January 1,
2007
Go Easy on
the Soul; It’s Forever
The New
Year is one more reminder for the Baby Boomers that their expiration
dates are looming ever closer. They might take some comfort, therefore,
in the story of James Leininger, an eight-year-old from Lafayette,
Louisiana.
When he was
two-and-a-half years old, James began showing signs of an unusual
knowledge about flying planes, especially since neither of his parents
was involved in aviation. Then he began having violent nightmares about
being shot down as a pilot by a plane with a big red sun on it.
“Airplane crash on fire. Little man can’t get out,” the sleeping James
would call out.
His
parents, Andrea and Bruce Leininger, were worried but didn’t know what
to do for their toddler. As the months passed, James volunteered more
details about the event, which prompted his mother and grandmother to
suspect he was reliving part of a past life, based on their
conversations with Carol Bowman, a past-life therapist based near
Philadelphia and author of Children’s Past Lives.
His
skeptical father set out to prove them wrong. But the more research he
did, and the more specific details young James revealed, the more it led
Bruce Leininger to one inescapable conclusion: His son also lived a life
as Lt. James McCready Huston, a World War II fighter pilot based on the
escort carrier USS Natoma Bay who was shot down and killed near Iwo Jima
more than 50 years before James Leininger was born.
Young James
received three G.I. Joe dolls over the years. The brown-haired one he
named Billy. The blond-haired was dubbed Leon. And the red-haired doll
he called Walter. Through his research, Bruce Leininger already knew
that Billy Peeler (brown hair), Leon Connor (blond hair), and Walter
Devlin (red hair) were also pilots on the Natoma Bay who were shot down
and killed some months before James M. Huston and that the four were
very close.
One night,
Bruce Leininger asked his son why he gave those dolls their particular
names. “They greeted me when I went to heaven,” James replied. That was
the clincher for James’ father. His skepticism melted away.
“This
tested my faith - I’m a Christian,” Bruce Leininger adds. “How does this
stuff happen?”
Looking for
reasons, the father concluded that James M. Huston came back so he would
not be forgotten. Writing a book about his son’s story and the profound
effects it has had on his family, Bruce Leininger also discovered
through interviews that similar events have happened in many other
families.
Indeed.
Belief in past lives is not confined to a tiny fringe in this country.
The Harris Poll, in a survey released in 2005, found that 21 percent of
U.S. residents aged 18 and older believe in reincarnation.
“It’s a lot
more commonplace than we may think,” Bruce Leininger says. “It
reinforces our faith that spirits go somewhere when they leave our
families.”
From an
energy-matter viewpoint, that statement is far more accurate than most
of us may realize. Something has to survive the physical body because,
as Einstein’s iconic equation demonstrates, matter and energy are
equivalents, and we learn in grade-school science that energy can
neither be created nor destroyed.
Our
thoughts, our feelings, our beliefs - our very spirit essence and
self-awareness, all of which is energy - survive the physical body. Our
souls, in other words. Spirit and self-awareness cannot and do not die
with the physical body.
So now
what? How do we want to spend merely all of eternity? Dying in wars like
James M. Huston? Living in fear? Hating ourselves and each other?
Consumed by petty jealousies? Running roughshod over each other for
power and wealth that ultimately matter so little?
The essence
of James’Leininger’s story is our story as well. We are immortal souls
on a sojourn of discovery, and every physical lifetime is a precious
opportunity for love and growth.
“I look at
this from the fruit it bears,” Bruce Leininger says. “James’ story makes
people think about their own spiritual journey.”
Amen to
that.
(For more
details on the story of James Leininger, try these URLs:
http://www.ntcsites.com/acadianhouse/nss-folder/publicfolder/AP/cover_feature_24_3.htm
and
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/news/s_463166.html)
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