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Could I get an honest opinion?

Jody

Jody

Senior Registered
Here is a link to a picture of Sir William Penn. (To open in a new window, right click on Windows systems, that's easier for comparison purposes)

Here is a link to a picture of John Paul Jones.

Here is a link to a picture of me.

Does anyone else see a resemblance? I've written earlier about my speculations about Paul Jones. I will also say I remember attending my own funeral at the very same church Sir William Penn was buried.
 
Yes, I see a resemblance. Something about the shape of your nose combined with your eyes. I've often wondered if I look anything like my former self, Mary Carter, and I tend to doubt it, as she was described as a "smart and rather good-looking girl." :)
 
@ Jody:


Thank you for sharing your photo comparisons. I would like to post one as well, but I am too paranoid. To answer your question, I see more of a resemblance with Sir William Penn, but looks don't matter- especially when one is trying to find the truth about themselves. However, I got the same vibe (energy) from looking at your photo of John Paul Jones. Hope this helps!


@ Nightrain1:


I see Benjamin Franklin too but they don't have the same energy:


http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/frank/images/Benjamin%20Franklin%20Photo0001.jpg


@ J_J_Kamp:


Don't be so hard on yourself- your beautiful! :)
 
My honest opinion is that I don't really believe that people carry a physical resemblance from life to life. When trying to understand and explain reincarnation, I think it complicates matters to bring in genetics since this is a physical concept.


I strongly believe in science when it comes to this and our looks are determined by the genes that run in our respective families.


When people, who are not related resemble each other, I think it's solely a question of genetic coincidence. I have a friend, who is the spitting image of the writer Paul Auster (when P. A. was young). These things happens and need not be supernatural, imo ;)
 
Thank you, everyone, for your responses! As you can imagine, there's no one here I can really ask about these kinds of things without seeming like some kind of nut. And of course, it's kind of hard for me to be objective.


If I really was Sir William Penn (and I'll admit I know very little about him) that would explain the mystery of why I remembered being married with two sons and buried in "Bristol Cathedral" during my "English privateer life" during the "Revolutionary War" (John Paul Jones was a Scotsman who fought for the Americans during the American Revolutionary War, and died unmarried in Paris). Other than that, it's striking what Sir William Penn and John Paul Jones have in common.


@ Sunniva -- I agree that people aren't going to look exactly like they did in a previous life, there are many factors to take into account, but I do think the analogy of "new clothes" kind of works. Imagine you had pictures of your friends with new clothes they picked out (in their style) covering them from head to toe, and they have a bag over their head. Would you be able to guess who was who? I think souls tend to "fill out" different bodies the way bodies tend to "fill out" different clothes. And I think souls tend to pick out certain types of bodies, too.


@ J. J. Kamp -- I think you're good-looking, too! :cool


@ Nightrain -- Ben Franklin's eyes are more wide open, but the shape of the head and particularly the ear look remarkably similar.
 
Jody I do see some resemblance. But such things need to be taken with very guarded discernment. It is not what we as your fellow believers think.... it is what you "know." These paths to understanding reincarnation are solitary in their confirmations. But yes things like this peak our interest.


I would like to respectfully disagree with my wonderful colleague Sunniva. I do believe there is a relevance to the physical nature of our being and past incarnations. Not always... in some people maybe never. But there still exists some connection. One need only read fellow member Jeff Keene's book "Someone Else's Yesterday" and see the documented photographs. There are other cases too. And I do believe Ian Stevenson touched on the subject. Our current speaker Walter Semkiw, MD has also written about this in Return of the Revolutionaries. I might add that it is not strictly "looks" that follow us... physical traits such as medical symptoms (drowning-asthma, wounds-scars) are also being seen.


I suppose the greater question is why? Why are these physical traits shadowing us through time? I believe it all relates to the soulful entity that is US... our identity. Yes, for sure genetic code plays some role... in my own case especially. I was my great-grandfather, so yes we will have genetic traits, or just as likely, not. I think that the power, the magnitude and perhaps the emotional significance of the traits in our karmic travels has some influence. HOW? Who knows...we're still wrestling with the idea that reincarnation exists. But the essence of our soul knows itself and, in the mystical creation of things, I'll just bet they follow each other for good reason. Perhaps... it is for the simple purpose of recognizing each other in a deeper way.


Blessed be!


Tman
 
That everyone looks like many everyone elses isn’t that surprising. The human mouth, for example, can only have so many variations before it no longer functions as a mouth, same with eyes, nose, etc. Mathematically there’s room for those variations to create many different faces but patterns and ‘packages’ of genes are going to repeat. Added to that is the isolation and inbreeding of the races from which our DNA springs. I believe I’ve read that most northern Europeans come from an initial group of seven haplotypes for mitochondrial DNA and maybe a couple hundred men for the Y contribution, and there are similar examples for groups all over the world.


The same features and arrangements of them are in our DNA and keep popping up, thus the ‘looks just like’ syndrome - the clerk who looks just like my uncle, my uncle who looks just like Mark Twain, Elvis impersonators, ‘separated at birth’ gags, and websites that match one’s facial feature markers to those of celebrities. And similar emotions and facial expressions will enhance the ‘looks just like’. I’m sure that at the end of a hard day I have a facial expression that’s identical to General Grant’s after a long day in the saddle.


We’re actually astonishingly good at distinguishing between human faces (our DNA is less diverse than most other species on earth), but interestingly, it takes just a smidgeon of brain damage and we lose that ability.
 
I'm surprised at how many people I see in this one stinking town alone who look exactly like one of my coworkers, complete in appearance, carriage, and even fashion accessories! (She's all into Goofy, and I see her clones who are all into Tweety Bird, Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, etc. Aside from that one detail, they all look alike to a T!)
 
I have to respectfully agree with Sunniva, and quibble with Tinkerman - even though I do resemble one of my past personas - I don't resemble all of them. I haven't had the same illnesses over and over again. My birth marks do not match what happened to my last incarnation. Something may carry through occasionally, or something may carry through to lead a trail back to someone we are supposed to remember. Jeff Keene has an astonishing resemblance to his former self as Governor Gordon, but that's not the main reason his recall holds up - he had strong memories before he saw the resemblance. And that was just one of his lives - not all of them. Would he resemble any others?


Another person I know does resemble his past persona that I knew, so it helped me recognize him - but he live a whole other life between the two lives, that we have the photos for, and that man looked NOTHING like either past or present person - yet for many other reasons we feel this past life possibility holds merit. Percentage wise I feel as more and more people find ways to get proof of their past lives, this idea is not going to hold up. It's going to be as rare as the percentages for actual famous past life recall, which is very low.


I have a lot of reservations about Semkiw's methods, which are not scientific. He assigns resemblances and comes up with a huge number of famous people having been other famous people - which doesn't make sense, and doesn't take into account what the people he's assigning lives to, have to say about it. I would rather read Carol's words on James Leininger - she was involved in that story, he was not. He was also not involved in Jeff's recall. He sometimes picks pictures of famous people of the past to show resemblances to prove his point, which aren't actually pictures of those people!


So, even though resemblance can be an attention grabber, it's a tiny tiny part of past life recall that has been blown out of proportion. The real meat of recognizable recall is in verifiable information. The private things.
 
RemainingSpirit, while I have a sense of appearance being more genetic than soul-directed, it seems to me that some level of appearance may actually result from how the soul "wears its body", in line with the suit allegory as described above. With that said I had always given more credence to the memories available to an individual as giving primary indication of a past lifetime, as racial, societal and cultural differences can also greatly impact the use and treatment of the body, and thus the appearance of physical similarities from life to life.


Then to shoot another potential hole in my little reincarnational framework, there is the possibility of "imprinting" as described in Dolores Cannon's book "On Death and Life", wherein the entire lifetime's experience of a particular soul may be downloaded by another soul who intends to experience some of the same sorts of events. So all the memories of Jesus of Nazareth may be downloaded by a soul intent on experiencing a particularly spiritual lifetime...and in the book, the soul has essentially lived that past lifetime experienced by another. In fact the correspondent reporting on the phenomena stated it had no idea that it hadn't lived that other soul's life after it had been imprinted. I read some discussion of imprinting having a lesser impact on the soul from a karmic standpoint...i.e. one does not obtain the karmic obligations incurred through the imprinted lifetime, although how all that dovetails with a sense of having seemlessly lived another's lifetime, just without the baggage, makes for quite a mental tangle for me.


And if that is true...well, that begs another topic, so I'll leave it there.
 
usetawuz: I have never heard of that idea before (imprinting), but it makes a lot of sense to me ... if someone could actually go into the akashic records and "download" another life and experience it as if they actually lived it themselves ... maybe that would explain why so many people claim to have lived famous past lives. I've always been skeptical about being John Paul Jones even though synchronicities about him have been dogging me ever since I heard a voice at the back of my head telling me to "look him up." Mostly because I have memories of past lives that surfaced during adolescence, and while they recall someone with a similar occupation and temperament, the details (English, being married, etc.) contradict being Paul Jones.


That being said, I'm pretty sure that the soul affects appearance. Identical twins share the same genetics, but most parents have no trouble telling them apart. I also think it's interesting that identical twins have different fingerprints, too. Is this due to environmental influences in the womb, or could the "soul" actually play a part in their physical manifestation? Keep in mind, even if one's fingerprints get burned, the same pattern shows up again after the burn is healed ... :confused:
 
usetawuz said:
Then to shoot another potential hole in my little reincarnational framework, there is the possibility of "imprinting" as described in Dolores Cannon's book "On Death and Life", wherein the entire lifetime's experience of a particular soul may be downloaded by another soul who intends to experience some of the same sorts of events. So all the memories of Jesus of Nazareth may be downloaded by a soul intent on experiencing a particularly spiritual lifetime...and in the book, the soul has essentially lived that past lifetime experienced by another. In fact the correspondent reporting on the phenomena stated it had no idea that it hadn't lived that other soul's life after it had been imprinted. I read some discussion of imprinting having a lesser impact on the soul from a karmic standpoint...i.e. one does not obtain the karmic obligations incurred through the imprinted lifetime, although how all that dovetails with a sense of having seemlessly lived another's lifetime, just without the baggage, makes for quite a mental tangle for me.
And if that is true...well, that begs another topic, so I'll leave it there.
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I have several of Cannon's books and recall reading about the "imprinting." It's an interesting theory. Nice post. I like pondering these types of things!
 
Jody - about the fingerprints being the same after a burn has healed - where did you get that idea? My burned and cut fingers don't have the fingerprint lines where they were damaged, and it's been a long long time...
 
I think I'll trust my fingers more than Yahoo answers... ;) Minor cuts and burns I can see, no problem. But scarring doesn't keep the prints.
 
RemainingSpirit,

So, even though resemblance can be an attention grabber, it's a tiny tiny part of past life recall that has been blown out of proportion. The real meat of recognizable recall is in verifiable information. The private things.
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I wholeheartedly agree. It is but a small aspect of so much more. I think the significance may be in how it acts as a triggering factor to a soul searching... even in a sub-conscious sort of way. The idea of using it as validation factor, well... it makes for a lot of interesting thought! (and yes some sensationalism!:rolleyes:)


I lean towards what I said above,

I think that the power, the magnitude and perhaps the emotional significance of the traits in our karmic travels has some influence.
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I think the significance of any aspect of our lives will have residual meanings in future incarnations. Looks are only a small factor. It is interesting to note that the theory of reincarnation has no set body of rules and that we as believers have so many common areas of understanding. That's why we come here. With the many books and tapes out on the subject it is no wonder there are no "certain" rules. Wouldn't that be nice!


Tman
 
Another point of comparison ...


The following are the first few lines of ship's reports from both Sir W. Penn and John Paul Jones, respectively. I standardized the spelling and capitalization to "modern English." Fortunately I've never had to write a ship's report in this life, but I've got plenty of writing samples here on this forum.


Capt. Penn:


My last of the 29th of December sent by the ship called Merchant of London, which we met about 34 leagues SW of the Lizard bound home, informed you what posture our fleet was in at that time, only we mistook the Beare for the Great Charity which upon springing a leak, or some other disaster, bore up the night before, the wind being much, the sea great, and it being also very dark none of the ships in our company could possibly speak with her. So that we remain ignorant of the cause, wherefore she left us. Two days after finding we lost much time in attending some sluggish ships of our company, I ordered (by the approbation of General Venables and Mr. Winslow) the Beare, Samson, and Adam & Eve to keep company together with the Lion, and to follow us so fast as they could, apprehending the service might be advantaged by our hasting hither. We, the Vice Admiral, Gloucester, Portland, Dover, and Falmouth, making sail away. But the next day (being the 1st of January) the Paragon springing a leak in her larboard bow occasioned the loss of some time by obliging us thence forward to accommodate ourselves to what sail she was able to bear. On the 4th the Grantham overtook us, and informed that the Pellican Priz. had sprung a leak about 40 leagues to the Westward of Scilly, which being surveyed by several captains of ships in her company, it was by them thought necessary to take out the soldiers, and return her back, which was accordingly done, and I conceive she might fetch some part of Ireland the wind being then [source: http://www.jstor.org/pss/20086275]
 
Capt. Paul Jones:


When I had the honor of writing to you on the 11th of August, previous to my departure from the Road of Groaix, I had before me the most flattering prospect of rendering essential service to the common cause of France and America. I had a full confidence in the voluntary inclination and ability of every captain under my command, to assist and support me in my duty with cheerful emulation; and I was persuaded that every one of them would pursue glory in preference to interest.


Whether I was, or was not deceived, will best appear by a relation of circumstances. The little squadron under my orders, consisting of the Bonhomme Richard of 40 guns, the Alliance of 36 guns, the Pallas of 32 guns, the Cerf of 18 guns, and the Vengeance of 12 guns, joined by two privateers, the Monsieur and the Granville, sailed from the Road of Groaix at daybreak on the 14th of August; the same day we spoke with a large convoy bound from the southward to Brest.


On the 18th we retook a large ship belonging to Holland, laden chiefly with brandy and wine that had been destined from Barcelona for Dunkirk, and taken eight days before by an English privateer. The captain of the Monsieur, however, took out of this prize such articles as he pleased in the night, and the next day being astern of the squadron and to windward, he actually wrote orders in his proper name, and sent away the prize under one of his own officers. This, however, I superseded by sending her for L'Orient under my orders in the character of commander-in-chief. The evening of the day following the Monsieur separated from the squadron.
 
Dear Jody,


you do look like both men, even more like John Paul Jones but I do believe, like many people here including you, that physical appearance does not have to be similar from lifetime to lifetime, even though I do strongly resemble someone from the past.


What is the problem with reincarnation is that as soon as we discover the possibility of it we seek no other means for explaining everything else, slightly forgetting the existence of genetics and other biological, societal and psychological issues.
 
Hi Jody


I am new to the past life Idea. As I was reading through all of the postings here, I can see that there are many theories about pastlifes. I saw your photos and they are very similar. I would guess that if you had memories attached to these men and that is what brought you to these pictures more than likely you were these souls. I don't believe in coincidences any more so if you have strong connections go with your own feelings.


You have strong kind eyes which are very similar. It would be easier if the pics were side by side. But I would say yes. You look like them.


I don't particularly believe that our souls incarnate into the same image every lifetime. When I was going through regressions and I saw myself as male a couple of times but did not recognize the images of myself. I saw myself twice as a male. Neither one looked similar to me. I tried very hard to find proof of those men but the details were not specific enough to locate. I am guessing they were obscure lifetimes so there may not even be proof. The people who are able find proof are the lucky ones. I was led to this picture because I needed to see proof. My daughter who was seven at the time told me where to look and I didn't even find this person first. I found a picture of my childhood friend first. I am going to look for the story of how you came across this pic. I would really would like to know your experience on how you found them.


I think the story of how you found them is as important as finding the pictures. Because it is possible to resemble others. So I will be looking ;)
 
I think it can be very, very dangerous to base any information on physical appearance, though I do think it's a nice extra confirmation if you already possess a fair amount of memories that have been confirmed.


If you're looking for some physical resemblance you're bound to find it, and then your imagination can really go crazy, but if you don't have memories, you don't have much. That's my opinion from experience of jumping to conclusions and getting myself in trouble.


In the photo below I compare a photo of myself at ten years old with a photo of a boy at twelve who died in 1945 and is somewhat related to a story I took very personally and to heart. What does everyone think? I personally see similarities, but I have absolutely no recollection of being this person and don't really have much of a reason for think that I was.


http://tinypic.com/r/347wq34/5


Jody, yes I do see some similarities between you and those men. :) But you probably have memories to back up your suspicions too.
 
Red Night...your pictures are very similar and while I believe a soul will habitually "use a body" as it has used bodies in the past, similar gene pools should, with similar use, look very similarly. If, as I suspect, a soul's use of the body is similar from life to life, a similar gene pool would easily pronounce certain particular physical features. Beyond that I really have no sense or direction as to similar features between lifetimes...how would one maintain similar features through northern european white and african black and south american indian lifetimes, each of whom have distinctly different genetic and physical appearances.
 
I'm really not quite sure, usetawuz, you bring up a good point. Sometimes I wonder if two bodies with the same soul even look alike at all or if our minds subconsciously see the actual soul while our eyes cannot. And that's what makes people see the resemblance between two people of completely different racial backgrounds.


Of course though, when you have two people who share similar genes there will obviously be similarities. If you were to look at a picture of my grandfather as a toddler and me as a toddler you'd get the impression immediately that we both came from the same parents, because that just how much we look alike. Again, there's a photo of my dad as a young child that looks strikingly like me at roughly the same age. Even though there's a direct relation between the three of us, in five hundred years there'll probably be someone who looks like me in one way or another just because of the gene pool and nothing else.
 
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