As a young boy growing up in the Deep South, I experienced at an early age the power of past-life enlightenment when my fear of water was promptly extinguished through a vivid dream of drowning in France during a past lifetime. Little did I know then that I would devote much of my adult life to the study of reincarnation and the empowering possibilities of past-life enlightenment.

Reincarnation in the Lab
As a psychologist and university professor, I've led numerous laboratory research projects designed to explore the full scope of past-life existence to include three major categories: (1) preexistence, or life before your first lifetime, (2) past lifetimes, and (3) life between lifetimes. A central focus of our studies was the development of strategies that could be self-administered to retrieve relevant past-life experiences. Here are some of the findings of our studies, each of which is discussed in my book, Beyond Reincarnation:

1. Though it may seem at first implausible, your lifespan as an evolving soul is both endless and bi-directional. Your existence is from everlasting to everlasting. As an evolving soul, you existed forever before your first lifetime and you will exist forever after your last.
   
   
2. Rather than a thing you possess, the soul is the essential you—the spiritual essence of your being. Both the mind and body are subservient to the soul. The body can wear out and mental faculties can fail, but the soul never dies. Your past experiences as well as your soul's identity remain forever intact.
   
   
3. At the moment of your transition at death, the peak of your past growth is instantly regained, a phenomenon I call the preservation of peak growth. You may have reached that peak early in life, or your growth may have continued for a lifetime. Either way, your transition to the discarnate realm is a peak moment. Death rather than a feared enemy, becomes a fulfilling growth experience.
   
   
4. From your preexistence to the present, your past-life experiences remain forever with you for a purpose. Though they may exist deep within your subconscious, they are critical growth resources that challenge you to retrieve them and integrate them into your present lifetime. They await your probes and beckon your interactions.
   
   
5. Your destiny as an evolving soul is one off endless growth and greatness. The step-by-step strategies presented in Beyond Reincarnation, including self-hypnosis, past-life regression, astral projection, and various interactive discarnate procedures, are all designed to promote enlightenment and facilitate the growth process. Although they are each research based, they are easily administered and they require little practice. Through them, you can experience for yourself your private world of past lifetimes as well as your experiences between lifetimes and your pre-existence. You can interact with the spirit realm and even get a glimpse into your future. All of these you can do for yourself.
   
   
6. You alone are your best growth facilitator, therapist, teacher, and hypnotist. Relying on others to do for you what you can do for yourself is of minimal value at best. Throughout each procedure presented in Beyond Reincarnation, you alone remain in charge.
   
   
7. Like a sudden ray of bright light, past-life insight can spring forth instantly with profound empowering effects. Breaking unwanted habits, extinguishing fears, dissolving growth blockages, overcoming anxiety and depression, acquiring new skills, resolving conflict, and improving social relationships, to list but a few, are all within the scope of past-life enlightenment.
   
   
8. Interactions with spirit guides and other growth facilitator are common during past-life regression. Our studies consistently revealed the spirit realm as a place of peace and harmony with "authentic love" being the unifying force. There exists no place for evil in the higher spirit realm, a condition that could be explained, partly at least, by the "preservation of peak growth" phenomenon as mentioned above. Fear of evil forces in afterlife is devoid of any factual basis.
   
   
9. Complex skills acquired in a past lifetime have been in some instances retrieved in their fullness through past-life regression strategies.
   
   
10. The subjects of our regression studies repeatedly experienced rewarding interactions with animals in the spirit realm. For our subjects, the existence of animal friends in afterlife made the spirit realm a far more desirable and attractive place.

The Case for Reincarnation
From a scientific perspective, the case for reincarnation is strengthened by the application of advanced technology in the lab setting that identifies and monitors the patterns associated with different past-life states of consciousness. Carefully controlled electrophotographic recordings in our labs, for example, showed consistent differences in the photographic patterns of subjects during regression to past lifetimes versus regression to preexistence and life-between-lifetimes, as illustrated by photos included in my book.

Further strengthening the case for reincarnation are the case studies of persons who have purportedly lived past lifetimes on earth. Add to that the mountain of evidence suggesting survival of bodily death that allows for reincarnation and the case for reincarnation becomes even stronger. But when the dots are finally connected, the most convincing evidence of reincarnation comes down to personal experience. It's difficult, for instance, to discount the empowering effects of past-life enlightenment that instantly extinguish a life-long phobia or generate a totally new perspective on life. What could be more convincing than that?

Reincarnation—The Rationale
Reincarnation is a goal-related phenomenon. We're here as evolving souls to develop our highest potential while contributing to the greater good, a process that may require more than one lifetime. Each lifetime is important because:

• It can generate spiritual insight and promote self-discovery that would otherwise be unavailable to us.
• It can offer opportunities to resolve personal conflicts and complete unfinished tasks from previous lifetimes.
• It can expand our awareness of the beauty and power of nature. By interacting with nature, we can add new meaning and direction to our lives.
• It can promote development of our caring side. By helping others or coming to the aid of an animal in distress, for instance, we can experience the fulfillment that comes only from acts of kindness.
• It can increase our capacity to experience love, acceptance, and understanding of others.
• It can empower us to accomplish important personal goals while making the world a better place for current and future generations.

Each lifetime on earth is by personal choice—it is neither accidental nor imposed upon us. A forced or involuntary lifetime would be contrary to the very nature of souls as autonomous and self-determining beings. Fortunately, the abundant resources of the spirit realm are always available to us. The same growth facilitators, ministering guides, and spirit helpers who were with us prior to each lifetime remain with us throughout our lives. Better yet, they accompany us at our transition to the other side where they will continue to enrich our lives. How could anyone ask for more than that?