Autism and Reincarnation

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Preface: This post assumes that the reader believes in the spiritual concept of Reincarnation. This post is not intending to defend or offend anyone’s personal belief system, but to enhance one’s belief system in Reincarnation or develop a budding belief.

I would like to provide you a brief background, so as to show that I have a scientific mind but with spiritual overtones. My background is in counseling, but most of my work history is in computer information systems. I was raised with Christian beliefs, but currently hold non-denominational beliefs. I have been in the military (after my B.A.) and have worked in equine –assisted psychotherapy and people with schizophrenia. My M.A. is in Professional Counseling. I tend to be analytical, research-oriented and have learned to detect patterns very quickly in human behavior and data.
I began believing in reincarnation in 1991, after a couple of odd dreams and then I stumbled upon some books by Edgar Cayce. I just happened to be also taking a theology course which discussed reincarnation and its presence in the bible. I attended a Catholic university—of all places to learn about reincarnation. So, my spiritual education has developed for quite some time now.
In 2008, I married and had my first and only child. At one year old, he was showing some developmental delays. His first and only word until the age of two was the word “nine”, as he had heard a mother telling her son the price of a toy. He didn’t repeat the price, just the word “nine.” He was showing signs of sensory processing issues and development delays as early as six months, but by the age of two was clearly showing signs of autism.
Other “quirks” that my son had were as follows: He only liked cotton clothing. He was very selective with food, only eating certain things, such as polish sausage. He abhorred chicken and turkey. He did not display any stimulating behaviors common to Autism, such as arm flapping, but he did have some curious behaviors such as insisting on inspecting his bread before eating it. If there was anything brown looking on it, he would not eat the bread. He violently opposed haircutting. Haircutting is intolerable for a lot of children with Autism. Thus, haircuts were done during the night when he was sound asleep. He refused any kind of medicine or invasive procedures, such as nail clipping, ear cleaning, teeth brushing, etc... Doctor visits were a constant dread, but he has learned to tolerate medical procedures a little bit better within the past year. Of course, he displays typical issues, such as lack of ego, lack of eye contact and lack of language skills.
In April 2014, I happen to catch an interview of Ron Susskind discussing his autistic son and his recent publication called Life Animated. During the interview, Mr. Susskind discussed his son’s quirk of needing to watch the movie credit rolls. My son had to watch them, too! He would get so upset if you turned the channel or shut off the credit rolls. Suddenly, I had an epiphany in which my pattern-loving brain began connecting the dots. My epiphany came as such: [b]Autistic children are Holocaust victims.
[/b] Immediately, everything made sense. I began, in lightning speed, connecting the dots: the love for polish sausage, his first word was nine which phonetically sounds like the German word “nein” for “no”, his hatred of haircuts, his fascination of names scrolling on the TV, his clothing needing to be cotton only, his inspections of bread before eating, his lack of eye contact, his lack of verbal language, his refusal to take medicine, etc.. The explanations came pouring into my head faster than I could remember my son’s quirks. If, indeed, Reincarnation provides an explanation about ASD, it explains some of the common issues:
Immunizations: The ire of the medical community has been recently raised as more and more parents are refusing to immunize their children in fear of invoking autism. Holocaust victims were often used for medical experiments. It is a well-known fact that the invention of aspirin was developed using holocaust victims. This knowledge also explained my son’s opposition to taking medicine or invasive procedures of any kind. I don’t believe that the immunizations cause Autism, but I do believe that something like a moldy piece of bread or an arriving train would have eventually reminded them what their life plan was meant to be for this incarnation.
Lack of Ego is probably the most predominant issue with Autism. The first step in the psychology of the Holocaust was to strip the individuals of a sense of identity by giving numbers, cutting hair, uniforms, etc. Most autistic children do not use or minimally use the first-person pronoun such as "I" or "me". My son is six and still refers to himself in third person.
Lack of eye contact is another common issue with Autism. Due to the military-like composition of the concentration camps, the inferiority complex that was generated upon the victims was essential to maintain crowd control and power. Eye contact was not acceptable to this experience between authority and the victims.
Fecal Smearing/Consumption: Some autistic children do fecal smearing/consumption. Not only was there no toilet paper, or anything like that, but that some even reverted to eating their feces for direly needed food or to abate hunger.
Long-term memory is present in ASD children/adults. I would have to connect this to the fact that victims were on high-alert at all times and answering any kind of questions asked by authority figures could have meant the difference between life and death. Having such a significance placed upon answering questions required one to keep a keen memory in order to stay alive. Autistic children are known for their acute detail in discussing/explaining matters. Asperger's, IMO, may have been those victims of the Holocaust that were allowed to operate in a somewhat "normal" role within the concentration camps, still suffering the living conditions, but possibly working in a job that gave them some small sense of normalcy, like a kitchen job or accounting job.
Male/Female Ratio: The current ratio of Male/Female in ASD is 4:1. It is a fact that 80% of all women and children were immediately sent to extermination camps upon arrival, whereby leaving mostly men to experience the horror of the concentration camps.
Gastrointestinal (GI) Issues: It is estimated that approximately 50% of ASD children are afflicted with GI issues. The current trend in dietary solutions for ASD is low protein, no grains and no dairy diets. These diets are proving to show some success with the GI issues associated with ASD. Interesting enough, the food served in the concentration camps comprised of low protein, no grains (except for occasional pieces of bread) and no dairy.
Trains: A lot of autistic children have an affinity for trains. Trains came into concentration camps 2-3 times per day. They were a sign of hope, as trains brought the possibility of relatives or news about family to the many concentration camps.
Dr. Brian Weiss threw care to the wind of his professional reputation as a medical doctor when he published his first book about reincarnation in 1988. One day, I hope that some other doctor throws caution to the wind and publishes a book about autism and reincarnation. I live in hope. Currently, there is no cure for Autism, but there are many theories. This is just one that I have developed and I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Thank you in advance

I think if you believe in reincarnation then perhaps your son was a holocaust victim in a past life but that's too narrow a view because there were people who had symptoms of autism very far in the past. I do believe in reincarnation in a way.

Its an interesting theory, but I can't help feeling you may be imposing a pattern, rather than discovering one. While it may very well apply (and might be correct) in your son's case, I wouldn't extrapolate it to include every case of autism, that seems a bit of extreme wishful thinking. Truth is, if odd and inexplicable memory flashes mean anything, I may well have been an SS officer at one time, so take that for what it's worth.

Personally, my own years of study in theology, philosophy, religion, occultism, theoretical physics and the paranormal have led me to think of time as more static than sequential (in spite of our sensory experiences to the contrary), so my own view of reincarnation is not so much a matter of past lives, as parallel existence in various aspects of the multiverse. A memory of another life may not be so much an actual memory of an event already over and done, so much as a glimpse of an event taking place now in a different time frame. If we are all aspects of immortal consciousness, who's to say that we aren't living multiple existences all at once?

More things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio.

I am very much open minded to the idea of reincarnation - but to attribute well known autistic traits to being the reincarnation of holocaust victims is a real stretch of imagination. Although it is certainly possible to the be the case in some circumstances.

Research done at the University of Virginia (see the book Return to Life by Jim B. Tucker) where very young children appear to accurately describe the lives of actual people - shows children from a wide variety of backgrounds - with few if any holocaust victims.

Thank you for the comments. I must specify that I don't believe all autistic children are holocaust victims, but I believe there is a common thread of patterns that could support this theory, such as lack of eye contact, lack of ego, etc.. I also understand that there are many different theories of Reincarnation, as well. It would be similar to the assumption that all vegetarians hold the same food choices. They don't. Some eat eggs, some don't; some eat fish, some don't, some only eat raw veggies, etc. My interpretation of reincarnation is along the same lines as Edgar Cayce's belief system.

Also, autism is a SPECTRUM disorder, meaning that there are various degrees from mild to severe, so no entire disorder will fit into one theory. A cold can be caught in many ways, not just by getting sneezed upon, so I totally agree that this theory can not possibly cover all cases of autism. Human history is filled with similar atrocities such as the Holocaust, so there could be many sources of its origin. I thank you for your wonderful input, regardless if it appeals to you or not.

I think if he conciously remembers things from a previous lifetime it would be minimal or none but that's not to say reincarnation doesn't exist. I have a strong feeling if so; the information would be subconscious and dormant so it's not something you'd know but you would be affected by still.

I like to believe in reincarnation and look to Tibetan Buddhist philosophy.
I do feel that a traumatic death in the last life can leave a imprint on this life in some way.
But I'd hate to say that autism or any disability is caused by negative past life stories.
Looking for linkages from past lives could take you all around the world and back again.
Perhaps you might ask, Why do the victims of the Holocaust, and rebirth, and autism link so much for you?

If I was a holocaust victim I would feel anything in Auschwitz Camp which is close to where I live and which I visited a few times. And I feel nothing. This place is absolutely alien to me and brings no memories or thoughts. Other people say they get sad and scared there but I am not. I am aware many people died there but I feel like it has nothing to do with me.

I can't understand what it is all about. I wouldn't stand a place that was so crowded, stinky and cold and I would be probably the first one getting shoot to death because I would tell the aggressors what I think of them straight in the face. And I would be OK with dieing.
I am unable to empathize with people who could stand all the inhuman treatment just to survive.

But maybe that's it? I have AS(active but odd) not full autism so perhaps I was in a campus only for a short time just to get killed for my non-victim behavior? Just kidding.
I had some "re-birthing session" a few years ago and assuming reincarnation is real I died as a old male on a comfortable chair in his house library full of books in my previous life. And in the life before that I died as a few month old genetically ill baby in a victorian family.

Last edited by Kiriae on 24 Mar 2015, 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I can't say I agree that this explains autism. I can remember being a little girl in Victorian times, but I completely missed the holocaust even though a couple of my older relatives have numbers tattooed on their arm.

Was into Edgar Cayce for a phase when I was a teen. And am still open to paranormal ideas.

But a couple of things leap out as problems.

One: aspirin was isolated as a chemical, and made into pills, in the 1890's. It had been in everyone's medicine cabinet in America for decades by the time of Pearl Harbor. So I don't where you get the idea that it's invention had anything to with the Holocaust (though they did do heinous experiments on humans with other things during the Holocaust).

Two: If autistic children were reincarnated Holocaust victims wouldn't that cause them to be repelled by trains, rather than be fond of them? Holocaust victims were taken to the camps on cattle cars in freight trains.

There simply is no empirical evidence to support any claim of reincarnation.

Unless you're a Frisbeeterian.

In which case, when you die, you end up on someone's roof forever.

I think certain soul qualities predispose a person to having autistic traits (such as valuing equality and lacking interest in hierarchy). If a soul of this nature incarnates within a drama like the Holocaust, they are unlikely to try exert power and control over others. If it is too difficult to remain neutral and stay out of the drama, they are more likely to default to the role of being a victim. Unresolved trauma within one life (or more likely over a series of lifetimes) can create an imbalance that exacerbates impairments in other lives.

It's far more complex and individual than just saying, people who have X are victims/survivors of Y in another life. Multiple lives intersect energetically and influence each other.

Naturalplastic, If you google Aspirin and Holocaust, you'll find some very interesting articles about aspirin and Felix Hoffman, who is considered its inventor and his long association with Bayer.

So how does this conspiracy theory of yours allegedly 'prove' that reincarnation is real?

Perhaps not, however there are unusual examples of where children as young as 3 yrs old suddenly (and inexplicably) recall being somebody else and even a different gender, culture or language.

I have first hand experience of a neighbor back in the late 1970s who was visited by a total stranger with their 5 yr old child who strangely thought she was their long dead daughter (who died when she was 15 in a car accident). It was eerie as the girl not only knew the name of our neighbor's daughter who passed away around 9 months before this girl was born but she knew things about her life including her home address, bedroom and where her toys were kept etc..her favorite food and details she could not possibly have known.

I'm not saying this is reincarnation but given there is no plausible explanation then it's certainly worth investigating

You may have only first-hand experience of your neighbor telling you about an allegedly reincarnated child who had allegedly visited him. How close were you to directly experiencing the alleged event?

First-hand experience would be if you had been the allegedly reincarnated child.

Second-hand experience would be if the allegedly reincarnated child had come to you.

Third-hand experience would be if your neighbor told you about allegedly being visited by the allegedly reincarnated girl.

Also, how old were you when you first heard the story? How old was the neighbor? When I was a child (even into my teens), kids my age would often make up ghost stories and pretend that they were true - I don't know why. Checking these stories out and finding them to be false made me their enemy. They were sorely disappointed that I didn't believe them, and I even went so far as to prove them wrong to other kids our age. I guess most people in those days were more interested in being believed than in being truthful.

Finally, was any of the information regarding their family and yours ever a matter of public record? Death and funeral announcements, perhaps? Police and newspaper reports? Public telephone directories?

I can tell you from personal experience that the more knowledge you can give about a person, the more convincing a scam can be, and the easier it is for them to accept you as a genuine article (in my case, a 'psychic').