Articles

Karma as Grace and the Past Life of a Young Boy

After reading the story of a young boy, who began having horrific nightmares a few weeks past his second birthday, and the coalescence of my work, I am compelled to write about this fascinating true story.

Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot is the story written by the young boy’s parents, Bruce and Andrea Leininger. They began a journey to prove or disprove the nightmares their son, James, experienced as merely that of a child, who was going through typical childhood bogyman dreams.

I became aware of this story when it was aired on Good Morning America in 2004. As a past life therapist, I was pleased that another story of a child remembering a past life was given national attention. What better way to educate the public on this profound phenomenon?

The book was released in June, 2009. I anticipated the story would verify the boy’s memories, but it holds much more. Much more because many people, who were connected to the life of the young boy, James Leininger and also many WWII fighter pilots, who were comrades and the sole remaining family member, his sister, have been impacted in ways only they can describe.

The coalescence that came into focus for me was when I attended the World Healer Institute Training in San Diego in July 2009. I attended a workshop on Grace, Grace as New Karma, to look at life situations, old and new, with the realization of Oneness, goodwill and divine love.

Bruce Leininger due to his religious beliefs was against the idea that his son, James was experiencing memories from a past life. Andrea, James’ mother, her sisters and mother leaned towards accepting reincarnation as a logical explanation to the nightmares. However, Andrea was more concerned about how the nightmares were affecting his ability to grow up emotionally healthy than proving or disproving it was connected to a past life.

The journey Bruce Leininger experiences is amazing both in his personal growth and in what he does to help his son resolve the nightmares. He sets out to get facts about the ship, the U.S.S Natoma Bay, that James talked about and as a result meets many war veterans, collected facts from war records and went to WWII Natoma Bay veteran reunions.

Bruce collected details, names, and facts which coincide with the information from the recurring nightmares. Realizing a child as young as James could not have made up these facts nor could he have read or heard them, Andrea began to doggedly research names, places and events on the Internet and eventually found the family of the WW II fighter pilot, James M. Huston Jr., who they later learned was the pilot, their son James had nightmares about, and also veterans who fought in the same squadron.

When Bruce and Andrea took James to meet veterans at a WWII Natoma Bay veteran reunion they shared their research and the veterans in turn shared their memories of him, the plane he flew and what happened the day he died.

They also contacted and subsequently met James Huston’s 84-year-old sister. They gave her information about her brother that the family never knew. Young James shared details with Huston’s sister that no one was aware of and that only James Huston could know. Plus, James Leininger asked his ‘former’ sister, questions about their mother, that only James Huston could know as it was personal matters only a brother and sister would remember. Many veterans were able to share with the family and each other what they knew about a good friend. Up to this time the family of the fighter pilots never knew exactly what happened and where James M. Huston died. Due to information gathered by Bruce from the other veterans, war records, etc. they finally filled in the gap.

The final details of healing the memories James Leininger experienced as James M. Huston Jr., was a trip to Japan and Natoma Bay sponsored by the Japanese government. They went to the site where James M. Huston’s WW II plane went down. James Leininger had a complete emotional coalescence and catharsis of the unfinished business as James M. Huston, Jr. and the memories James Leininger was reliving. Young James dropped flowers in the water, saluted and said goodbye to James M Huston Jr. the fighter pilot, whom he knew intimately in his mind, body and soul.

The Leininger family journey: Four years of nightmares, fact finding research, meetings, travel, reunions, Internet searches, many phone calls, and in-person meetings, not only proved what Bruce set-out to disprove, but, also brought information to James Huston’s family. Bruce, not only proved the information about a WWII fighter pilot, the Corsair airplane, and U.S.S. Natoma Bay were accurate, he willingly acknowledged that past life and reincarnation is without doubt real. Bruce and Andrea worked on it together, in spite of differences, for their son’s welfare and James’ nightmares were much less frequent until they stopped all together.

This story is one of sharing love, energy, and good will and by everyone in this story of Soul Survivor is what I now know is New Karma - Grace.

As a professional and fellow sojourner, I send deep thanks and gratitude to James Leininger for remembering his previous life, to Bruce for his willingness to discover the truth, albeit contrary to his beliefs and Andrea for her loving care, support and determination for James and Bruce.

Last, but not least a special thanks and gratitude the WWII Natoma Bay veterans, to the Japanese government for their role in allowing James Leininger to close the chapter on James M. Huston’s life and thus, closing a chapter on James Leininger’s life and the opening of a new chapter for James, Bruce and Andrea. This is a journey of New Karma - Grace.

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Maggie van Staveren LCSW, CHT. IARRT Past-President Maggie is a licensed psychotherapist and certified hypnotherapist and IBRT certified Regression Therapist. She works in her private practice in Berkeley, CA and also teaches personal improvement classes and gives lectures on a variety of topics including Dreams, Developing One's Intuition and Business Principles. As a therapist she works with individuals and couples using a variety of techniques specializing in Past Life Regression Therapy. For more information on Maggie, please visit her IARRT Professional Page here.