“Open” reincarnation stories: The dialectic between doubt and certainty

Abstract

This phenomenological study concerns the Druze cultural idiom Notq—the remembrance and talking about the previous incarnation. Specifically, it deals with stories that are open or referred to in the literature as unsolved. “Open” Notq stories are in contrast to solved ones in which the person's identity in the previous life is known and in many cases the person meets the previous life family. The study's core question is: What is the phenomenological experience of Druze who live with an “open” Notq? The study was based on interviews with 11 Israeli Druze women and men who have an open Notq story. The findings illustrate the open Notq scenario, the elements that validate it and the individual and collective implications of these stories. Through the open Notq cases we discuss the intersection between personal and master cultural narratives and the effects of this intersection on psychological well-being. We propose that the open Notq, despite its ambiguity and many unsolved questions, does not essentially harm the individual psychologically and may contain therapeutic value due to being consistent with the Druze reincarnation master narrative.

Keywords

Druze Notq reincarnation master narrative cultural idiom

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