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Many people believe in reincarnation but have no personal memories of past lives. Others have very clear and specific memories. Yet others have occasional or vague memories.
Often people are riddled with doubts. These people do have their memories, are aware of them, but do not trust themselves. Even though they never doubt their memories from their present life, when it comes to past life recall, they become unsure about themselves. This is quite understandable, at least for those living in countries of the Western culture. It is not unusual for one to experience ridicule when discussing such memories, even among those who are open to the possibility of multiple lives, or even among those who are completely convinced about their existence.
This is particularly true if you recall memories from the life of a person known to history. For example, if you recall having been a king, or a pope, a pharaoh, an emperor, a prince, and similar, you can rest assured that if you share that memory with others, someone will instantly accuse you of being a dreamer, or a neurotic who cannot cope with reality, or an attention getter. If then you mention that you recall having been a pharaoh and several kings and an emperor or two, the circle of doubters expands geometrically.
The same doubters often admit it is perfectly conceivable that someone who was a pharaoh would be likely to have also lived as an emperor and a king, more than once each. They just are not willing to accept someone’s memories of having lived these lives. Never mind that if we accept that we live many lives, then some people inevitably had to live as all those kings, emperors, pharaohs, etc. Similarly, someone had to be Mozart, Michelangelo, Plato, Galileo, or Ben Franklin.
Most past life recall, however, is not of such notable lives, but of lives of ordinary people. This is not surprising since, of course, most lives have gone unnoticed by history. Even those who do recall notable lives also tend to recall lives that went completely unnoticed.
Many past life memories seem to be from a recent past. For example, many people remember having lived, even died, during World War II. It is quite interesting how many regular folks who would not hurt a fly in this life have surprising memories of having been on the “wrong” side, often as soldiers in the German army, sometimes even as members of the SS.
Sometimes past life recall is triggered by a visit to a place that has been the location of a major historical event. For example, a visit to Gettysburg can produce feelings of one’s participation in the battle that took place there in 1863. A visit to the site of a Nazi concentration camp can trigger feelings of recognition either as a prisoner, or as a guard, or as a soldier fighting for the liberation of the prisoners. People have reported strange feelings of familiarity when visiting the Titanic exposition, a pyramid in Egypt, a place in Rome, and many other places. These feelings are not restricted to those who believe in reincarnation either. In some cases people who had no such beliefs started to investigate their feelings and eventually became convinced that, indeed, they had been at that place in a prior life.
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