Life, in a box.
This brilliant X Box video was pulled off the air. Was it just too morbid for the masses? We at the Reincarnationist think it’s a great illustration of just how fleeting one life on earth really is!

Enjoy.

Even skeptics must admit, the cat that predicts death is mysterious. Is there some sign, some sort of difference in the life force of being when it is about to pass away? Oscar the cat seems to be able to sense death with remarkable accuracy. What is he sensing exactly?

Oscar The Cat Predicts Patients’ Deaths
By RAY HENRY

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live.

“He doesn’t make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die,” said Dr. David Dosa in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“Many family members take some solace from it. They appreciate the companionship that the cat provides for their dying loved one,” said Dosa, a geriatrician and assistant professor of medicine at Brown University…

Read the entire article here.

“When the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box.”
-Italian Proverb

I studied the Bible in college, I’ve read many Buddhist texts, and I’ve even been known to crack open the Book of Mormon when I find it hiding in motels…but the most interesting, mysterious, and utterly mindboggling religious text I’ve ever read is The Urantia Book (According to this tome, Urantia is the “true” name of Earth.) Essential hip reading in the ’70’s, my father had a copy in his bookshelf when I was growing up and for laughs he’d read a passage here and there as a trippy bedtime story of sorts. Check it out for yourself and consider getting your own copy for the bookshelf (it has been translated into numerous languages). It’s the ultimate conversation piece and from the very first section – Part I: The Central and Superuniverses (all you’ve ever wanted to know about the intricacies of the universes in EXTREME detail, yes, “universes” with an “s”) – you’ll be hooked to read on and blow your mind a little more…

“The Urantia Book was written in 1934-1935 and published in 1955. The book proclaims to be authored by numerous supermortal (angel-like) beings as a Revelation to our world. It is the first Epochal Revelation since Jesus and the fifth since the beginning of human life on Earth. No humans are associated with authoring The Urantia Book and the technique whereby the papers were transcribed is unknown. Like all other religious books, the contents should be evaluated by the fruits of the spirit which the teachings produce, not by any claim of authorship. You may want to treat this book as fascinating literature until the spiritual quality authenticates its message in your soul. The final judge of its validity must be the “indwelling spirit of God” within you…” (from truthbook.com)

Tune in to this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge:

The Brain and Belief

“Independent producer Karen Michel reports that some of the country’s leading neuro-biologists are collaborating with Buddhist monks in an effort to understand the effects of meditation on the mind and the brain. Andrew Newberg directs the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania, and he tells Steve Paulson what brain imaging technology can tell us about the experiences of Franciscan nuns and Pentecostalists at prayer...”

As life saving and resuscitation techniques improve there are more and more accounts of Near-Death Experiences. In this short video clip Gary Habermas delivers an account of the amazing near-death experience of a little girl from Idaho.

(From The Mindful Hack*) “Agnostic pediatric intern and brain specialist Melvin Morse admitted a small girl, Katie, to a mid Western American emergency room. She was said to have been under water for nineteen minutes and was comatose. She was hooked up in the ICU but was not treated. She came to three days later, and remembered the two doctors who worked on her. That is, she watched them at work on her while she had no brain wave activity (“profoundly comatose”). She recalled other details that could later be verified.”

*(The Mindful Hack is a Web log of Denyse O’Leary, co-author of The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist’s case for the existence of the soul (HarperOne August 2007). The Mindful Hack publishes information of interest on the relationship between the mind and the brain. O’Leary also publishes the Post-Darwinist, which keeps up with the intelligent design controversy.)

Here’s a new book on reincarnation that looks incredible – New Clothes for Old Souls: Worldwide Evidence for Reincarnation . Author Guy Lyon Playfair draws on many conversations he has had with Erlendur Haraldsson, who can now be regarded as the late Dr. Ian Stevenson’s successor, his background in psychology being the perfect complement to Ian’s medical and psychiatric background.

Dear Readers,

Remember the first book that meant something to you? For me it was THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was more than magical; it was deeply mysterious with a garden locked up and hidden behind a stone wall with overgrown trees that reached for the sky. I loved the suspense that coursed through the storyline and kept me turning the pages.

THE SECRET GARDEN also was the first book that made me think about writing a book of my own. One night as my mother read it to me I stopped her and asked if we could go to see the garden the next day. She explained it was make believe. Before this moment, I’d never connected the concept of make believe to books. That night I told my mother that when I grew up I was going to write books about discovering a secret garden.

Writing a suspense novel is very much like uncovering gardens that have been hidden and secreted away. The secrets in my newest novel, THE REINCARNATIONIST, revolve around a subject that has deep significance for many people — reincarnation. My fascination with this topic began when I was a child and it’s a book that I’ve been working on for more than nine years.

In my research I discovered I was in good company: Believers in Reincarnation throughout history include Carl Jung, Rudyard Kipling, Einstein, Ben Franklin, Napoleon, Mark Twain, General George Patton, Louisa May Alcott, Tolstoy, Henry Ford, Goethe, the Baal Shem Tov, Nietzsche, Gandhi, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Schweitzer, Walt Whitman, Wordsworth, Levi ibn Habib (the Ralbah), Rumi, Thoreau, Socrates, Jesus Christ in the Gnostic Gospels, Voltaire, Josephus, Balzac, Gauguin, Pythagoras, Kabbalists, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.

I’ve learned that there currently are over 26 million people who are believers in reincarnation — and I’ve created this blog as a hub for “reincarnationists” – a place to find news related to reincarnation, read reviews of books on the subject, and discover links to other blogs and websites on reincarnation and related intriguing topics.

I love reading page turners that give you something to think about, something that resonates and matters. I hope that’s what this novel does for you.

I hope you visit the book’s website to watch an interview or a booktrailer or to tune in to a discussion about the novel and its fascinating subject matter. I look forward to hearing what you have to say about the book.

— M.J.

Welcome to the Lily Dale Assembly:

Hop in your car and drive to New York state to visit this Spiritualist destination! Why not? You only live once (or do you?…)

Since it was established in 1879, Lily Dale has been the world’s largest center for spiritual development and the practice of the Spiritualist religion. During the summer, from late June through the first Sunday in September, tens of thousands of visitors attend the wide array of programs offered on the grounds.

The Definition of A Spiritualist

One who believes, as the basis of his or her religion, in the continuity of life and in individual responsibility. Some, but not all, Spiritualists are Mediums and/or Healers. Spiritualists endeavor to find the truth in all things and to live their lives in accordance therewith.

I found this on the incredibly thought provoking Long Now Foundation blog – It’s a film by a New York-based photographer, Noah Kalina. Kalina took a photo of himself every day for six years. Art seems to be one of the most effective ways to reflect on the emotional and physical states of being alive in a body…