FW: Interesting Reincarnation Experiment Developments

From: Andrew Johnson

Date: 2009-03-28 09:39:50

  —–Original Message—–From: Paul Von Ward [mailto:Paul.Von-Ward@post.h…]Sent: 27 March 2009 19:03To: Paul Von WardSubject: Interesting Reincarnation Experiment Developments Dear Friends and Colleagues, This is the first quarterly up-date on the Reincarnation Experiment in 2009. It covers most of the important developments since the last 2008 report. You will see below that we have been making progress in solidifying the science of reincarnation research. Please share this email with others. THE REINCARNATION EXPERIMENT UP-DATE (# I – 2009) NOTE: Please scroll down for sections on: – Facial, DNA, and Iris Comparison Research – Donations for India Project – Activity in Croatia Project – Future Events (Ecuador and Colorado) – Archive of 2008 Events – Edgar Mitchell and Quantum Hologram – Canadian Documentary Film – Public Participation and Feedback The Reincarnation Experiment is a unique, independent, and volunteer effort to focus scientific principles on the millennia-old belief in reincarnation. Several colleagues and I study areas of empirical evidence that suggest an indirect, but inherited past-life legacy shapes each person’s psychophysical development. We deal with traits not explained by the parental genome and the child’s learning environment. Can human personalities actually be shaped by something beyond our direct genetic and social influences?  Physics, biology, genetics, and consciousness studies are expanding our understanding of the apparent multidimensional and energetic nature of human reproduction and development. This emerging consensus suggests that a level of information (entropy) beyond the purely physical genome is involved in its expression and evolution. I refer you to science editor Sharon Begley’s Newsweek (Jan. 26, 2009) review of research that challenges the standard genetic notion of inherited characteristics. Similar studies described in The Soul Genome: Science and Reincarnation suggest that our unique physical features, knowledge, and behaviors that can be documented in the life of a person already deceased may have been transferred outside the ordinary DNA evolutionary process. In this context, our project seeks to identify, document, and evaluate the evidence that is the basis for the almost universal belief in reincarnation. We have developed a model that accounts for several areas of verifiable matches found in the strongest cases on record. Is Similar Facial Geometry Part of Reincarnation? Well-rounded cases of alleged past-life matches suggest that may be the case. We have used biometric techniques to compare the facial geometry between alleged past-lives and present-day subjects with a large random sample of matches. See . The positive results were far beyond our expectations: An analysis of the variances between 13 reincarnation cases and 132 random matches from the Internet was done to determine how much the statistical odds were that the close resemblances found in the cases could be attributed to chance. By conventional criteria, using a two-tailed test, the smaller variances in the reincarnation cases versus the larger variances in the random group were considered to be extremely statistically significant.   Assuming the variances would always be closer among the reincarnation cases, we converted “t = 4.1299/df = 433” to a one-tailed test. With a P = 0.000022, the odds are only about 20 in 100,000 the difference is due to chance. In other words, the odds that the close facial-geometry matches of the past-life/present-life pairs happening by chance is only 2 out of 10,000. Remember this is only one aspect of the multiple-factor, psychophysical model used to compare matches. When the other physical and personality factors have similar high correspondences, the level of exceptionality of the reincarnation cases suggests that it is unlikely another individual alive today could be as closely matched to the same previous life. This statistical data has been provided to scientists in the Perceptual Studies Division at the University of Virginia and the Institute of Noetic Sciences to seek peer reviews of both the process and analyses. DNA and Reincarnation: Discussions with a number of medical and genetic researchers have focused on the following questions: What is the role of DNA in reincarnation? Can we separate the DNA hypothesized to be a part of the soul genome (passed from one life to another outside the parental genome) from the genes inherited from one’s biological family tree? The short answer to such questions is “We don’t know.” Reincarnation theory postulates that a subject would have some DNA-based features more like those of his previous incarnation (outside the family’s phylogenetic tree) than the same features in his parents. We don’t yet know if and how the soul genome (psychoplasm) mixes with the parental genome to result in such different effects (well documented in Ian Stevenson’s and other cases.) A concept paper was drafted to engage other researchers in the process of identifying areas of the genome that could plausibly come from past-lives. (See .) While it might be worthwhile to engage in speculative sequencing of DNA in the chromosome areas, with focus on the genes/alleles mentioned in the concept paper, it may also be a distraction until we better understand the epigenome. This term suggests a composite of factors that mediate what actually happens as specific genes express themselves. Depending on the “on and off orders” given by the epigenome, protein production and cell reproduction vary greatly. Could such variances indicate a psychoplasm? This means better understanding of epigenesis will be required before the role of DNA in the hypothesized psychoplasm can be determined. However, we still seek DNA samples that represent both previous and present lives linked by an alleged reincarnation connection. Please contact us. Iris Comparisons in Reincarnation Cases: We are partners in a developing project to test whether iris recognition software can be used to compare biometric patterns between current subjects and their alleged past lives. This exciting development involves an American/Indian partnership. In 2005 the psychoplasm model excluded the iris (due to its randotypic nature of formation) from the biometric factors we considered likely to be involved in reincarnation. (Its unique patterns derive from random openings and closings of the fetus’ eyes during gestation.) Independently, also in 2005, psychiatrist Adrian Finkelstein, M.D. included it in his reincarnation model, but was unable to gain support for its validation. See his website at . It became more clear in the last couple of years that the epigenome (or a comprehensive soul genome) likely determines gene-expression variances. Thus, last year we expanded the psychoplasm model to include all the factors considered stable by biometric science, including the iris. Then, coincidentally, an opportunity presented itself for us to work together. Due to the initiative of a mutual colleague (Wilja Witcombe) working in India, a world-class eye research center with an interest in scientific research on reincarnation was identified. Dr. Finkelstein and I have agreed to be the principal investigators in a joint project involving technology and expertise of our Indian colleagues in a pilot test comparing iris images in suitable cases. You can help this project materialize in two ways: One is to help identify good reincarnation cases where the previous life was recent enough that close-up photographs are available. The other is to donate some amount to help fund the laboratory equipment and technical personnel needed. Contact us about possible cases. Go to the website link below for donations.  Donations Needed for Technical Support of the Project: All the biometric and DNA research efforts of the Reincarnation Experiment require funding for equipment, software, and occasional technical expertise. If you would like to contribute any amount to this effort, please go to the website home page:  and click on PayPal. Reincarnation Experiment in Croatia: In December I was hosted for a week in Croatia by researcher and media personality Drago Plecko. Our project was presented at a public lecture in Zagreb, following an arrival interview broadcast on the national Croatian TV “Good Day Show.” The lecture was followed by press stories and an hour-long, live TV interview on The Science Program. As a result of the public’s positive reaction, Croatia’s HRTV-1 has decided to make a full-length documentary on our reincarnation work. For more details on our cooperative project in Croatia with Drago Plecko, see . Ecuador Workshop (May) and ISSSEEM Presentation (June): Paul will conduct an international workshop on the Reincarnation Experiment in Loja, Ecuador the weekend of May 8-10 at Brian O’Leary’s retreat center Montesuenos. See events section of website www.montesuenos.org/. He will also present a scientific paper and PowerPoint exhibition of evidence from the Reincarnation Experiment at the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine’s (ISSSEEM) annual conference in Boulder, Colorado during the period June 26-29, 2009. issseem.org/. From July 10-12, also in Boulder, Colorado, Paul presents his developing cosmogony (a self-learning universe grounded in a primal consciousness as the substratum of energy and matter) at a private gathering of individuals studying channeled material relevant to reincarnation. Members of this group share an interest in extradimensional sources concerned with the evolution of human consciousness. If you are interested in this group, you may contact them by following these instructions: Step 1:  Go to the  www.jmessagegroup.co…. Step 2:  Click on “If you would like to join our group please click here.” Please follow the instructions from there. It is important to complete the BIO section as this is how the scribe “gets to know” the person requesting access.   Notable Late 2008 Events: Local groups of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Daytona Beach and Homosassa, Florida organized programs for Paul’s lecture on the Reincarnation Experiment.  Click on below link for details of these programs and other related public events, including radio interviews, for the last quarter of 2008. It also contains upcoming media events.  <www.reincarnationexp…> Edgar Mitchell and Quantum Hologram: Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar <www.edmitchellapollo…/> and Paul Von Ward met on October 21 to discuss areas where physics research on the concept of quantum holograms overlaps with and potentially supports the information-rich biofield concept of the psychoplasm (or soul genome). MRI technology provides holographic images based on energy fields that reflect the reality of coherent info-fields associated with live organisms that are transferred through space and time. Documentary Involving Reincarnation Experiment: A Canadian VisionTV documentary on reincarnation was broadcast March 3, 2009. It included segments on the project’s approach theory and presented a responsible overview of the reincarnation phenomenon. We were pleased to be included.  Public Participation: Almost a dozen professionals are cooperating with the Reincarnation Experiment on various efforts to evaluate the empirical evidence for the reincarnation hypothesis. They represent the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Russia, Australia, India and all regions of the U.S. Individuals are invited to submit potential reincarnation cases with empirical data for review by members of this group. We strive to corroborate the evidence and evaluate the relative strength of each case for publication. Feedback: Please give us your feedback on this newsletter, with suggestions for what you would like see. Also, please feel free to share this email with your friends and colleagues. Notice: If you wish to no longer receive the occasional Reincarnation Experiment reports, please reply with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. Thank you. Paul Von Ward, MPA & MSc Email: Paul.Von-Ward@post.h… Websites: www.vonward.com and www.reincarnationexp…