The view that memory transcends the body/brain is supported by many traditional cultures, by transpersonal psychology, by the worldview of new physics and by some work in pre and perinatal psychology, e.g.. David Chamberlain's article, "Expanding the Boundaries of Memory" (PPPJ, Vol 3, #3, pp171-189). Among the questions implied by this perspective are:

1) Who are the people who choose various forms of technological assistance in their entry into physical form? (The assistance can vary from forceps and caesarean delivery to in-vitro fertilization.) What soul intentions and life purposes are congruent with these forms of entry? What "karmic" patterns fit the various kinds of assisted birth?

2) What responsibilities rest on the researchers and on the medical professionals who develop these new modes of entry and on the parents who choose to open these particular doors for their children? (For instance, with a non-labor caesarean born person there is need for "labor", for the giving of boundaries and the teaching of relationship patterns usually learned in vaginal birth; the need for "giving birth", as a gift!)

For answers to these questions, a good place to start is to listen to people who have come in with these various forms of technological assistance. It is well documented that many children talk about their birth experiences between the time of first learning language and about age 5.

(more comments on birth technology)