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Here we are, talking about reincarnation again. I personally don't believe in it, but there are millions who do. I respect the religious beliefs of others no matter how they might conflict with mine and I believe that anyone has the right to believe anything as long as it doesn't put anyone else in danger. I have a theory that I have believed for very many years. I came to believe this after observing certain learned habits in the insect and animal world, but especially the insect world. It seems that certain insects such as bees are born with the memory of how to accomplish tasks. The bees have a sort of language that they are born with, that they use to tell other bees the location of pollen laden flowers. It seems to me that people might have some of the memory of others that is suppressed in most cases, but for some reason comes to the forefront in a few. Think of it, for some reason you had a memory that you thought was yours but it was really the memory of someone that preceded you. A sort of genetic memory. Would you recognize the fact that it wasn't yours? No you would think that it was yours and depending on what the memory was and how many different memories you possessed, you might even think that it was the memory of a past life. This would be especially true if evidence turned up that showed the memory was accurate.

The ancient Egyptians believed in reincarnation and they are sometimes said to be the first to do believe this. I don't think that this is true because we have no way of knowing what the really primitive people believed. We know that they believed something because of the way they treated their dead. They often put objects into the graves. These objects could have been put there out of reverence for the dead person but they could have also been put there for the dead person to take with them on their journey which might have been one of reincarnation. The Greek philosopher Plato believed that the soul traveled from body to body in its quest to become an almost perfect being by doing good. When that happened it would return to it pre life existence. Plato also believed that the soul did retain a small memory of a former life. If we were to agree with Plato than we would have to say that reincarnation does exist but that at some point it might end. The Celts believed in reincarnation and this bothered Julius Caesar very much. He felt that this eliminated the fear of death in them and made them much harder to conquer.

When polls are taken in the U.S., the results are always around the same. About one in four Americans believe in reincarnation. This is unusual when you consider that about 3 out of 4 people in the U.S. are Christians and Christian don't believe in reincarnation, they believe that when they die they go to either heaven, hell or purgatory. The pole results would indicate that every non Christian believes in reincarnation, but we know this isn't true. So where is the discrepancy? It seems that some Christians may be believers in reincarnation after all. Some people believe that the soul accumulates debt. This debt is called kama. As you go through different lives you must repay this debt with good deeds in order to reach the final plateau and ascend to heaven. Some people recite the bible to prove that reincarnation exists. The problem with this is the way they interpret the passages. For example they cite John 3:3 which says that Jesus said "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." But most people say that this is not referring to reincarnation but to the fact that man's nature has to be born again into one of good, and indeed there are bible passages that that clearly refute reincarnation such as Hebrews 9:27 that state "man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment...."

Edgar Cayce was known as the sleeping prophet. He lived from 1877 to 1945. When he died he left behind a library of over 1600 volumes of his prophecies. It is said that he was the most accurate prophet that ever lived. When he went into his trance like state, he would discuss the past lives of many people. He did this hundreds of times. There is no doubt that Edgar Cayce must have believed in reincarnation. But was that the case? Applying my theory to his vision would indicate to me that if his facts were verified then he had some talent that allowed him to delve into the thoughts of others and access memories that were passed on. So you see Cayce would actually believe that he was accessing past lives but he was actually accessing memory that had been passed on.

There has been tons of proof that some people were right when they cited different facts that they never could have known about the person that they thought they were in a previous live. Records were found backing up these claims in some instances. Hypnotism has brought out many facts in some people that turned out to be so accurate as to make believers out of non believers. But wouldn't passed on memories be just as accurate? I am not pretending to know how this mechanism would work in humans, because if I did, then I would have the proof I need to validate this theory, but it could be genetic, chemical or by some other unknown means. For all we know, it could be chemical markers that are inhaled, although this is very unlikely. But for you skeptics out there, all I can say is look to the bees my friends, look to the bees. For those of you who say, what if the bees are reincarnated? I have to say that assumes that bees have souls and this is pretty hard to swallow for me. In a way reincarnation would be pretty funny when you think about it. We are all so worried about growing old and dying but just think if reincarnation were true, we might be the oldest creatures around, and just not know it.

I would have liked to have put this article in the science category but so many people think that my theory is crazy that I put it into the Paranormal instead since we are discussing reincarnation.