Alternative Explanations for Reincarnation Evidence with James G. Matlock

James G. Matlock, PhD, an anthropologist, is coauthor (with Erlendur Haraldsson) of I Saw a Light and Came Here: Children's Experiences of Reincarnation. He is a regular contributor to the online Psi Encyclopedia sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research in London. He has authored dozens of academic papers concerning reincarnation and related areas.

Here he notes that alternative explanations for the reincarnation evidence based on the memories reported by young children have come from both within and without the parapsychological community. Explanations that involve some form of psi include "archetypal synchronistic resonance" and "living agent psi". Explanations offered by outsiders primarily focus on error and fraud. Matlock urges all critics to pay close attention to the details of the case reports.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980).

(Recorded on November 12, 2017)

[kimcollie]

It's very hard, IMO, to reject the conclusions of Dr. Matlock's study of the data. Forty years of consistent inquiry led him to abandon many of the alternate explanations. My highest regards to the efforts of an open-minded & focused scholar!

[natilove]

Always such a joy to watch these videos!

[Iknowknow]

Jeffery’s comments at 23:05 are bang on at least as far as myself. But I’ve always remembered Socrates’ caveat in the PHAEDO where after speaking at length about the soul’s journey post-mortem he adds “what I’ve said is only an appropriate description “ implying that such things can never be truly described in terms of our physical frame of reference ! His warning has always made me cautious about fully embracing any afterlife scenarios.

[TheDjpdjp]

Brilliant discussion as always on this channel!

[susanallen]

My problem with this video, as someone who is just beginning to research it, is that it assumes that everyone is very familiar with terms such as synchronicity or PSY, etc and never actually explains clearly what they are, even though they say they are going to do so.

[Paddyllfixit]

Taking an empirical view of the data and examining it under close scrutiny, it does actually seem to be what it appears to be. With all the relevant factors and commonalities, no other alternative explanation adequately covers all the angles. And even the "flaws" in some cases do not bear any significant relevance to the overall picture. It also strongly indicates that Consciousness is Primary.

[JayBobJayBob]

Synchronicity as an explanation of reincarnation feels like an attempt to appease the materialist skeptics by hitching a ride off Jung.

[RodCornholio]

There's nothing disappointing about these videos. What sucks is dealing with my own insatiable appetite for more and impatience in wanting them sooner.

[Xscott]

Just now realized after watching many of these videos that the art piece in the center depicts human figures holding hands in a circle. Nice work - great video thanks.

[johnmiller]

Jeffrey you rock! You ask the type of questions that often bring out all the details in a subject. It's somewhat rare that at the end of one of these video's I can say "why the heck didn't they consider/talk about such and such". Yet that's how I often feel when watching these kinds of videos on lots of different subjects on other websites. You da man! Maybe you should interview me and then I can find out who I am and what I'm all about because I really am not sure at all and maybe I'm just not asking the right questions. Having said all that I think the title for this video is a bit misleading. It more accurately should be "Debunking" alternative explanations for reincarnation.

[bajajones]

going to review all episodes. GRAZIE... Dr. Jeff!

[royzlatanestevez]

Excuse me, what's the title of the paper on synchronistic resonance?

[bonjonbovine]

interesting talk. many thanks to mr. matlock, and jeffrey as always. fanks guys.

[siekiera]

Thanks Jeffrey for another interesting interview.
I wonder, are there any cases when people (children) spontaneously (without help of a hypnotic regression) recall more than 1 reincarnation ?

[jeremyc]

I like this channel but as a follower of Buddhism I find it disheartening that Buddhism is not more fully discussed, especially as Buddhism delves into many of the topics discussed on this channel.

[thebestusername]

I've been so excited to sit down and watch this! I finally have the time. I've already liked the video and haven't even watched yet, lol. I do that with all of your videos and they never disappoint ;)

[shawnasmith]

In your other video, you talked about how 2/3 of people involved in this were males and that they died of a violent death, it stood out in my mind that the only way into Valhalla is to die in battle, all others go some where else ... just an observation ...

[helenab]

Where is this data they keep asking us to look at?

[naturalisted]

I don't believe in reincarnation, but I do believe that there will always be a "You" or First-person. Because it is impossible to experience nothingness. So if there's no soul or afterlife (heaven) then the only show in town seems to be to experience some state of consciousness in a physical organism.

Your death effectively causes a replacement of Your conscious experience with a completely new one. Someone else's, which That being comes to experience their Self just as you're seeing the world (first person) right now (through your eyes) there will always be a "You"...

[goodmaro]

The behavioral evidence for reincarnation seems strongly contradicted in these childhood cases by the fact that these child experiencers, although they may exhibit some behavioral traits peculiar to their putative individual predecessors, are missing the very common adult behaviors. Why do they need to be toilet trained, learn language skills, and learn to walk? That's why I lean toward the explanations they're referring to collectively as "psi".