R is for Reincarnation

I was lying on a couch, hands at my sides, eyes closed.  Around me I could hear the rustling of others as they shifted in their chairs.  "At the count of three you will return to the present, fully restored and refreshed."  As instructed I opened my eyes and slowly sat up.  I was unsure if what I had experienced was a product of my imagination or if I had indeed seen myself in a previous life.  I stood up and another particpant took my place.

I had attended the session with no real expectations but hoped when I left to have come to a conclusion if reincarnation was hocus-pocus or the real deal.    I was fifth in line of those who volunteered to be regressed.  The hypnotist followed the same routine with each of us.  Close your eyes, relax your body, imagine floating up in the air and then, at the count of ten, return to the ground feet first and describe your surroundings.

I don't remember much about the first three people but the fourth was a man in his late twenties, slight of build with thinning hair, an average Joe with a slight midwest accent.  During the regression his voice became deeper and when the hypnotist asked questions the midwest accent was gone, replaced by a heavy Scottish brogue.  He claimed to have been a mason named Blain McDougal.  The hair on the back of my neck stood straight up.

When my turn came I was nervous.  I closed my eyes,  floating up until I was told to return to the ground, and began describing what I saw.  Then scene before me was a flat prarie, a small wooden house, no trees.  When asked what my name was I identified myself as Mrs. Potter and said I was a school teacher. The year was 1850.   But the whole time I'm "seeing" this I am 100% in the present.  I can hear the people around me, I'm fully aware of lying on the couch and that a bunch of people I didn't know were staring at my prostrate form.  Soon I was being "returned" to present day and it was the next person's turn.

I've thought about that experience many times.  I want proof of life after life, I want to know if our soul survives death, if there is a purpose for our being here.  I didn't find the answer I was looking for but I continue to ask the question.