The conversation shifts to reincarnation, with Taylor and Art debating whether consciousness carries forward between lives. Taylor argues that past life experiences shape present behavior even without conscious recall, while Art challenges the value of reincarnation without continuity of memory. They discuss the historical removal of reincarnation from Christian teachings and its implications for spiritual control.
Art opens an atheist hotline, inviting non-believers to call and engage directly with Taylor. Several atheists share their perspectives, with Taylor responding that he never seeks to prove his experiences but simply shares them. Art poses the famous question from the film Contact, asking a caller to prove his love for his mother, drawing a parallel to proving the existence of the soul.
Key Moments
Taylor admits he held back 40% of his first book: Albert Taylor reveals that while training astronauts at Johnson Space Center he kept roughly 40% of his out-of-body material out of Soul Traveler - including reincarnation, 'other lives,' and what he calls 'the game' - fearing for his NASA standing and conflicting with his Catholic upbringing.
Art challenges the value of reincarnation without memory: Art presses Taylor on the council vote that removed reincarnation from the Bible and asks the core skeptical question: if Art Bell can't remember a previous life, what good is reincarnation? Taylor argues past lives still shape behavior the way childhood shapes an adult, even without conscious recall.
Atheists who have NDEs don't stay atheists: Taylor reports that among the IANDS members he has interviewed - atheists, Christians, Muslims - roughly 90% describe the same kind of experience after near-death trauma. Art seizes on the point: he doesn't know any post-NDE atheists who remained atheist, even if they don't convert to a specific religion.
Could a machine reproduce an OBE?: A caller asks whether laboratory induction of out-of-body sensations would shake Taylor's certainty. Art reframes it as the test that would matter: not the floating feeling, but verifying information from a remote location that the experiencer had no other way to know. Taylor agrees - and points to his own verified observations as that bar.