A positive review for reincarnation in Scientific American.

[abaddon]

A couple friends and I talked with a ghost with a Ouija board.
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The planchette moved from letter to letter. And we determined it was a 19 year old woman. She was born near the turn of the century. She'd worked in a hospital, treating many ill people before falling ill herself. She mentioned a war. She seemed to not know she was dead.
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We agreed the spirit must be someone who died in the plague following WW1. I pointed out that I've read a bit on the topic and remember a story of a 19 year old girl much like the one we're talking to. I assured them I had not consciously influenced the planchette... this memory only came to mind after the spirit told her story.
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"So, you don't think she's real?" they asked.​

"No, I think we unconsciously control this, and it reflects our own minds back at us", I explained.
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Instantly it was like I had pissed on the carpet and ruined the party. "But isn't the natural explanation the interesting one?" I asked. "Our imaginations did this!" It was physical/psychological reality that intrigued me. But it was supernaturalism that intrigued them.
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That's why I find the Believer mind to be interesting, in a dismaying sort of way. Because they want more wonder in the world, by finding no wonder in the world.
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[Gun Nut]

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A couple friends and I talked with a ghost with a Ouija board.
​

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The planchette moved from letter to letter. And we determined it was a 19 year old woman. She was born near the turn of the century. She'd worked in a hospital, treating many ill people before falling ill herself. She mentioned a war. She seemed to not know she was dead.
​

[/FONT]
[FONT=&]

We agreed the spirit must be someone who died in the plague following WW1. I pointed out that I've read a bit on the topic and remember a story of a 19 year old girl much like the one we're talking to. I assured them I had not consciously influenced the planchette... this memory only came to mind after the spirit told her story.
​

[/FONT]
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"So, you don't think she's real?" they asked.​

[/FONT]
[FONT=&]

"No, I think we unconsciously control this, and it reflects our own minds back at us", I explained.
​

[/FONT]
[FONT=&]

Instantly it was like I had pissed on the carpet and ruined the party. "But isn't the natural explanation the interesting one?" I asked. "Our imaginations did this!" It was physical/psychological reality that intrigued me. But it was supernaturalism that intrigued them.
​

[/FONT]
[FONT=&]

That's why I find the Believer mind to be interesting, in a dismaying sort of way. Because they want more wonder in the world, by finding no wonder in the world.
​

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one person's wonder is another person's uncertainty... people that lack curiosity hate that.

 

[Rhea]

My problem with reincarnation claims is that they are all too much like ghost sightings...
What they have in common is a fad... a time-bound fad. What i mean is that all ghosts reported are from before the modern age... all ghosts carry candles for light, drag chains, and go wooowooowooo.. Never has anyone reported a ghost sighting of some kid on his cell phone that didn't realize he was hit by a car while texting and crossing the street. Similarly, all reincarnations are of famous people in history... deep history.. John Lennon's reincarnation should be about 30 years old now, right? You would think he would have discovered this by now and produced "Yesterday Again" by now... no one ever claimed to be the reincarnation of a used car dealer... only kings and queens apparently.

Well, to be reincarnated, you need to be buried with riches and weapons and pets and stuff, and used car salesmen rarely get buried with their gear, yanno?

 

[lpetrich]

From my story "Contact across the Solar System", inspired by George Adamski's UFO-contactee accounts:

Moving to other such subjects, the two discovered that many Earthers in their part of the planet were now claiming to have discovered their past lives, despite their traditionally-dominant religion stating that there is no such thing. However, many of them were claiming to have been various celebrities of the past in their past lives. Kalna got curious, and she decided to explore further.

When she returned home, she said "Guess what?"
Ilmuth said "What?"
"I went to a past-lives workshop."
"What did you find out?"
"Just about everybody was some celebrity in some past life."
"Oh, no," said Ilmuth with a sour look on her face.
"I understand your feeling. But I wanted to find out more."
"Any success?"
"Not really. They didn't seem to think it an issue, and one of them felt sorry for me as someone whose mind is imprisoned in materialist rationalist skepticism. I was totally baffled."
"What happened next?"
"I asked what was supposed to be so horrible about skepticism. I didn't get a clear answer, so I didn't press the issue."

 

[lpetrich]

Also from CatSS:

While they were in DC, Kalna decided to pay a tribute to George, a tribute done in Earther fashion. She went to a florist and bought some flowers, and she also bought a cutesy friendship-themed greeting card. She also got a clear plastic bag, to protect the card against rain and snow. She wrote a short tribute in it in the SSC shared language, and she got her fellow Adamski-Gang members to do likewise. She also wrote a tribute in English for whichever Earthers might find it:

For George Adamski, our emissary to the people of the Earth, and one of our greatest passengers. Your soul has moved on, but we knew you when you were in this body. From Orthon, Kalna, Ilmuth, Firkon, Ramu, and Zuhl.

They then went out to Arlington National Cemetery and Kalna placed the flowers on his grave. She also wrapped the card in the bag and placed it among the flowers.