Reincarnation: A Trick of the Mind?

Did I ever tell you about the time I was reincarnated? I wasn't really reincarnated. At least I don't think I was. It all started in college. Hypnotist James Mapes was going to be performing at the campus theatre. My room mate had seen him before and said he was well worth seeing.

While we waited for Mr. Mapes to arrive they played this weird psychedelic music. The walls were covered with these large black and white circles rotating round and round. Are you feeling sleepy yet? When Mr. Mapes arrives the first thing he tells us is that he can't make us do what we don't want to do. It's good to know we won't be robbing the nearest bank.

He then proceeds to have all the "sleepers" dance up onto the stage. Well I took dance in high school and college. It was a serious subject to me. I didn't want to make a mockery of it so I sat in my seat. Meanwhile these big burly football players twirl their way on to the stage. For the next twenty minutes he makes fools of them.

They scream when he tells them there are monsters under their chairs. They begin to strip when he tells them it is over 100 degrees. He makes them cry like babies. It's all funny stuff. Finally he wakens them from their trance and lets them go back to their seats.

He asks if there is anyone still asleep in the audience. All my friends point to me. I don't understand this. I have been watching the show the whole time. What are they talking about? He tells me whenever he stamps his foot I am going to get up and yell at the person behind me because they pinched my behind. Yeah, right! Is he crazy? I will do no such thing.

Bam goes his foot! I am on my feet yelling at the poor guy behind me. How dare he pinch my butt! Mr. Mapes tells me to move to another seat. He asks the person behind me to sit in my old seat. I can rest easy knowing that no one is sitting behind me. Mr. Mapes continues to humiliate people.

Bam! He does it again and I am at my feet yelling at an empty chair. I start to storm down the aisle going on about how I paid good money to see this show when he snaps his fingers. I stop mid sentence in the middle of the aisle. He carries on with the show.

Ten minutes goes by and I am still in the aisle. He asks me to come up on the stage. Up I go. He asks me if I believe in reincarnation. "No", I say. In a series of steps he brings me back to my birth and then to the death of the person I was before. Here is how it all plays out; My Brain: "This is silly. I have never lived a past life." Mr. Mapes: "You are lying on your deathbed. Please tell me where you are." My Mouth: "Cape Cod." My Brain: "What? Where did that answer come from? Mr. Mapes: "What is your name?" My mouth: "Maryann Nelson." My Brain: "Huh! Who the heck is Maryann Nelson? How is he doing this? I know my own name as well as I know my own mother." After a few more questions he wakes me up. Needless to say I had a lot of people pointing and staring at me the next day in the cafeteria. Years later I was going thru a scrapbook I had from high school. Inside was a newspaper photo of me reading a book under a tree. The caption read "Maryann Nelson enjoys a book on beautiful spring day." Did I tell you my aunt owns a house on Cape Cod? The mind is a powerful trickster.