Sal wrote: A better question for you to ask would be, why doesn't it happen to everyone if reincarnation is a common occurrence? Why to so very few?
Maybe for the same reason we often don't remember our dreams after awakening. I mean to answer that aside from something like, "the process is set up that way, because a recall of that nature could likely disruptive to one's present life". Aside from that, I would say the birth process is a somewhat traumatic event, which is followed a tremendous amount of sensory input, as we become accustomed to the new world we are born into. All of that would likely overshadow the memory of a previous life. One of the major stories I know of like that is of a Scottish boy who said he came from an island where planes land on the beach. It turns out there is one, called Barra. His family claimed there was no way he could have known but even when they were being interviewed there was a TV on in the background. The most recent incident I recall is that of small child (American) recalling a memory of being a fighter pilot in WW2, IIRC. There didn't appear to be any mitigating factors such as the type you mention. I'm all for getting scientific about things like this but they are extremely rare and so not easy to test. Basically you have to iron out the possibility of them picking the information up anywhere else. The plural of anecdote really isn't data, I've yet to see a story like this that has reliable facts that are certain not to have been isolated from the child. These stories appear in the mainstream media periodically, and there are also a number of instances that have been documented elsewhere. I am sorry I can't give you a reference for those. I am sure many of the stories are false, but enough of them seem able to survive the scrutiny to which they are subjected. And like a lot of beliefs about the mind it lacks any known mechanism about how it might work, which doesn't mean it can't but it would also have to explain why it works so rarely. Tricky for something physical. If that's what it is. Everyone dreams for instance. I imagine that it would be anomalies such a these that might be able to puncture a hole in belief that these things are just a fabrication of the mind. Certainly I recommend subjecting these accounts to a rigorous examination. Seems to me that knowledge of previous lives would be immensely useful, why do we forget it? Why do you think it would be so helpful? I think it could be counter productive. If it is the case that there is rebirth, I think there is something to be said for a fresh start. (-:
