I can think of nothing more exciting than dying. As long as I could have minimal consciousness, and a pad and paper I would die this minute. There is something naturally interesting about death because I believe there is a point where we straddle our universe and something else. It is at this point that I believe we finally find the answers (and questions) to our lives.

I also find death fascinating because I believe in reincarnation. Quickly, reincarnation is the belief that a person’s soul can be reborn in different bodies. The purpose of reincarnation is to allow the individual (soul) learn through life.

I believe in reincarnation not because it is a major feature of my religion, but because I have seen proof that it exists. It is not uncommon for young children (ages 2-4) to recall information from a previous life when stimulated by encountering something that was particularly memorable in their last generation.

I witnessed such a recollection while on vacation in my home country, Lebanon. While on one of many obligatory visits to far-removed relatives, my youngest cousin (about 4 at the time) decided to come along. As we neared our destination, the boy became increasingly restless and fidgety, staring intently out the window as if searching for something. After a few more minutes, his squirming reached a fever pitch and he began telling the driver to turn into a nearby alley. The confused driver continued forward but quickly swerved onto the path when the boy unleashed a piercing scream.

After arriving at a small house deep inside the town, the boy leaped out of the car and strode towards the door in a manner that greatly belied his four years, pointing out various aspects of the house and surrounding property that he had “built”.

A long conversation with the homeowner resulted in the identification of my young cousin as the deceased husband of the woman who owned the house. The boy recalled many details about his life including a long-standing quarrel with his brother, and the location of a pass to his studio whose location had been lost with his death.

The point is that there is some kind of a connection between lives (perhaps indicative of a continuing soul), and that there could be partial consciousness “during” death and the ensuing transition. These memories also suggest that not all information must have a somatic base.

I read a story once of a group of professors who promised that the first to die would attempt to contact the rest (with some surprising results), and I have a similar idea. Reincarnation requires the existence of a soul, and as we saw from the story above, the soul can – at least – hold information that can be accessed by the succeeding body. Although there will be an interesting predicament with Time (who’s passage will be peculiar to say the least), I promise to actively attempt to record and publish my experiences when I die. The mechanism of my communication is unknown, as it was with the professors, but I can at least attempt…