All About Reincarnation

 

 

“Reincarnation contains a most comforting explanation of reality by means of which Indian thought surmounts difficulties which baffle the thinkers of Europe.” 

- Albert Schweitzer 

 

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge  M.D. PhD 

 

Reincarnation is a popular belief among many people, and it is a fundamental basis for many religions. The general idea of reincarnation is the belief that when a person dies he is reborn again. Is there a life after death? The clinical evidence for reincarnation is subjective and arguable. Belief in reincarnation has ancient roots.

 

Pre Historic Concepts on Reincarnation 

Neanderthal traits appeared in Europe as early as 350,000 years ago. The first signs of religion are found in gravesites of Neanderthals in Eastern Europe. These gravesites were found to have very clean fossils, with flowers, dyes, and later, pottery placed around the body of the deceased. The Neanderthals had unusual funeral rituals, which can be interpreted, as they believed in some form of existence after life.

 

The Egyptians and Transmigration of the soul 

The Egyptians Pharos believed in transmigration of the soul. This means their immortal souls travel through the valley of Nile until it meets the next existence. They thought the soul transmigrate from body to body. The Pharos built mighty Pyramids to provide provisions and other necessities to their next extramundane voyage.

 

The Ancient Greek Philosophers on Reincarnation 

The Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras taught that the soul was immortal and the soul goes through a series of rebirths. Plato too shared similar views as Pythagoras. Greek Platonism asserted the pre-existence of the soul in a celestial world and its fall into a human body due to sin. In order to be liberated from its bondage and return to a state of pure being, the soul needs to be purified through reincarnation. The Greek philosopher, Socrates declared, “I am confident that there truly is such a thing as living again, that the living spring from the dead, and that the souls of the dead are in existence.” 

 

Reincarnation in the Upanishads 

In India, the concept of reincarnation is first recorded in the Upanishads. The Upanishads were the first writings to move the place of one’s “second death” from the heavenly realm to this earthly world and to consider its proper solution to be the knowledge of the atman-Brahman identity.

 

Reincarnation in Hinduism 

Hinduism teaches that the soul goes on repeatedly being born and dying. At the time the Vedic hymns were written, the view on afterlife was that a human being continues to exist after death as a whole person.

 

Bhagavad Gita 

In the Bhagavad Gita, which is a part of the Mahabharata, reincarnation is clearly stated as a natural process of life that has to be followed by any mortal.

 

Reincarnation in Buddhism 

According to Buddhism, there is no permanent and unchanging soul. The Buddha taught a concept of rebirth that was distinct from other religions. The Buddha used the term Punarbhawa to explain reincarnation – an endless process that is connected with the Sansara Chakra. Buddhism denies the existence of a permanent soul that reincarnates from one life to the next. The Buddha responded that only karma is passing from one life to another. To explain this Buddha used the metaphor of the light of a candle, which is derived from another candle without having a substance of its own.

 

Buddhism edifies that what is reborn is not the person but that one moment gives rise to another and that that momentum continues, even after death. In the Milindapanho – a dialogue between the king Menandar and the Buddhist Monk Nagasena deeply analyze the concept of reincarnation.

 

Modern Research in Reincarnation 

In the last decade of the 18th century, many scholars in the Western World began to speculate on reincarnation. Father Leadbeater and Madam Helena Blavatsky of the Theosophical society saw reincarnation as a form of evolution and their writings and speeches made a profound impact on the Western World about life after death. Numerous universities in the West started gathering data on this subject. Comprehensive research on reincarnation started mainly after the World War 2. The Western researchers explained the reincarnation in terms of para-psychological phenomenon. Among the researchers, Dr Ian Stevenson was prominent.

 

Reincarnation and the Western World 

Reincarnation has captured the imagination of a significant number of people in the West. A large number of Westerners are interested in reincarnation and a number of movies like “The Reincarnation of Peter Proud” (Directed by J . Lee Thompson, starring Michael Sarrazin and Jenifer O’Neal ) , Heaven Can Wait (starring Warren Beatty & Julie Christie) , Birth( Nicole Kidman) ,Ghost (Patrick Swayze & Demi Moore ) and Darren Aronofsky’s movie The Fountain captured mass popularity. According to a survey done in the USA nearly 60% of Americans believe reincarnation is possible.

 

Case works of Dr. Ian Stevenson

Ian Stevenson was the former head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia who devoted many years to the scientific documentation of past life memories of children from all over the world (Dr Stevenson investigated 16 cases from Sri Lanka) and had over 3000 cases. Ian Stevenson published his research article titled The Explanatory Value of the Idea of Reincarnation, which made a huge impact on the scientific community. His book Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation that was published in 1974 became a best seller. Dr. Ian Stevenson’s case works provide rigorous scientific reasoning to explain reincarnation. His methodology was unique and Stevenson evaluated the spontaneous narrations of the children who spoke of their previous lives, then interviews, often repeated, with the subject and with several or many other informants for both families. However, these methods led critics to question the credibility of his research technique. Some have criticized Ian Stevenson for being confirmation bias.

 

Skills & Past life 

Some children show enormous talent in language, memory and skills. These children could not acquire aptitude within their relatively short life years. There are many reports of Child prodigies and their cognitive talents. Mozart played a symphony at the age of seven, Carl Friedrich Gauss made his first inventive mathematical discoveries while still a teenager, John von Neumann was able to divide two 8-digit numbers in his head at the age of six, Alexander Pope was a child prodigy as a poet, the famous Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan mastered advanced trigonometry by the age of 12. Have these people had certain exposure before?

 

Déjà vu experiences 

The term Déjà vu experience was coined by Emile Boirac to explain the uncanny feeling of having already seen or experienced something that is being experienced for the first time. One could explain déjà vu experiences by claiming that they were memories of past lives. Experiential evidence show that certain people find familiar in unfamiliar places, proverbial in meeting unknown people for the first time in their lives and so forth. Medical experts argue Déjà vu experiences are evident in epilepsy.

 

Neurophysiologists point out that the déjà vu feeling is triggered by a neurochemical action in the brain that is not connected to any actual experience in the past.

 

Theories opposed to reincarnation (Selective thinking and False Memory Syndrome) 

Some disbelievers of reincarnation explain that claims of evidence for reincarnation originate from selective thinking – a process that one focuses on favorable evidence in order to justify a belief, ignoring unfavorable evidence and sometimes following the psychological phenomena of false memories. In false memory syndrome, person’s identity and relationships are affected by memories, which are factually incorrect but are strongly believed. False memory syndrome may account for the memory construction process, which leads people to “remember living a past life.

 

Confabulation 

Confabulation is defined as the spontaneous production of false memories: either memories for events, which never occurred, or memories of actual events that are displaced in space or time. These memories may be elaborate and detailed. Confabulation is a form of memory disorder that may occur in patients who have sustained damage to both the basal forebrain and the frontal lobes, as after an aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery.

 

Hysteria reactions misinterpreted as Reincarnation 

Children suffering from dissociative disorders (hysteria) sometimes give vivid descriptions under hypnotic trances and these expressions are misinterpreted as the evidence of past lives by inexperienced hypnotherapists who have no clinical background. A typical case was analyzed by Professor Carlo Fonseka (Rebirth or Hysteria Island news paper 4th of January 2010) of a 14 year old girl with fainting attacks. Many reincarnation stories reported in countries like Sri Lanka and India have much to do with disassociation. In addition, some newspapers too fabricate and exaggerate stories in order to capture the attention of the readers who lack rational thinking. In the past few decades, some Sri Lankan newspapers reported reincarnations of the popular artist Rukmani Devi, film actor Vijaya Kumaratunge and President Ranasinghe Premadasa. These stories were found to be bogus and inflated.

 

Psychological trauma and a belief in reincarnation 

A number of modern researches identified a possible link between psychological trauma and a belief in reincarnation. Jonathan R. T Davidson from the Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham USA has extensively studied the beliefs in karma and reincarnation among survivors of violent trauma in the general US population. According to Davidson, personal experience of trauma may be associated with greater acceptance, as well as certain demographic and health-associated variables. The importance of holding belief in reincarnation, which may represent an important way of coping following violent trauma, 

 

Carl Jung & Collective Unconscious

Certain psychologists openly argued that past life memories are merely a result of collective unconscious. According to them when exceptional numbers of children recall people and places which is not connected to their present life people believe these memories are linked to their past lives. These psychologists disagree with the reincarnation phenomena. To explain this they introduce Carl Jung’s famous expression “collective unconscious.

 

Swiss psychologist and psychiatrist Carl Jung who founded analytic psychology coined the term collective unconscious. The collective unconscious represents a form of the unconscious common to mankind as a whole and originating in the inherited structure of the brain. It is distinct from the personal unconscious (explained by Sigmund Freud) which arises from the experience of the individual.

 

Jung saw the collective unconscious as being made up of so-called “archetypes”. These archetypes being potentialities, or proclivities, that can find a channel of expression in the finding of a mate, religion, art, myth, and even in the eventual facing of death. Jung’s collective unconscious has been described as a “storehouse of latent memory traces inherited from man’s ancestral past, a past that includes not only the racial history of man as a separate species but his pre-human or animal ancestry as well.

 

Following were the words of Carl Jung in which he elucidated his belief in life after death

 

“My life often seemed to me like a story that has no beginning and no end. I had the feeling that I was an historical fragment, an excerpt for which the preceding and succeeding text was missing. I could well imagine that I might have lived in former centuries and there encountered questions I was not yet able to answer; that I had been born again because I had not fulfilled the task given to me.” 

 

Reincarnation and Edgar Cayce 

American mystic Edgar Cayce better known as the Sleeping Prophet promoted the theory of both reincarnation and karma. Cayce was deeply concerned about reincarnation. Cayce did over 16,000 readings during his lifetime. The exceptional book Many Mansions written by Gina Cerminara disclosed the patients who were treated by Edgar Cayce and their past lives. Cayce explained the symptomatology of these patients in a broad context of Karma. According to Edgar Cayce, the illnesses that his clients had were due to karmic repercussions.

 

Based on modern investigations of Edgar Cayce’s readings medical experts say that Cayce frequently connected illness to the mental and emotional states of the patients and he disregard the etiology of certain illnesses. His clients predominantly had cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, arthritis, gallstones, kidney stones, hay fever, mental and psychological problems, digestive problems, epilepsy, hemorrhoids, ulcers, psoriasis etc and according to Cayce karmic repercussions had do with the symptoms. Cayce had stated that people suffer from epilepsy as a result of adultery that they had committed in their past lives. But modern neurophysiology explains the genesis of epilepsy that has organic courses in the brain.

 

The famous Sri Lankan case study of Gnanathilaka 

Well-known Sri Lankan reincarnation case study “The reincarnation of Gnanathilaka” ( Navatha Upan Dariya) done by Dr H.S.S Nissanka along with Rev Piyadassi in early seventies became world famous. Gnanathilaka a young child articulated strange facts about a person named Thilakaratne believed to have lived in Aranayaka in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. She claimed that in her previous life she lived in Aranayaka and forced her parents to take her there. The local research team took the child to Aranayaka and she recognized her mother, sisters, brother, and teachers in the previous life.

 

Thilakaratne had seen the Queen Elizabeth when she first visited Sri Lanka in 1954. Gnanathilaka could vividly recall this incident. In her present life, she had never seen the ocean. When queried she could give specific details of the ocean and seashore.

 

Thilakaratne died as a teenager at the Arnayaka Government Hospital under strange circumstances. Dr. Abraham Kovoor of Minnesota Institute of Philosophy USA and the leader of the rationalist movement who openly denounced the supernatural and life after death claimed that the death certificate of Thilakaratne produced by the research team was not a genuine and the investigation was biased and non scientific. Although Dr. Abraham T Kovoor challenged the credibility of this local reincarnation research Dr Ian Stevenson accredited the reincarnation case of Gnanathilaka. (According to the information provided by Dr Darmasiri Herath , Gnanathilaka now a grown woman and working as an Aurvedic practitioner.)

 

The Search for Bridey Murphy 

The story of Bridey Murphy created a mass speculation in the West. Morey Bernstein’s bestselling book The Search for Bridey Murphy tells about hypnotic regression. Morey Bernstein a skillful hypnotist in Colorado, once hypnotized a housewife named Virginia Tighe. In the hypnotic session Bernstein probed Tighe’s memories back to childhood and then, as it seemed, to an earlier life. During the hypnotic regression Virginia Tighe stated that in her previous life she lived in Ireland and her name was Bridey Murphy. She mentioned the street in Ireland where Bridey Murphy believed to have lived, a name of a laundry near her previous residence, several names and other information.

 

A group of lawyers conducted an independent investigation on Bridey Murphy case. They found more than century old facts about a woman named Bridey Murphy in Ireland. It was revealed that Bridey Murphy was not a fictitious character. She truly lived in Ireland in the 19 th Century. Those who opposed Bridey Murphy case argued that Virginia Tighe came out with childhood memories during the hypnotic session. Also they pointed out that Virginia Tighe had an Irish nanny when she was small. Also they highlighted on the facts that the 19th century Irish poems which Virginia Tighe uttered during hypnosis could have learnt from her Irish nanny.

 

Past Life Therapy 

Past life therapy is based on the argument that some people carry in their subconscious mind memories of unpleasant events of their past lives and these subconscious memories adversely affect them in their present lives. By hypnosis they can be regressed beyond their birth to their previous lives. Past life therapists assure many ailments, all types’ phobias and even certain physical ailments can be cured by such hypnotic regression. Past life therapy has now become a standard western medical treatment for such ailments.

 

Dr. Brian Weiss and Past Life Therapy 

Dr. Brian Weiss was one of the first doctors to explore the past lives of his patients as a means of therapy. A graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, Brian L. Weiss is the Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. His revolutionary book “Many Lives Many Masters” opened an unexpected door into the astonishing realm of past-life regression. Dr. Brian Weiss gives an astonishing case study of Katharine who had past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks.

 

Hypnotic regression and Reincarnation 

Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness and heightened responsiveness to suggestions. It is a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination. During regressive hypnotherapy, a person is guided into a deep state of relaxation and/or trance by way of hypnosis. In theory by entering this state, the conscious mind, which is responsible for processing information, can be by-passed. Thus, the sub-conscious mind can be accessed. Some hold the belief that the hypnotic regression as a proof for reincarnation. Those who oppose hypnotic regression declare that in a Hypnotic regression, repressed childhood memories come in to action it if wrongly interpreted as evidence of past life.

 

Dr. Raymond Moody & Near- Death Experience 

Dr. Raymond Moody is recognized as the father of NDE research. He has chronicled and studied many of these experiences in several books. Dr. Raymond Moody, in his innovative book “Life After Life,” coined the term “near- death experience.” Dr. Moody was the first person to document the core experience of an NDE.

 

A near-death experience (NDE) is the perception reported by a person who nearly died or who was clinically dead and revived. The experience often includes an out-of-body experience. The phenomenology of an NDE usually includes physiological, psychological and transcendental factors. Typically the experience follows a distinct progression, starting with the sensation of floating above one’s body and seeing the surrounding area, followed by the sensation of passing through a tunnel, meeting deceased relatives, and concluding with encountering a being of light (Morse, Conner & Tyler, 1985).

 

Dr. Raymond Moody‘s book Life After Life appeared in 1975. Dr. Ray Moody described an elderly woman’s account of her near-death experience so accurate that she even correctly reported the colors of the instruments used on her. What is especially impressive about this example is that she had been blind for over fifty years. In another account, from a proactive Dutch NDE study, a nurse removed the dentures of an unconscious heart attack victim, and was asked by him after his recovery to return them (van Lommel et.al, 2001).

 

 

On Death and Dying – Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross 

 

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross was a Swiss-born psychiatrist who became a pioneer in the field of thanatology (the study of death and dying). Her first book On Death and Dying in 1969 made Kübler-Ross an internationally renowned author. On Death and Dying examines the attitudes of the dying and the factors that contribute to society’s anxiety over death. Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross once stated that “Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow”.

 

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross believed that death is a highly creative force. The highest spiritual values of life can originate from the thought and study of death. In the later part of her career she believed that death is not an end. Dr. Kubler-Ross implied there may be another dimension after death.

  

Conclusion 

 

Reincarnation is an unknown phenomenon that needs more research and investigation. The tools and technology that we use today may not be advanced enough to discover a natural phenomenon like reincarnation. For instance, 500 years ago people had no means to prove the existence of radioactivity in the environment. Time and human progression had solved many natural mysteries in the past. Perhaps the mystery of reincarnation will be resolved within another few decades with the advancement of science and technology. Until such time it remains an enigma and a debatable subject.

 

These were the words of Professor Carl Sagan of Cornell University about reincarnation and paranormal activities.

 

At the time of writing there are three claims in the ESP field which, in my opinion, deserve serious study: (1) that by thought alone humans can (barely) affect random number generators in computers; (2) that people under mild sensory deprivation can receive thoughts or images “projected” at them; and (3) that young children sometimes report the details of a previous life, which upon checking turn out to be accurate and which they could not have known about in any way other than reincarnation.

 

 

Is there any Scientific Evidence Favorable to Reincarnation?

  

Reincarnation is the belief that when a person dies, he is reborn again.  Reincarnation is regarded as the mental continuum of an individual. Belief in reincarnation is an ancient phenomenon and exists in many cultures.

The Egyptians believed in the soul's immortality. In India, the concept of reincarnation is first recorded in the Upanishads. Hinduism teaches that the soul goes on repeatedly being born and dying.   The Greek philosopher and the mathematician Pythagoras believed that the soul was immortal and was reincarnated into another living being at death. The belief in reincarnation is central to Plato's philosophy. Plato's concept of metempsychosis edifies that the soul is immortal and passes through cycles of incarnation in birth and release from the body at death.

The Christian concept of resurrection is different from reincarnation; resurrection is the coming to life again of the same being with a transformation of the body into an immortal form of being. The early Christian theologians such as Valentinus and Basilides of Alexandria believed in reincarnation. In 553 A.D. during the Second Council of Constantinople the idea of reincarnation was rejected by the theologians.  

The Italian philosopher, and cosmological theorist Giordano Bruno believed in reincarnation, and he was sentenced to be burned at the stake by the Inquisition. French Writer Voltaire (1694-1778) espoused his belief in reincarnation. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) believed that the human soul persisted and returned in a new body after death. Charles Dickens (1812-1870) openly supported the concept of reincarnation.

  

Reincarnation In the Buddhist Doctrine

Although the concept of Reincarnation is refuted by monotheistic religions, reincarnation (which is an ongoing process) is central to Buddhism. Johannes Bronkhorst who is a Dutch Orientalist and Indologist, specializing in Buddhist studies and early Buddhism highlights that the Buddha did believe in reincarnation. Professor K. N. Jayatilleke indicated that the Buddha’s explanation on rebirth was based on empirical grounds.

According to Buddhist teaching there is no eternal “soul,” “spirit” or “self”. Buddhist doctrine rejects the premise of a permanent, unchanging soul. There is no soul that bridges the gap between life and death. Buddhism denies the transmigration of a soul. Buddhism regards the mind as a transient mental state. The Buddha replaced the soul by the theory of mind-continuum.

In Buddhist psychology there are eight levels of consciousness.  Five of them are sense consciousness like, Visual consciousness, Auditory consciousness, olfactory consciousness, gustatory consciousness and tactile consciousness.  Sixth is mental consciousness, seventh is Manas consciousness and eighth consciousness is store consciousness (equivalent to subconscious mind).  Store consciousness is both individual consciousness and collective consciousness (Upadhyaya, 2021). The Buddha taught that consciousness is always continuing, like a stream of water. Buddhist teachings indicate that consciousness arises at the moment of conception with the forming of new life in the mother’s womb. 

Reincarnation is the mental continuum of an individual. It’s a phenomenon of a constantly changing continuity of moments of awareness. Buddhism teaches that stream of consciousness links with life. The stream of consciousness is not a single entity, but a process, and the process continues. The Buddha responded that only karma is passing from one life to another. 

When a person dies there is a causal continuum of consciousness. This consciousness is neither identical to nor entirely different from that in the deceased. Relinking consciousness is not transmigration from the previous existence. It comes into existence by means of conditions included in the previous existences. This process is regulated by the accumulated Karmas. Here the analogy is the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another.  A flame is transferred from one candle to another. Hence consciousness is a continuous birth and death of mind-states. It is linking an individual to past and future existences. The person who dies here and is reborn elsewhere is neither the same person, nor another.  

This process is known as Puranbhava aka Reincarnation or multiple incarnations. It is the process of cyclic existence or Samsara. Being born and dying continues unbroken but changes every moment. Therefore, the practice of Buddhism aims at ending rebirth.

According to the Buddhist doctrine - Chuthi Patisandhi- a thought moment occurs when a person dies. It is the mind set during death in the current existence and then grasping the next life. A dying person has a Cuti Citta which is known as exit consciousness. This consciousness is a form of transitory energy. The being to be reborn is known as Gandhabba – which is a non-biological life form or life-stream and inter being. Gandhabba is a form of consciousness. Cuti Citta or exit consciousness transforms into Gandhabba conscious form. Between Cuti Citta and Gandhabba form is called Antarābhava (Inter-becoming) or intermediate existence. These are three different stages. (some Buddhist schools believe that there is no interval -antarābhava or intermediate existence). A Gandhabba has a Manomaya kaya – nonphysical mental body. The Gandhabba can enter another womb when a matching one becomes available. Hence rebirth occurs. Three conditions are essential for conception: “the union of mother and father, the mother in season, and the presence of Gandhabba. It’s important to know that the Gandhabba concept is different from the idea of a “soul. Gandhabba is present at the point of conception as a form of consciousness. These processes are governed by the Karmic force or karmic retribution.

 

Freudian and Jungian   Perspectives on Reincarnation

Freud thought that the belief in reincarnation relates to the denial of death. For Freud rebirth fantasy seems to be a universal fantasy in the human mind, connected with the experience of both destruction and creation. According to the psychoanalytic notion the belief relates to initial hopes for a better life and the fantasy of life after death is universal.  Following the death drive man has a desire to return to inanimate matter in a form of rebirth. For Freud the concept of rebirth is an attempt to deal with the fear of death and the unknown. Freud saw belief in reincarnation is a way for individuals to come to terms with their own mortality. Human has a compulsion to repeat his life over and over again and this unconscious wish is expressed as a belief in life after death.

Carl Jung believed in reincarnation and collective unconscious. For Jung “Collective Unconscious,” is supposedly the universal consciousness of mankind that lies at a subconscious level. It apparently consists of inherited memories shared by all human beings that go back countless generations into prehistory. (In Mahayana Buddhism the store-house consciousness is known as ālāyavijñāna) Some psychologists openly argue that past life memories are merely a result of collective unconscious. Jung saw psychoanalysis as a path of redemption, of revitalization, of rebirth.

  

Does Consciousness Continue after Death?

For William James consciousness was our own personal experience of perceiving, thinking, emoting, and acting. He used the phrase “stream of consciousness”- consciousness flows linearly with time. Consciousness is directed toward an object, and it has intentionality and transience. Neuroscientists believe that the brain creates consciousness.  Neural information becomes conscious when it gains access to Global neuronal workspace. Consciousness does not disappear during general anesthesia. Consciousness requires a functioning brain. Neural activity translating into conscious experiences and after biological death this neural activity cease to exist.

Consciousness after death is not universally agreed upon. However, some experts say that we cannot find the actual conscious experience while measuring brain activity because we’re measuring from the wrong cognitive frame of reference. Moreover, they tend to say that the brain doesn’t create our conscious experience and consciousness is a fundamental property of all physical systems (panpsychism).

Disruptions of human consciousness occur due to pharmacological, neuropathological, or psychiatric causes.  The brain is structurally, and functionally connected and neurochemical processes produce subjective experiences. Is NDE (Near-death Experiences) a conscious experience after death? Near-death experiences (NDEs) are caused by reduced blood flow, coupled with abnormal electrical behavior inside the brain. Prof Carlo Fonseka - A Sri Lankan academic elucidated that there is no consciousness after biological death (Personal Communication, 2009). With biological death essential neural activity disappears.

   

Is Ian Stevenson's Work Suitable Evidence for Reincarnation?

Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson, from the University of Virginia tried to offer some evidence to support the reincarnation hypothesis. His 1966 book, “Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation” emphasizes spontaneous recall of information about previous lives by young children.  Some investigators have tried to debunk the work of Ian Stevenson by questioning his methodology. They point out methodological flaws in Stevenson’s research methods. They state that he was confirmation biased in these studies. Moreover, his hypotheses were not falsifiable, and his data was not definitive to suggest reincarnation. When investigating reincarnation cases in other counties Stevenson had no cultural competence and sometimes his translators consciously and instinctively offered data confirming reincarnation. Stevenson disregarded the role of cultural conditioning. Most of his cases were based on anecdotal evidence.

 

Does deja vú Explain Reincarnation?

Deja vu is the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before. Deja vu is a psychological experience. Those who support the concept of reincarnation explain that déjà vu experiences are memories of past lives. However, the researchers point out that déjà vu experiences do not confirm the reincarnation hypothesis. déjà vu experiences can occur as a result of certain brain dysfunction, assimilation of information by brain’s hemispheres in two different times or in cryptomnesia. Furthermore, Déjà vu is associated with temporal lobe epilepsy.

 

Is Xenoglossy Evidence for Reincarnation?

Xenoglossy is a phenomenon in which a person is allegedly able to speak, write or understand a foreign language that they could not have acquired by natural means. Those who believe in reincarnation state that cases of xenoglossy provide evidence for reincarnation. Some researchers think that xenoglossy is not definitive evidence for reincarnation.  They claim that xenoglossy is likely to occur when the ability to properly monitor sources is impaired. They suggest fraud, fantasy, and knowledge acquired through normal means. The critics of reincarnation suggest that xenoglossy is merely an expression of subconscious language learning. Those who are naturally gifted in learning new languages may pick up on words and phrases without noticing. According to the researchers, foreign language syndrome and foreign accent syndrome are signs of disruption in brain function especially from small focal lesions resulting from left hemisphere strokes and tumors, traumatic brain injury (TBI), migraine, multiple sclerosis, primary progressive aphasia. 

  

Selective Thinking and False Memory Syndrome 

Some disbelievers of reincarnation explain that claims of evidence for reincarnation originate from selective thinking – a process that one focuses on favorable evidence to justify a belief, ignoring unfavorable evidence and sometimes following the psychological phenomena of false memories. In false memory syndrome, a person’s identity and relationships are affected by memories, which are factually incorrect but are strongly believed. False memory syndrome may account for the memory construction process, which leads people to remember living a past life.

  

 Are child Prodigies an Example of Reincarnation?

Those who support the concept of reincarnation point out the phenomenon of child prodigies who exhibit intelligence or talents that could not be explained by either heredity or environment. The skeptics attribute these skills to high functional autism, abnormal brain mapping due to genetic predisposition and hyper brain with enhanced brain plasticity. They point out that some children who were subject to maladaptive alterations by purely deleterious mutations, maladapted genotypes end up with high intelligence and extraordinary skills. Several researchers have indicated specific genes that contribute to high ability. Twin studies have shown that both musical ability and mathematical achievement have a substantial genetic component.

  

False Memory Syndrome and Confabulation

Some disbelievers of reincarnation explain that claims of evidence for reincarnation originate from selective thinking – a process that one focuses on favorable evidence in order to justify a belief, ignoring unfavorable evidence and sometimes following the psychological phenomena of false memories. In false memory syndrome, a person's identity and relationships are affected by memories, which are factually incorrect but are strongly believed. False memory syndrome may account for the memory construction process, which leads people to remember living a past life. 

Belief in reincarnation could be linked to an error in processing of memories or due to confabulation.  Confabulation is defined as the spontaneous production of false memories: either memories of events which never occurred, or memories of actual events that are displaced in space or time. These memories may be elaborate and detailed. Confabulation is a form of memory disorder that may occur in patients who have sustained damage to both the basal forebrain and the frontal lobes, as after an aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery.  

Another possible explanation is cryptomnesia, where a person may have experienced something similar in their current life and mistakenly attribute it to a past life.   Children suffering from dissociative disorders (hysteria) sometimes give vivid descriptions under hypnotic trances and these expressions are misinterpreted as the evidence of past lives by inexperienced hypnotherapists who have no clinical background.

 

Paramnesia: Memory Distortions 

 People with medial temporal or prefrontal lesions are more prone to Paramnesias, or misidentifications syndrome. In reduplicate paramnesia, a patient is convinced that a person, a place, or an object exists in duplicate.  A disturbed sense of familiarity may produce this phenomenon. In the reduplication of time, a patient believes that he or she exists in two different, parallel time points.

  

Can Edgar Cayce's Readings Prove Reincarnation? 

Edgar Cayce -self-proclaimed faith healer did over 16,000 readings during his lifetime. The exceptional book Many Mansions written by Gina Cerminara disclosed the patients who were treated by Edgar Cayce and their past lives. Based on modern investigations of Edgar Cayce’s readings, medical experts say that Cayce frequently connected illness to the mental and emotional states of the patients and he disregarded the etiology of certain illnesses. His clients predominantly had cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, arthritis, gallstones, kidney stones, hay fever, mental and psychological problems, digestive problems, epilepsy, hemorrhoids, ulcers, psoriasis etc. and according to Cayce karmic repercussions had do with the symptoms. Cayce had stated that people suffer from epilepsy as a result of adultery that they had committed in their past lives. But modern neurophysiology explains the genesis of epilepsy that has organic courses in the brain.

Some of his readings were inaccurate and he mostly gave folk remedies. His case studies were not based on empirical evidence, and it cannot be independently evaluated. Moreover, Cayce was never subjected to proper testing. The experts often question the validity of his abilities.

  

Can Past Life Regressions Provide Evidence of Reincarnation?

Past life regressions or past life therapy is based on the argument that some people carry in their subconscious mind memories of unpleasant events of their past lives and these subconscious memories adversely affect them in their present lives. By hypnosis they can be regressed beyond their birth to their previous lives. However, medical experts indicate that past life regressions increase one's susceptibility to false memories. Also, there is a risk of implanting false memories in patients. Some hold the belief that hypnotic regression is not proof for reincarnation. Those who oppose hypnotic regression declare that in a hypnotic regression, repressed childhood memories come into action if wrongly interpreted as evidence of past life.

 

 The Theories Opposed to Reincarnation.

The English Philosopher Antony Flew highlights that reincarnation is a non-repeatable counter instance that is not amenable to scientifically controlled conditions. As claims of reincarnation cannot be validated via a laboratory experiment, the best we could do is to jettison reincarnation as untenable. 

He further argues that the basic problem associated with reincarnation as a theory of mind is not that it lacks evidence in support of its claims, but that even in the face of its claims, it runs short of a well-developed and systematic theory.

Steven D. Hales Professor of Philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania argues that the basic problem associated with reincarnation as a theory of mind is not that it lacks evidence in support of its claims, but that even in the face of its claims, it runs short of a well-developed and systematic theory. For Hales, there would have been not much difficulty in accepting the reincarnation hypothesis if it is empirically testable, falsifiable and subject to confirming evidence. 

  

Concluding Thoughts

Reincarnation is a highly contradictory and controversial philosophical-religious and cultural concept. Belief in reincarnation has some epistemological implications. It is a belief in the absence of valid empirical data.  There is no scientific evidence to prove reincarnation. The suggestive cases of reincarnation (past-lives” testimonies) cannot be independently verified, and there are psychological and cultural factors that can influence such claims. These testimonies are the products of social conditioning rather than actual memories of past lives. From a scientific and empirical standpoint, the concept of reincarnation remains unproven and subject to skepticism.

Biologically, reincarnation is explained in terms of the expression of dominant genes that come from the ancestors.  People acquire the genetic information of their past relatives.  Those who oppose the concept argue that reincarnation originates from selective thinking and from false memories. Reincarnation is a hypothesis and up to date it’s not an evidence-based reality. There is no definitive data supporting the reincarnation hypothesis. So far no one has done controlled experiments in reincarnation.

Can we prove that reincarnation is a fact? Ian Stevenson used to say the word proof should only be used in mathematics. In science it’s all about evidence, not proof. Science can only lay hands-on things in the physical universe. Although the existence of reincarnation is not yet a scientific truth, scientifically we don’t have the instruments to measure the process of rebirth directly. Maybe reincarnation can’t be proven within the scope of generally acceptable scientific thinking. Reincarnation is basically just an untestable claim. Some argue that reincarnation is a paranormal phenomenon transcending the boundaries of time, space and force. Reincarnation may be outside the scope of our measurements and can't be falsified. Reincarnation may be the “Great Beyond” and further research is essential to come to a valid conclusion. 

  

Can Reincarnation be Explained with Quantum Theory?

  

Recently Dr Mahinda Pathirana of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, made an attempt to explain reincarnation via quantum mechanics. He uses the Buddhist teachings, Milinda / Nagasena debate and some of the ideas of the 2nd Century Buddhist Philosopher Nagarjuna.  He is bringing Quantum entanglement to explain the method of transferring consciousness and how the birth of a consciousness in another body.  

A complex and philosophical question is why we are born into a particular body and life. Is it something random? or predetermined? According to the current understanding of quantum mechanics things happening in the universe are probabilistic rather than deterministic. We know that Brownian motion is a random motion. Is it possible for the universe to be deterministic at certain levels?  Remember Albert Einstein stated, “God does not play dice”. Therefore, some people say nothing is "random" in the real world.

Those who agree with reincarnation try to highlight the connections between reincarnation and quantum mechanics and quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement explains how two subatomic particles can be intimately linked to each other even if separated by billions of light-years of space. These particles communicate faster than the speed of light. Neuro-experts point out quantum effects in neural processes. Quantum entanglement links everything in the Universe. Deepak Chopra says that quantum entanglement links everything in the Universe, and therefore it must create consciousness. But I must say that the scientific community does not regard Deepak Chopra to be a credible scientist and his theories lack empirical evidence and they are not supported by mainstream scientific research. Moreover, Art Hobson Prof of Physics, University of Arkansas specifies that quantum entanglement has nothing directly to do with consciousness.

Despite these skeptical ideas can we say consciousness operates on a quantum level? Some claim that consciousness is a manifestation of quantum processes in the brain. The British molecular biologist Francis Crick and neurophysiologist Christof Koch proposed that consciousness is generated by networks of neurons oscillating in synchrony. Crick and Koch (2005) indicated that the “claustrum” which is a thin, irregular, sheet-like neuronal grey matter structure that lies beside the insular cortex, may be involved in the processing of consciousness.

Consciousness is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. However, so far, physicists have explained that quantum entanglement is a physical reality.

  

Quantum Theory and Consciousness

Consciousness implies awareness: subjective, phenomenal experience of the internal and external worlds. Consciousness creates the physical world moment by moment. Consciousness emerged as a property of complex biological computation during the course of evolution. Some suggest that consciousness is a quantum phenomenon. Connections between neurons alone cannot explain consciousness. Therefore, as an alternative theory some propose the quantum mind or quantum consciousness. Does the human brain use quantum computation? Can quantum theory help us to understand consciousness?

Quantum theory is characterized by the acknowledgment of a fundamental limitation in the classical physical ideas when applied to atomic phenomena. Niels Bohr's philosophy of quantum mechanics helps us to understand physical realities.  We know that Bohr was inspired by Immanuel Kant. Kant stated that without any consciousness we would make no distinction. For Kant, consciousness results from differentiation.

Bohr believed that the discovery of quantum mechanics could and should inform philosophy about new ways of understanding human knowledge. It would replace causal-space-time description of classical physics in order to preserve objectivity. Einstein's theory is also central to quantum mechanics.

Scientists use string theory to describe the fundamental forces and particles in the universe. Can string theory explain consciousness? String theory highlights that reality is made up of infinitesimal vibrating strings. As string theory describes everything consists of quantum strings. Some experts postulate that the idea of consciousness being directly related to the position and configuration of strings. They think that string theory and consciousness are two sides of the same coin.

Some Neurologists speculate that the functioning of the brain is quantum. Quantum fields have holographic nature (every component already contains all the information of the whole) This indicates the multidimensional nature of reality.

Consciousness is the sensory awareness of the body, the self, and the world.  Human consciousness arises from quantum fields. Still, we don’t have an accurate picture of quantum dimensions of reality. We cannot focus on consciousness from the perception of the physical senses. Consciousness goes far beyond the limitations of mechanistic materialism.

Having said that, we know that neurons alone cannot explain consciousness. Can we use quantum mechanics to explain the function of consciousness?  Quantum mechanics allows the calculation of properties and behavior of physical systems. Quantum physics suggests that two particles will respond simultaneously to an active agent, regardless of distance. There is a deeper connection between consciousness and quantum mechanics. The mathematics of quantum mechanics might show us how consciousness works. We as humans live in a fundamental nondeterministic world. Quantum interaction remains indeterministic. The universe operates according to deterministic laws of physics such as consciousness. Consciousness belongs to the subatomic world which is fundamentally inscrutable.

Can we conclude that consciousness is based in the brain? Neuropsychologists believe that consciousness may arise from the complex interactions of neural networks in the brain. Conceivably Brain is a quantum processor.  Kodukula (2009) theorized that the conscious brain works like a projector.

Here I want to bring an illustration. Most likely you may have seen how Jimi Hendrix played his guitar. Where does that electronic melody come from? Did it come from his Fender Stratocaster guitar itself or from Jimi Hendrix’s fingers? That innovative, powerful, and expressive sound came from the combination of his fingers and Fender Stratocaster guitar. Consciousness too comes as a series of combinations. 

Hiroomi Umezawa - Physicist and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Wisconsin interpreted memory and other conscious phenomena as the result of the energy exchange of energy particles in the cerebral cortical field. Is there a quantum-level substance that can be transmitted between neurons, such as a neurotransmitter, which conveys consciousness-related information? Hameroff and team (2014) proposed that consciousness depends on biologically ‘orchestrated’ coherent quantum processes in collections of microtubules within brain neurons.

Javier García-Castro and Prasad Kodukula Siva state that a fundamental property of the entire universe and that conscious experience emerges by transformation from mind (‘‘jeeton’’) to matter (‘graviton’). Graviton is a postulated quantum that is thought to be the carrier of the gravitational field and jeeton is a quantum particle.  Kodukula (2019) hypothesized that the interaction between ‘jeeton’ and ‘graviton’ gives rise to consciousness. This model emphasizes that ‘mind’ is a consequence of ‘jeeton’ and the ‘matter’ is a consequence of ‘graviton’. Their entanglement gives rise to consciousness. However, it’s important to mention that jeeton / graviton theory is a hypothesis and still there is no empirical evidence to prove this fact.  

  

The Concept of Reincarnation and Quantum Physics

The concept of reincarnation cannot be explained through classical Newtonian physics. There is no empirical evidence to prove reincarnation using mathematics or cell biology. However, some experts use Quantum physics to explain the reincarnation process.

Can we use quantum physics to explain metaphysical theories of reincarnation?  Quantum physics, as a branch of science, primarily deals with the behavior of matter and energy at the smallest scales. We all agree that Quantum physics opens a totally new world view and provides a new understanding of spiritual philosophy. Quantum physics gives a new cosmovision. Newtonian physics was deterministic and Quantum science is probabilistic. Quantum science is holistic, acknowledging a multi-dimensional universe. Through Newtonian physics we can understand the objective world scientifically through the senses. But Quantum physics can explain things beyond our sensors.

According to quantum theory energy is not continuous but comes in discrete units and the elementary particles behave both like particles and like waves. Quantum physics has evidenced that one particle can be in more than one place at the same time. Subatomic particles communicate instantaneously and travel faster than the speed of light. At the subatomic level, matter does not exist with certainty in definite places. Sometimes a particle acts like a particle, sometimes like a wave. Therefore, the quantum world evolves beyond the common parameters of the space-time characteristic of the macroscopic realm.

Can consciousness exist without or beyond the human brain? Can consciousness open to other dimensions? Human consciousness has multidimensional, holistic and holographic properties. Some physicists conclude that consciousness is primary and the creative basis for the material world. The entire humankind may be living in a universe of consciousness.  Consciousness is a great part of the cosmic ocean. consciousness cannot be reduced to matter.  Can we detect transmigration of consciousness using quantum physics? Perhaps reincarnation resides quantum definition of physical reality? Those who agree with reincarnation suggest that quantum memory remains after biological death and it transmigrate to another plains as a special type of consciousness and continues, through to another incarnation. This is universal interconnectedness. May be reincarnation is a quantum reality.

Can consciousness move to another reality after death? Jerzy Zbigniew Achimowicz of the Warsaw Medical Academy state that when a human being dies, the seat of mind, generates a quantum solitary electromagnetic wave packet and then reincarnation may happen if given seat of mind (consciousness) finds a brain of a newborn with similar genotype. (consciousness attaches to a new brain?)

  

Reincarnation Explained in the Buddhist Doctrine

As described by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu who is an American Buddhist monk and author, rebirth has always been a central teaching in the Buddhist tradition.  The Buddha did not believe in a transmigration of soul and replaced the soul by the theory of mind-continuum (Thupten Tenzlng - Karma and Rebirth in Buddhism). There is a causal link between a subtle form of consciousness present at the time of death and the first moment of consciousness in the next life (Finnigan, 2023).

According to Buddhist doctrine a thought moment occurs when a person dies. It is the mind set during death in the current existence and then grasping the next life. A dying person has exit consciousness. This consciousness is a form of transitory energy. Exit consciousness transforms into another level of consciousness and it can enter another womb when a matching one becomes available. Hence rebirth occurs. Three conditions are essential for conception: “the union of mother and father, the mother in season, and the presence of a transformed level of exit consciousness.

The Buddhist concept denies the existence of an eternal soul.  Instead of an eternal soul, they believe in transforming consciousness which is not static. These processes are governed by the Karmic force or karmic retribution. Here the analogy is the flame of a dying candle can serve to light the flame of another. A flame is transferred from one candle to another. Hence consciousness is a continuous birth and death of mind-states. It is linking an individual to past and future existences. The person who dies here and is reborn elsewhere is neither the same person, nor another.

Milinda was the King of the Indo-Greek Kingdom who probably reigned from about 155 to 130 BCE. King Milinda had a debate with Bhikkhu Nagasena about rebirth.   

In the Milinda / Nagasena debate the king asked: 

"When someone is reborn, Venerable Nagasena, is he the same as the one who just died or is he another?" 

Ven Nagasena replied: "He is neither the same nor another." 

"Give me an illustration!" 

 "Milk, once the milking is done, turns after sometimes into curds; from curds it turns into fresh butter; and from fresh butter into ghee. Would it now be correct to say that the milk is the same thing as the curds, or the fresh butter, or the ghee?

"No, it would not. But they have been produced because of it."

All Buddhist schools agree that there is no enduring, substantial, or independently existing entity that continues from life to life. Instead, there is simply an apparent continuity of momentary consciousness from one lifetime to the next that is imbued with the impressions or traces of the actions one has done in the past. One moment gives rise to the next, in a continuity of causally connected conscious events, but nothing solid or substantial continues from one existence to the next. (Lekshe Tsomo - University of San Diego).

Ven Buddhaghosa - a 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist monk states that conception occurs immediately after death, that is, the continuity of consciousness enters a new state of existence without any interval in-between.

If we think consciousness is simply energy and it cannot be destroyed and it transforms. Can we say in Buddhist teaching rebirth occurs due to the transmigration of consciousness?  A living being starts a new life in a different physical body   form after each biological death.

The Buddhist notion of the mental continuum of an individual is difficult to explain via neuropsychology. I communicated with several world-renowned Psychologists and Psychiatrists.  I spoke with Professor Judith Herman of Harvard University, Professor Mary Seeman of University of Toronto, and Professor Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University. Many of these intellectuals expressed their doubt about the said process. Professor Zimbardo was explicit and stated, “This process is Not possible in reality It can only be a religious belief with no scientific evidence”. However, Professor Daya Somasundaram- a senior professor of psychiatry at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna expressed his thoughts thus.  

“I feel that these beliefs and descriptions are metaphysical or subtle phenomena which are beyond current neuropsychological knowledge or theories. Most scientific and neuropsychological knowledge or speculations tend to confine themselves to very basic and objective, materialistic phenomena as the hard facts of life. They even have problems with admitting subjective phenomena such as consciousness. They would consider the Buddhist descriptions as mere speculations with no objective evidence. But some psychologists and others do go beyond the hard or materialistic views and frontiers to entertain such beliefs and descriptions”.

  

How Did Consciousness Evolve?

According to Salama, (2008) life began as lipid molecules originating in deep space and fell into the surface of the primordial ocean and then went into numerous changes and transformed into a cell then through the evaluation multicellular beings emerged. Cells have memory and it’s called cellular “memory. Based on Darwinian evolution, the scientists surmise that consciousness would have occurred initially some 200 million years ago. They think that consciousness was built upon the mammalian neocortex. The core of human consciousness appears to be associated primarily with phylogenetically ancient structures mediating arousal and activated by primitive emotions (Denton et al., 2009).

Living cells constitute a new class of matter. Cells literally construct themselves. Through consciousness we create the physical world. We cannot explain consciousness through mainstream science.  Living things are Kantian wholes where the parts exist for and by means of the whole. The link between the lifeworld and the quantum world should already be broadly evident. Quantum mechanics points to the end result of what consciousness does. Is there a quantum mind, resides in the space between quantum events?

  

Can Consciousness Continue After Death?

Consciousness is the most important function of the organism. According to William James, consciousness is not a static thing but a process. Neuroscientists believe that consciousness is generated by the brain. They highlight that consciousness must be the product of neural activity. Substantial interconnections among the brainstem, subcortical structures, and the neocortex are essential integrating components of human consciousness.

Different levels of consciousness are distinguished: 1. hyperalertness, 2. alertness (normal state of wakefulness), 3. somnolence or lethargy, 4. obtundation with tendency to fall asleep, 5. stupor, 6. coma and its subtypes, like akinetic mutism, apallic syndrome or persistent vegative state, locked-in syndrome, delirium, and catatonia.

Following a coma, some patients may "awaken" without voluntary interaction or communication with the environment. The patients who are in "persistent vegetative state” show some degree of consciousness--a condition called "minimally conscious state". Using neuroimaging techniques Neurologists are able to measure the fading consciousness in the human brain.

Is there an irreversible loss of consciousness? There may be consciousness in the dying brain. The brain is assumed to be hypoactive during cardiac arrest. Gang Xu and team analyzed electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram signals in four comatose dying patients before and after the withdrawal of ventilatory support. Two of the four patients exhibited a rapid and marked surge of gamma power, surge of cross-frequency coupling of gamma waves with slower oscillations and increased interhemispheric functional and directed connectivity in gamma bands.

These data demonstrate that the dying brain can still be active. Some researchers have found a surge in brain activity at the time of death. The question remains; is there a survival of consciousness after death? Dr. Sam Parnia a British associate Professor of Medicine at the NYU Langone Medical Center is of the view that human consciousness does not become annihilated after death. What happens to this consciousness? Does it enter a living fetus? 

Dr. Robert Lanza is a scientist and author, and a professor at Wake Forest University coined the phrase ‘biocentrism’ which is a theory that the consciousness is released into the universe through sub-atomic particles According to this notion    consciousness would not necessarily be dependent on a physical brain in order to survive. Therefore, consciousness is more than an abstract concept.  

  

Consciousness in a Human Fetus

The emergence of consciousness or the mind can be regarded as defining human viability. Development of the embryo begins at Stage one when sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together, they form a zygote. The zygote is a large diploid cell that is the beginning, or primordium, of a human being. The fetus may be having a consciousness, and it reacts to pain and other stimulations.

The fetus reacts to nociceptive stimulations through different motor, autonomic, vegetative, hormonal, and metabolic changes relatively early in the gestation period.  The fetus may be aware of the body. But the fetus is almost continuously asleep and unconscious partially due to endogenous sedation.

The newborn infant can be awake, exhibit sensory awareness, and process memorized mental representations. However, Falsaperla and team (2022) state that neuroanatomical point of view, it is rather unlikely that the infant can be seen as a conscious human before 24 weeks of gestational age. (This hypothesis assumes that consciousness is mainly localized in the cortex, consciousness cannot emerge before 24 gestational weeks when the thalamocortical connections from the sense organs are established).

  

Concluding Thoughts

Is there a mechanism within quantum physics that can be used to validate or explain the notion of reincarnation?  Quantum physics indicates the possibility of higher-dimensional spacetimes.  The quantum effects are evident in photosynthesis and during the process remarkable efficiency of energy is transferred.  

Dr. Maher Abdelsamie proposed 5 dimension aka Meta-Dimension which is believed to mediate the entanglement between quantum particles regardless of their physical separation in the conventional three-dimensional space. Using Meta-Dimension, we can explain the nature of consciousness. The mind set during death or in other words exit consciousness can be redefined as a complex network of entangled quantum states. Can the exit consciousness remain after death and go to another realm?

However, reincarnation is a metaphysical concept. It falls outside the scope of quantum physics and mainstream science. There is currently no scientific evidence to support the idea that quantum mechanics can explain reincarnation.