There is a location in the U.S. that investigates reincarnation: the division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. For over half a century, this division has researched over 2,600 cases from over 40 countries of children who remember their past lives.

To take one example, there was an elderly Alaskan fisherman who said that he would reincarnate as his niece’s son after he dies. After the fisherman died, his niece gave birth. When the mother was trying to teach the 13-month-old child to repeat his name, he suddenly said, “You know who I am” and said the old fisherman’s tribal name. In addition, the child knew who was and wasn’t acquainted with the fisherman.

Japanese gynecologist Akira Ikegawa is also studying reincarnation from a medical perspective.
“Among the children who remembered being inside the mother’s womb, there were some who spoke about their past lives. I began asking for information on the social network about people who remember their past lives, and now I have collected enough to compile it into a book. Right now, there isn’t a place where we can comfortably talk about reincarnation; but once we do and gather enough real-life cases, reincarnation will become common knowledge.”

Souls, Siblings and Reincarnation

Reincarnation is one of the teachings at Happy Science.

After a person dies, their body dies but their soul lives on. Souls are usually comprised of 6 individuals who make one group, and we call this group ‘soul siblings’. Each individual from the group takes turns being born on Earth. The experiences accumulated by the Earth soul are shared among the siblings after death. Thus the soul develops its personality through living in various eras and countries.

Family, friends, lovers, everyone has people with whom they get along.
These are people who may have been born in a past life in the same era; people who battled hardships, and experienced joys alongside you.

People Are Born to Polish Their Souls

Here is an excerpt from an interview with Akira Ikegawa who is researching children who remember past lives.

Gynecologist Akira Ikegawa

Born in Tokyo, 1954. After completing his Masters in Medicine at Teito University, he became a Doctor of Medicine and founded the Ikegawa Clinic in 1989. His Japanese publications include “Japanese Children Who Remember Past Lives” “Children Are Born To Teach You Something Important” and “I Remember Life Before I Was Born!”

When I was researching children who remember being inside the mother’s womb, I would ask them “why were you born?” to which many of them answered, “to polish my soul”. Among them there were children who even spoke about their past lives. There was one child who remembered being born to a family that owned a restaurant in Britain. The child remembered details of the day of birth and death in that life.

“I Decided to Be Disabled”

When I talk about reincarnation in my seminars, I hear that many people become more positive in their lifestyle.

One of these people was a mother who has a 22-year-old son with a brain disorder. The child had had a brain fever when he was 2, and although he survived, it left him disabled. The mother had been blaming herself ever since. In one seminar I did an interview with the mother and son. The son cannot talk, so he always communicates through writing. When I asked him “why do you have a disability”, he said “I decided that myself”.

According to him, in his past life his mother was his elder sister whom he had driven to suicide. His disability in this life was a way of taking responsibility.

He continued, “I have to heal my mother’s suffering. I have to protect her and do my best to work. I will lift her burdens by doing many lectures.”

There was an overflowing of tears in the auditorium.

Reasons for being born are different for everyone, but everyone has had experiences enough to write a book about them. Undergoing many experiences in life is good for polishing our souls – just like how we can polish mirrors by fogging them with our breath first.

So please be supportive of your own life, and don’t undermine the lives of others. Know there is a reason for everything we are and do. This way we can make more people happy.