Ryan B.

Celestino

Mrs. Morgan-Ramirez

English 4

9 March 2021

Is Reincarnation Really A Conspiracy Theory

During your lifetime, have you ever questioned if you reincarnated from a past life?

Reincarnation is a person or animal in whom a particular soul is believed to have been reborn, or

a new version of something from the past. At a very young age, my grandma started to hint at me

as to what she thinks was her past life. Ever since then, my curiosity has grown bigger and made

me question if there were other people who had a past life. On occasions, people question where

a birthmark has appeared once they are born, which then could be linked to a deceased family

member. Determining your life's karma, either the good or bad, was most likely determined by

the type of religion that was practiced in your past life. Looking for a living proof, Ryan

Hammons is known to be the most famous case as to experiencing a past life. Before cases have

been clarified to detail, they have been verified to match up with a specific person from the past

life. Even though some individuals believe that reincarnation is just the power of imagination,

reincarnation has been expressed through numerous ways such as cases, religions, experiments,

and research since the beginning of an early time.

Both general and abnormal birthmarks from previous lives match up with the birthmarks

seen in the present day. Taking place in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma), when a person has

passed away, experimental birthmarks were performed on the deceased with a soot, a black

powdery or flaky substance consisting largely of amorphous carbon produced by the incomplete
burning of organic matter, to see if the birthmark would happen to appear on a newborn. By

doing

these experimental birthmarks, they wanted to see if reincarnation was a true belief and not a

hoax. According to studies, 18 cases were verified where a baby was born with a placed

birthmark of a deceased body. With these 18 verified cases, our thought about these birthmarks

being a coincidence slowly gets slimmer and is slowly approaching to believe that reincarnation

may be a possibility in this case. With specific birthmarks and/or birth defects being a part of a

human’s life, about 35% of children who claim to remember their past life, end up with the exact

deceased having the same birthmark and/or birth defect. The knowledge of having a specific

person in mind that you have never seen or heard of before is one thing, but looking further into

that certain someone and finding out that they have the same birthmark and/or birth defect, is a

point where being a coincidence can not be true. Adding along that 35% of the children’s claim

to be verified as a true statement, raises the bar ever so slightly to believing that that child’s soul

was reborn. By creating the connection between birthmarks and/or birth defects and the thought

of a certain someone who you have never seen or heard before, we are able to determine if you

had a past life and was reincarnated into the life you are living right now.

Being born into a family that already has a set religion they go by, also means that their

views of reincarnation may differ to other types of religions. Religions such as Jainism,

Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism do believe in reincarnation with differnt details, but

Christianity and Islam do not due to its background while teaching generations. Because of

Chistianity and Islam religion not believing in reincarnation, they instead teach that everyone

only lives one life. And after their death, the soul goes to the stage of final judgement. With final

judgment being the last stage of the soul, they believe they are not allowed a second birth
(rebirth). Although Christianity does not believe in reincarnation, about 20% to 30% of people in

the Western country

who may be nominal Christians, do believe in reincarnation. Being born and growing into a

certain religion, does not mean you could believe in other beliefs your religion does not support

or practice. For example, since the day I was born, my set religion was catholic. Now being on

this Earth for 18 years, I started to believe and support things such as the LGBTQ community

since they are normal human beings but with just a different sexual orientation, and witchcraft

since there are some good people who use their power for the better and not for the worst.

Regardless of the religion that is being practiced in your family or that your family wants you to

practice, all spiritual schools accept the concept of reincarnation. By accepting the idea of

reincarnation, teachers are allowed to hint this idea to children so that they know of what it is,

but they do not pressure them into believing in it. Even though the belief of reincarnation differs

across each type of religion, reincarnation can be considered as a key contributor to the

foundation of the religion that has a significant impact on religious practice.

In a recent Virginia article created by Sean Lyons titled “The Science of Reincarnation”,

4 year old Ryan Hammons, the main focus of this article, claims that he was a Hollywood actor

in his past life. When Jim B. Tucker, an associate psychiatry professor at UVA Medical Center’s

Division of Perceptual Studies was involved in this case, he was thinking of other explanations

as to why Ryan Hammons was reminiscing on memories before he was born. As he was

evaluating his options as to why this was happening, he states, “None of those possibilities

would also explain some of the other patterns like the intense emotional attachment many

children have to these memories, as Ryan exhibited.” Because of Tucker’s other explanations not

really matching up with Ryan’s actions and emotions, he then decides to do further investigation.
While flipping through old Hollywood books with Cyndi Hammons, Ryan’s mother, Ryan

stopped at a black and white

photo taken from the 1930’s movie, “Night After Night.” In this photo, Ryan then proceeds to

notice his friend George and himself in this picture. Out of all the photos of actors and scenes

that Ryan had seen during this time, he only stopped and remembered one of them. After Cyndi

declared that the man that Ryan remembered as George was actually him, shows that there is no

true explanation as to why this 4 year old remembers a person from more than 80 years ago. As

the evaluation continues to see if Ryan remembers anyone else from this era, Tucker laid out

black and white photos consisting of 3 random women and one girl who meant something to

Ryan’s past life. While Ryan looked at these photos, he passed over the pictures of random

women and pointed to Martin Martyn’s wife, in which in his past life he was declared as Martin

Martyn. Digging deeper into seeing if what Ryan was saying was true, Tucker and the

Hammonses traveled to California to visit Martyn’s daughter to clarify if everything was

accurate to his saying. Before Ryan and the women met, Tucker sat down with her in which she

did in fact confirm that everything he was saying is true. Acknowledging that there is hard core

evidence that matches up with Ryan Hammon’s statement as to what his past life was like, shows

that there is living proof of reincarnation.

Besides the living proof of Ryan Hammons being reincarnated, cases of children in Sri

Lanka having a past life have also been identified before actually being verified. Roughly 30-40

claims were made from each of the 3 children in Sri Lanka regarding their past lives, in which

82-92% of them resulted in being both verifiable and correct. With 82-92% of the claims

resulting as both verifiable and correct, shows that children do have a remembrance of who they

were in their past life, and doesn’t show it was just a coincidence since the percentage outcome
was high and not low. Statements ranging from personalities, occupations of their former parents

and siblings, to the precise layouts of the houses they lived in were some of the information they

gathered to evaluate who these children were talking about. While the statements regarding

personalities and occupations of people who they were close by may be a common claim to

acknowledge, the precise layout of the houses they lived in does push the boundaries beyond the

mind’s expectations. By using these specific details without mentioning the deceased person’s

name, all the claims were made to match up the particular person to whom the children’s

statements were inferring to. Just like how the case of Ryan Hammons was processed, the

strategy of “connecting the dots” was used which resulted in the correct match to whom these

children were inferring to. With the occurrence of several cases being brought to the surface

about reincarnation besides Ryan Hammon, we can conclude that the remembrance of the past

life can be common amongst young children.

To conclude on the different perspectives about reincarnation/past life, we learn to

acknowledge that there is definitely a possibility that it might not just be a conspiracy theory.

Expanding my mind while growing has allowed me to believe that some people did have a past

life and reincarnated into the life they are living to this present day. For me personally, I did not

experience having any memories as to what my past life was like, so I like to believe that my

soul is brand new in this world. Questioning a unique birthmark on your body that was there

since the day you were born, and finding out that you’re linked to a deceased person in your

family that had the same birthmark, may be shocking to you since you originally thought you

were the only one who had it considering it was unique. Receiving the type of karma that you get

due to the prior life that you lived, is defined by the type of religion your family practiced and
worshipped; because of this, it determines your life’s worth and how your surroundings will

impact you. With Ryan

Hammons being the most recent case involving reincarnation, he is considered the most famous

living proof till this day. Evaluating more cases where children claimed to have a past life in

which has been identified and verified, we acknowledge that Ryan Hammons was not the only

child to experience this. Individuals to this day will say that all factors involving reincarnation

can be considered as a coincidence or just pure imagination, but with verified cases, religions,

experiments and living proof, we are able to change their point of view. “How many thoughts

can a person entertain within one lifetime? Is it fathomable to think that a human being can fulfill

every wish within the 70 or 80 years of their life? Would it not make more sense to have

numerous lifetimes by which to carry out every desire? This is what many traditions call

reincarnation.” - The Ancient Ones.

 Works Cited

Lyons, Sean. “The Science of Reincarnation: UVA Psychiatrist Jim Tucker Investigates Children's

Claims of Past Lives.” Virginia Magazine,

uvamagazine.org/articles/the_science_of_reincarnation.

Nagaraj, Anil Kumar Mysore, et al. “The Mystery of Reincarnation.” Indian Journal of Psychiatry,

Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, Jan. 2013,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705678/.

Tucker, Jim B., and H. H. Jurgen Keil. “Experimental Birthmarks: New Cases of an Asian

Practice.” Med.virginia.edu, 17 May 2013,

med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2016/12/REI40jse_27_

2_tucker-2.pdf.

Stevenson, Ian, and Godwin Samararatne. “Three New Cases of the Reincarnation Type in Sri

Lanka With Written Records Made Before Verifications.” Med.virginia.edu, 1998,

med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2016/12/STE27Bsteve

nson-1.pdf.

Bancarz, Steven. “Scientific Proof Of Reincarnation. Yes, The Soul Exists.” Tibetan Magazine

for Tibet News & Issues, 10 July 2015,

www.contactmagazine.net/news-from-other-site/scientific-proof-of-reincarnation-yes-the
-soul-exists/.