1. Hobbies, Interests and Obsessions
Some of us seem drawn to particular objects, places, or things from earliest childhood, frequently turning them into life-long hobbies and obsessions, but where do these interest come from? For example, why would a person be drawn to studying everything there is to know about the Civil War—a conflict that occurred a century before they were even born—or why does a teenager develop a fascination with the country of France though they have never been there or have any obvious connections with the place?
Could these be “echoes” from a previous incarnation? Is a Civil War buff simply pursuing a new interest or is he in some ways still clinging to a past incarnation in which he was a participant in that war? Is the teenager simply attracted to France because she admires its language, customs and history, or could there be more to it? Even if we have no conscious memory of that past persona, might not our present hobbies be a reflection of that individual’s experiences and interests?
While reincarnation is only one possible answer, it must at least be considered, especially in those cases where one develops a hobby or interest that seems quite out of the ordinary (such as a boy growing up in land-locked Iowa developing a fascination for eighteenth century schooners). It’s not known how much of our past we might retain into our present, albeit in the most subtle and subconscious ways, but it’s entirely possible that our past may be far more tied into our present (and, by extension, our future) than we can begin to imagine.