There will always be sceptics, cynics, and debaters who demand "proof" of life's more intangible things, proof which will somehow never be sound enough no matter how well presented.

The subject of past lives is no exception to this phenomenon and time and time again the debate is resurrected to challenge our present-day reality, subjected to some banal argument or university testing procedure, always controversial and always inconclusive.

HISTORICAL CREDENCE
Sensitive people, various native tribes and others close to nature have believed in the existence of earlier lifetimes for longer than record. The Aborigines in Australia, the Hopis of North America and others in Africa and Central and South America all hold such beliefs. The thinker and the philosopher alike have considered and decided in favour of past lives since the earliest writings. Plato and his followers, Leonardo da Vinci, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Goethe, Blake, Freud, Jung... all these and many more believed in the validity of past lives.

The truly religious have found it impossible to totally divorce their beliefs from reincarnation no matter how hard they try. Both the Hindu and Buddhist religions believe in the existence of past and future lives as foundations of their doctrine.

Even the man in the street who doesn't believe to any degree in past lives is becoming less and less common. There are many who doubt and "Can't be sure" but "feel there is something there". The percentage of people who believe that we live only one lifetime are definitely in the minority.

BODIES
Some people have a real difficulty with their bodies. Often these problems are related to gender. A person of one gender feels female, yet has a male body. The problem persists and unable to gain any real help from therapy or psychology, study or colleagues, undertakes a gender-change operation.

Yet it could be suggested that past life identities were bearing down and there was an alternative way to address the problem. Perhaps there was some "unfinished business" back there?

Many of today's therapies give credit to past trauma. There are many which venture their efforts on resolving issues surrounding the client's birth and childhood, following the beliefs of their authors that all trauma and ability began there. The most courageous of these will even go so far as to prenatal experiences to explain character ups and downs. But it is still uncommon for a therapy to seek answers outside of this lifetime.

Our abilities and disabilities are attributed to the complexity of the Human brain, yet far more information exists about past lives than has ever been directly linked to the working of the neuron-synapse.

Often debunked and dismissed as impractical reasoning and illogical thought, the subject of past lives has yet to gain respectability within the world today.

PAST AFFECTS OUR ACTIONS
It is accepted by therapists from various persuasions that the past can affect the present and that trauma of the past can to greater or lesser degree affect actions and behaviour long after the trauma has taken place.

Scientifically it is proven fact that emotional and physical trauma can create an effect long after the incident has occurred and that depression can stem from purely psychological causes. The death of a loved one, for example.

Chronic pain, it is now acknowledged, can have its roots in past physical or mental injury. It is agreed by most psychologists and counsellors that upsets, feelings and memories can be carried forward by the individual to affect them adversely in the present.

Past life therapy is dabbled in by many, used as a "sideline" by others. Those who dare to take it on seriously (and there are some) and work with people to address real issues achieve startling successes unrivalled in many other therapies.

CONSEQUENCES
We are still children in many ways, and like children, we find it hard to remember or recall our errors because we don't like to re-experience those feelings, neither do we like to think too much about the consequences of our actions upon our future. We certainly don't like to think about ghosts, to say nothing of the thought of being one.

ACCEPTANCE AND RESPONSIBILITY
The acceptance of Past Lives brings us problems, however:

If we take on an acceptance, belief, and a willingness to experience past lives, then it must follow as surely as night follows day, that we have something to do with the way things are today. After all, we were here before, weren't we? Do you really want to take responsibility for that? Isn't growing up, growing old, and getting through the week enough right now?

I'll bet you that acceptance of past lives would be far higher if the world today was a rosy Utopia.

The other side of that same coin is this: If we accept past lives, we must accept there will be future lives, and the future will bring what it has always brought - the consequences of today's actions. And that can be very frightening for the many.

If we have lived past lives and will live future lives, then we are more than just bodies, not just a brain or pieces of meat. Past Life authenticity means answering the question: "Who am I"?

It means that there really is more to life than eating, TV, clothes, football, sex and making lots of money.

It means the weirdos are probably a lot more right than they've been given credit for.

The subject of past lives raises many issues. It raises the issue of personal responsibility to a level where it becomes un-ignorable and undeniable.

And responsibility, like past lives, is a reality which we so often like to escape from.

Stephen Kaye is an Author and Businessman. He owns www.kaymexdirect.co.uk .