The Big Question: Have We Been Here Before?

This morning on BBC1, Nicky Campbell presented The Big Questions, which included the question Have We Been Here Before? talking about the belief in reincarnation.

Special guest was William Roache, better known as Ken Barlow from ITV’s Coronation Street.

Past life regression is of special interest to many hypnotherapists as some hypnotherapists believe that we can access our past lives through hypnosis.

William Roache declared he doesn’t believe that past lives accessed through hypnosis are always real, because he believes that under hypnosis we all become mediumistic and are able to pick up on past lives from other entities and therefore not necessarily our own. Roache believes that all we need to know is that we are the sum total of all that we have been. If we needed to remember from our past lives, then we would. He explained that he believes that reincarnation ties in with the concept of life after death and of ‘fairness’. If there was no reincarnation, then where would be the fairness in those who are born into poverty or into countries such as Ethiopia. Reincarnation helps to understand this. If there is a spiritual world and we have been incarnated once, then why shouldn’t it happen again?

One psychic medium mentioned that he feels completely different when he works as a medium than the feeling experienced when he was regressed.

An unnamed Christian lady, who lives her life according to the bible, believed that saying we can live again is the first lie told by Satan. She also made the point that belief in reincarnation could absolve you of responsibility or accountability to make good choices in this life and it’s ok to sin because if you get it wrong, you get it right next time. The point was made about Jesus being reincarnated, however, the lady pointed out that he came back as himself, not someone else, and only to prove the continuation of the one life.

Jay Lakhani, Director of the Hindu Academy, talked about research done by Professor Stevenson of the University of Virginia on spontaneous memory recall by children as young as two or three, who recall events in great detail and talk of happenings that they could not possibly know about and without the aid of hypnotic regression, where people may be open to suggestion. Nobody was able to offer an explanation of this.

Lakhani believes that the only reason we do not seem to be aware of our past lives is because we do not want to remember them. If we did, then we would recall in great detail, the love of those whom we left behind crying.

On the subject of disability and reincarnation, Lakhani explained that physical phenomenon gangs up against you in reincarnation as it does in life, so disability is not the result of a previous bad life, but purely a physical phenomena, such as when you have an accident or you lose a limb. He also believes that a unique feature of reincarnation is that it is a fairer system and the risk/work to reward ratio is very measured. In the traditional two-life system believed by many, it talks about how if you do a little good work in this life you will be rewarded with infinite reward in heaven whereas if you do very little good work in this life your return will be infinite damnation. Reincarnation is fairer because whatever risk or work you put into this life, then you will be rewarded with the equivalent reward in the next life.

Asta Philpot, a disabled gentleman, agreed and said he also believed in an infinite life and just because he’s disabled, he doesn’t limit himself either physically or spiritually.

One lady had been regressed and discovered she was a scullery maid in London in 1856, who had later moved to Northampton. This was a coincidence as well because the lady herself had moved to Northampton from London. Using the concensus, the lady had been able to verify the girl’s existence and even been able to find the maid’s grave.

It was an interesting debate, including many points of view from several religions and those who had experienced past life regression whether through hypnosis or plain memory recall. Past life regression is not believed by all hypnotherapists and some do not practice it at all. Occasionally, it is used in overcoming phobias when other avenues have been exhausted and some people request past life regression under hypnosis purely to satisfy their curiosity.

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