Welcome to the Reincarnationist Blog’s series of interviews using the infamous Proust Questionnaire. Today’s subject is Gayle Brandeis…

gayle

THE QUESTIONS:

Title of your latest book as of Sept 1, 2007:

Self Storage

cover

Do you believe — even a little bit that reincarnation is possible?

I’m a bit of an agnostic when it comes to reincarnation–skeptical but

open to the possibility.

Have you ever read anything books the subject that made an impression

on you?

In my novel Immensity which comes out next year, my main

character is a twelve year old girl who believes her family is the

Lincoln family reincarnated and it’s her job to save them from her

fate. In researching the book, I read (or at least skimmed) several

books on Jewish ideas about reincarnation, and found them fascinating.

I hadn’t realized that reincarnation was part of of Jewish mysticism.

What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a

hold over from a past life?

My relationship with language. I taught

myself to read at 3 and started writing poems at 4, and feel as if

words were with me from the start–maybe even before the start!

What is your principle defect that you believe might be inherited from

a previous incarnation?

My shyness, perhaps? It feels very deeply rooted.

Which of your favorite heroes do you think you actually could have

been and why?

I’ve always felt a real resonance with Isadora

Duncan–her approach to movement, wanting to rid herself of all

restrictions and flow, is very similar to my own experience with dance

(and creativity in general).

What three people from history would you like to have over to dinner

for a discussion about reincarnation?

Abraham Lincoln, for sure, since

I’ve been spending so much time thinking about him and reincarnation,

plus I’ve loved him since I was little. Buddha. And Isadora, just to

see if there’s a real connection there. That would be a very

interesting dinner party–I can picture Buddha meditating, Isadora

dancing, Abe speaking earnestly (and cracking a few jokes.)

What do you think happens when we die?

I think we dissolve back into

the earth. Some of our molecules probably end up in the stars. Since

matter can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed (I can’t

remember if that’s the second or third law of thermodynamics) the

stuff of us will be around forever, in various forms.

When you come back next time, who would you like to be?

I’d love to be something other than a human. Maybe an ameoba–life at its most basic,

boiled down form. Pure movement.

 

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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