The Infamous Proust Questionnaire – A.J. Jacobs
Welcome to the Reincarnationist Blog’s series of interviews using the infamous Proust Questionnaire. Today’s subject is A.J. Jacobs…
THE QUESTIONS:
Title of your latest book as of Sept 1, 2007
“The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible.”
Do you believe — even a little bit that reincarnation is possible?
Everything’s possible, except for, say, looking dignified while wearing Crocs. And I find the idea of past lives enticing (and, naturally, an awesome premise for a thriller). But I still think it’s highly unlikely. I read in Bill Bryson’s book A Short History of Everything about how we all contain recycled atoms. Some of our atoms were once in Shakespeare and Napoleon and Paul Lynde. Does that count?
Have you ever read anything books the subject that made an impression on you?
I read the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the section on reincarnation includes this fact: “In primitive religions, belief in multiple souls is common. The soul is frequently viewed as capable of leaving the body through the mouth or nostrils and of being reborn, for example, as a bird, butterfly, or insect.”
I also love the movie Heaven Can Wait. The idea that Warren Beatty’s girlfriend recognizes the gleam in his eye even when Warren takes on another body – that gets me every time.
What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a hold over from a past life?
I looked on the Internet to see who died the day I was born. And I got all excited because I saw that Charlie Chaplin died March 20, 1968. Then I noticed it was Charlie Chaplin Jr. The son. He was a minor actor who had a small role in Sex Kittens Go to College. Crushing.
What is your principle defect that you believe might be inherited from a previous incarnation?
My small role in Sex Kittens Go to College.
Which of your favorite heroes do you think you actually could have been and why?
I don’t think I could have been him, but I wish I had the intellectual breadth and depth of Goethe. The man was the ultimate generalist. And I love generalists. He was a critic, journalist, lawyer, painter, theatre manager, statesman, educationalist, alchemist, soldier, astrologer, novelist, songwriter, philosopher, botanist, biologist, color theorist, mine inspector, and issuer of military uniforms.
What three people from history would you like to have over to dinner for a discussion about reincarnation?
Aside from MJ Rose, of course, I’d go with Buddha, the Baal Shem Tov, and Mary Roach, who wrote a wonderful book called Spook about life-after-death matters.
What do you think happens when we die?
I’m agnostic on that. I think there’s a good chance the lights go out and that’s it. It’d be nice if that weren’t true, but I don’t know. For my latest book, I lived for a year according to the Bible, and it taught me to appreciate such things as the feeling of connectedness and the beauty of ritual and the idea of sacredness. But I remained agnostic on some other topics, including eternal life.
When you come back next time, who would you like to be?
I always liked that quote (falsely) attributed to Woody Allen: That he’d like to come back in his next life as Warren Beatty’s fingertips. But I guess nowadays that might not be as exciting, unless you’re really, really into Annette Bening. Maybe Justin Timberlake’s fingertips.
We would love to hear your responses to these questions. Please feel free to copy and paste the Questionnaire with your answers into a Comment for this post.
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racheal townsend on 27 Jun 2009 at 10:08 am #
I dont know if this is a past live transgetion or not.But I had some thing happen in spring of 1996.I work for a feed lot in a remote western part of kansas.And it started in may,I would be working cattle and I kept getting the sensation or feeling that I needed to go to the north to wyoming.or something was coming from wyoming.either way it just kept getting stronger untill in june.I heard we were getting a new forman.when I heard that I instantly who it was and that he coming from wyoming. Dave showed up driving a white pick-up an the minute I saw it I knew the truck.Mind you I have never been to wyoming nor do I now anyone from there.This drove me crazy and I was determined not to get to close to the new boss.Things were so strange the first time I saw him I knew him instantly,which I dont see how that was possible.when we first saw each other everything stopped.time it felt like stopped.he stopped what he was doing and about rode my horse into the path of a feed truck because i was so caught up by the intensety of the moment.but thanks to the horn on the truck the spell was broke,he tipped his hat and I went on.Over the summer Dave and myself got really close.and the first time our hands touch it felt like being hit with a hot shot-(electric cattle prod).I ahve never felt anything like that sense or before.everyone who knew me knew something was different.They saw me deeply happy for the first ever even my ex was dumb-founded by the change.
any way by the following spring I moved away from Dave because he needed to take care of his own.there was no regret in our meeting.But we both knew we coulndnt be together.We had a son who died at birth which he didnt know about for sometime.but he told me he felt great sorrow and had to track me down.He called out of the blue.on a dec. nite And I knew when I heard the phone ring it was him.I have been to therapist about this whole strang thing,and they all said it was true love.But after reading Mrs.Roses book I wonder could that had been something else?thank you i would like to here thoughts on this.please sincerly racheal.