Have you ever hated or disliked something for no logical reason? Do you fear an activity without knowing why? Are these seemingly unjustified fears a product of life experiences manifesting in ways we would never expect? Or is the answer far more complicated?
For example, I hate Tuesdays, but maybe hate is too strong of a word; I dislike Tuesdays, and I've always disliked Tuesdays, but I've never understood why. If anything bad is going to happen, it will be on a Tuesday. Arguments, bad news, stuff breaking down, erroneous and terrible events – they all happen on a Tuesday.
Or do they?
Is Past-Life Experience a Reasonable Idea?
Common sense screams that just maybe, my negative perceptions have evolved into a self-fulfilling prophecy that I choose to continually perpetuate. Unfortunately, this still falls short when trying to explain, where my initial distaste stems from. As far as I am aware, I have endured no catastrophic event that I can specifically link to any Tuesday in this life of mine. A fact that only served to pose further questions.
What if, and some might consider it a big what if, my dislike of Tuesdays is caused by something I'm not aware of, such as a past life? Truthfully, I am not altogether sold on the idea of having lived a past life, but I cannot simply dismiss it either. The brain attempts to seek out the logical and reasonable in any given situation, but the thought of being somebody else before being me, is not in the least logical to me. However, it could potentially be a reasonable explanation for my dislike of Tuesdays, or indeed of any phobia or fear that materializes without cause.
In reality though, how jaded is my thought process? Let's investigate.
More Believers Than Skeptics
Mary Lee LaBay, Ph.D., is the author of six books on hypnotherapy, past-life regression, self-hypnosis, strategies of personal philosophy, and relationships. On her website, Maryleelabay.com, LaBay writes, "The root causes of phobias, fears, blocks, and challenges, often surface during regressions." In fact, says LaBay, if a person drowned in a previous life, an irrational fear of water in this life, should not be so surprising.
Past-life regression has fascinated people for years and as with any controversial subject, it has its supporters and skeptics. Scientists have even attempted to explain away how past-life regression works through physics – mainly, that we have far more dimensions beyond the length, width and height that we're used to perceiving. The entire topic was discussed at some length in the 2008 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, "Does Past-Life Regression Work?" Read it, it's fascinating.
So ... Does Past-Life Regression Therapy Work?
The answer as to whether regression therapy works or not, means one must possess a belief in reincarnation. According to a 2005 Gallup Poll, twenty percent of those surveyed, said they were indeed believers. In fact, most of the information I unearthed, seemed to lean towards supporting a phobia and past-life connection; although I did discover one marginal dissenter in the form of Hypnosis.org's, Calvin D. Banyan, MA, BCH, CI.
While Banyan does not absolutely decry the past-life – phobia link, he did suggest it should be approached with caution. Banyan suggests in, "Why You Should Not Do Past Life Regression Therapy (On Purpose)," that therapists should not be so quick to assume that all phobias are linked to previous lives. Just the simple act of hypnosis, he says, can push an, "Individual ... [to] experience an improvement in the ability to recall events from her past." Essentially, Banyan implies, it is possible that a present life experience contributed to a phobia, but our consciousness simply buried it.
History talks, doesn't it?
In my own quest, without hypnosis, I neither cannot recall any such event nor have no definitive answer as to why I dislike Tuesdays. So, I decided to change my approach and turn to history, and I was a little shocked at some of the discoveries I made.
For example, many bear an inherent fear of Friday the 13th, which is called friggatriskaidekaphobia, by the way. Yet, apparently, in several Spanish-speaking countries and Greece, Tuesday the 13th is considered the day of bad luck. Furthermore:
- The Fall of Constantinople, which signaled the end of the Byzantine Empire, occurred on a Tuesday
- Black Tuesday, is the day the New York Stock Exchange crashed in Oct. 1929
- The US always holds its elections on Super Tuesday
- 9/11 occurred on a Tuesday in 2001
- On Tuesday, Jan. 28, 1986, seventy-three seconds after takeoff, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded
- The deadliest Atlantic tropical cyclone of all time, the Great Hurricane of 1780, first pounded Barbados, Martinique, and Sint Eustatius on Tuesday, Oct. 10. It killed an estimated 22,000 people
Bearing this in mind, I would hazard a guess and say that enough negative historical events have occurred on a Tuesday to warrant my dislike of this day of the week. Of course, whether I actually ever experienced any of them, I cannot possibly know, so I shall leave you with the following thought.
When my time comes; if I happen to depart this earth on a "particular" day of the week, I'd like to draw your attention to the words of Dutch athlete, Johan Cruijff. In my opinion, ( I swear he knew I would be writing this article one day), he was absolutely spot on when he said; "Coincidence is logical."
Sources:
- LaBay, Mary Lee. "Past Life Regression and Overcoming Phobias and Challenges." Maryleelabay.com. Undated
- Oz, Mehmet. "Does Past-Life Regression Work?" The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah.com. June 24, 2008
- Banyan, Calvin. D. "Why You Should Not Do Past Life Regression Therapy (On Purpose)." Hypnosis.org. 2001
- Moore, David W. "Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal." Gallup Poll. Home.sandiego.edu. June 16, 2005
Elizabeth Batt - Elizabeth Batt is a former large animal nurse, certified NREMT, lover of equines and conservationist.
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