Early Futures

Futures in Children’s Past Lives

Recently I came across the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia. In this division they study (among other rarely researched experiences) children who’ve experienced a form of past life. After reading the brief summary book, Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation, I found this subject to be incredibly relevant to futures and early childhood.

The most revealing element is the age when most of the children begin to discuss, and most heavily, their “memories” of a past life. It is between the ages of 2-5 years. This is precisely the age where I focus my energy for future studies research as well, because of the rare and acceptable commingling of disparate forces occurring during this time. Just as future studies research is attempting to study, dismantle and reinforce the multiplicity of systems, in order to project new ways of living into these systems or break “free” of them, research on children remembering past lives attempts to study, dismantle and reinforce these same larger, ungraspable and yet predictable systems. By integrating a variety of research that operates in a similar manner, towards similar goals, hopefully futures through help from young children with past lives will allow for becomings and oscillations closer to the heart of our varied and strange existence.

For more information, you can read some of the articles by the researchers at UVA:
Unusual Play in Young Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives (Stevenson)
A Scale to Measure the Strength of Children’s Claims…(Tucker)
Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives: Past, Present and Future Research (Tucker)

Ideally, if the Division hasn’t already developed one, I will find a training program for early childhood educators to be able to facilitate and recognize children who may be showing signs of having remembered a previous life. More to come when this becomes available…

(Drawing on home page by Clara, age 4)

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