Supernatural Science: Previous Lives

Supernatural Science: Previous Lives

1999, Science  -   79 Comments
6.21
12345678910
Ratings: 6.21/10 from 38 users.

Supernatural Science: Previous LivesMillions believe in reincarnation. Is there proof that is really happens?

Do people pass through many lifetimes and can they bring back memories from having lived before?

Therapies now encouraging people to relive their violent moments of their deaths in previous lives.

But what can be known for certain. Scientists are trying to assess the evidence from those who've claimed to have live before.

Will they proof the case for reincarnation and reveal what brings those memories to the human mind?

More great documentaries

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

79 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Daizi
Daizi
6 years ago

Sometimes 'scientists' come across like mules who can't see due to the eye guards that are put around them to keep them from getting distracted when on route. Reincarnation is factual truth and not fiction.

stephen adamo
stephen adamo
6 years ago

i use to believe in reincarnation but not any more.....in one of my past lives i fully believed it to be true, but in the life i live now.....i dont believe it to be true

Ian Bell
Ian Bell
8 years ago

I think this film makes the mistake of not attempting to separate 'Past life regression' with actual past lives, im leaning toward the opinion that there is something in reincarnation to take seriously, however, i dont for a second think that hypnotic regression is anything more than a journey into one's own imagination.
How then do we explain some children's absolute accuracy at very young ages, without external reference?
That said, no one has yet to my knowledge looked into the possibility that that could be a trapped memory, rather than a past life memory.
It may be a 'Genetic Memory' where the child can be genetically traced to the past life figure, and it has transposed in this way. This needs to be studied to be discounted.
We know animals pass on genetic memories, turkeys for example.
it may be that we are much more connected electrically than we know today, via a matrix or frequency, and if so, it may be that the past life figure's death moment was so traumatic that it somehow 'Glitched' (the memory) its way into a newborns circuit. It may be!
It makes logical sense to be reincarnated to me, and makes no logical sense, other than via reincarnation, that some kids can supply intimate detail of someone they (or their parents) have no reason to have ever known anything about...........just a thought peeps!

bru th
bru th
9 years ago

Chipoltaway laundry detergent. proof.

Angeline Hall
Angeline Hall
9 years ago

I hate when they put skeptics in the films. It really takes away from the stories.

Lauriesheri
Lauriesheri
10 years ago

The woman at the beginning whose son was in WW1 does not seem credible to me at all.

GeppyHoo
GeppyHoo
10 years ago

Could Reincarnation actually be just another Dimension.

Rocky Racoon
Rocky Racoon
11 years ago

As more and more species grow extinct there will not be enough container's for these souls that is why humanity if coming to end times.
RR

Turtle_maddness
Turtle_maddness
11 years ago

the spirit enters and exits through the pineal gland. read dmt-the spirit molecule.

devlinwaugh
devlinwaugh
11 years ago

We know that humans in the early days of evolution were in the thousands.I would use this one example to disprove reincarnation.In example were did all the lives come from the population is growing that means that new humans are coming into creation from nowhere and the amount of people that die is not equivalent to the amount of people that are born,thus by this simple equation we can say that reincarnation is total rubbish and religion trying to validate more madness.

Hilda
Hilda
11 years ago

I get upset when some scientists think they can explain everything by science and insist on it while it is not convincing...like this neuroscientis who thinks that those memories are only dreams...he cannot explain many other things like why after remembering that specific " dream", the problem goes away...I am not saying reincarnation is a true or wrong theory, but when you don't have enough explanation for something simply say " I don't know"....What is the philosophy of science? Is science or our 5 known senses the only tool to know about our universe??

Xercès Des Stèles
Xercès Des Stèles
12 years ago

super-natural science? non sens oximoron.

Terry Mckown
Terry Mckown
12 years ago

@Squak, Bravo!

Squak
Squak
12 years ago

When I was younger I felt like a boy trapped in a woman's' body. Luckily all that changed when I was born.

Sarah Brooks
Sarah Brooks
12 years ago

something i would like to know, the population of humans grows every single day there is not enough memories to reincarnate per person so the maths don't add up, if the memories were some how from people, why is there not more memories of animals, animals are treated just as cruel as any human with there forests been tourched down , captured, tortured ext lets just pretend there is this force where we have souls, there would always be and always of been the same amount of souls.. thats my argument

JimmytheLizard
JimmytheLizard
12 years ago

very interesting.. if you're interested in this then you should look lectures by Thomas Cambell who explains his theory of everything. This doesnt seem that bizzare when I relate back to that. His theory says that we are a subset of a larger system which uses our learning experiences to evolve... I can't explain it very well but check it out it definately makes sense.

?? ? A Citizen
?? ? A Citizen
12 years ago

There is a difference between Reincarnation and Transmigration. I think the show failed to highlight the differences.

Reincarnation is a term invented by the Buddhist, which states that an evolving stream of consciousness. It does not have a soul.

Whereas, Transmigration theories have an eternal soul at the core of all explanation, and the soul moves around, resulting in the so-called past lives.

Marsha Benson
Marsha Benson
12 years ago

open minds change the world

Marsha Benson
Marsha Benson
12 years ago

just want to say everyone is in tittle to there option. What science knows today has most always latter been proven false. So I think its a real insult to discount these people.

Demeter's Daughter
Demeter's Daughter
12 years ago

I'm not going to comment on my beliefs about this one way or the other, nor affirm or debunk anyone's thoughts or experiences (and not opine at least right now ;-). I hope I'm not copying someone else's post totally though, by showing concern that, unlike docs on almost any other topic, it bothered me to see someone used by this BBC doc, who doubtless is passionate about his stance and research on the topic (Dr. Robert Baker), but who showed such obvious contempt and lack of respect for both the patient groups he has seen, those he hasn't but was discussing, and the issues and questions he was asked to opine on, by using everything from dismissive terms to describe a patient's reaction of tears - "blubbering" - to a racial slur.
It's very hard to take any expert of any credential seriously if they choose to take such an attitude, as it does tempt one to think they have a negative _bias_ in their view or evidence they're about to present! That's why it's also disturbing to me that Dr. Baker was featured in this doc at all while treating the matter that way; it just doesn't seem "up to snuff".. not the same standards all around, and not BBC.
But then again, it's an older doc, and another thing?
Always grateful to be able to watch a variety of docs like this one here! I think more should be posted on the subject - though I bet those that are balanced enough to satisfy a variety of viewers are rare - but I'd really be enthusiastic if a modern documentary was available on reincarnation/past lives/genetic memory, too! Or maybe more than one?
Because one thing I feel passionately about is that like accounts of NDEs in the 70s and 80s when they were just coming into popular literature, far more people than are currently willing or able to come out and talk about it for fear of ridicule have experienced these things, and only with more persistence and research - and respect at the very least - given to them to say their piece, will they come out and tell us what they're experiencing.

POZZIMYSTIC
POZZIMYSTIC
12 years ago

reincarnation is cellular memory! I never (My name here) existed as this person before yet I can remember existing in another life: most likely I was seeing through my ancestors eyes. I once saw through my mothers eyes in a past life regression, hence this theory. imho... we are all connected

d-krah
d-krah
12 years ago

Esoterics and cultists, charlatans, crackpots and new agers have seized it and use it for their own purpose, which has made reincarnation suspect for us western materialists. But the simple truth - which you will only begin to see after you have had your own irrefutable experiences - is that reincarnation happens and it's nothing supernatural, esoteric or even special.

Harshanee Jayasekera
Harshanee Jayasekera
12 years ago

thank you this is really interesting. i come from a religious background that think there is life after death. however what i really want to stress here is about the laboratory experiment of "creating the wow response."

when you ask somebody to create a life or an experience of death (like the young man creating his previous death experience to be cubed and to be a painful death) it will always be something that had really happened- what you have seen on TV, a movie or what you have read in a newspaper or a book. but what is recorded in these formed (newspapers, TV, Film) are often real happenings, what really has happened or somebody's experience. therefore even if you create these 'wow" stories in lab or whether it is real you cannot distinguish. so i think the experiment here is not very valid.

particularly in Sri Lanka, from where i am there are numerous stories about children talking about their experiences in a previous life (even my sister did) and some even talk in different languages (the widely used language in Sri Lanka is Sinhalese and tamil in some parts of the island).

Proof
Proof
13 years ago

Check out Prof Ian Stevensons work " Where biology & reincarnation meets." There are many case studies there.
I do not beleive in religion or god but I have sort of started beleiving in Reincarnation & Karma. No religion says one can be born as Animals. You cannot go back to animal form untill and unless you have such deep desire for most of your life. Much are fleeting desire and are wiped out.
Only thing we can do is wait and see in the future whether it comes out to be ture or not. I think it will come out to be true.

em
em
13 years ago

Maybe people who were terrible in a past life get reincarnated as animals in factory farms.

8livesin
8livesin
13 years ago

This is hilarious. My 4 yr old niece can barely put a sentence together and most involve the words mommy, daddy, love, hate, yummy and so fourth. Super basic things that we all know. This lady expects us to believe her 4yr old told her he was shot in the neck in a previous war? That's Retarded ; ) Were all worthless bags of blood. Whether you belive in christ, santa or pringles were all pretty useless. There are no super humans. Except maybe the dude who invented Facebook. It's kinda sad to think but really why would you think any different?

Hrt
Hrt
13 years ago

Two people suffering from epilepsy met in a hospital while being tested over a 3 week period to locate and decide if epilepsy surgery was possible. All went well until one person asked the other "What type of seizures do you have?"

These patients were hooked up to EEGs 24 hours a day and had their meds manipulated so as to induce reactions which would enable neurologists to find out the specifics needed in order to make decisions as to whether surgery was viable or not.
As soon as the one person asked the other the question, nursing staff literally came flying out of nowhere, separated the two and told them never to discuss the matter again.

Seeing what I saw made me ask the head nurse why they reacted the way they did. Her response was, in my own words, based on the fact that the power of suggestion can greatly affect the outcome of the testing. In short, there was a risk that person number 1 could possibly start to experience person number 2's seizure activity and person number 2 could experience person number 1's. That, in turn could mess up the telemetry readings of each patient. More importantly, it could lead to a misdiagnosis that would have surgeons working on the wrong part of their brains.

What I am trying to say is it is too easy to fill someone's head full of garbage. As adults we are easily swayed, yet as children at early ages we are open and honest.
I myself would rather focus on children than adults.

If we were at a party and a bunch of people kept telling you that you looked awful and seemed ready to be sick. I am willing to bet that with enough peer pressure, you probably would blow chunks. If people really want to know the truth, focus on the innocence of childhood and not the suggestive filled wishful thinking we as adults are capable of creating.

Watch the documentary "The Boy Who Lived Before". I myself watched it here and was blown away by the little guy's reaction when all info he provided to people brought him to the place he claimed to have lived in a past life. His body language betrayed his experiences. In his previous life, he died young and God asked him if he wanted to go back. His response was yes and back he came. Not until he was exposed to what he claimed did he finally withdraw from talking about his past life. If you watch the doc, watch the boy as he comes to grips with what he was dealing with.

Why don't we all experience reincarnation? I myself cannot claim to have lived before and with all due respect would never trust any type of hypnosis based therapies. I'm quite surprised the lady in one scene was acting out being choked to death and never suffered a heart attack. To me, stimuli like that are dangerous and unfounded.
You would think if life was to be a lesson and if the lesson was never learned for whatever reason and God needed to send you back, you would remember the lessons learned from before and use them to better yourself in another life. Yet, for some reason, we are not capable of remembering those things probably because if we were capable of figuring this whole mess out, we'd all commit suicide in order to free ourselves from the shackles of the human body.

It's a big universe and I myself feel there is more to life than meets the eye, espescially when we act in a selfish religion induced way that lays claim to the fact all this crap pertains to humans and only humans.

Study what you want, believe what you want and don't let anyone fill your heads full of s***. Also, don't fill others' heads with your own suggestive types of thought either. Just live your lives, be the best you can and remember, all life is equal. We are NOT the be - all end - all life forms we have led ourselves to believe to be on this planet.
One more thing. Ever notice how people who have had near death experiences and those who claim to have been reincarnated have never sent us a message from God stating which religion is true and which ones are false? Typical sullied, self induced and suggestive human self righteous arrogance forces us to deify our existance over every other living thing...

The dude abides
The dude abides
13 years ago

Are we dealing with genuine memories, or the power of the imaginative mind ?
I think it's the power of the imaginative mind.

Creatio-whaa!?
Creatio-whaa!?
13 years ago

I'm quite skeptical of supernatural stuff in general, including these types of claims regarding reincarnation. This business with kids telling stories about "past lives" are cute but they are not scientific evidence. These types of stories should be dismissed immediately unless they can give some sort of tangible, conclusive proof. Using children's stories as "proof" is silly; would you use a kid's utter conviction when talking about imaginary friends or goblins under the bed as "proof" of ghosts or crypto-zoology? Give me a break.

The fact that they can literally manufacture these religious/spiritual/past life emotions in the lab with electromagnetic equipment is a strong demonstration (to me) that this is nothing more than a neural + psychological phenomenon.

Is it possible that reincarnation is real? Sure, but it seems a rather extraordinary claim, particularly considering that the mechanism and means of memory/consciousness transfer beyond death is completely unknown to modern science. This film (and all human inquiry into the reincarnation subject thus far in human history) is nothing more than wild speculation, almost always reinforced by individual or cultural religious/spiritual/new age beliefs.

As it stands today, the consciousness that you consider "self" are the result of electrochemical activity in the brain. We can demonstrate this physical, neural basis as the mechanism of consciousness because we can manufacture a wide range of emotions, feelings, and convictions by manipulating the electrochemical activity in the brain. Based on this scientific understanding, when the brain tissue dies the electrochemical activity also ceases, thus the "self" cannot persist after death. This is all that science alone can really say at this point. The first step in making any headway to scientifically demonstrating reincarnation (or any life-after-death claim) is to discover and demonstrate the mechanism of "self" that replaces or supersedes electro-chemistry in the brain and the substrate for this mechanism that supersedes grey matter. Until you can genuinely find this (and demonstrate its existence scientifically), all this chatter and argument about reincarnation is just (in my own, skeptical, opinion) new age feel-good speculation.

Sorry to burst your bubble guys.

son of zaphod
son of zaphod
13 years ago

Thank you Vlatko, your site is an awesome source of information!
On this particular documentary the questions you need to ask are, if reincarnation is possible then in what way does this effect our current lives? How does that help change society and stop the cycles of War, Poverty and Famine?
The answers are obvious, it can't and wont do any good to our lives or to humanity as a whole, it only breeds ignorance and doesn't improve our lives or indeed our environment in anyway, shape or form.

Philosophocles
Philosophocles
13 years ago

@Abdul-Azim
If the things that are visible to you are obscure to you, how can you hear about the things that are not visible? If the deeds of the truth that are visible in the world are difficult for you to understand, how indeed, then, shall you understand those which are not visible?

Epicurus
Epicurus
13 years ago

@number3, the helmet is designed to induce the same electrical impulses that the brain creates to have these experiences. just like in someone with temporal lobe epilepsy.

the study of this provides important evidence concerning the neural basis for religious and mystic experiences.

Philosophocles
Philosophocles
13 years ago

@ Syke-hook
I completely agree with your main point. Our past lives (wether you believe in them or not) should have absolutely nothing to do with our lives now. If they did, what would be the point of living another life in the first place? Living again and again would only make sense if we are meant to learn new things. And there are an infinite amount of situations that can be created through experience in a physical body. Add in the point in history, government, parents, illnesses, friends, agriculture, etc etc and the things one could experience and grasp to understand in a million years would still only be the tip of the iceberg.

So, why rehash old memories and lives? There are so many new things to learn. There is no point to suffer from past mistakes. The only true mistake, in this particular scheme, is not learning anything new. Not experiencing and understanding why. If you don't wish to learn then you will probably start your next life lower on the totem pole (degenerative disease, brain malfunction, etc) but your past life memories won't make you wet the bed. Where does that even fit in the grand scheme? So in a way, this doc is interesting, but at the same time silly.

However, I truly believe that everything in this world is subjective. An apple might be sweet to me but bitter to you. Who's wrong? Neither. We both have been given the freedom of choice to experience our current lives exactly as we imagine. And only our own thoughts can alter our reality.

number3
number3
13 years ago

"Dr. persingers team is working on an
experiment to show they can create intrusive experiences by running electromagnetic fields through the brain."

Well that is just silly because its not like these people go around exposing their brains to high electromagnetic fields,
unless you can prove that radio/cell phone signals are the cause then his research is really moot.

The question is can the brain create intrusive experiences without external stimulation? That would validate his hypothesis that this is all in the brain!

Other than that, you have to remain open to the possibility of reincarnation.

Skye-hook
Skye-hook
13 years ago

I don't think we need to make any decisions or conclusions right now, til more info is in. I've read and heard a lot about reincarnation, & I don't think it's usually a hoax, or at least not a conscious decision to play a hoax. I'm sure sometimes people fake it for attention. But mostly they are serious, I believe. I KNOW the power of suggestion can contaminate it, & I didn't like when that guy was asking questions that were like suggestions, while someone was under hypnosis.
In general I shall keep an open mind, although I tend to lean toward believing it, due to several things I've heard elsewhere.
@Daniel-Really think about what you said. I doubt if it exists that we come back right away nor that everyone is living on earth all at one time. I would think we wait hundreds of years usually between lives, & some may only have had 5 or 6, while others may have have had 20, or maybe we've all had thousands of lives, considering that man has been evolving for so many years. I don't think we'd necessarily have to choose Earth either, do you? So then, why would the population stay the same at any given time? Does not compute. Maybe some have never had a human life before, even.
My actual conclusion at this point, is that even if it's true, unless we have an illness due to it like some reported, then what difference does it really make? If we lived before, well, we aren't those people now, & now is what counts. No excuses from things like that, please. I once had a girl that stole from me say something like "if I stole from you, maybe that's because you stole from me in a past life." Stupid. Or hearing people claim to have been someone great from history. Like Cleopatra or Caesar or a "saint". Yeh, right. A lot of people need to get a firm grip on reality before they get another life, -from before or after this. lol If you think you're Jesus, & you're not Hispanic, seek help. lol At least, if you think you recall past lives, don't dwell on it & make a big deal of it, cause if it's true, then we all have had the same recycling, & really I think it could be a bit unbalancing mentally to dwell on it much. Those who tend to be obsessive come to mind.
I also think we have no right to judge anyone on this video, for any reason. To distinquish is good, to judge is not. Just my 2 1/2 cents. :)

daniel
daniel
13 years ago

What Idont get about reincarnation is that the population is getting bigger. if reincarnation is true then the population would stay the same because each life would be replaced by the prevouis one.

lisa
lisa
13 years ago

reincarnation is a hoax

Mr. Deschamps
Mr. Deschamps
13 years ago

Awesome documentary! I had heard all of this before and it is good to have such information. Keep up the good work!

makisig
makisig
13 years ago

Those memories are called ''fake memories''. I remember a docu from Discovery where a psychiatrist showed a picture of a traffic collision to a ''subject'',she put the picture away, then asked the subject if the collision happened because the drivers did not saw the stop sign, the subject then responded that he can recall that there was a stop sign in the picture. But what actually was at the picture was an advertisement from a local church. The power of suggestion made the man think that he saw a stop sign, but he did not. I am not a psychiatrist, but I think their claims to have had memories from their ''past lives'' are just the same sh*t as the subject's response to the doctors question.

oliarguello
oliarguello
13 years ago

I am a pretty open minded person, but this is nonsense. To be fair...I only saw the first 15 minutes, but the first two accounts were enough to show me what kind of "evidence" they had to work with.

I agree with SHUGGA in that remembering a past life has nothing to do with knowing the whereabouts of a clock....yet this is what convinced the dreamer that his past life was real? As if anyone can know what will become of their possessions 50 years from now. I am pretty sure I can dream of antique clock...and gee...find an antique clock in a.....drum roll please...an antique store.

As for the kid getting cured from his throat disease.... A religious person would have called it a miracle and given credit to GOD and comepltely dismissed the past life rant. A woman who is an atheist and wants to believe their kid has special past life cognition abilities would credit the past life rant. The kid not being scared of the rain is called getting older not exorcising some past life rain-scared demon.

I am not saying past lives and re-incarnation dont exist. This doc seems to be aimed at the gullible or people who already believe in such things...but this so called documentary does nothing to help convince the skeptic... well at least not the first 15 minutes :)

Damis
Damis
13 years ago

It would be too easy to trounce all over Shugga, however tempting that might be after taking note of the gross mispellings of one so eager to denounce others as "retards". Hehe, enough said on that point.

I personally liked the video and truly believe that there is more to learn about our existence, life, if you prefer, than we currently understand. Phychologists, as well as other scientists would be the first to agree with this point of view. To what extent, would of course vary with the individual.

The study of the physical brain vs. memory and thought, belong to two different branches of science. There is much that we still don't know.

Final thought: It's probably as tempting for a closeminded individual to call an openminded person crazy, as it is for the other to consider the first person an ignoramus.

Achems Razor
Achems Razor
14 years ago

I have to agree with,@ Triad. on this doc.

Since Quantum Mechanics came around, they are now postulating 11 dimensions.
And 10 to the 500 power of parallel universes.
No telling what the future may bring in science.

But @ Shugga has some valid points, Basically you cannot travel back in time unless you bend space-time, they have not figured out how to do that yet. Some scientists do say, past lives are possible, but what past life? Which Parallel universe, which dimension?

According to Quantum Theory, there are unlimited probabilities, that go hand in hand with the vast sea of Quantum energy. Therefore it is impossible to pinpoint an exact location and time for past lives.

But that is not to say in future, scientists may not be able to figure that out.

Triad
Triad
14 years ago

Another narrow mind.
Imagine you were around a couple of hundred years ago,
with your other narrow minded sheep.

Then some one suggests that the earth Is spinning through something called spacetime, which In turn causes gravity.

You like the other sheep, would laugh and say
THAT IS NOT TRUE, AS YOU CANNOT PROVE IT.

But It Is true, and because It wouldnt be able to be proved back then, does not mean It`s false..

Likewise, just because science cannot prove something YET,
does not mean Its untrue.

And you actually wrote this..
`The proof that most of these people are just filthy liars is even given in this doc, in a way that I bet NONE OF U EVEN NOTICED` What abnoxious Ignorance..

Its clear by saying that, AND calling people RETARDS,
that you are writing comments here to grow your pathetic little ego,and have zero respect for anyone!

Keep your negative opinions to yourself and stop stinking up the website. I have enough decency not to call you a retard back, try to get some sometime.

Shugga
Shugga
14 years ago

Thanx Vlatko, love these docs.

This though, was annoying and ridiculous.
So called 'Past-Live' memories are the most primitive explanation for what these people are describing. 'Past-Lives' derives from the whole 'reincarnation' scam that was told onto us by religion, and should be dismissed by the scientific community as a whole.

Experiences listed by children should be dismissed instantly unless physical or irrefutable evidence can be provided. The fact that these sickeningly self-involved parents actually delude themselves into this 'My child is holier than thou and I'm an attention type of mindset is repulsive and morally wrong.

IF there indeed are people that do experience these phenomenon, and DO come with evidence, than a reasonable SCIENTIFIC and RATIONAL explanation could perhaps be found in quantum-mechanics, IE; the Doppler Effect in action.

The proof that most of these people are just filthy liars is even given in this doc, in a way that I bet NONE OF U EVEN NOTICED,

Take the person who claimed to be a persecuted Jew, remember his old clock, of which the current whereabouts where brought to his attention conveniently?
Technically he could have NEVER gotten this information, even if he possessed ALL the knowledge from this 'past-life', none of that information could POSSIBLY have told him the current location of that clock. It's just NOT POSSIBLE.

People are retards, again and again. When will we learn to embrace cold hard fact and let go of this medieval nonsense!

cld
cld
14 years ago

Although the scientific investigations were interesting, I kept waiting for a discussion of the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson of teh University of Virginia as described in the several editions of his book, "20 Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation". Dr. Stevenson's personally studied cases represent the kind of evidence that should cause scientists to try to search for paranormal sources as well as more conventional for the past life information. Dr. Stevenson, discussed the conventional sources including cryptoamnesia, which would cause these recalls and eliminated them in his methodology.

My own thoughts are that for most who have a past life recall, the conventional sources researched by the scientists shown do affect the recall. But that does not invalidate the recall possibility, it just suggests that there may be several sources for any recall based on Dr. Stevenson's work. And, this should not cause these scientists to therefore, think that they have eliminated the possibility of reincarnation.

Satyabroto
Satyabroto
14 years ago

All life forms are based on just four amino acids. Each of us is joined with every being that has ever lived. Reincarnation is not a matter of faith but an incontrovertible fact. Evolution, rather than living in the past, is an equally compelling force of nature. Therefore, we should make every attempt to delve as far back in time as possible, but only with a view to preparing our successors for a better future.