Dreams and NDEs Suggesting the Soul's Non-Earthly Pre-Existence

Most people are familiar with the doctrine of life after death through the survival of the soul. The idea is that a person has some immortal soul which survives death, and that after you die your soul will go to some kind of postmortal realm, perhaps some kind of heaven. An idea that fewer people are familiar with is the idea of the soul's pre-existence in some non-earthly realm.  This is the idea that your soul did not start to exist here on Earth, but started to exist somewhere else long before you were born. According to such an idea:

(1) You once existed in some non-earthly realm, which may have been some kind of heaven or paradise;

(2) For some reason you then came to live here on Earth as a flesh-and-blood human;

(3) After you die you will then return to that place where you dwelled before being born here on our planet.

The doctrine of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence should not be confused with the doctrine of reincarnation.  Reincarnation is the doctrine that your soul has experienced multiple earthly lifetimes in multiple bodies living at different times.  The doctrine of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence is the doctrine that you lived before this earthly life, but in some place other than planet Earth, perhaps some heaven or paradise.  A believer in the doctrine of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence can either believe or disbelieve in the doctrine of reincarnation.  Such a person could believe that his soul originated in some realm other than Earth, and that such a soul has had one and only one incarnation here on planet Earth, the person's present earthly life. Or such a person could believe that he or she has had multiple incarnations here on planet Earth, which would be a belief rather like (or the same as) the belief in reincarnation. 

Although we currently lack any airtight "good as gold" evidence for such a hypothesis, and the doctrine may or may not be true, I can think of six reasons for believing in the doctrine of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence:

(1) The doctrine might help explain the hard-to-explain acquisition of language by young children. Linguists such as Noam Chomsky have drawn attention to a "poverty of stimulus" dilemma in regard to language acquisition: that young children seem to learn a language and its grammar without being exposed to sufficient examples that would explain such language acquisition. This "poverty of stimulus"  dilemma doubles when we consider the case of children who become fluent in two different languages before the age of five, such as two I know who became fluent in both Chinese and English (two languages with different grammar rules) by the age of three or four. If we imagine that souls may have practiced earthly languages in some state where they existed before birth, this might help explain the riddle of how children can learn two languages at an early age despite a "poverty of stimulus." 

(2) The philosophical problem called the problem of evil may be greatly lessened if we imagine the soul's non-earthly pre-existence. It could be that each of us existed in blissful happiness for very many years before coming to Earth, and that each of us chose to come to Earth and face its risk and pains, for the sake of some higher purpose. Clearly such possibilities lessen the problem of evil. For example, if I consider only the earthly life of Anne Frank, I may have a "problem of evil" dilemma. But suppose I hypothesize that Anne Frank's earthly life was preceded by a million years of her heavenly bliss, and that she chose to come to Earth and to face difficulties like those she faced. Then the problem of evil seems to shrink. 

(3) There are some anecdotal reports of very young children saying they existed in some non-earthly state before living on Earth, and some of these children have apparently claimed that they selected their own parents. However, evidence of this type seems to be scattered and sparse. An example of such accounts can be found in the scientific paper "Paranormal Aspects of Pre-Existence Memories in Young Children" which can be read here or here. 

(4) One PhD using hypnosis on adults has claimed to have found evidence for the non-earthly pre-existence of the soul. For more information, see the book Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives by Michael Newton PhD (which can be read on www.archive.org using this link). 

(5) People having near-death experiences often report going to some unearthly heavenly kind of realm, and also having some thought that they were "returning to their true home," rather than seeing such a place for the first time. For example, in the first episode of the Netflix series "Surviving Death," a woman who had a near-death experience while kayaking (supposedly deprived of oxygen for many minutes) says at the 5:40 mark, "I believe I was in heaven,"  and "I had an overwhelming sense of being home." Similarly, a woman named Karen who had a near-death experience said, "It felt like I was returning home." At the end of this post I will quote many more accounts of this type, in which people having near-death experiences report a feeling of "returning home" upon encountering some mystical or heavenly realm 

(6) I have had quite a few dreams suggesting the idea of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence (in addition to more than two hundred dreams suggesting the more general idea of life after death).  Below are some examples:

• I dreamed my late father asked (?) if I could go to some home where I had previously lived, saying that my late grandmother now lived there. I'm not sure whether it was an asking to make such a trip or a prediction of such a trip. The home may have symbolized some postmortal realm, particularly given the assertion that my late grandmother now lives there. Because it was stated that I had previously lived in such a place, the dream may hint at the doctrine of pre-existence (that souls live in some heavenly realm before they come to live on Earth).
• I dreamed I was crossing a kind of floral boundary line marking the border between two different homeowner's yards. Looking at the yard I was entering, I was thinking, "I've lived there before." Crossing over into the other yard I saw a smiling woman who seemed to greet me. Crossing over to the other side of this boundary may have represented crossing a boundary between earthly life and an afterlife, often referred to as the Other Side.  The thought that I've lived there before may suggest the idea of the pre-existence of the soul in some heavenly realm.
• I dreamed that I walked up some ascending walkway to reach some high place where there were joyous people having fun and playing music. I saw a little girl who was having fun playing with colorful sprinkles. I said to the girl, "Princess, we have been drawn away from this place by our duties, but we will return to it one day." In the dream I gently took the little girl's hand, and walked away with her. The dream may symbolize the idea of a blissful heavenly pre-existence, followed by an earthly life involving the carrying out of duties, followed by a return to the heavenly state. 
• I dreamed that I was driving a car, next to a toll gate on a bridge. There were two lanes, and I realized I was in the wrong lane. So I did a short U-turn to get into the right lane, the lane with the toll gate. The toll was $98.  Because I was first in the lane opposite the lane with the toll gate, the dream implies I had previously come across the bridge, and was now going to cross the bridge in the other direction to return to where I had come from. The bridge may symbolize the border between this earthly life and some afterlife realm (on the Other Side). The dream may symbolize not only an afterlife (going to some Other Side) but also pre-existence before birth in the same afterlife realm (because the dream implies that I previously crossed the bridge).
• I dreamed that I was on a bus heading to some library, with the idea that I had once lived next to the library. The ride may represent a return to some heavenly place of great knowledge where I had existed before an earthly life (the idea of pre-existence). On the same day I dreamed of a baseball batter hitting a homer and rounding the bases, with clear imagery of the discarding of the bat. The trip ending up at home plate may represent the same idea of pre-existence (return to a heavenly home where you once existed), and the discarding of the bat may represent a discarding of a human body at death by a soul that no longer needs it.
• I dreamed I came to some office where someone said that the last time I was at the office I had dropped on the floor many pages of information and some cash, and that such things had been saved for me, so that I could receive them when I returned. The dream may symbolize the idea that upon leaving some heavenly pre-existence to come and be born on Earth, a person may lose memories of such a pre-existence, which are then restored when the person returns to such a heaven after dying.
• I dreamed that a woman driven in a car over a river bridge (from the other side of a river) got out of the car, and said she had to walk about sixty blocks before she could reach home.  Each of the sixty blocks may symbolize a year of life, and the "reaching home" after such a journey may symbolize a return to some postmortal state (on the Other Side) that the soul may have previously inhabited during some non-earthly pre-existence. 
• I had a dream in which I got a bus back home quickly, but some young people had to wait a long time before getting their bus back home.  Because those having near-death experiences often report encountering some heavenly realm which they thought of as their "real home," you could interpret this getting a "bus back home" as reaching an afterlife realm after death (a person as old as me getting such a trip fairly soon, and young people having to wait a long time before getting such a trip). If a soul previously existed in some non-earthly realm, that realm may be regarded as its "true home." 
• On one night I had three dreams involving travel. In one I was waiting for a train, and in another I was in car about to go on a long trip. The dream most suggestive of life after death involved me in a bus, being driven across a bridge to its Other Side, with the bus then dropping me off at a spot that I recognized as my home (another repetition of the "going home" motif constantly occurring in my dreams, with "home" possibly representing some afterlife destination where souls may have previously existed before coming to this earth). 
• I dreamed that I was an Allied soldier in Nazi-occupied Italy, trying to get back home. In the dream I found a boat yard near a river, and stole a kayak, trying to use the kayak to get back home. This was another repetition of a "crossing the river" motif I often get in dreams, which may symbolize the barrier between life and death that leads to some Other Side that is like my "real home," perhaps because I lived there before during some non-earthly pre-existence. On the same night I had another "trying to get back home" dream, which also had a "blockage" motif that I often get in dreams. 
• I dreamed I was hiding in the woods as some of the Bad Guys passed by. Then in the dream I remembered a place I had once lived, some magnificent building where I had seemingly enjoyed perfect happiness and safety. I had the idea that I must go back to that place, and beg the current owners to let me live there again, so I could again enjoy such happiness and safety.  The part about the woods may have symbolized the danger of earthly living. The magnificent previous home may have symbolized some heavenly realm where each of us enjoyed a pre-existence of perfect happiness and safety before coming to live on this planet, a realm to which we will all one day return.
• I had a dream I was at my home, looking at an open trash can that had at its top a discarded envelope. The envelope was for a letter that I had sent to England, and which had been returned to me unopened. Only the envelope was in the trash, not the letter. The discarded envelope seems to symbolize the idea that when we die we discard a body that is a mere envelope for the soul. The round trip of the letter (going on a long journey and returning back to its home and source of origin) may symbolize the idea that after death a soul returns to its heavenly source, possibly (according to the idea of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence) a place where it lived before (its real home).
• I dreamed I took a jet to Heidelberg, Germany, and in the dream I recalled a part of  Sigmund Romberg's song "When It's Summertime in Heidelberg," which portrays an idyllic place where "there's beauty everywhere" and "every day is like a holiday." The dream may have symbolized a journey to some afterlife paradise. Because I was born not very far from Heidelberg, the dream may also symbolize the idea of returning to some idyllic place where I once existed, which meshes with the idea of the non-earthly pre-existence of the soul. 
• I dreamed that I left some tall skyscraper where I worked or lived, but then I returned to the building's ground-floor lobby. I was worried that I did not have the ID card needed for entrance, but found that I did have it in a bent shape. The "high altitude" destination reached by an elevator may signify some heavenly realm where my soul once lived (the idea of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence, suggested in 10+ other dreams I have had). The alteration of the ID card may signify some mind-bending alteration of the self that occurs when a person returns to his heavenly home upon dying.
• I dreamed that it was a dark stormy night, and that I was supposed to meet my daughters outside, but I had no coat. I thought that after meeting my daughters I should just go home.  The dark stormy night may represent death. The lack of the coat may represent the shedding of the bodily exterior at death, leaving only the soul behind. The brief meeting with my daughters may symbolize some ghost appearance I might make after dying. The "going home" (a motif repeating countless times in my dreams) may symbolize return of the soul to some heavenly home where it once existed (again, the idea of the soul's non-earthly pre-existence). 
• I dreamed that a man was leaving the building where he worked, going back home. The security guard in the front lobby said something about not leaving a mess, and so before the leaving man left he gathered up some newspapers and put them in a plastic bag (one about four times longer than its width). The "leaving work and going home" part may have symbolized dying and returning to some "heavenly home" where a person's soul may have originated (according to the idea of the non-earthly pre-existence of the soul). The placing of the newspapers (information) in a plastic bag may have symbolized a death event in which information (in a body's DNA) is put into a body bag. Plastic body bags (about four times longer than their width) are used whenever a body is stored in a morgue.
• I dreamed that I awoke sleeping outdoors in a dangerous spot very close to the tracks of trains that were speeding by. Then, strangely, I had a bicycle which I returned to a woman and a child, saying, "Sorry I slept with your bike." In the dream I then realized I was on some trip to some city far away from my home, and that the trip was almost over, and that I would soon go home. The "dangerous sleep" element of the dream may symbolize dying during sleep. The "giving back the vehicle" element may signify shedding at death my body, widely regarded as a vehicle for the soul (legally bikes are considered vehicles). The trip far from home may signify my earthly life, and the return to home (an extremely frequent motif in my dreams) may signify going back after death to some heavenly home where my soul may have existed before my earthly life.
• I dreamed that upon arriving in some distant city, I reminded myself to make sure to book a flight back home. The "flight back home" part may symbolize the ascent of a soul at death to return to some heavenly home where such a soul may have previously existed before living on Earth. Similarly, in two other dreams I was waiting to get a bus back home.  
• I dreamed I reached some snowy location where I saw my late father and my late firstborn sister. There was the idea that I was returning home. My sister said that my coat was seeming to unravel. The unraveling of the coat may have symbolized dissolution of the earthly body at death.  The returning home idea may have been another repetition of the idea that in an afterlife people return to some realm where they existed before birth. 
• I dreamed I crossed over to the other side of the street, to return a book I had borrowed from a library, at the deadline for returning the book. The deadline may represent death, and the crossing over may represent returning to some Other Side where my soul had once been (before birth). The book may represent my soul, which may have been kind of "borrowed from heaven" according to the idea of the nonearthly preexistence of the soul.  On the same night I dreamed I was in a school class, being asked by the teacher to give the answer to some complex question. Confident that I had written down the answer on one of the pages on my desk, I searched my pages, but could not find the answer. We have a "you had the answer, but you lost it" motif. Perhaps the answer represents an answer to some great philosophical question, which may have been known by my soul before coming to Earth, but which was lost upon my birth on this planet. 

A person who had a near-death experience reported having a feeling of returning to some place or state of his existence where his soul had previously lived. He states this:

"And I knew, 'THAT's my home, my original BEING, the original EXISTENCE of all of us, the home of ALL our souls. It's from here that I come and it's here that I belong. We all come from here and we will all come back here. A deeply familiar sensation of HOME and BELONGING pervaded me completely. I was ONE with everything. There are no earthly words giving me the possibility to describe this deeply anchored knowledge, this memory, and this beloved feeling of home."

Another person experiencing a near-death experience reported a similar feeling of "returning home":

" I was drawn into a long, dark tunnel that had a very bright, white light that was shining love. I could hear harps and saw my great uncle Harry Ed and Aunt Vickie. I was in total bliss and happiness. I was home. I didn't want to go back. I had a life review where I saw ever single event from my life...I knew I had to go back, but I really wanted to stay. I knew that it would hurt to go back to my body. I truly knew that this was home."

Another person experiencing a near-death experience reported a similar feeling of "returning home,": and also reported someone saying that she had chosen to incarnate on Earth. She stated this:

"They reminded me that I had chosen to be incarnate on Earth and that I had to go back. I already knew that by being by their side, everything was coming back to me. They gave me so much love. I was at home and I badly wanted to stay. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to go back. That’s how it had to be. I remember laughing a lot with them. They understood me. They knew the difficulty of an incarnation, as well as I knew it before I incarnated on Earth."

Another person tells an elaborate account of a near-death experience that includes this statement:

"I was HOME. That is what it felt like, the ultimate homecoming. I was where I was meant to be." 

Another person describing a near-death experience states that he floated out of his body, and then states this:

"At the end of the tunnel was an extremely bright light...

I was drawn to the light, although I wasn't sure what it was...It all felt peaceful and natural. The closer I got to the light, the more I understood what was going on. I knew that I had left my physical body and was passing on. I also knew I had been here before and that I was 'home'."

Another person describing a near-death experience states this:

"I felt my soul leave my body. Suddenly, I was across the room watching the entire scene. As I looked at the bright golden light, I was standing there wondering if I should stay on earth or go Home. At this time, I didn't feel any pain and I felt at peace. I was facing the light about to go Home, then the next thing I know, I was being pulled back into my body."

A person who had a near-death experience after heavy smoke inhalation reported this:

"The place where I went wasn't here, wasn't this universe (or if even the word ‘universe’ applies.) Everything there was made up of light, light that was light but wasn't light. I've never found adequate words for what to call it, except for ‘HOME.’ I just knew it was HOME, my real HOME. The place I'd been living, where I was born and grew up: that was no longer ‘home.’ It was only where I'd come from, where'd I been. When I did return back to HERE, I felt totally out of place. This wasn't where I belonged anymore - it was only where I'm meant to be, just for a time. THEY promised that when I'm done, or when I've done all I can do, then I could go HOME again. To express what HOME was like has been impossible for me to do. Everything HOME is connected. It is all One. It's Light. Light is love, or what beings here call ‘love,’ I think. Peace...I'm not sure if where I was, was heaven, but I was at peace, I was loved, and I was HOME."

Another person who had a near-death experience reported this:

"I remembered the most amazing part, I was HOME. I remembered clearly that I was back. Back where I belong. There’s a certain way you feel at HOME. It's not the same feeling or awareness as here on earth. It’s SUPER awareness of a sort. Nearly impossible to describe. It’s the best and most secure and loved feeling you’ve ever known, magnified and multiplied many, many times over."

A person who had two near-death experiences stated this about the second experience:

"As the same tunnel closed in all about me and my conscious mind flew to pieces once more, I felt far less terror and far more tranquility than before.  My old friend death was coming to pay a visit...Peace washed over me yet again.  How can death be a return home?  It is.  Or, it was for me the second time."

Another person having a near-death experience reported  encountering a mysterious figure in white:

" I hear him say to the me in front of him, 'You now have a choice. You can come Home with me, or you can return to your body and to your life. What do you choose to do?' ”

Another person having a near-death experience reported this  interesting account suggesting the soul's non-earthly pre-existence:

"I recall pronouncing to myself 'I'm back!'  It was as though I had returned. I certainly recognised this place that felt like 'The Real Place,' where time is infinite and the earthly place was just an extremely short blip within the ultimate scheme of things.  It was as if I already knew this, but that we are supposed to forget.  This knowledge gave me the confidence to know that the 'normal state' is just a made-up place where we adhere to some short-sighted rules and that we take it all too seriously. I knew that we were supposed to forget This Place and so I vowed to rebel and promised myself that I would remember this place.  Words cannot describe how I knew (indeed still know!) that 'This Place' was the actual reality.  The closest example I can give is how in a dream, we are generally ignorant of the waking state. Well, in 'This Place,' it's as though we know that while we are in our earthly realm, we are dreaming and not aware of this other, definitely more real, place....One other thing - that place is infinite.  It's almost as if the 'normal/earthly state' is an elaborate, kind-humoured but necessary ruse.  However, I have no doubt that this higher state is home and that we must have all been there before many, many times."

Another person who had a near-death experience stated this:

" I also recall seeing a planet in the distance that I felt was 'home.' I had a feeling that I was from there and that earth was not my home. I also saw a light that was so big that I could only see part of it. I felt that we all came from it."

Do each of us do a round-trip like this?