Updates

2/2/10

I just sat in on a press tele-conference given by David Hudgins, executive producer of Fox TV's new detective show, "Past Life," and Kelli Giddish, who plays Dr. Kate McGinn on the series. Their philosophy was, "we won't push this down anyone's throat, let's play 'what if,' have fun with it and explore it."

And that made me think...because my approach, both in my documentary, "In Another Life," and in this website, has been much more forceful. Not, as it is probably often interpreted, from a standpoint of being dogmatic; not from a standpoint of trying to convert people. But because I feel the case needs to be made forcefully (lightened with a bit of humor) to get people's attention.

But these have always been the two ways of bringing a banned topic to the mass consciousness--fiction and fact; or, more precisely, fiction, then fact.

My feeling, when I produced my documentary, was that we had had enough fiction. Fiction will get you on the grounds, but you have to check your luggage at the gate--meaning, your price of admission is relinquishing the claim to the reality of the thing.

If you try to retain the claim to reality, you can't get past the gate. Occasionally something like the Leininger case does get through, though (thanks in this instance to the intrepid Carol Bowman).*

So both approaches may be valid. One says we don't know if it's real but it sure is interesting; one says it's definitely real and here is the evidence. The first approach hopes that people will resonate enough with it to look into it themselves; the second approach is too loyal to the truth for that. Of course, if you really don't know, you can adopt that attitude; but if you know, and pretend not to know so you don't offend anyone, that's a different story. My feeling is that even if you don't know, it's easy enough to find out, because the information is so clear, convincing and readily-available. There's really no excuse for remaining indefinitely open-minded but unsure. We know man can fly because you look up in the sky and you see planes. It's not really a matter of debate anymore. Neither is reincarnation. I'm not exaggerating for effect here. It's just a matter of society catching up, like moving from snail-mail to e-mail.

As I think about it, I'm not sure the fictional approach works as an introduction. It should work; but does anyone who encounters something as fiction, later on come to believe in it as fact? Or does encountering something as fiction (which requires going into fantasy mode) insure that even if the person accepts it, there continues to be a suspension of disbelief operating at some level? Is such a person short-circuited from having a deeper conviction?

Then again, I could turn the same question on my own method. Does anyone who is dead-set against an idea ever change their opinion when faced with facts which contradict their beliefs?

It could well be that neither method works. It may be that the only thing that works is experience--experience over a number of lifetimes. When a person is just about to accept reincarnation in the natural course of their experience in this life and in past lives, something triggers that conversion. It could be a fictional TV show like "Past Life"; it could be something more like "In Another Life" or this website. Or it could be a personal experience, as you'll find here in the Personal Accounts section.

In short, I'm not sure anybody changes anybody's mind about anything. Which means that when trying to educate the public about a topic like reincarnation, it's helpful if you like choral music, because you may be preaching to the choir.

That said, I have been running a poll at the bottom of the home page of this website for many years. It has only one question, about belief in reincarnation; and it has several graded possible answers. In the middle are the categories, "consider it highly likely" and "consider it possible." As I look at the poll results today, 16% are in the first category, and 8% are in the second.

Strangely, the "firmly convinced it is not true" category used to have a very, very low percentage, and the top category, "firmly convinced," rode for years at an unwavering 54%. Today, the first time I've looked at it in a long while, the "firmly convinced it is not true" category has a whopping 39%, with 1049 votes--larger than the "firmly convinced" category. That means some individual or organization has been targeting it. I say that because it remained virtually unchanged for 12 years. Instead of 1049 "nay" votes, there were (if I remember correctly) more like 30 or less. As of today, I've changed it back to what it was, roughly, assuming multiple votes or foul play of some kind. I've changed the settings so it shouldn't happen again.

Anyway, the point is, 24%, or roughly 1/4th, are in what I would call the "undecided but open-minded" category. You can talk to these people--either with facts, or with fiction. They're not in the choir.

My cynical musings aside, a fictional presentation is a good way to introduce people to the topic. Based on just recently watching the pilot of "Past Life," I'm very impressed with the series. I wish I could have consulted on it. At least I did get invited to the press conference. But I'm very pleased to see it coming out.

Still, as wonderful as fiction is, I'll stick to reality. I'll continue to repeat my mantra (see my previous Update): "Reincarnation has been proven, it has a rational basis, society is in denial...reincarnation has been proven, it has a rational basis, society is in denial..." Probably, it's going to take both approaches.

Best regards,

Stephen S., Producer

*Another presentation which dared to retain the "claim to reality" was Sci Fi Channel's show "Proof Positive." In this bold break from the usual "docu-horror" pattern of "present a case and then shoot it down," Proof Positive presented three cases per episode, each case evaluated by a team of experts. One of the there cases would then be pronounced "proof positive," i.e., genuine. "Proof Positive" found two reincarnation cases to be genuine: that of Jeffrey Keene, and that of Capt. Robert Snow. I was the first person to present Jeff Keene to the public, through my website. Before "In Another Life" was released, I gave Jeff's contact information to Actuality Productions for the A&E special they were working on, "Beyond Death." I deliberately let them scoop me to get the information out there. Meanwhile, I had written Linda Adler, a past-life therapist and student of Dr. Brian Weiss, who I had interviewed for "In Another Life," whether she knew of any other proof cases. She told me about Capt. Snow, and I did a telephone interview with him for my website (it's still posted on the Interviews page), and I also mentioned his case in articles. So far as I know, this is also the first time his case had been presented publicly. Whether these cases would have come to the public's attention in "Proof Positive," presented as being real, without my having paved the way first, we don't know. But this is an example of how I, and other people dedicated to this public education effort, may be able to prod things along from behind the scenes.

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