PHOBIAS AND NIGHTMARES

Where does seemingly irrational fear come from? Fear of heights, fear of water, of flying? Many of us have normal reservations about such things, but some people have fears so great that they become debilitating. And some fears are completely baffling -- a fear of carpets, for example. Where do such fears come from? The answer, of course, can be psychologically complex, but researchers think that in some cases there might be a connection to a previous life.

• At "Healing Past Lives through Dreams", author J.D. tells of his claustrophobia and a tendency to panic when his arms and legs were confined or restricted in any way. He believes that a dream of a past life uncovered a trauma from a past life that explained this fear. "One night in the dream state I found myself hovering over a disturbing scene," he writes. "It was a town in fifteenth-century Spain, and a frightened man was being hog-tied by a small jeering crowd. He had expressed beliefs contrary to the church. Some local ruffians, with the blessing of the church officials, were eager to administer justice. The men bound the heretic hand and foot, then wrapped him very tightly in a blanket. The crowd carried him to an abandoned stone building, shoved him into a dark corner under the floor, and left him to die. I realized with horror the man was me."

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

In his book Someone Else's Yesterday, Jeffrey J. Keene theorizes that a person in this life can strongly resemble the person he or she was in a previous life.

Keene, an Assistant Fire Chief who lives in Westport, Connecticut, believes he is the reincarnation of John B. Gordon, a Confederate General of the Army of Northern Virginia, who died on January 9 1904. As evidence, he offers photos of himself and the general -- and, indeed, there is a striking resemblance. Beyond physical similarities, Keene says that "they think alike, look alike and even share facial scars. Their lives are so intertwined that they appear to be one."

Another case is that of artist Peter Teekamp, who believes he could be the reincarnation of artist Paul Gauguin. Here, too, there is a physical resemblence and similarities in their work as well.

CHILDREN'S SPONTANEOUS RECALL AND SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE

Many small children who claim to recall past lives express thoughts, describe specific actions and environments, and even know foreign languages -- none of which they could know or have learned from their present experiences. Many cases like this are documented in Carol Bowman's Children's Past Lives:

• Eighteen-month-old Elsbeth had never spoken a complete sentence. But one evening, as her mother was bathing her, Elsbeth spoke up and gave her mother a shock. "I'm going to take my vows," she told her mother. Taken aback, she questioned the baby girl about her queer statement. "I'm not Elsbeth now," the child replied. "I'm Rose, but I'm going to be Sister Teresa Gregory." She later described her nun's habit in detail as well as her daily chores at the convent.
• When little Tommy was about five years old, a button from his pants had popped off. When his mother didn't sew it back on right away, Tommy found her needle and thread and did the job himself. "[He] sewed that button on so expertly that I couldn't believe it," his mother said. "I had never taught him to sew and he had never even seen me do it." When she asked how he knew how to do that, Tommy relied, "Well, we used to do it on my ship all of the time." He then related details of his previous life as a sailor.

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