john wrote:What differentiates a fantasist (or nutter) from a true incarnate/reincarnate?
I think you got it in one, the number (and quality) of their followers. Most primitive societies, of which India and its religions is still largely are, create myth or status for mental illness which they did or do not understand. Even in the West, until recently, one would use euphemisms like "touch by God".
I knew of a kid that grew up "remembering" their past life but having it beaten out of them by parents that were afraid. Good old Jagdish used to document many such alleged cases, including those of animals and you know the whole Lama belief system.
In my time, I went to two different psychics/regression artists and they both told me about a recent past life. Unfortunately, they both appear to conflict with each other timewise. So unless there is two of me in here ... I do not think that anything from that corner (psychism/channelling/hypnosis) is reliable.
I do think some phenomenon is going on, and that the skeptics are wrong. It is just clear time and time again that any psychic source is ultimately unreliable. You might get 9/10ths right, but then the 10/10th completely misleads you. On the other hand, the archetypes we are given could be "what we needed" to encourage us a certain element in that time of our life. Sadly, I was neither Cleopatra nor Jesus ... but I do know someone that "knows" they were the honest criminal that was cruxified next to Jesus and has met him.
Why do mad people always think they are someone famous? Or why is their knowledge of history the last part of their brain to malfunction? A question for someone else not me ...