A reply to a post on Quora regarding reincarnation....

What personal experience has led you to consider the possibility that we do in fact reincarnate?

Richard Martini, Best selling author of books about the afterlife

Answered Oct 25, 2017

Our son’s first sentence:

“Dad, I was a monk in Nepal.”

I had yet to begin my research into the flipside, I was aware of Carol Bowman’s book “Children’s Past lives” (and the subsequent books by Dr. Jim Tucker with ample evidence of reincarnation studies) but this was way before that… this was while I was home in Chicago and my son was on the phone saying goodnight.

He was 2. It was his first sentence to me. As if he’d been waiting two years to say it.

I said “Put your mom on the phone.” We went over “why did he say that?” Asked if they were watching a tv show, reading a book - no, no, and more no. She didn’t know. I let it go. Until he was 3.

One day riding around in the car I said “Son, where did you meet me?” I’m looking in the rear view mirror at his little face in the child safety seat. He looked up at me and said “Tibet.” Stunned, I said “Where in Tibet?” He said “On the path.”

Trying not to react, or over react, I thought about all the paths in Tibet I’d traversed when going there with Robert Thurman filming a documentary for Tibet House in NYC. (“Journey into Tibet with Robert Thurman” on youtube) Then I remembered when we were on the sacred mt. Kailash, Professor Thurman had offered “If you make a wish on this spot, Tibetans say it will come true.” I thought of an appropriate wish… “Hmmm. A million dollars… No, wait, a three picture movie deal.” I couldn’t make up my mind so determined I would count down from ten and whatever came out of my mouth would be my wish.”

“I want a son.” I said. I froze. What? Why did I say that? I had no clue. It wasn’t one of the two options. We had a daughter back home in Santa Monica… but it was the last thing from my conscious mind. I thought “Wow, why did I say that? Is that like a genetic thing that happens at altitude?” I let it go.

But now I was in the car with that 3 year old son. “On the path?” He nodded. “Wait, was it on Mt. Kailash?”

He shook his head “no.” I thought… wow, I was on a lot of paths in Tibet…but then remembered a name… “Was it on Kangra?”

He nodded. “Yes, it was Kangra.”

Kangra is the name of the path that goes around Mt. Kailash. It’s technically more precise, as that is where I made the wish. He was correcting me BUT IN TIBETAN.

But I said “Kangra” and he repeated it. And he was 3. So I let it go. A year later, I was working on the film “Salt” in Manhattan, had sublet an apt, when I got a call from my wife while I was on set. “Did you show him this book?” “What book?” I asked. She said our son had gone to the library of the apt’s owner, pulled two books out, threw one in the trash. My wife said “What are you doing?” He said “That book is worthless. This is the important one.” It was Robert Thurman’s book “Circling the Sacred Mountain” (written with Tad Wise) about his trip around Mt. Kailash.

Our son opened the book, pointed to a photograph of the place where I made the wish, and said “That’s where I FOUND DADDY.”

He was 4. He could not read yet. I told my wife “I’ve never said the word Kailash to him other than that one time in the car a year ago.”

But wait… there’s more.

When he was 5, we were in a Tibetan shop in LA and he disappeared. I mean my wife came and said “He’s disappeared! I can’t find him!” I looked around. Not a big shop. I said “He’s got to be here somewhere.” She came back 5 minutes later with a look of shock on her face. She said “I found him in the back room. He was in front of a mirror. DOING FULL PROSTRATIONS. (The way Monks stand up, hands over head, to lips, to heart, then go all the way to the ground.) She watched him for 3 minutes before he caught her in the mirror.

He said “Oh mom. You need to meditate more and this is how you do it.” He pulled her to the ground. He looked at her and said “Can you hear the bells in the music?” (A CD of Tibetan music “Traditional Chants of Tibet” by the Nechung Monks) was on the player. He said “Whenever there’s the ringing of a bell; that means peace comes into the world.”

I listened to her and later asked a Tibetan friend what it meant “during Tibetan music, when you hear a bell - does that represent something, like wisdom?” He shook his head. “It means peace comes into the world.”

Not something I knew or was aware of. And finally, since he no longer remembers these conversations, I’ll end with this last one. (This is cribbed from a chapter in “Flipside: A Tourist’s Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife” - “My son the monk.”) I got a phone call five years ago that my mom was dying. My friend the nurse called to say she wouldn’t make the weekend.

I sat the kids down and said “Now look, the next time you see grandma, she’s going to be wearing heavy makeup and will be in a casket.” I was trying to prepare them for my own experience of seeing dead relatives when I was a kid. I thought it was weird they had on heavy makeup and were in a box.

Our son laughed. “Dad, it’s okay.” He picked up a half empty bottle of water. He said “Spirit is like water. Watch.” He threw the bottle on the ground then stomped on it. He started jumping up and down on it gleefully. I can remember looking at my wife like “what is he doing?” He stopped, then picked up the crushed, broken bottle - but it still had the cap on. He showed us the bottle of half empty water and said, “See? The water is okay.”

Easily the most profound teaching I’ve heard about the nature of spirit. Our bodies grow old, they get stomped on a squished, fall apart …but the water is always okay. It may transform into mist, turn into clouds, turn into rain.. but our spirit… is always okay.

One last comment - lest anyone think that only former monks have this kind of ability to “remember their past.” When he was four, we were watching TV and on came a sexy ad for Victoria’s Secret. It was a pretty young model wearing giant white wings, wearing a bathing suit and dancing provocatively. He jumped off the couch, pointed at the TV and said “I want that!”

I laughed, not really knowing what part of the image he meant. But then I remembered what he’d said to me on the phone years earlier. I said “Wait a second, I thought you said you were a monk in Nepal.”

“Not anymore!” he said, happily. “Not anymore.”

What I suggest parents of toddlers do is to ask questions they don’t know the answer to. Ask kids this non denominational question; “Did mommy and daddy choose you? Or did you choose us?” And see what the answer is. The trick is not to judge or react to whatever the answer is. But in about half of the accounts I’ve heard,the answers have been nothing short of amazing.

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Larry Walden

1h ago

You are a writer and a film producer who makes money on propagating reincarnation. I don’t know how credible you are but reincarnation is a myth and has never been proven. The Bible says man is appointed once to die than the judgement.

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Richard Martini

Original Author · 35m ago

I appreciate the opinion Larry. But let’s examine the opinion for a moment, if we may. I am a writer, but I am not a film producer. (Director, yes, proud member of the DGA, Producer, no.) I do not make money propogating anything - especially reincarnation. Propogating for profit - if what’s what I was doing - indeed, I could understand the comment.

But I’m not sure how to impart this except to say I am not theorizing about what people say - it’s not my opinion what people say - nor is it a belief that people say these things. I can’t convince people to say things under deep hypnosis (or as of late without any hypnosis) - I only turn on my camera. The hypnotherapist asks the questions - they supply the answers. From that perspective it’s like yelling at the xerox machine for printing out a page … it’s not my fault that people say these things. I just turn on my camera and film them doing so.

If one has an issue with how the copies come out of the machine - if they’re messy, don’t make sense - that i can address. But I’m not supplying the content. I’m reporting the content. There’s the idea that if someone builds a xerox machine - that by charging money for that copy they have suspect motives - well,there’s nothing I can say about that. I spent way too much of my time writing about these topics, sharing them with people - believe me profit is not, nor has every been a motive or an issue. If it was - I wouldn’t be swimming in the same debt pool everyone swims in.

Like sharing an opinion about my work - that’s fine, that’s an opinion. A person isn’t being paid to share that opinion, but time, other people’s time reading that reply - how does one quantify or monetize that experience? I suggest to everyone who gets anywhere near one of my books to “RETURN IT FOR A REFUND IF THIS BOTHERS YOU IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.”

I’m not reporting these things to make people upset. But I am reporting these things for a simple reason… because I like the planet. I’m assuming everyone reading this likes the planet. (And some appear to not like it). Well - I’ve filmed over 50 people claiming that we choose to come to the planet, that we can return here “if we want” - that is, if there’s oxygen, water and food for us to return to - but we can choose to return here. The people who say these things are christians, muslims, hindus, atheists, doctors,lawyers, film producers, secretaries, wealthy, poor, male, female,people struggling, people with no struggles, happy, sad, scientists, skeptics, believers - or not. I’ve filmed interviews with all of these people - and it doesn’t matter what they believed in PRIOR to the session. They all say relatively the same things. So my comments are for those people - the ones who have written me and say “thank you for changing my perspective.”

I get that one may not want to know this. I’ve learned some sign up for a lifetime where there was only one book that matters. That’s their path and choice and observation. Obviously - it goes without saying - that my reply was not meant for those who may be open to the research. If they aren’t - and read it, saw it, or otherwise had it land on their computer, I apologize.

I have found that the people who do read these reports - who do the research, who’ve read Ian Stevenson’s work at UVA, or Dr. Jim Tucker’s book “Return to Life”or Carol Bowman’s book “Children’s Past Lives” (or visit her website) all have a reason for doing so. Not that they “believe” or “don’t believe” but that they experienced something in their lifetime that compels them to check it out futher. That’s why I post here at Quora. I’m replying based on the research. If the research reports something contrary, I’m happy to report that. (I.e., if anyone under deep hypnosis said that the bible was accurate, or not opinion, I’d report that as well.)

But I’m happy to add, that we no longer live on a planet where people are burnt at the stake, hanged from a rafter because of science, research or alternative viewpoints. We can cite the research,post a link, and people can learn from the research on their own. I’ve visited the statue of Giordan Bruno more than once - a fellow who lived in an era where he reported his “out of body experience” where he saw that the earth went around the sun, where he saw how galaxies exist, other suns, other planets, and had the temerity to tell people about it. He talked about reincarnation as well, because he had “seen it” during one of his out of body experiences.

For that crime his tongue was “tied” and he was tortured and burned at the stake. His statue is in Campo Dei Fiori in Rome. A mute, silent - not not dead - witness to what happened to him for reporting what he saw.

My pal Giordano. Be like Giordano. Report the research, cite the research and let some other generation sort it out.

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Children's Past Lives via Carol Bowman

My pal Carol Bowman presenting evidence of reincarnation in some of the cases she's studied. She's a former student of Ian Stevenson at UVA who wrote peer reviewed studies of reincarnation while at UVA, and Carol is also a trained hypnotherapist (trained by the Newton Institute as well) so she's capable of doing some deep digging into the topic. 

"I'm not trying to verify a case in every past life memory... but I see it as an opportunity to help heal the soul (of the child)." It's a riviting true story. It was her book "Children's Past Lives" that I gave to Oxford professor Robert Beer that led to his suggesting I look into Michael Newton's work that put me on the Flipside path. 

If you have a couple of hours to learn about something mind bending; watch this. (And read the comments in the section below - other parents sharing their details). Her talk starts 50 seconds in (after the MUFON commercial) but Carol is the real deal. 

A scientist who has opened her research up to the possibility of the continuity of consciousness. Bravo! Thanks for sharing Carol Bowman!!!!

Carl Sagan, a visit to Coast to Coast and "Children's Past Lives"

A question asked on Quora the other day....

Hacking the Afterlife - link to the 
book "Hacking the Afterlife"

Why are Richard Martini's books labeled under New Age, not science in Amazon?

Richard Martini, Film Director Writer at Internet Movie Database (1985-present)

Answered Wed

My reply: 

"Ha! That’s an easy one. Because I label them, Amazon does not.

If I could label them under “science” I would get a lot of people arguing about the research. So why bother with arguing? As I’ve heard consistently in this research from folks on the Flipside: “Tell people to believe in the possibility of an afterlife, then they won’t waste any more of their time arguing about it.” 

Harry Dean and a furry friend

(That's a quote from Harry Dean Stanton from  "Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer")

But let’s consider what you’re asking for a moment. Have I been able to present my research to scientists? Yes, I have. It happened after I finished “Flipside.” I was invited to the University of Virginia’s Dept of Perceptual Studies to speak about what I’d learned by filming people under deep hypnosis about the afterlife.

In the room were some of the top scientists in the world with regard to consciousness studies, including Dr. Bruce Greyson (NDE), Dr. Jim Tucker (reincarnation) Ed Kelly PhD (Psi) and others. They had all read the book, and began our conversation with telling me that “hypnosis is not considered a valid scientific tool.” (And Ian Stevenson, the founder of DOPS had written about why that’s the case.)

(A good place to take a look at near death experiences is IANDS.ORG - The website for DOPS is here: (see article below)

Fortunately, I was aware of Ian’s prejudice against the practice, and agreed wholeheartedly that “hypnosis as it was practiced by Freud” is not a valid tool. Too many factors can influence the process, including the desire of the patient to be cured, the doctor wanted to effect a cure, as well as the time element - “in the next hour please tell me why you’ve got a phobia.”

I pointed out that in Michael Newton’s case (before I was aware of Dr. Helen Wambach’s identical research a decade earlier) the time element was gone - as the sessions took from four to six hours. The questions by design were neutral; “What do you see if anything? Where are we now? Is it day or night? Are you a man or a woman?” But most importantly, and this was my point of pursuing this line of research, it didn’t matter who the person was asking the questions, it didn’t matter who the person was answering the questions, they all said relatively the same things about the journey; having a guide or guides, seeing their friends or loved ones in a “soul group,” all visited a “council” where they saw their life review, etc.

I argued that the fact that thousands of people across the globe said the same basic things during their session created a database of research. I gave them a challenge; to take any person off the street, or anyone that they chose, a skeptic, didn’t matter, and have them do a session; if they got contrary results, then fine the experiment was over; end of discussion. 

But if they got the same results that Michael Newton did, or that I was claiming anyone could, then it was up to them as scientists to prove why that is the case.

Because I am not a scientist. I’m a filmmaker. All I was doing was filming these people (which no one had done before) and transcribing exactly what they said, and comparing what they said - different hypnotherapists, different people from across the globe. Everyone said relatively the same thing.

Ultimately, I’ve learned second hand that indeed they have done that - that someone who is in the film “Flipside” has done sessions with scientists and had the same results. As I said at the time “It’s not up to me to prove why that’s the case, I’m just a filmmaker. If you guys are scientists, then it’s up to you why that is the case.”

They pointed out that it was nearly impossible to mount a university based study on what I was proposing. It would cost money, and the people who sponsor these kinds of studies are by and large pharmacological entities who want the results of the tests to help them market and sell their products. That’s not a pejorative - it’s just stating the facts. Very hard to mount a study about something if someone isn’t financing it. (I’m glad to see that DOPS has just published results of a study about reincarnation in children.) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/...

Now that study is science. (I don’t need to be a scientist to stand outside the school and point in the right direction.)

This topic came up the other day when I was filming an interview with a medium who was answering questions I was posing to people on the flipside. (Jennifer Shaffer - “Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer”) At some point, I was asking questions directly to Carl Sagan. (Yes, that Carl Sagan.) I asked “Carl” if he had any advice for his fans.

Jennifer: “He says tell them to stop wasting time doing what he did.”

Rich: “Arguing about the afterlife?”

J: It’s so pointless.

R: Well how can we help them?

J: It’s paradise over here.

R: But how can we help them?

J: We can’t.

R: So these books are not helping. Is that what you’re saying, these books are a waste of time Carl, “Mr. Blue Dot?” (I have a tendency to tease whomever I’m talking to).

J: They’re all laughing. “No. The books are timeless, people can come or go and think what they’ll think and they’ll find them… like if I (Jennifer) had come across your book “Flipside” in my 20’s I wouldn’t have been ready for it, but coming across it when I did was the perfect time for it.” 

(Excerpt from upcoming Third Book of “Backstage Pass to the Flipside: Talking to the Afterlife with Jennifer Shaffer.” All Rights Reserved. Copyright Rich Martini 2018)

So I’m not concerned AT ALL whether people find this research annoying, promising, science or fantasy. I know what I know, and I can only report what I’ve experienced, what I’ve filmed and transcribed. I’ll leave it up to posterity to figure out whether or not any of it is accurate. But thanks for the shout out! 

Happy Thanksgiving.'

Book Two - both available on Audible.com

I'll be appearing with George Noory this coming Dec. 2nd at 10 p.m. PST.  Tune in if you'd like to hear the latest about whatever the latest thing is that's on my mind.  Always a treat to talk to George.

George and moi

Here's the article from DOPS on the scientific research regarding children remembering past lives:

https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/research-area/children-who-report-memories-of-previous-lives/

"Some young children, usually between the ages of 2 and 5, speak about memories of a previous life they claim to have lived. At the same time they often show behaviors, such as phobias or preferences, that are unusual within the context of their particular family and cannot be explained by any current life events. These memories appear to be concordant with the child’s statements about a previous life.

In many cases of this type, the child’s statements have been shown to correspond accurately to facts in the life and death of a deceased person. Some of the children have birthmarks and birth defects that correspond to wounds or other marks on the deceased person whose life is being remembered by the child.  In numerous cases postmortem reports have confirmed these correspondences. Older children may retain these apparent memories, but generally they seem to fade around the age of 7 .  The young subjects of these cases have been found all over the world including Europe and North America.

For the past 16 years, Dr. Jim Tucker, now the director of the Division of Perceptual Studies, has focused mainly on cases found in the United States. His most recent book Return to Life offers accounts of  very strong American cases of young children who remember previous lives.

Types of Statements a Child Might Make:

Statements made by a child who seems to be remembering a previous life can be quite varied. The following is not an exhaustive list by any means. It is designed to give an idea of the kinds of things a parent or caregiver might hear, and in our Western culture, tend to dismiss as fantasy. It is also true that a child might say one or more of these things and not be remembering a previous life. It is probably best not to pump a child for information, nor to try and prevent him or her from saying such things.

• “You’re not my mommy/daddy.”
• “I have another mommy/daddy.”
• “When I was big, I …(used to have blue eyes/had a car, etc.).”
• “That happened before I was in mommy’s tummy.”
• “I have a wife/husband/children.”
• “I used to…(drive a truck/live in another town, etc.)”
• “I died … (in a car accident/after I fell, etc.)”
• “Remember when I …(lived in that other house/was your daddy, etc.)”

Please contact us if your child appears to be having memories of a previous life:

• We are very interested in hearing about cases of young children who are currently spontaneously speaking about memories of a previous life.  If you are a parent or a caretaker of a young child, please contact us to submit your observations and experiences of your child’s behaviors and statements about memories of a previous life.

Advice to parents of children who are reporting memories of a previous life.

• If you are a parent seeking advice about your child who seems to remember a previous life, please refer to Advice to Parents.

Books about the research being done at DOPS into memories of previous lives:

We invite you to view a list of books on reincarnation written by our faculty. The list includes books written by our director, Dr. Jim Tucker, as well as the long list of books authored by our founder, Dr. Ian Stevenson.  Among the many ground breaking books by Dr. Stevenson is his comprehensive two volume set, Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, Volumes I and II. In this 2268 page, two volume set, Dr. Stevenson wrote about his extensive research into cases of birthmarks and birth defects which appeared to strongly correlate to memories of a past life in particular subjects. Dr. Stevenson also wrote an abridged version of this research called Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect.

In 2013, Dr. Jim Tucker, appointed director of the Division of Perceptual Studies in 2014, authored his second book on the topic of cases of children who report memories of a previous life. In his most recent book Return to Life, Dr. Tucker describes the research into strong American cases being carried out at DOPS. In Tucker’s first book, Life Before Life, he reviews forty years of research into children who report memories of previous lives. This book contains some accounts of interesting American cases, as well as descriptions of Dr. Ian Stevenson’s classic cases in Asia.

(RM: I'd include Carol Bowman's work "Children's Past Lives" in this list) 

Other publications on past-life memories:

For a list of academic papers specifically on the study of past life memories written by our faculty, please see Publications on Past-life Memories.

Expanded List of Publications:

To view the expanded list of publications generated by the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies researchers, go to the Academic Publications Page.