Natasha Dern, entrepreneur & host of the Buddha Lounge Radio Show has a great article on reincarnation up on Huff Post, check it out:

Do You Believe In Past Lives?

Have you had the feeling of deja vu? A feeling like you know this place, or know that person, or have had this conversation. It is like a hazy memory of a far away place, but where? Have you had dreams where you know its you, and yet you look nothing like you do in this life? Have you met someone for the first time and for some reason you feel an instant affinity? You wonder, “Why do I feel like I’ve seen them or somehow know them?” Many have had such experiences and yet many do not admit it. Past lives is not a subject you discuss with people who do not believe. However, even the believers are skeptical, although are more open to the realm of its possibility. Let’s think about it for a moment, why would the idea of past lives be so off the mark? Why would the idea of living in another time and place be so threatening? When viewed from this lens, would this idea not explain some of the inequalities, injustices and suffering in this world?…

For the complete article, click here.

Thank you to Erica-Lynn Huberty for answering this week’s Reincarnationist Q&A! Erica-Lynn is the author of the new book Dog Boy and Other Harrowing Tales, a collection of stories that are immersed in the Gothic tradition while told in a modern and inventive way. 

THE QUESTIONS:

What is your most marked characteristic that you believe could be a hold over from a past life?

A penchant for, or attraction to, what I imagine other eras to be.  In other words, I believe I’d be a lot happier riding in a horse-and-carriage than in a car.  I feel much happier and less anxious listening to the sounds of nature than to the sounds of industry and technology; I am quite comfortable in a corset and petticoats.

What is your principle defect that you believe may be inherited from a previous incarnation?

The ability to waste several years on a particular person I believed was destined to be my soul-mate, due to us having been soul-mates in another life.  Luckily, I have rid myself of this defect!

Which of your favorite heroes do you think you could have been and why?

Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen):  because of her love of storytelling, her dedication to her home (in Africa), her stomach ulcers, her fear of having to live as a woman bound by the conventions of a male-dominated world; and because of her desire to express, in her writing, a spirit that no longer existed in her own modern times.

What three people from history would you like to have over to dinner for a discussion about reincarnation?

I would love to have for dinner, to discuss any number of things: Thomas Jefferson, Frida Kahlo, and Agatha Christie.

What do you think happens when we die?

I hope that what happens is whatever I believe.  There are too many beliefs about the afterlife among too many cultures for any one thing to be true.

When you come back next time, who (or what!) would you like to be?

Myself as a ghost, walking (with a friendly atmosphere) amongst places I loved in this lifetime.

Erica-Lynn Huberty holds an M.A. in Literature from Bennington College.  Her poetry has been anthologized in Garrison Keillor’s Good Poems.  Her first book of short stories, Dog Boy and Other Harrowing Tales, is out now.

www.dogboytales.com

If we’re going to be dedicated reincarnationists, it makes sense that we would also be students of the future… Allow me to introduce you to THE SINGULARITY HUB, a very interesting site that tracks trends in the futurist realm:

The Future Is Here Today…Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

Here’s an example from the site:

Child Receives Trachea Organ Transplant Created With Own Stem Cells

A 10 year old boy received a new trachea grown from his own stem cells attached to a colagen scaffold.