Dr. Ian Stevenson is undeniably the largest contributor of scientific research to the field of reincarnation in history. Since 1960 he has conducted research into the accounts of alleged past lives of children around the world, for which he has been historically criticised, snubbed, or dismissed by his peers. After his retirement from the University of Virginia faculty in 2002, Dr. Jim Tucker took up where Stevenson left off, continuing his research and publishing the first general-interest account of the history of their nearly 50 years of research, Life Before Life.
I am currently in the process of reading this fascinating book, as well as a list of Stevenson’s scientific journal articles and some of the foremost articles by Stevenson’s detractors, who argue that his scientific method and conclusions are faulty. In the coming months I hope to provide a synopsis of both sides of the story here.
In the meantime, I offer a summary of Dr. Tucker’s book from its website, www.lifebeforelife.com. If you’re interested in the book after reading the synopsis, you can buy it on the website. Enjoy!
(FROM LIFE BEFORE LIFE WWW.LIFEBEFORELIFE.COM)
What would cause young children to think they remembered living before—and dying before?
For the past forty years, doctors at the University of Virginia Medical Center have tried to answer that question. Researchers have investigated more than 2,500 cases of young children who reported memories of previous lives. The founder of this work, Ian Stevenson, M.D., has always written for a scientific audience. Now, Jim B. Tucker, M.D., a child psychiatrist who currently directs the research, shares these studies with the general public in LIFE BEFORE LIFE: A Scientific Investigation of Children’s Memories of Previous Lives.
Children who report past-life memories typically begin talking about a previous life when they are two to three years old. The children tend to show a strong emotional involvement with the apparent memories and often cry to be taken to the previous family. In many cases, parents have taken their children to the places they named, where they found that an individual had died whose life matched the details given by the child. During the visits, some children have recognized family members or friends from that individual’s life. Many children have also had birthmarks that matched wounds on the body of the deceased individual.
LIFE BEFORE LIFE explores the various features of this worldwide phenomenon, describing numerous cases along the way. Though Dr. Tucker eventually concludes that the best explanation for the cases is that memories and emotions can sometimes carry over from one life to another, the purpose of the book is not to convince people to believe in the reality of previous lives. Instead, Dr. Tucker seeks to make readers aware of this material so that they can form their own judgments.
Dear Dr. Tucker, have you ever interviewed a child who decribes a past life of someone who is still living? I know how this can happen, and it is real.
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