PSI Annual Journal 2002

Following the death of Ben Downing, one of our finest ministers in modern times, a book was published of extracts from his writings under the title “The Downing Flavour.” In an article on what he calls, "the deep waters of our faith” he quotes one of our basic instincts:
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart, which beats
So wild, so deep, in us – to know
Whence our lives come and where they go.
(source not given)

“To know whence our lives come and where they go.” It seems to me that this sums up extremely well our major concern, as members of USPS, with birth and death, the context of our lives on this earth, and we have concentrated our attention far more on where we go, on death and what lies beyond it. There are, I think, at least two reasons for this. First, death is ahead and inescapably has to be faced by all of us while probably for all of us there are people we love who had passed through that gateway (if that is what it is). Second, we appear to have far more sources of information about death than we do about birth. These include particularly the immense volume of post-mortem communications, some of them quite extended, generally through mediums; the many spontaneous individual experiences, which have been increasingly studied and documented in recent years.

There may well be some consensus amongst most of us, at least in broad outline, on a number of points. There is, we are inclined to believe something with us – call it soul, spirit, consciousness, or what you will – which is not dependent on the physical body and survives its death. The essential, recognizable core of our personality continues, and is, under favourable conditions, able to communicate to a degree with those remaining on earth. Some of these communications, I would have to add, may be distorted or not clearly picked up, and some may not be genuine at all, though others I am sure are. We do have the opportunity to encounter again those we loved, and those to whom we were close, who have passed over before us. We experience at some point a kind of judgment relating to our life on earth: this may be to some extent a self-judgment in the light of greater insight. There are many spheres or levels beyond death, and we settle, initially at least, on a level which reflects the spiritual state we had reached on earth.

There are, however, severe limitations to our knowledge. There have been attempts, usually through the method of automatic writing, to describe the environment we shall find after dearth, but it is impossible for us fully to grasp what a non-physical realm is like – it baffles the imagination. My conclusion is that, while we do have glimpses of what happens at death and in the period following death, we cannot with any assurance go much further. Nor can we have any knowledge of the ultimate destiny of the human spirit – that remains shrouded in mystery.

But is it on birth – on whence our lives come rather than where they go that I would like to concentrate. If we believe in the immortality of the soul it must exist before birth as well as after death. Where, then, does it come from? “From god, who is our home – trailing clouds of glory do we come,” according to Wordsworth; and we do indeed tend occasionally to address God as “giver of life and maker of souls.” Christians are inclined to leave the matter there, and would, if pressed, no doubt regard the creation and implanting of the soul – whether at conception or at birth – as simply beyond our understanding.

Can we take this any further? First of all, I would point out that any evidence there may be that supports the idea of reincarnation is equally evident in supporting the pre-existence of the soul, which clearly must continue between incarnations. There is now, it seems to me, a considerable amount of evidence which can best be explained in terms of the concept of reincarnation, although, as with post-mortem communications, by no means all of it can be taken at face value, and it does need to be looked at critically.

On the other hand, there are recollections of previous lives emerging under hypnotic regression, which quite a number of people have now experienced. On the other hand, there are spontaneous memories, usually of young children, an area of research particularly associated with Professor Ian Stevenson, who has by now collected over many years more than 1600 cases, some well-authenticated, from all over the world. A prime example, combining both types though initially spontaneous, is the experience of Jenny Cockell, who spoke at the USPS conference in 2000. Her impressive book, “Yesterday’s Children,” describes her growing awareness of a previous life as Mary, an Irish housewife and mother of eight children who died in 1932 (sixteen years before she was born). She eventually searched out and met many of Mary’s children, who gradually cam to recognize and accept her as their mother.

The significant feature of these accounts of past lives is that they normally described, not from the point of view of a detached observer, but as the person concerned actually reliving the experiences, sometimes with strong emotion.

If all of us, or even some of us, have in fact lived before, there must have been, as I mentioned earlier, periods between lives. Two psychologists in particular have sought to explore this area: the American Dr. Helen Wambach, author of “Life before Life,” and Dr. Joel Whitton, a Canadian, whose researches are described in, “Life between Life,” written jointly with journalist Joe Fisher.

Their approaches have been quite different. Helen Wambach took volunteer groups with about fifty in each – and regressed them under hypnosis to a period shortly before their birth into the present life. She then posed a number of questions, asking them when they came out of hypnosis to record the responses which had come into their minds. Dr. Whitton similarly regressed his subjects, but on an individual basis, asking them under hypnosis to describe their experiences. Up to the time when they book was written he had done this with thirty or so people.

Altogether Helen Wambach regressed some 750 people to the pre-birth period. She asked them about ten standard questions. Not all of them responded to every question, and a few produced no responses at all. I would like briefly to mention three of her questions as being of special interest. First, she asked her subjects whether they had chosen to be born, and if so how the choice was made. Over 80% said that they had chosen to be born, and that in making this decision they had been advised by helpers, guides or counselors – more advanced spirits. The majority, however, felt reluctant, anxious or resigned at the prospect of another lifetime on earth, while only a quarter looked forward to it. Bearing in mind the state of the world today, this is surely an understandable reaction!

Next, they were asked about their purpose in the current life. The responses were very various, but most were primarily in terms of relationships. Many, it seemed, had known people in previous lives who were important to them in this life, though usually in different relationships. They tended to see their main purpose in terms of improving relationships, and perhaps learning to love without being demanding or possessive. We live again, it appears, not only with those we love but with those we hate and fear; and we are freed from the need to live again when we feel nothing but compassion and affection for them.

Finally, Helen Wambach’s subjects were asked at what stage they had entered the foetus – was it at conception, at birth itself or at some point in between? In response, around 90% indicated that they had no experiences in the foetus until at least the sixth month, while for the majority it was just before or even at birth. This finding, for what it may be worth, clearly has a bearing on the abortion debate.

Dr. Joel Whitton was primarily concerned with regression under hypnosis to previous lives. He had not thought much about the between-life state until he stumbled upon it by a kind of accident. He had regressed one subject, Paula, to several earlier lives when, seeking more detail of one of these lives, he said to her “Go back to the life before you were Martha.” To his great surprise – because he had expected her to go back to an earlier incarnation – she slowly announced, “I’m in the sky I can see a farmhouse and a barn. I’m waiting to be born. My mother is having great difficulty because my body is weighing me down.” Paula had in fact taken his instruction literally and gone back to the between-life state.

Whitton went on to regress many others to this between-life period. The experiences related include the process of death (with echoes of near-death experiences) and some description of the new environment (“so bright, so beautiful, so serene,” said one). There was frequent mention of a court of judgment – an appearance before wise, spiritually-advanced beings, usually three: this on the basis of an instantaneous panoramic flashback containing every detail of the last incarnation. Following this the judges assist the soul in planning for the next incarnation, in terms of needs for self-development rather than of wishes.

Dr. Whitton’s findings suggest that the period spent between incarnations varies widely from person to person and from life to life, ranging in his subjects from ten months to eight hundred years, with an average of about forty years. This interval has been steadily diminishing – as a result, he suggests, of the more rapid changes in the modern world producing new earthly experiences and thus enticing the soul to seek re-birth. This may well be a factor, he believes, affecting the huge growth of world population.

There is, of course, no way of proving the findings of either Helen Wambach or Joel Whitton – in that sense, they have to be regarded as entirely speculative. There is, however, one possibility which neither of them mentions: their findings can to a certain extent be cross-checked with post-mortem communications, particularly those that are more lengthy and detailed. They are, after all, concerned with that same realm between death and re-birth. And there are undoubtedly common features. Many post-mortem communications, for instance, refer to the panoramic review of the past life, and to the experiences of judgment.

Finally, I would like to pose a difficult, indeed unanswerable question. This rests on the assumption that we are not entirely determined by our genetic inheritance, but that there is within us an essence – which I have been calling the soul – that does not depend on the physical body and is not extinguished at death. This assumption is shared by all the world’s major religions. So where do we come from?

It seems to me that there are two main alternatives. Either souls are created and implanted in every child (whether at birth or conception or at some point between); or all existing souls were created at some moment in the distant past. Christianity tacitly assumes – though it is seldom spelt out – the first of these alternatives. Reincarnation is generally rejected, though it was held by certain Christian groups such as the Cathars up to around the twelfth century. We pass through this world, it is supposed, but once. There must therefore be a continuous creation of souls – literally vital role for God, who otherwise has been pushed very much into the background in our age.

The alternative view is implicitly held by those who are convinced of the reality of reincarnation and often tend to believe that we have all, in fact, had many previous lives (mostly, of course, unremembered). Again the question is rarely addressed. What would be the implications if all souls had been created at the same point? We would have to be talking about not only the six billion or souls currently animating human bodies, but many billions more, to allow for the fact that large numbers must have been incarnated very rarely, since world population was much smaller; but recently there must have been far shorter intervals between incarnations. I have to say that this seems to me an extraordinary notion.

Might there be some truth in each of these alternatives? Is it possible that some souls have experienced one or more previous lives, while others are actually on earth for the first time? Quite apart from the evidence for reincarnation, it does sometimes appear that certain souls are more mature, more developed, than others. Could this be genuinely the case?

It is all extremely strange, and even more so when we consider that the number of souls seems to be dictated by the rate of human reproduction – whether by natural or artificial methods.

At death the soul leaves the body, with which it was, by some process beyond our understanding, linked at birth. We cannot grasp the mystery of birth, any more than we can grasp the nature of God or comprehend the divine purpose in this astonishing, unfathomable universe which is our home.

Frank Hytch, September 2001

PSI Symposium Annual Journal 2002