Reincarnation, why is it that some previous lives are very popular while others are not?

Question

I've noticed lots of people claiming to be things like Ancient Egyptians in their previous life but hardly anyone claiming to be an Australian Aboriginal or a native Irian Jayan or any other primitive culture that doesn't wear pants.

Why is it so?

Answer 1

First off, ancient Egyptians didn't wear pants.

2nd, as Psi said, if you look at all the reported cases of people recalling past lives, most are not famous, but simply ordinary people.

3rd, of the 7 past lives that I think I've lived I don't think I was really famous in any of them and only wealthy by modern standards in one of them.

I think I was a male Minoan craftsman (who wouldn't have worn pants), a Mongol warrior (pants this time), a Medieval servant girl (dresses, no pants), a Venetian man in jail (pants again), a South or Central American pristess or courtesan (no pants), a Native American man of a plains tribe (no pants), and an upper class married woman in 1880's San Francisco (dresses again, no pants).

- P.

Answer 2

In my past lives I don't have an inkling what I was But I do know I am an Alien from another star system put on this planet 2000 years ago And trying to figure out how to get off this rock.

Answer 3

Great question. First off, the people that claim that they have egyptian ties, may or may not really have egyptian ties, they can only describe to you where they "think" they are. It might very well be some place else... that they perceive to  be Egypt. They may not have the words to describe where they really are. I had a flash back, which took place under some ruins.. I have no idea where or who I was. I can only tell you that it was in the desert someplace, and that we were under these ruins for shelter from the hot sun. I heard someone calling me, in a strange tongue. ... but did not recognize the language. I later watched a documentary on Turkish women who were mourning, and they did some strange call with their tongues and made a high pitched sound, like we have heard Indians at war with cowboys make, and that is the closest I can come to describing what I heard. Some people see the sand and the desert and come to the conclusion that it is Egypt, although in actuality it could be Africa, or Australia as you mentioned. They "assume" as they do not have the words or knowledge to tell you where they were.

Answer 4

Well, if you're going to go through the trouble of inventing a history for yourself, why make it a boring one?

Answer 5

Maybe because it's more romantic and intriguing to think you're re-incarnated from an Egyptian pharaoh than from someone more non-descript?

Maybe because re-incarnation isn't real - it's just people trying to convince themselves and others that they're special?

Just a thought.

Answer 6

I once lived a past life in Yugoslav about the 15-16 century....

I do remember wearing pants......And I do remember another past life time that my girl had underwear on......lol I know it sounds funny, I don't think I had clothes on that day.

Answer 7

Why would someone want to be something uncool like that? And for those that believe you can be reincarnated as anything, why doesn't anyone claim to be a bug or rat?

Answer 8

A person can imagine being anyone or anything and that may be a good thing because today's dreams are tomorrows reality. I suspect people attribute to themselves attributes they admire in others.

The significance in past life recall is the extent of change that the recall will produce. If it leads to increased awareness that is a good thing.  

A past personality and the attendant experiences

of that lifetime may be influencing the person today and when discovered to be present can result in physical and mental changes in the person. This of course tends to validate the past life as being real.

Answer 9

Recovered memories like reincarnation.They're without evidence in virtually every study.Very few real psychiatrists or psychologists give it any credence at all.

      Living ones life recalling an imaginary past life or hoping for a better one in the next.I think that's a good way of keeping people downtrodden.It's certainly worked for the Caste system.

         One thing is always true of any past life.They may not have been famous or rich.Their past life good or bad,is always more interesting then then the present one.

Answer 10

I have actually read about past lives in primitive situations. Usually the only past life memories someone may have are most probably related to their current life.

Answer 11

Because the skeptics like to use the straw man fallacy of logic (and most other logical fallacies) in their arguments and only present these cases (I was Cleopatra, etc.) as the cases they like to examine.

If you will take the time to read the actual scientific research (links below) you will find that the vast majority of cases report past lives that are ordinary in almost every way.

There is certainly a cultural phenomena at work as well where few people in the US report such memories or have it dismissed by parents as imagination because the US has a very materialistic science based cultural (this is both good and bad in my opinion) where cultural like India that have strong faith traditions that include reincarnation have more reports and it is not dismissed by parents.

The evidence is at best suggestive for reincarnation and past lives but the typical claim that everyone was rich or famous in past lives is just not what the evidence shows.

Psi