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Signs of Reincarnation | Jim Matlock
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Show Notes
Season 3 Episode 1 ‘Signs of Reincarnation’
Today my guest is Dr. James Matlock. Jim received a B.A. in English from Emory University in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale in 2002. He has worked at the American Society for Psychical Research in New York City and at the Rhine Research Center in Durham, North Carolina. He is presently a Research Fellow at the Parapsychology Foundation. His chief research interests are the history of parapsychology, anthropology of religion, and reincarnation. Jim also teaches a 15-week online seminar course on reincarnation research and theory.
In today’s interview, we discuss the fascinating and puzzling phenomenon of children who seem accurately to recall past lives. We discuss the pioneering work of the Canadian-born psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, who founded the field. We examine some of the arguments of the skeptics. And we take a deep dive into startling cases where children exhibit not only memories but also behaviours and birthmarks associated with their past lives. We finish by discussing the shattering implications for these cases for understanding the human condition.
Resources
His book:
Matlock, J. (2019). Signs of Reincarnation: Exploring Beliefs, Cases, and Theory. Rowman & Littlefield.
Rylann O’Bannion reincarnation case. discussed in the episode. Entry in the Psi Encyclopedia.
A good general introduction to this work is episode 3 of the BBC documentary, In Search of the Dead. Includes discussion of the discussed case where a birth deformity seemed to reflect an accident with a thresher in a previous life.
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Ian Stevenson
Psi Encyclopaedia entry on Ian Stevenson.
Stevenson’s key books:
Stevenson, I. (1966). Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. Proceedings of the American Society for Psychical Research 26.
Stevenson, I. (1997a). Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects (2 vols). Vol. 1, Vol. 2. Praeger.
Stevenson, I. (1997b). Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. Praeger. (This is a shorter summary of Stevenson, 1997a).
Stevenson, I. (2001). Children who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation (rev. ed.). McFarland. (A good, shorter introduction to his work).
The following book is by a journalist who accompanied Stevenson on some of his research. It’s useful as a noncommittal ‘outsider's’ perspective:
Schroder, T. (2001). Old Souls: Scientific Evidence for Reincarnation from Children who Recall Past Lives. Simon & Schuster.
The Division of Perceptual Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA.