Past Lives > Overview

And so it began in the seventh grade. I stared at the test in bewilderment, not remembering having read anything remotely on this topic in my history text book. I continued to stare at the question, and finally managed to pull an answer out of nowhere: as towns developed during the middle ages, people relied less on their lords' protection. They were able to support each other in the towns.

Writing a simple answer along those lines not only scored me points on the test, but it opened a door to an incredible world of past life memories. I saw myself as Anna, the girl in 12th century England whose life pivoted on her family's decision to remain on the orchard where she had grown up.

In the following years, many more people from various times and places arrived on the doorstep of my brain, giving me insight into my own personality. Most of them were just one in the anonymous millions whose entire lives have been swallow up by time, with at most an ancient grave marker to show they existed at all.

Some of the most extraordinary people in history do not appear in text books. I cannot prove that they existed, but that can be liberating as I let my imagination--the unsung source of real memories--run wild.