Is Reincarnation Real? | Unveiled
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00:00 What happens after you die? Does life after death exist? Which version of the afterlife is most
00:05 likely to be the right one? For many, these are big questions, but the answers are quite simple.
00:11 When this life ends, we begin anew. This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the
00:16 extraordinary question; is reincarnation real? Do you need the big questions answered? Are you
00:23 constantly curious? Then why not subscribe to Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring
00:28 the bell for more thought-provoking content! Reincarnation is the belief that there is a
00:33 lot more to this life than just this life. The exact nature of it differs between belief systems,
00:39 but broadly, it says that when you die, your soul, or something equivalent to your soul,
00:44 will pass over into a new physical body. The body you have right now won't last forever,
00:49 but the inner essence of your being will. For many, it's a fundamental aspect of reality,
00:54 of spirituality, and of how the universe really works. The word itself, reincarnation,
01:00 is rooted in Latin, and translates as "entering the flesh again". Some refer to it as transmigration;
01:07 a variation in ancient Greece was known as metempsychosis, while some describe it as a
01:13 rebirth. For many, reincarnation is a cyclical and eternal phenomenon; it happens over and over
01:19 again, potentially forever. In some versions, a soul can be reborn into the body of another human
01:25 being, but also into an animal, a plant, or even into some kind of transcendental figure.
01:31 In both Buddhism and Hinduism, two of the most widely followed religions where reincarnation is
01:36 key, it's a process deeply interwoven with the concept of karma, the idea being that positive
01:42 thoughts and actions will breed positive karma, which will ensure a favorable outcome when you're
01:47 reborn into your next life. For believers, the endless cycle of reincarnation is also known as
01:53 samsara, which roughly translates to mean "a wandering world". As such, the ultimate end goal
01:59 is to break free of samsara in order to achieve absolute self-knowledge, enlightenment, and
02:04 liberation, the state of being that Buddhists refer to as nirvana. It's not as though reincarnation
02:10 is especially forgiving, however, and in fact, one often vital part is the long and continued
02:16 experience of suffering. In Buddhism, the bhava chakra, or wheel of life, is a central visual
02:23 representation of samsara, and is effectively what followers must break free from to reach nirvana.
02:29 The wheel is in part divided into six sections, or realms, and many of those realms are steeped
02:35 in suffering. Physical pain, mental anguish, social injustice - these all form part of the
02:41 gauntlet that a reincarnated soul must run, time and time again. A similar feeling is held by other
02:48 groups in history, too, such as the Orphics. Orphism is a religion dating back to Ancient
02:53 Greece, where reincarnation is again painted as more like a punishment than a reward. The Orphics
02:59 believe that when you die you either ascended to godliness, or were cast back down to Earth,
03:04 via reincarnation. What's disturbing is that some of the claimed physical evidence we have
03:09 for reincarnation also implies a great deal of suffering in terms of whatever came before this
03:15 life that we're all living right now. Dr. Jim B. Tucker is a child psychiatrist at the University
03:21 of Virginia School of Medicine, but he's also the director of the same university's Division
03:26 of Perceptual Studies - a branch dedicated to "rigorously evaluating empirical evidence to
03:32 suggest that consciousness survives death, and that mind and brain are distinct and separable".
03:39 Through his work with the division, and through publishing various key texts,
03:43 Dr. Tucker has become a world authority on children who remember their past lives. That is,
03:49 children who say or do things that indicate that something has been carried over from before to
03:54 now. They might recognise someone they've never met before, speak about an event they can't
03:59 possibly have known about because it happened before they were born, or even directly reference
04:04 how it was that they last died. In some cases, there are even reports of physical birthmarks
04:09 that correspond with the claims that are made. And, very often, particularly with regards to
04:14 the past death, those claims involve some kind of violent injury or fatal accident.
04:20 One of Dr. Tucker's most high-profile cases first made the news in the mid-2010s. Ryan,
04:26 an American boy from the Midwest, claimed to have once been an actor in 1930s Hollywood.
04:31 His mother tracked her son's story, as he gave out more and more details over a short period of
04:36 time. Ryan remembered also working as an agent and as a dancer in New York. He recalled having
04:43 three sons, and he remembered variously small details, including names of friends and significant
04:49 addresses. Reacting to the snippets of information that Ryan had given her, his mother reportedly
04:54 bought books filled with photos of 1930s Hollywood. They looked through them together,
05:00 until Ryan found a photo that he claimed was of himself working as an extra, and of another man
05:06 named George. The image really was of a George, an actor at the time called George Raft,
05:12 and many of Ryan's other claims could also be corroborated. Dr. Tucker and Ryan's family
05:17 researched some more, until it was discovered that the extra he claimed he was, was a man named
05:23 Martin Martin, otherwise known as Marty. Marty had been a bit-part actor, and then a dancer,
05:29 and then an agent. He also did have three sons. According to numerous interviews given by Dr.
05:35 Tucker, Ryan is hardly on his own. There are thousands of cases just like his, and that's
05:40 not including the ones that are never properly studied. Unsurprisingly, there is something of
05:45 a taboo around past life remembrance. Many parents, understandably, don't want their children
05:51 to have inherited memories of trauma, and as Dr. Tucker's studies reveal that the average age of
05:57 death in the past life is just 28, and that almost three-quarters of the cases involve a violent,
06:02 frightening, or unnatural death, it's clear that recalling this kind of information really could
06:07 be traumatic. Even without that, though, it could also be true that many parents may not even
06:13 register that the "make-believe" stories their children recall could actually be grounded in
06:18 real-life historical events. As to how it all happens, Dr. Tucker has before spoken of a
06:24 potential link with our growing understanding of quantum mechanics. Today, we know that if you
06:29 travel deep enough down into something, to the subatomic level and beyond, then the laws of
06:34 physics begin to fall apart. The physicality of anything doesn't truly exist until that thing is
06:40 observed, and many argue that this could be the basis of the separation of brain and mind, of body
06:46 and consciousness. The underlying point being that perhaps consciousness doesn't need the brain,
06:52 and so can continue long after the brain is dead. Again, this is something that Dr. Tucker,
06:57 as Director of the University of Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies, has long
07:02 campaigned for; that consciousness differs from our physical cells. Past life regression,
07:08 or past life hypnosis, is generally regarded as pseudoscience. While there have been hundreds
07:13 of claims made by those who have undergone it, that their past lives have been variously revealed
07:18 to them, there are precious few mainstream academics that subscribe to any perceived
07:24 recollections being genuine. Importantly, however, with most cases involving children,
07:29 there is no hypnosis needed. And usually very little by way of context to influence anything
07:35 that a child might say. In terms of "remembering past lives", this is about as close to the real
07:41 deal as we're ever likely to get. But what's your verdict? Could it really be true that some part of
07:47 us - the soul to some - will one day continue on inside another body? Or are you unconvinced that
07:54 that kind of transcendence could ever really happen? Let us know in the comments. The
07:59 traditional ideas on reincarnation have been revisited and rewritten in recent years, too.
08:05 We took a closer look at "The Egg", a short story published online by the author Andy Weir in 2009.
08:12 That episode will follow on directly from this right now, so be sure to keep the video running.
08:18 Because between the world's religions, the research of those like Dr Tucker,
08:23 and the creative minds of those like Andy Weir, that's why reincarnation could be real.
08:30 Do you ever contemplate the universe and feel totally overwhelmed? Do you ever wonder what
08:36 difference you can make in something so unimaginably vast? Well, hold tight, because
08:41 according to one idea, it could be that actually, no one is more important than you are right now.
08:47 This is Unveiled, and today we're answering the extraordinary question; what is the Egg Theory?
08:52 Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious? Then why not subscribe to
08:59 Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
09:03 The Egg Theory was born via a short story written in 2009 by the US novelist Andy Weir.
09:10 Weir is also known for The Martian, which was in 2015 adapted into a Hollywood movie starring
09:15 Matt Damon. But perhaps the egg is what will truly enshrine him in the annals of theoretical
09:20 science and philosophy. Weir himself has expressed some surprise at the enthusiasm shown for his egg
09:26 idea, which he says took him less than an hour to jot down before posting to an online forum.
09:31 But, really, in a modern world where a meaning for life perhaps feels more and more difficult
09:36 to understand, maybe it's not so surprising that the egg should catch on. So, what actually happens
09:41 in the story? Weir's main character is known simply as "you". And quickly, you meet God,
09:47 who's referred to as "me". What follows is essentially a conversation between you and God,
09:53 then, through which the true nature of reality is revealed. At the beginning, the bad news is that
09:59 you've just died in a car crash. God explains this to you, but also explains that you'll soon
10:04 be reincarnated as somebody different, as a young Chinese girl alive almost 1,500 years ago.
10:10 God further reveals that this isn't your first reincarnation, either. Far from it. You've
10:16 actually been brought back countless times before, into countless different bodies, living in all
10:21 earthly locations, at all times, in the past, present and future. You then muse over the fact
10:28 that this means you were once the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Adolf Hitler, and even Jesus Christ.
10:34 While God reminds you that you've also been everyone else, too, including Lincoln's assassin,
10:39 Hitler's victims, and Jesus' followers. God continues, explaining further that, in fact,
10:45 the universe was made "for you", as a kind of structure through which you could live every
10:51 human life possible. The realisation is that now, and actually always, you are (or have been) so
10:57 much more than just the person who died in the car crash at the apparent beginning. Rather,
11:02 you are everyone. Everyone that's been, and everyone that will be. Essentially, the universe
11:08 is for you. Finally, God explains what the thinking behind all of this is. The idea is that
11:14 through being everyone, you would learn that everything you do, you do to yourself. Every
11:19 time you hurt someone, you hurt yourself. Every time you help someone, you help yourself. Every
11:25 time you've been kind or mean, happy or sad, selfish or selfless, you're actually being all
11:32 of those things, as everyone. Every human experience that ever was or will be is your experience. And,
11:39 when you've lived every human life possible, today and in history and in the future, then,
11:45 so the story says, you will become a god just like the one you're currently talking to. Only then
11:51 will you have infinite wisdom of what it really means to live. And so, the story ends.
11:57 For the reader, there's perhaps a clear moral message here, as it's implied that you should
12:01 always try to think, act and be your best side. Not just because it's in your best interest,
12:07 but because it simply is you. Everything is you. So, would you rather everything was good or bad?
12:14 However perversely, the story also relies on the realisation that all bad people are essentially
12:20 your responsibility, too. This is a wide-open thought experiment, then, with endless conclusions
12:25 that could be reached. Meanwhile, the entire thing doubles up as a journey toward your
12:30 ultimate enlightenment… and your ascension to god status. This is how Weir pitches the universe as
12:36 an egg… because it's where you grow and develop until you reach that stage.
12:41 There are some schools of philosophical and scientific thought that this story could fall
12:46 into… or at least that it blurs boundaries with. Eternalism is a philosophy of time wherein the
12:51 flow of time doesn't really exist. Instead of the universe, your life and everything else moving
12:56 through time, with the past behind it, the present always here, and the future to come.
13:00 Eternalism says that all of those states of time are real, together. Time is more a box to open up
13:06 and look into, rather than a one-way road down which to travel. In Weir's story, this is one
13:11 of the first major revelations for you, the main character. When you reincarnate in China,
13:16 fifteen hundred years ago, it's not exactly as if you'll have travelled back in time…
13:20 it's more like you'll have opened the Book of Time at a different page.
13:24 Next, there's the theory of open individualism, another key concept in The Egg. Broadly, this is
13:30 the idea that you are everyone, or that everyone is you. There have been many variations to it,
13:36 coined over recent decades, but again, it usually relies on the dismantling of the flow,
13:41 or passage, of time. Time, as it's commonly understood, doesn't really exist for the
13:45 open individual… or how else could it be that you could be anyone else at all?
13:50 Instead, and by some understanding of it, it might be said that you, your "self", exists like a sheen
13:56 over the world, applying itself to all. Or that every apparent individual person is, in fact,
14:03 linked, simply by their shared experience of being here. It might feel as though all of us are
14:08 different… but actually, we're not, at all. At the most fundamental layer. We're the same.
14:14 Literally the same. Theories of open individualism don't usually lead to the final point of we're's
14:19 story, however, when it's explained to you by God that once you've lived as everyone,
14:23 you, too, will become a god. Here, The Egg takes a more theological turn, with similar concepts
14:29 appearing across most major religions, but especially in Hinduism. While most religions
14:34 have some form of God the Creator, an all-seeing, all-powerful entity, in Hinduism there's the
14:40 Brahman. This is a kind of topmost, metaphysical layer that rests over everything else, including
14:46 Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, the trinity of supreme Hindu gods. The Brahman is unsurpassable. It's
14:53 the ultimate truth of all things. It never changes, can never be changed, and represents
14:58 the ultimate reality in Hindu thought. One reading of we're's story could perhaps cast
15:03 the god figure within it as something close to the Brahman… although the implication is that
15:08 even it exists somewhere else. So, we're doesn't quite tie up reality in exactly the same way.
15:14 But what's your verdict? Do you subscribe to The Egg Theory? Would you like to, but can't quite
15:20 bring yourself to accept it? Of course, it's not as though this is something that could ever provide
15:24 proof of itself. It's an idea, proposed by we're… and a blending of various other approaches to life,
15:30 as well. Similarly, there are perhaps some signs of us "building in" some aspects of the egg with
15:36 regard to our future lives, as we currently appreciate them. The hive mind, for example,
15:41 is an often-cited advanced technology that human society could be moving towards.
15:45 A unifying something that enables us all to think, understand and perhaps even feel the same things.
15:51 Usually it's pitched as though it's a path towards ultimate efficiency… but could it also
15:56 lead to a greater wisdom, and effectively fast-track us - you, me - toward the egg's endpoint? Toward
16:03 living every human life possible? Or would a hive mind actually take us further away from that total
16:09 truth? When it comes to future technology like that, it's easy to steer ourselves into an early
16:15 dystopia. But, really - and while interpretations obviously differ - that's probably not the main
16:20 takeaway from the egg theory. Instead, it's an idea more about the boundless possibilities for
16:26 life… and it's a re-pitching of the universe, with you at the heart of it. But not you, you.
16:31 Not exactly. Because if the egg rings true, then you are me, and I am them. And they are us. You,
16:40 me, he, she and they are growing as one. And there's literally all of time - in the past,
16:46 present and future - in which to do so. What do you think? Is there anything we missed?
16:51 Let us know in the comments, check out these other clips from Unveiled,
16:55 and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.