Karmic Streams
On reincarnation and karma - from the earliest recorded beliefs, through scientific investigation, to modern spiritual movements, comparative theology, and philosophical inquiry.
Birthmarks and Birth Defects in Reincarnation Research The physical evidence for reincarnation — birthmarks and birth defects corresponding to wounds or marks on deceased persons whose lives children remember.Children's Past-Life Memories The patterns, signs, and empirical framework for studying spontaneous past-life memories reported by young children.Comparative and Interfaith Perspectives on Reincarnation Comparative theology, intrareligious dialogue, cosmotheandric vision, and the study of mysticism across religious boundaries.Cyclical History and the Eternal Return Mircea Eliade's analysis of archaic cyclical time, the myth of eternal return, the distinction between sacred and profane, and Joseph Campbell's monomyth.Edgar Cayce on Reincarnation and Karma The clairvoyant readings of Edgar Cayce on reincarnation, karma, the Akashic Records, planetary sojourns, and practical spiritual guidance.Imagination, Consciousness, and Transformation in Indian Thought David Shulman's history of the imagination in South India — bhavana, poetic and yogic modes of consciousness, and the creative power of mind.karma-overview Past-Life Regression and Adult Recall Hypnotic regression, adult past-life memories, therapeutic applications, mediumistic contributions, and the question of fantasy vs. genuine recall.Philosophical and Modern Perspectives on the Soul Modern and philosophical reflections on the soul's journey from Jung, Weil, Buber, Plotinus, Peter Kingsley, and Evelyn Underhill — meaning, awakening, and the search for the soul.Reincarnation in Ancient Egypt The Egyptian afterlife — the ba and ka, the judgment of the dead, the Books of the Afterlife, and concepts of resurrection and eternal return.Reincarnation in Ancient Greece and Rome The Greek and Roman traditions of metempsychosis — from Orphism and Pythagoreanism through Plato, Neoplatonism (Plotinus), and the mystery cults of the Roman Empire.Reincarnation in Buddhism The Buddhist doctrine of rebirth (punarbhava) — how continuity across lives operates without a permanent soul, within the framework of dependent origination and karmic causation.Reincarnation in Christianity and Islam The presence and absence of reincarnation in Christian and Islamic traditions — early church debates, Gnostic Christianity, Cathars, Sufi perspectives, and Islamic philosophical schools.Reincarnation in Hinduism The doctrine of rebirth and karma across Vedic, Upanishadic, Puranic, Dharmashastric, and philosophical traditions in Hinduism.Reincarnation in Jainism The Jain doctrine of karma as material substance that binds the soul, and the ascetic path to liberation from the cycle of rebirth.Reincarnation in Judaism The Kabbalistic doctrine of gilgul neshamot (transmigration of souls), its development, forms, and significance in Jewish mystical thought.reincarnation-overview Scientific Research on Reincarnation The systematic empirical investigation of reincarnation claims, centered at the University of Virginia, including the work of Ian Stevenson, James Matlock, and Jim Tucker.Shamanic, Indigenous, and Archaic Perspectives on Rebirth Shamanic techniques of ecstasy, animist worldviews, soul retrieval, and the archaic ontology of the eternal return across indigenous cultures.Yoga and Spiritual Liberation The paths of yoga, Samkhya philosophy, the concept of moksha, and how yogic practice addresses karma and the cycle of rebirth.