Customer Reviews

We're Here: An Investigation Into Gay Reincarnation

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Like many first-of-a-kind books, this one has some of the roughness of newly-plowed ground. The author, Dr. Lynn Kear, Ph.D., has done a monumental job of collecting together literally hundreds of footnoted references to reincarnation and homosexuality -- a worthy task which, as far as I know, has never been done before. This alone makes the book worth buying, as a valuable reference for anyone in the reincarnation field.

However, don't expect this section of the book to be an inspiring bedtime read. The style is more like a thesis, with copious footnotes and language leaning heavily toward academe. The author's two previous works were annotated bibliographies, and her skill in that area is evident here, too.

Those who prefer more human interest may want to read the second half of the book first. In the second half, there are 11 interviews with lesbians and gay males who believe in reincarnation, and who express a wide range of beliefs about how that is connected to their sexuality and their lives in general. Not surprizingly, the gay perspectives on reincarnation are just as varied as those in the non-gay world.

In the conclusion, the author, herself a lesbian, explores what this study meant to her own spiritual search. Although she is not totally convinced of the reality of reincarnation, she finds it a fascinating topic as one of the many ways that spirituality expresses itself.

My main complaint about the book is that the typsetting layout in the first half leaves much to be desired. It follows the indentation format of an academic thesis, which works on a typewritten page, but is difficult to read in the smaller font of a printed book. Inserting a space above and below the quoted-indent paragraphs would have made it much easier on the eyes.

Still, this is a relatively minor point compared to the value of the information this book contains. I highly recommend it for both gay and reincarnation studies.

This book is a very interesting blend of research and anecdotal references. The author includes field case studies about reincarnation and combines it with her own informal research. I especially enjoyed the interview section of the book, which included past life stories told by a number of gays and lesbians. The stories were poignant and intimate. I felt as if I was sitting in the room with the author and the interviewees, almost like a voyeur. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a unique look into the connections between sexual orientation and past life experiences.

Writer Lynn Kear is NOT presenting the reader with her own formulated, rigid point of view here. This is an exploration of the subject (or as the title infers, "an investigation") and has the feeling of an open-ended conversation. A conversation in which more than one point of view is welcome and can be accommodated. The bulk of the book is in fact made up of what I'd call testimonials- gay people, who believe in re-incarnation, telling their own stories. Kear never judges what they have to say. She objectively listens, records and compiles. It makes for intriguing reading.

We're Here: An Investigation into Gay Reincarnation started out as an interesting exercise in reviewing the various schools of thought when it comes to reincarnation of LGBT people. It was a bit on the academic side, but was nonetheless interesting to see how some reincarnation believers and theorists accounted for sexual orientation and indentity issues. Lynn Kear obviously did her research when it came to compiling an overview of who believes in reincarnation and how they account for any effects reincarnation might have on an individual's sexual and/or gender orientation.

Where the book fell apart for me was in the last section which featured interviews with LGBT people who believed in reincarnation and had theories about how past lives had an impact on their present life. In a number of cases the interviews sounded more like a parody than a true assessment of reincarnation. Maybe I've seen too many alleged reincarnation readings and regressions in which the subjects recite very obvious anachronisms. Or where subjects can recall past lives in ancient civilizations but can't seem to recall their lives immediately before there current lives where there's a greater chance of finding documents that would confirm their accounts.

There are obviously people out there who get more out of the first-person accounts than the academic research. More power to them. I just don't happen to be one of them. I found accounts such as the young girl from Indian who recalled her past life and was able to correctly point out people she knew in that life much more compelling than people who talk rapturously about lives lived on the mythical lost continent of Atlantis.

For me the jury is still out on the idea of reincarnation. I appreciate this book for pointing me in the direction of new research on the subject ... but could have done without at least half of the first-person accounts that added nothing but doubt to the discussion.