past. No surprise. The men always chose men from the past. The woman chose both sexes. That was surprising.
24% chose a type of person. They characterized traits, mannerisms, economic level, status. For example, one woman claimed if she could have lived before, it must have been as a wealthy princess, “because I’m still expecting the servants and cleaning ladies to come in the door any minute”.
Another woman brought up relationships. “If I had a life before, I bet I was as miserable as I am now, and I bet he was too.” She was referring to her unhappy relationship, I gathered. And she nodded to her female companion for sympathy.
Only one person even suggested transmigration. “I have a silly belief that I must have been a fish, because ever since I’ve moved here, I feel so at home.” The fact that she chose an animal did not seem in the least to surprise or puzzle her.
“Do you believe who you have been before has any barring on who you are now?” I omitted even the words past-life. I wanted a more organic stretch, whether than included other lifetimes or not.
Many claimed heredity could be responsible for at least part of who they were today. Some involved, and even blamed, their parents. But the majority of surveyed individuals all took responsibility for themselves in this lifetime. A positive realization. I ventured further and elaborated a bit on the question, hoping to stimulate some thought. But unfortunately, even those that gave reincarnation a possibility of existing were still closed minded about passing on any components of their make-up from lifetime to lifetime.
Still, those that claimed heredity could be partially responsible for who they were now, gave me something to think about. Two people discussed DNA as their theory, and listed the concept of “passing on physical weakness” as an example of this. Were they not stating that parts of a person could be transferred from person to person, through time and physical contact? How big a leap did they really need to make then?
I bit my tongue and listened, but without entering into the conversation, their one-sided comments fell flat.
“Do you blame the past for your present troubles?”
Perhaps it was the word blame that intrigued them. If they believed that genetics could transfer something unspecific to them and contribute somehow to their present troubles, then I knew I wanted to hear more. It seemed some individuals believed their lives weren’t completely self-enclosed after all. They seemed to believe that the evolution of human beings affected them in ways that were present even today. Hmmm…
“Would you participate in a past-life regression session to get a better understanding of who you were and why things have happened to you?” I could feel the second part of the question, “why things have happened to you”, tensing people.
Taken as a novelty, the idea of participating in a past-life regression sounded amusing to about 72% of those surveyed. The other 28% gave me a skittish no, with no further explanation. They were spooked. But the 72% didn’t actually say yes. Some asked questions such as “who would do the regression?” “Is it difficult to do?” “How long would it take?” Cautious, but curious.
“Do you feel that understanding something about your past life could make a positive contribution to your present life?”
I was delighted to hear the factors they believed might contribute toward a better life.
They believed that any type of understanding or healing of one’s past was beneficial, including past lives. Well, they had the right attitude.
I took my yellow pad and ordered a tall dark roast. The answers pleased me overall. I saw that their beliefs about reincarnation were quite different from their beliefs about the flow of life. As an organic concept, when it all came together, it made sense to the open-minded thinkers. We were definitely in the 21st century about it all. Thank goodness.
My first question went right to the soul of the matter and let me know if they would willingly answer more. “Do you believe you have lived before?”
72% said yes! The rest didn’t necessarily say no, they just didn’t reply. Understood. Coffee breaks can be short. No one needs to be bothered.
When I asked, “who do you think you were in a past-life?” I prefaced it with “you don’t have to necessarily believe in past-lives. In your imagination, if they could have lived before, who did they think you could have been?” The answers flowed….
57% came up with famous and infamous people from the past. No surprise. The men always chose men from the past. The woman chose both sexes. That was surprising.
24% chose a type of person. They characterized traits, mannerisms, economic level, status. For example, one woman claimed if she could have lived before, it must have been as a wealthy princess, “because I’m still expecting the servants and cleaning ladies to come in the door any minute”.
Another woman brought up relationships. “If I had a life before, I bet I was as miserable as I am now, and I bet he was too.” She was referring to her unhappy relationship, I gathered. And she nodded to her female companion for sympathy.
Only one person even suggested transmigration. “I have a silly belief that I must have been a fish, because ever since I’ve moved here, I feel so at home.” The fact that she chose an animal did not seem in the least to surprise or puzzle her.
“Do you believe who you have been before has any barring on who you are now?” I omitted even the words past-life. I wanted a more organic stretch, whether than included other lifetimes or not.
Many claimed heredity could be responsible for at least part of who they were today. Some involved, and even blamed, their parents. But the majority of surveyed individuals all took responsibility for themselves in this lifetime. A positive realization. I ventured further and elaborated a bit on the question, hoping to stimulate some thought. But unfortunately, even those that gave reincarnation a possibility of existing were still closed minded about passing on any components of their make-up from lifetime to lifetime.
Still, those that claimed heredity could be partially responsible for who they were now, gave me something to think about. Two people discussed DNA as their theory, and listed the concept of “passing on physical weakness” as an example of this. Were they not stating that parts of a person could be transferred from person to person, through time and physical contact? How big a leap did they really need to make then?
I bit my tongue and listened, but without entering into the conversation, their one-sided comments fell flat.
“Do you blame the past for your present troubles?”
Perhaps it was the word blame that intrigued them. If they believed that genetics could transfer something unspecific to them and contribute somehow to their present troubles, then I knew I wanted to hear more. It seemed some individuals believed their lives weren’t completely self-enclosed after all. They seemed to believe that the evolution of human beings affected them in ways that were present even today. Hmmm…
“Would you participate in a past-life regression session to get a better understanding of who you were and why things have happened to you?” I could feel the second part of the question, “why things have happened to you”, tensing people.
Taken as a novelty, the idea of participating in a past-life regression sounded amusing to about 72% of those surveyed. The other 28% gave me a skittish no, with no further explanation. They were spooked. But the 72% didn’t actually say yes. Some asked questions such as “who would do the regression?” “Is it difficult to do?” “How long would it take?” Cautious, but curious.
“Do you feel that understanding something about your past life could make a positive contribution to your present life?”
I was delighted to hear the factors they believed might contribute toward a better life.
They believed that any type of understanding or healing of one’s past was beneficial, including past lives. Well, they had the right attitude.
I took my yellow pad and ordered a tall dark roast. The answers pleased me overall. I saw that their beliefs about reincarnation were quite different from their beliefs about the flow of life. As an organic concept, when it all came together, it made sense to the open-minded thinkers. We were definitely in the 21st century about it all. Thank goodness.
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