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An introduction to possible broad support for reincarnation
An alternative research approach is to look for large scale evidence for reincarnation which should stand out from science’s expectations. Ted Christopher used this approach in an introductory essay in Elsevier’s EXPLORE (and also used the term “transcendental”). The possible support for reincarnation considered included: some suggestive behavioral enigmas; the mysteries surrounding monozygotic or identical twins; and the very surprising inability thus far to identify the DNA origins of some of our innate features (i.e., science’s “missing heritability” problem ).

In considering behavioral enigmas, it was stated that "there are a number of unexplained phenomena including some innate phobias or philias, prodigies, unexpected sexual orientations, and particular anomalies such as children born nerd-inclined. Also ... a psychology experiment has suggested that most young children do not view death as the end of psychological being." Additionally, some “people [spend] their entire lives wishing they were the opposite sex and [recently it was reported] ... that many of them who have undergone sex-change efforts (transitioned) ‘knew they had been born into the wrong gender from childhood’”? Also science has observed very surprising and diverse personalities amongst several animal species.

The EXPLORE article discussed the contradictions between science’s material-only understanding of life and those associated with the premodern reincarnation-influenced perspective. With the former, DNA “created us, body and mind” and that DNA came together in the happenstance of conception (and thus each of is incredibly lucky to be alive). Alternatively, with reincarnation there would be an underlying nonmaterial soul (Ian Stevenson’s “psychophore”) which would influence an individual’s life. Such a soul could be apparent via otherwise inexplicable behavioral tendencies, our dualistic sense, and also perhaps via transcendental cause and effect relationships influencing an individual’s fate (including health). In this sense, “to the degree that science can show that the conception-beget DNA plus realistic environmental impacts define individuals, then this would minimize the import associated with possible [reincarnation]”. This hypothesis would have to be extended to include whatever pans out from science’s follow-up theories, including epigenetics and jumping genes, although only epigenetics is possibly relevant to heredity.

The search for those DNA origins has been frustrating thus far, "The central follow-up to the Human Genome Project has after a “tour de force” effort - in a “beyond belief” finding - identified “almost nothing” connecting the common variations in DNA to the occurrences [and apparent heredity] of common diseases like cancer, diabetes, and mental illnesses." Thus the development of “personalized medicine” is still “postponed”. This disease disconnect could be consistent with a transcendental cause and effect process. In the behavioral realm only 0.4% of the variation in intelligence scores has been attributed to the common variations in DNA. Christopher’s article discussed aspects of the possible complementary contributions of reincarnation, and also mentioned that because “transcendental living import would be independent of DNA, it does not appear it would have any direct impact on evolution”.

Also considered were some relevant mysteries surrounding monozygotic twins. These include the causes of the initial split of the single cell zygote; their large differences (including personality and health ); their amazing closeness (“when separated at birth and reunited as adults, they say they feel like they have known each other all their lives.” ); and their shared behavioral tendencies which they can exhibit even when raised separately. An example of their differences is that the likelihood of a male monozygotic twin of an exclusively homosexual twin will also be gay, is only 20 to 30%.

From other reincarnation research and traditional beliefs, it was suggested that identical twins were very close in a previous life and that this led to them being born together. This could account for their rough personality similarities - as often found between close friends, shared behavioral preferences, large differences, and also their extraordinary closeness. “Superficially, such twins are material-only replicas produced by the same DNA blueprint, but underneath there are two separate beings with mostly separate backgrounds accounting for much of their unexpected differences”.

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