Belief In Reincarnation Research Articles

Reincarnation and Identity: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of Druze Narratives

The book Druze Reincarnation Narratives: Previous Life Memories Discourses and the Construction of Identities, edited by Gebhard Fartacek, offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the Druze belief in reincarnation (taqammuṣ) and the phenomenon of Nutq, where individuals recall previous lives. Scholars in anthropology, religious studies, and related fields contribute to understanding how these beliefs shape Druze social structures, personal identities, and community cohesion. The forum includes reviews by Maha Natoor, Dmitry Sevruk, and Jens Kreinath. Natoor appreciates the book's accessibility and balanced presentation of Druze reincarnation narratives while raising ethical concerns about anonymity and the use of religious texts. Sevruk commends the clear scientific language and interdisciplinary approach, emphasizing the book's contributions to Druze history and culture and suggesting further exploration of the psychological mechanisms behind reincarnation beliefs. Kreinath praises the detailed ethnographic insights and methodological rigor, noting researchers' challenges in engaging with the Druze community. He also critiques that some contributions focus on broader social, cultural, and political contexts rather than directly addressing reincarnation. Overall, the book provides valuable insights into the resilience and adaptability of the Druze in preserving their unique religious identity amidst broader societal changes.

Exploring the Influence of Family Dynamics on Death Attitude among Elderly People: A Comparative Study of Chitwan and Jhapa District, Nepalrict, Nepal

This research examines the impact of living arrangements on death attitudes among elderly individuals in Nepal's Chitwan and Jhapa districts. A cross-sectional survey of 127 participants (79 in elder homes, 48 in their own homes) was conducted and analyzed using SPSS v.20. Significant differences in death attitudes were found based on living arrangements. Elder home residents showed greater acceptance of quick death, less fear, and viewed death more as relief from pain. They preferred dying in religious places, while those in their own homes preferred passing at home. Belief in reincarnation was higher among those living independently. The study reveals that living environments significantly influence elderly individuals' death attitudes, with elder home residents exhibiting more acceptance towards death. These findings suggest a need for tailored end-of-life care and support services that consider living arrangements and cultural contexts, contributing to the discourse on geriatric care in diverse settings.

Migrant Souls

Abstract This article analyses the reconfiguration of religious identity in the Druze community in Minas Gerais, south-eastern Brazil, which was formed by the arrival of immigrants from Lebanon in the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. The immigrants created ethnic and religious institutions destined to maintain Druze identity and its Islamic character. However, the transmission of religious knowledge to the generations born in Brazil was fragmentary and imperfect. Nevertheless, Druze identity was maintained by many and completely recreated in the religious context of Catholicism and Spiritism, while the connection to Islam faded away. The analysis focuses on how religious authorities and the belief in reincarnation were the main elements that allowed continuity in religious identity together with the transformation of tradition.

Intersection of Identities in Personal Stories about Reincarnation in the Druze Community in Israel

Belief in reincarnation in the Druze community exceeds the bounds of the official religion, and its personal story gains significance among the secular community members. Though this belief is responsible for marking the boundaries of religious, national, and gender identity, and serves as a cohesive and comforting social factor, it also raises social and psychological tensions among families and individuals who find themselves living a double life story. This study attempts to investigate these aspects among the Druze society by analyzing a collection of personal stories of men and women about their experiences of reincarnation, which I collected from members of the Druze community in Israel. These stories are called among the Druze “alnutq” / النُّطق (speaking), a concept that expresses the soul's ability to recall and talk about its past life in the previous incarnation. By collecting the stories from people mentioned in the previous incarnation, I concluded that they are saturated with internal tensions and provoke objections, and their acceptance is almost always controversial. At the same time, the stories, the beliefs, and the values they are based on have a role in maintaining the borders and organization of the Druze community.

“КАК СКВЕРНО, ЧТО Я ВЫНИМАЛ ДУШИ ЛЮДЕЙ”: КОНЦЕПЦИИ ДУШИ И ЗАГРОБНОЙ ЖИЗНИ У ЕЗИДОВ ЗАКАВКАЗЬЯ В XX ВЕКЕ

Kurdistan, centered between Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, and Iran, has frequently served as a focal point of rebellion to central governments and the main religions associated with them. As a result, despite its geographic isolation and strict ethnic boundaries, the emergence and development of Yezidism should be observed through the lens of the Middle East, which requires paying close at-tention to its possible connections to other confessions in the region, whose creed and religious practice share several elements with Yezidism. The belief in afterlife and immortality of the soul occupies a prominent place in most reli-gious doctrines. This article examines the Transcaucasian Yezidis’ ideas about the afterlife, set-ting them in these regional and historical contexts. The investigation follows the concept of “brotherhood in afterlife”, which plays an important role in Yezidi socio-spiritual hierarchy, since it is the brother or sister in the afterlife of each Yezidi who will, after death, intercede for him/her before God and guide his soul through the Salat bridge, allowing him to enter paradise. Of particu-lar interest is the belief in reincarnation existing in the Yezidi environment, metaphorically re-ferred to as “changing the shirt”, in which the soul after death may move into a body with a higher rank as a reward for righteous behavior. The Yezidis' eschatological concepts and rites were recorded and analyzed in valuable little-known field studies conducted by anthropologists and ethnographers, as well as in forgotten Sovi-et films. These documents serve as the primary sources of study in the paper.

Reincarnation Beliefs and Suicidality: Social, Individual and Theological Factors.

Among African tribes, Inuit, the Druze, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, a diversity of attitudes toward suicide exists. The meaning of suicide appears to be largely a reflection of the impact of the death on friends, family, and the broader community; the circumstances of the individual within their community; and the specific religious implications of suicide. The interpersonal impact is seen as consisting of the material impact of suicide; the spiritual and emotional burden endured by the community; and norms related to suicide. Individual factors include the degree of social integration; the social impact of suicide before death; and how the individual anticipates suicide affecting their afterlife. Taken together, the commonly repeated notion that reincarnation beliefs lend themselves to suicidal behavior finds little support, and instead it appears that social and pragmatic issues shape the meaning and interpretation of religious beliefs which in turn buffer or facilitate suicidal behavior.

“ARHIALUSI” – COSMIC JUSTICE IN THE SOCIAL ETHICAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE IULEHA PEOPLE OF EDO STATE, NIGERIA

The belief in a primordial cosmic justice - arhialusi is a present day reality in Iuleha (Edo) traditional moral psyche. This belief holds that humans play active roles in shaping their lots in life. It connects a persons present woes to moral wrong(s) of his previous existence. It is the concern of this paper to take a phenomenological exploration of this belief in arhialusi emphasizing it social implication among the Iuleha people. The methodology adopted is qualitative, phenomenological and historical. Data were obtained mainly through in-depth interview and non-participatory observation methods. The paper discovered that arhialusi is a cosmic law of retributive justice which seems like the Iuleha version of karma. It unveils also that this belief is anchored on Iuleha notion of the never-ending process of life hence, inextricably tied to their belief in reincarnation. It is the finding of this paper also that awareness of this cosmic law serves as regulatory mechanism for self and social control. This is because it showcases the result of immoral acts of a previous life as well as checkmates the evil conduct of individuals in the present world. The paper uses arhialusi not only to explore the African concept of causality but also to emphatically maintain that not all phenomena could be explained empirically. It thus posits that belief in arhialusi is one of the ways the Iuleha people (Africans) ascertain the ultimate cause of reality, checkmate vices and promotes virtuous conduct in their society.

‘Rents in the Veil of Time’: Annie Besant’s Auto-biographies of Giordano Bruno

Annie Besant published several autobiographical texts from 1878, starting with the preface to My Path to Atheism, when she was vice-president of the National Secular Society. Her first autobiography, Autobiographical Sketches, appeared in book form in 1885, the year she joined the Fabian Society, a decision she justified in 1886 with Why I Am a Socialist. When Besant converted to Theosophy in 1889, she wrote Why I Became a Theosophist, and her revised autobiography, Annie Besant: An Autobiography, was published in 1893, preceded by 1875 to 1891: A Fragment of Autobiography. Meanwhile, Besant penned her first biography of the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno in 1876, a short sketch published in The National Reformer, the NSS weekly. She wrote a more detailed Story of Giordano Bruno, in 1884-5, at the time she joined the Socialist revival. Her fascination with Bruno took a new dimension from 1889, when she embraced the Theosophists’ belief in reincarnation: she had come to the conclusion that she had been Bruno in a past life when she lectured on Giordano Bruno: the Man and the Teacher in 1898, and delivered Le Message de Giordano Bruno au Monde moderne, in the Sorbonne in 1911. No study of Besant’s writings on Bruno has ever been published. So, this paper explores the reasons why Annie Besant wrote four biographies of Giordano Bruno between 1876 and 1911. It retraces her personal and spiritual evolution through an analysis of her biographies of Bruno as occult autobiographies, that transgress gender boundaries, and pursue the legitimization strategies developed by Besant in her openly autobiographical texts.

Beliefs in inevitable justice curb revenge behaviours: Cultural perspectives on karma

AbstractAcross cultures, people believe that moral actions have ‘karmic’ consequences. Do cultures share assumptions about how karma operates? Four studies (N = 1114) assessed cultural differences in perceptions of inevitability associated with karmic justice and whether perceiving karma as inevitable curbs antisocial behaviours, such as revenge. Study 1 found that Indians perceived karmic justice as more inevitable than Americans and reported lower revenge. Studies 2–3 manipulated whether participants saw karmic justice as inevitable (vs. probable), finding that both Indians and Americans in the inevitable justice condition reported lower revenge. Study 3 found that perceived punishment certainty for oneself (for enacting revenge) rather than perceived punishment certainty for the offender (for the offence) better explained condition differences in revenge. Study 4 uncovered that reincarnation belief related to, and explained, cultural differences in inevitable karmic justice, which subsequently curbed revenge. Research on karma can uncover a range of cultural differences in psychological functioning.

Reincarnation in the Yoruba Ontology: Abiku

This study will present an argument on reincarnation beliefs among the Yoruba people in Nigeria, focusing on the born-to-die phenomenon, Abiku. According to the Yoruba tradition, the Abikus were once spiritual creatures before evolving into humans. But the Yoruba people's reincarnation beliefs concerning Abiku may be a myth. With the lack of medical technology in Yorubaland and other pre-colonial African nations to ascertain couples’ genotype compatibility, sickle cell anemia, and other illnesses may have been the underlying cause of child mortality. Although previous scholars have attempted an explanation of the phenomenon, most scholarly works are premised on the medical perspective of child mortality, lack of adequate healthcare, folktales, and religious beliefs. A typical phenomenon among the Yoruba is the mutilation of body parts of the children assumed to be an Abiku. They do this to easily recognize the child if he returns to the family as a new child. When newborn babies are born with mutilation marks like the ones that died, it confirms the belief that he is an Abiku. However, it is hard to determine if the Abiku phenomenon is a myth or reality. To explain and establish this, I will explore research and documented stories of reincarnation experiences of people who have been caught on this web. This will also uncover parallels in the reincarnated individuals' experiences, the consequences for these people, and the impact of reincarnation belief systems and rituals on Yoruba society.

Belief changes associated with psychedelic use.

Psychedelic use is anecdotally associated with belief changes, although few studies have tested these claims. Characterize a broad range of psychedelic occasioned belief changes. A survey was conducted in 2374 respondents who endorsed having had a belief changing psychedelic experience. Participants rated their agreement with belief statements Before and After the psychedelic experience as well as at the time of survey administration. Factor analysis of 45 belief statements revealed five factors: "Dualism," "Paranormal/Spirituality," "Non-mammal consciousness," "Mammal consciousness," and "Superstition." Medium to large effect sizes from Before to After the experience were observed for increases in beliefs in "Dualism" (β = 0.72), "Paranormal/Spirituality" (β = 0.90), "Non-mammal consciousness" (β = 0.72), and "Mammal consciousness" (β = 0.74). In contrast, negligible changes were observed for "Superstition" (β = -0.18).). At the individual item level, increases in non-physicalist beliefs included belief in reincarnation, communication with the dead, existence of consciousness after death, telepathy, and consciousness of inanimate natural objects (e.g., rocks). The percentage of participants who identified as a "Believer (e.g., in Ultimate Reality, Higher Power, and/or God, etc.)" increased from 29% Before to 59% After." At both the factor and individual item level, higher ratings of mystical experience were associated with greater changes in beliefs. Belief changes assessed after the experience (an average 8.4 years) remained largely unchanged at the time of survey. A single psychedelic experience increased a range of non-physicalist beliefs as well as beliefs about consciousness, meaning, and purpose. Further, the magnitude of belief change is associated with qualitative features of the experience.

Blending Catholicism with Chi, Chakras and Crystals

Abstract This article presents the findings of a two-year research project investigating four hundred third-level Initial Teacher Education (ite) students’ perceptions of the religiously unaffiliated in Ireland. The research was undertaken in two Third Level Catholic colleges of education in the Republic of Ireland (roi). A brief overview of some contemporary cultural, educational and ecclesial factors impacting on participants’ lived experiences and perceptions of Catholicism is provided. Irish society is changing rapidly and the religiously unaffiliated are the fastest growing belief group in the 2016 Census (cso 2016). A major part of the research focuses on the religious or belief affiliation of the sample group. It explores how participants’ personal religious and convictional perspectives impact on their own lives as well as their understandings of their future professional roles as educators in Ireland’s primary school system. Drawing on the research survey and interview data the article explores participants’ belief fluidity which blends belief in Roman Catholicism with belief in crystals, chakras, reincarnation, gods, and magic among others. The researchers analyses what these findings might reveal about lived Catholicism in the contemporary Irish context.

Reincarnation in Terms of Faith in The Light of Verses

Tenâsüh diğer adıyla reenkarnasyonun varlığı çok eskilere dayanan bir düşünce ve
 inanış şeklidir. Bu düşüncenin eski Yunanlılarda olduğu gibi özellikle de Hint yarımadası
 ve çevresinde yayıldığı görülmektedir. İslâm toplumlarında ise bazı marjinal grup ve kişiler
 tarafından savunulmaktadır. Bunun dışında İslâmın geneli tarafından kabul görmeyip
 reddedilmektedir. Bu çalışmada, reenkarnasyonu savunanlar her ne kadar bir kısım
 âyetleri delil getirmeye çalışsalar da bunun doğru olmadığı getirdikleri bu âyetlerden
 yola çıkılarak ispat edilmektedir. Ayrıca bu çalışmada reenkarnasyon inancının, Allah’a
 iman, öldükten sonra diriliş (ahiret âlemi), insanın günahlarının şahsiliğine, ruh ve beden
 bütünlüğü ile insanın yaratılışına uymadığı ve İslâm inancında kesinlikle kabul edilmeyip
 red edildiği üzerinde durulmaktadır.

Who gets what? Assessing the reincarnation debate

Reincarnation is a death-specific and forward-looking philosophico-religious phenomenon that enjoys a cross-cultural appeal. It represents the theory that when the soul separates from the body at death, it informs another body for another round of earthly life. The debate on reincarnation has, so far, revolved around the reality or otherwise of reincarnation and the associated claims. In this article, we undertake a holistic and critical examination and appraisal of the key arguments underlying the reincarnation debate, with emphasis on the nature and structure of reincarnation, as well as the value of reincarnation belief. The aim is to determine who gets what among the contending parties. Although oral interviews were involved in the exercise, textual and doctrinal analysis of extant literatures on reincarnation formed the predominant source of data for the research. Our finding reveals that although the phenomenon of reincarnation is bedeviled by internal contradictions and belief in it hardly justifiable, belief in it has some positive values, including coping and unifying values that could be harnessed for the well-being of people and society. These observed values of reincarnation and the attendant belief in it, the article concludes, do not constitute a conclusive proof of the reality of reincarnation.Contribution: The contributive value of this paper lies in bringing to the fore the fact that contrary to popular assumption, the notion of belief is in reality, epistemically more powerful than knowledge, at least in the context of religion. Considering that HTS Theological Studies focuses on religious issues and that ‘belief’ and ‘knowledge’ are religious concepts, we consider this paper to be suitable to its objectives.

Lexical Metaphor in Proverbs in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and A Man of the People: A Systemic Functional Linguistics Perspective

This study was aimed at analyzing lexical metaphors identified in proverbs Achebe’s two novels: Things Fall Apart and A Man of the People. Objectives of this study were to identify these lexical metaphors from Achebe’s novels, discuss their meanings, functions, and ideolological implications in the novels under study. To achieve these objectives, the study was anchored on Systemic Functional Grammar, a social semiotic theory to highlight the signifier - signified relationship of these lexical metaphors and their ideological implications of Igbo people. The lexical metaphors are identified and their meanings discussed as represented in the novels. The functions are exemplified and marked as positive and negative. Positive behaviours are upheld because they help in nation building while negative functions help to shape attitude and effect behaviours. Functions and Ideologies identified include indispensability of palm oil, struggle for survival through hard work, belief in ‘chukwu’ who determines success and destinies of individuals, belief in reincarnation, peaceful coexistence, strength for procreation, strive for success and shun arrogance, anti imperialism, any child whose mother died at childbirth is an evil child, political propaganda, ineffective leadership, do and die rivalry of politicians, materialistic attitude of rural prospective father- in-law that could lead to forced marriage, and given picture of how one looks like. The implication of the themes and ideologies realized from the two books shows that in Things Fall Apart lexical metaphors are used as ethical and ideological indicators while in A Man of the People they are used to gain social advantage, cover evil doings and justify perversities.

Guqin music therapy to alleviate sleep disturbances in Chinese cancer patients

Both in Chinese and in western cancer patients sleep disorders are a frequent and serious complication. The present study used qualitative methods to explore sleep-related benefits of Guqin music therapy in Chinese psycho-oncology and suggests a corresponding theoretical framework which encompasses psychological, neuroscientific and ontological components. In sharp contrast to receptive music therapy which mainly speaks about listening in general, the present study suggests that therapeutic outcomes may considerably depend on individual modes of aesthetic perception. Although some perspectives suggest international transferability of this approach, aspects such as Buddhist belief in re-incarnation or Daoist awareness of permanent transitions may qualify too simple cross-cultural applications. Despite the encouraging results which suggest Guqin music therapy for the improvement of sleep quality in (gastric) cancer patients, further studies are needed for broader clinical and rehabilitative implementation.

A Visionary Approach: Lynn A. De Silva and The Prospects for Buddhist-Christian Encounter ed. by Elizabeth J. Harris and Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Reviewed by: A Visionary Approach: Lynn A. De Silva and The Prospects for Buddhist-Christian Encounter ed. by Elizabeth J. Harris and Perry Schmidt-Leukel Leo D. Lefebure A VISIONARY APPROACH: LYNN A. DE SILVA AND THE PROSPECTS FOR BUDDHIST-CHRISTIAN ENCOUNTER. Edited by Elizabeth J. Harris and Perry Schmidt-Leukel. Sankt Ottilien: EOS, 2021. 390 pp. This volume presents essays exploring the legacy of Lynn A. de Silva (1919–1982), a Methodist pastor and biblical scholar in Sri Lanka who was an important pioneer of Buddhist-Christian studies. Most of the chapters are based on presentations at the conference of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies that met at the Benedictine Archabbey of St. Ottilien in 2019. Some of the authors, including Wesley Ariarajah, Aloysius Pieris, and Shantha de Silva (youngest son of Lynn de Silva), knew de Silva personally and offer warm tributes to his memory. Other authors work for institutions that carry on the types of projects that de Silva pioneered: Marshal Fernando is the Director of the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, which de Silva founded and directed from 1962–1982; Indunil J. Kodithuwakku Kankanamalage, who is from Sri Lanka, serves as the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; and Peniel Rajkumar leads the Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation Programme of the World Council of Churches. Some authors examine how de Silva developed and modified his understanding of the relationship between Buddhist and Christian perspectives. In his early work in the 1960s, de Silva responded to Buddhist misunderstandings of Christian faith and practice. In the 1970s, he explored how Buddhist teachings could be related to biblical and Christian perspectives in ways that could enhance Christian faith. Toward the end of his life de Silva pondered the degree to which Buddhist and Christian perspectives could be relativized and harmonized. Benedictine Abbot Petrus Hohensteiger traces the development of de Silva's responses to Buddhist belief in reincarnation. De Silva came to reject traditional Protestant Christian eschatology that teaches that a single lifetime will be followed by eternal heaven or hell; but he also rejected Theravada belief in rebirth. Instead, while remaining a Protestant Christian, he developed a belief in purgatory that allowed for self-purification and growth in sanctity after death. De Silva interpreted Buddhist belief in rebirth and Christian belief in resurrection as symbolic pointers toward a single, shared truth of self-negating, self-emptying love. Andreas Nehring focuses on de Silva's study of Buddhism as a popular religion combining Buddhist perspectives with folk religious practices. Drawing on the critical hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur, Nehring emphasizes the ways in which de Silva's [End Page 403] sympathetic attention to folk Buddhism can shift the dialogue between Buddhists and Christians in positive ways. Gudrun Löwner explores how de Silva turned to visual art and aesthetics to promote mutual understanding between Buddhists and Christians. Amos Yong reflects on de Silva's pneumatological anthropology in conversation with Theravada Buddhists, mentioning the shared effort to find an alternative to eternalism or nihilism. While noting many points of convergence, Yong finds an important difference from Theravada anthropology in de Silva's eschatological interpretation of the corporate and resurrected Spiritual Body of the Apostle Paul. Kurt Gakuro Krammer reflects on how Buddhist-Christian dialogue can change one's understanding of the human being. Observing that most European Buddhists have thus far avoided dialogue, he proposes that de Silva can offer a helpful model of dialogical understanding but also poses the pointed question of whether dialogue has any soteriological impact, such as upon efforts toward social action. This volume is a very important contribution that will be of interest to all persons involved in Buddhist-Christian dialogue. Leo D. Lefebure Georgetown University Copyright © 2022 University of Hawai'i Press

Knowledge, Belief and Justification of the African Conception of Reincarnation

The study examines the epistemic justification of reincarnation in African Philosophy. It is also an attempt to investigate the problem of reincarnation and the belief in the ancestral world. It deploys the critical tool of epistemic justification to determine the conditions that render the African conception of reincarnation defensible. Epistemic justification is a philosophical theory aimed at investigating the extent to which a person’s beliefs are knowledge-based and therefore worth holding. The paper defends the thesis that African idea of reincarnation is justifiable and that belief in reincarnation can coexist with the belief in the ancestral world without contradiction. Humans are reborn and come back into this world several times until they have sufficiently paid for all their past misdeeds and purified themselves, before their souls are released to go to the ancestral world. A person’s destiny is never fulfilled in the first trip; hence a rebirth or reincarnation takes place to give the individual a succeeding chance or chances to fulfill his or her original destiny.

Antonia MILLS and Richard SLOBODIN (eds), Amerindian Rebirth: Reincarnation Belief Among North American Indians and Inuit, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994. 411 pages, $50.00 (cloth) $18.95 (paper)

Antonia MILLS and Richard SLOBODIN (eds), Amerindian Rebirth: Reincarnation Belief Among North American Indians and Inuit, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994. 411 pages, $50.00 (cloth) $18.95 (paper)

Review: Theosophy across Boundaries: Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Modern Esoteric Movement, edited by Hans Martin Krämer and Julian Strube

Review: <i>Theosophy across Boundaries: Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on a Modern Esoteric Movement</i>, edited by Hans Martin Krämer and Julian Strube