Soul Survivor

[eema.gray]

From Amazon: "This is the story of James Leininger, who-- a little more than two weeks after his second birthday-- began having blood-curdling nightmares that just would not stop. When James began screaming out recurring phrases like, "Plane on fire! Little man can't get out!" the Leiningers finally admitted that they truly had to take notice.

When details of planes and war tragedies no two-year-old boy could know continued-- even in stark daylight-- Bruce and Andrea Leininger began to realize that this was an incredible situation. SOUL SURVIVOR is the story of how the Leiningers pieced together what their son was communicating and eventually discovered that he was reliving the past life of World War II fighter pilot James Huston. As Bruce Leininger struggled to understand what was happening to his son, he also uncovered details of James Huston's life-- and death-- as a pilot that will fascinate military buffs everywhere.

In SOUL SURVIVOR, we are taken for a gripping ride as the Leiningers' belief system is shaken to the core, and both of these families come to know a little boy who, against all odds and even in the face of true skeptics, harbors the soul of this man who died long ago."

Ranger Daddy came home this morning telling me about this story. He heard an interview with the author on late night talk radio at work and was quite eager to tell me all about it. From a Jewish perspective, the concept actually makes a great deal of sense, though I'm very uncomfortable with the word reincarnation. There's something weirdly New Agey about that word. Anyway, in Jewish mysticism, one reads of souls that somehow get put into the wrong bodies - explaining why a person would have a Jewish soul but not be raised as a Jews. Also, there is a belief that male and female souls are matched to each other before birth, leading to the concept of "soul mates." If both of these things can be true on some spiritual level, I think it stands to reason that a soul could also be given a second life.

Soul Survivor is compelling to us because our son exhibits some of the same behaviors as the little boy in the book. Like James, our son is completely riveted by TV commercials for one particular military service. He's gripped by stories and movies dealing with the same service, to the complete ignoring of any other military story. He has an instinctive sense of which stories/movies are about "his" service and which ones aren't. In addition, he's had nightmares since he was about two months old. He can't yet tell us what they're about but at least once a week, he will wake up shrieking and need sometimes as much as an hour to calm down again. That's been happening since he was about two months old.

Now I'm the first to say I think experiences like the one in Soul Survivor are relatively rare. But I do have to wonder if he has some of some yet unknown Marine's memories. What other reason is there for an otherwise delightfully happy 18 month old to adopt a thousand yard stare in the middle of playing with his toys? And why else would he occasionally take on the look of someone much older, wiser, and more experienced? I'm curious to see how it all plays out as he continues to grow. Almost certainly, these are simply quirks in his nature.j But I can't help but wonder if.

[ironkitten]

Jun. 23, 2009 at 2:52 PM

When my son was born, he looked like an old man.  His eyes had a sparkle, but it was that of an old soul.   The doctor even mentioned it at birth.

You know how kids say "What's that?" when they are learning language?  Well, my son never ever asked that question.  He learned how to speak at a very young age.  In fact, everything he did was way, way too early for his age (I used to call him "The Baby That Never Was"). 

When he asked about things, he ALWAYS said, "What's dat, 'gain, Momma?   I would answer, "What do you mean, 'What's that, again, You've NEVER seen that before.'"  I would still tell him the item and he often whispered "Oh, yeth," as if he was remembering the item, but in a rather different appearance.

He also told me that "God pot us all here on the earth like a big hand."

When meeting a close friend of mine, I asked him how he liked meeting him.  My son's reply, "He's not my friend, Momma, he's my brudder."  *From another era? I wondered in my head.

I believe in reincarnation today.

Peace and Love,

[IrishMommaC]

Jul. 8, 2009 at 7:38 PM

I heard about this story a couple years ago... the little boy, when he would draw pictures would sign them James 3 (his dad was James and his past life was James)... its totally facinated me.  I very much believe in reincarnation and even though I do have some ideas as to where I've been before, its something I'd love to further explore. Thus far I haven't seen anything in my kids that particularly spark the idea of their particular past lives, but I'm sure as time goes on, through school and study (at least, thats where my first pangs of "memory" for past times has come from, with the most recent ringing the most true) there will be moments that I wonder...