From sub-Saharan Africa to the U.S.'s Pacific Northwest Coast, people around the world believe in reincarnation. This workshop will sample the rebirth beliefs of different cultures, beginning with the ancient Greek concept of metempsychosis, in which a human soul leaves the body after death, drinks of the river of forgetfulness, and is reborn according to its actions while alive. Next we travel to traditional Tibet, where there is no "soul," but karma dictates rebirth for all except reincarnate lamas. We end with Ian Stevenson's 20th century research on children who claim to remember previous lives. |
