I’ll speculate that the modern short attention span is inconsistent with developing depth of insight and profound, for want of a better word, spiritual, connectivity. If it can’t be done in a TikTok it is of no interest. Further if there is no app for it, it can’t be good. There is a tendency to conclude without investigation and pooh-pooh without research. The provenance of “they” as a font of wisdom is rarely questioned. Fear of missing out, FOMO, keeps people stuck in the hamster wheel.
Even when I was young, I tended to look into things in depth. Despite being a rugby player, I was also an avid book/library user. I think it accurate to say that I seek greater depth of knowledge than the majority of humanity. In order to form a complete pattern which my intuition is happy with I need quite a large amount of data and imagery.
In the post previous the putative reincarnation chronology is roughly Egyptian, Egyptian, Hindu Brahmin, Mexican South American(?), Persian, Indian Buddhist, Japanese Buddhist, Thai Buddhist, Christian Priest/crusader and my Sicilian life. There is a possibility of a more recent female birth. There are reasons why this may not be the case. One could call these dreams circumstantial evidence for reincarnation in dreaming.
There is a feeling that the Mexican life might be more recent. I had a bit of a thing about Teotihuacán which places it before my Japanese life. The reincarnations stretch back thousands of years. One could speculate that I am an old “soul”.
Were I still employed at a world top ten university as a science academic I would not talk in public about this kind of thing and it might even be contrary to the internet etiquette guidelines of my employment contract. It might raise the odd eyebrow or two. Luckily, I no longer need to get research grant income so my, within peer group reputation, is of no import. It is possible people would not want to be associated in public with a “whacko” like me. I could be a LinkedIn leper. Physical scientists are sceptical and conservative.
In addition to these dreams, I have had multiple déjà vu experiences concerning my Sicilian and Christian “lives”. There have been visions of myself as a Buddhist monk with om mane padme hum tattooed on my forearm in Sanskrit and a traumatic end to the crusader life, in full smell-o-vision. It has been indicated to me that this is my last incarnation here. That would make me a non-returner, anāgāmin.
I’ll speculate that no main stream psychologist or psychiatrist would be able to give a satisfactory explanation from within the common view of the world for these dreams in total (~250), especially when taken together or in themed groups.
On the basis of my personal experience reincarnation with partial life recall is the best-fit explanation but by no means intellectually conclusive. It is not proven.
A point of interest for me that while I have been revisiting these dreams, I have had something of a dream drought.
“Remembering one’s former abodes” (pubbe-nivāsanussati), causal memory, recalling one’s own past lives is one of the higher “powers” in the Pali Buddhist canon. It suggests that evolution is required for this to happen. It is not a common or garden thing. This is consistent with continuous evolution. The sense is for all but two of my “lives” I have been involved with the “priest hood”.
The new religion is perhaps science. So, one could argue that I was a priest at a science and technology university, in this incarnation too. I have lived like a “hermit” for over decade and meditated daily for two. I am perhaps more yogi than geek.
In order for anyone else to appreciate things effort would be required. In our hectic modern world taking the time to read through the dreams of a retired person, will be very low priority. It is perhaps only of interest to the wife and me.
It has been, for me, quite fun to re-examine my dream archive.
It is 29˚ C in the shade here so it is too hot to do any gardening…
Dreamyoga 