Appendix.A Trait Index to North American Indian and Inuit Reincarnation

Matlock, James G.; Mills, Antonia

doi:10.3138/9781442670761-020

Cited by 7 publications

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“…25 25 Similar attention to physical cues, including birthmarks, scars, or body piercings, is widely reported in the identification of a reincarnated ancestor in North America (Matlock & Mills 1994). …”

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confidence: 76%

How can Lukoho be his own grandfather? Being and becoming in the Cartesian gap

Robertson

2011

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

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Anthropology, like most other branches of modern philosophy, dwells in the Cartesian gap. While a majority of anthropologists seem resigned to the fact that the separation of mind from body is intellectually inevitable, even analytically indispensable, others have been disturbed by the flow of ethnographic evidence from around the world which suggests that this distinction is not epistemologically universal. This speculative essay considers how such exotic understandings may advise us about ways in which the Cartesian gap might be bridged, if not actually closed. Lukoho, an East African boy who is his own grandfather, apparently subverts the Cartesian premise that one person (or mind, or soul, or similar impalpable entity) cannot normally inhabit more than one body. The explanation we anthropologists would most readily offer is that such a relationship is merely metaphorical, a manner of speaking: that for certain purposes one Lukoho is regarded as ‘like’ the other. This article proposes that the phenomena we imagine discretely as ‘mind’ and ‘body’ in such cases may be better construed as emergent properties of human life, imagined not as the individual passage from birth to death, but as a process of becoming which necessarily goes on between people, and in which personal identities may temporarily merge. Résumé Comme la plupart des autres branches de la philosophie moderne, l'anthropologie est marquée par le clivage cartésien. Alors qu'une majorité des anthropologues s'est apparemment résignée, au fait que la séparation de l'esprit et du corps est intellectuellement inéluctable, voire indispensable pour l'analyse, d'autres sont troublés par l'afflux d'indices ethnographiques venus du monde entier qui suggèrent que cette dichotomie n'est pas épistémologiquement universelle. Cet article explore la façon dont ces concepts exotiques peuvent nous renseigner sur la manière dont le « fossé » cartésien pourrait être franchi, voire refermé. Lukoho, un jeune garçon d'Afrique de l'Est qui est son propre grand‐père, subvertit en apparence le principe cartésien selon lequel une personne (un esprit, une âme, ou autre entité impalpable similaire) ne peut normalement pas habiter plus d'un corps. L'explication que les anthropologues donnent le plus volontiers est que cette relation est simplement métaphorique, que c'est une façon de parler, qu'à certaines fins, un Lukoho est considéré« comme »étant l'autre. L'auteur suggère ici que le phénomène que nous imaginons formé de « l'esprit » et du « corps » séparés pourrait utilement, dans de tels cas, être envisagé comme les propriétés émergentes de la vie humaine, imaginées non pas comme le passage individuel de la naissance à la mort mais comme un processus de devenir qui se poursuit nécessairement d'un individu à l'autre et dans lequel les identités personnelles peuvent fusionner temporairement.

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confidence: 76%

How can Lukoho be his own grandfather? Being and becoming in the Cartesian gap

Robertson

2011

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

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“…Cases are far less common in southern India (Pasricha, 2001). Same-family cases among native peoples of northwest British Columbia may exceed this rate (Matlock, 1990a;Matlock & Mills, 1994;Mills, 1988aMills, , 1988bMills, , 1994a).…”

Section: Spontaneous Past-life Experience Casesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Past-life experiences.

Mills¹,

Tucker²

2014

Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence (2nd Ed.).

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Ajendra Singh Chauhan (Mills, 2004), a boy in northern India, repeatedly described memories of a past life when he was between 36 and 60 months old. His case was first identified by G. S. Gaur, who recorded Ajendra's statements as described by his father in 1992, when Ajendra was 13 years old. According to his father, when Ajendra was about 3 years old, he was offered a glass of milk at his aunt's home and remarked, "I used to have a mare. Two water buffaloes used to give milk. I used to drink a bucket of milk." Ajendra continued, "One time a pundit [Brahmin] widow of fair complexion tried to mix poison in the food. Then I beat her a lot. . . . Daddy, don't go in the garden in the dark. Dacoits [gangsters] live there." Then, one hot summer night when Ajendra was lying on his father's chest on the roof of their dwelling, Ajendra said, "Papa, the dacoit came. He started shooting from the wall, and I got hit." Ajendra mimed how he had crouched behind his father and shot at the dacoits.

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“…However, even in societies that do believe in reincarnation, spontaneous cases are not very common. A study in northern India of the incidence of such cases indicated that only 1 in 500 individuals had reported a spontaneous PLE (Barker & Pasricha, 1979); however, cases among the Native peoples of northwest British Columbia may exceed this rate (Matlock, 1990a;Matlock & Mills, 1994;Mills, 1988aMills, , 198810, 1994a.…”

Section: Frequency Of Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Past-life experiences.

Mills

Lynn²

Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence.

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The case of Ajendra Singh Chauhan of northern India illuminates some of the fascinating and puzzling aspects of reported past-life experiences (PLEs). This previously unpublished case is rare insofar as a written record and a tape recording of the child's statements were obtained before the case was "solved." Solving a case is defined as matching an individual's PLEs with those that occurred in the life of a person who lived previously.In this case, the previous personality's family was unknown to Ajendra's family. Note that previous personality is the term used in this chapter for the person the experient claims, or is claimed by someone else, to have been in a previous life. The term is useful insofar as it is neutral with respect to whether the claim is accurate or not.The case of Ajendra was first identified by G. S. Gaur, who recorded Ajendra's statements, as described by his father in 1992, when Ajendra was 13 years old. Ajendra made the statements between the ages of 36 and 60 months. In 1992, Gaur traveled the 75 kilometers to the town the experient claimed to have been from and found a corresponding previous personality. A few months later, the first author investigated the case with Gaur and took Ajendra and his family, for the first time, to the previous personality's village. It was evident that the families did not recognize each other initially and had not met before.

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Appendix.A Trait Index to North American Indian and Inuit Reincarnation

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

How can Lukoho be his own grandfather? Being and becoming in the Cartesian gap

How can Lukoho be his own grandfather? Being and becoming in the Cartesian gap

Past-life experiences.

Past-life experiences.

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