Why Do So Many People Claim To Be Famous In A Past Life?

[Sunniva]

Everybody reincarnates. Statistically it means that a certain percentage of human beings presently alive must have had a socalled 'famous past life', but according to the studies of Helen Wambauch, Ph.D. (1978) only about 10% of those, who remember past lives, can recall a 'famous' one.

As put by Karen:

That leaves a disproportionate incidence of famous past life claims among those who talk about them, as the existence of multiple claims for the same famous past life proves. And yes, it is frustrating for those who are struggling to solidify their own acceptance of the reincarnation paradigm, and those who are trying to disseminate reincarnation evidence so as to enhance public knowledge of it, as the number of famous past life claims discredits and confuses the whole idea.

Still, it can't be denied that some 'claims to fame' are real and valid. However, as implied above, 'famous past lives' is a controversial subject within reincarnation, posing difficulties to both those who claim them, and those who don't. Hopefully this thread will shed some light on some of the questions often asked.

What are 'famous past lives'? Why do people claim them? Why are people so sceptical about it? And what are you going to do if you have memories of being a famous person?

What are 'famous past lives'?
Firstly, it's important to remember that a 'famous past life' is just another incarnation in a long row of reincarnations. Fame is not a trait in your character, but an adjective based on the relative number of people who know, or knew you, and generally, history dictates who is famous and who is not. 'Famous past lives' range from royalty to super stars, from criminals to heroes. These people may not have experienced the fame when they were alive, like an artist or philosopher only being recognized post mortem, or they may have experienced every facet of the word, like Marilyn Monroe or Elvis. Some people became famous because of something they did, good or bad, but may generally have played a rather insignificant part in history. What I am attempting to illustrate is that 'fame' is many things, and will be experienced differently by different people.

Secondly, in the bigger scheme of things, famous people have no advantage in their spiritual growth just because they were famous. So basically, when researching your past lives, it's not really important whether your past incarnation was famous or not. As with any past life, what is important are the lessons learnt, or not learnt, the reasons for living that specific life, and making the choices you did. The most important thing in that person's life was most likely something within themself, or between them and their surroundings that history didn't record.

That being said, recalling a 'famous past life' does offer some advantages, the main one being that they're often much easier to research, and thus validate, than non-famous past lives. Depending on how famous the person was, the internet, libraries and book shops will hold a vast amount of information about them. BUT, be careful! It's very easy to be influenced by movies, books, paintings, lectures, etc. on that particular person and their time. Also keep a critical mind when studying historical sources. Most of history was, and still is, written with a certain political agenda that influences the way people and their achievements are portrayed. Some people are made to look better or worse than they were, fact and fiction are sometimes mixed up with an exclusion of details that would compromise the general picture.

Why are people so sceptical?
People who claim a famous past life often have to stand more scrutiny than those with non-past lives. The main reason for this was mentioned in the beginning of this thread: the disproportionate incidences of famous past life claims compared to the amount of famous people. If you search the internet you will find many people who claim to be reincarnations of e.g. Anne Boleyn, Marilyn Monroe, or Napoleon, and obviously they can't all be right.

Reincarnation is a controversial subject, even to some believers, and credibility is essential when it comes to past life memories. On this messageboard we often see people claiming a famous past life and yes, they often have to stand more scrutiny than others, because there are so many other aspects to claiming a past life than just to be interested in reincarnation, and as mentioned above, it's very easy to be influenced by all of the available information. We have to ask critical questions, because it would hurt the credibility of this forum if we just accepted any claim that was made.

Why do some people claim a famous past life if they didn't have one?
There are many different reasons why people would like others to believe that they've had a famous past life.
The following was written by Karen:

1) Misinterpretation due to ignorance of history. Hypothetical example: a woman remembers that her name was Cleopatra, and so concludes she was the Cleopatra VII of Egypt, the famous one... because she doesn't realize that Cleopatra was actually a common name in ancient Macedonia, and so she could have been any one of thousands of women by that name. Another example: a person remembers a view of a historical figure, and concludes that he was that person, rather than a friend, family member, acquaintance, or anyone who might have seen that historical figure in public.

2) Archetypal energy: a person connects psychically with a major historical event or person due to its symbolic relevance to his own life, and mistakes the experience for a past-life memory.

3) Cryptomnesia: a person mistakes the memory of seeing a historic scene in a movie/TV show, or reading a scene, for a past-life memory.

4) Conscious fraud: a person knowingly misrepresents himself as having a famous past life, for financial gain or to receive adulation. (In my experience, this is extremely rare.)

5) Delusion caused by a mental disorder that can produce grandiose claims of all sorts, for example: Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

The challenge of past life memories is that often they are subtle, fleeting, fluid, light on hard facts and hard to interpret. Most of us have a yearning to appear special, so that if something appears to suggest we were someone special in a past life, we are eager to accept that, and many people will accept it on what is, in truth, flimsy evidence.

I recommend some degree of rigor in one's standard of evidence, both for one's own claims, and when judging those of others. A view of an ancient army does not make the person who remembers it the general, he might have been a soldier, a camp-follower, an onlooker. A feeling of resonance with a picture of a historical figure might have all sorts of explanations, from one having caught a glimpse of that person in a past life, to a symbolic relevance to one's own life, to an unconscious yearning to be similar to that person. Personality or experiential similarities may simply be the result of certain personality traits and experiences being common to many people.

To make a famous past life claim when other explanations for one's experiences are equally, or more likely, is not intellectually legitimate, and discredits all true past life memories as well as the field of reincarnation study itself. Before making a famous past life claim, a person should amass sufficient evidence as to defy any other explanation. Likewise, I do not wholly recommend accepting any claim without such evidence.

Further reading
Here are some older threads with good points on famous past lives, and some of the problems that people who claim them may encounter:

Famous People

Avoiding the Acceptance Trap

Does consciousness go to what it is familiar with?

 

[ChrisR]

Updated FAQ