If rebirth exists, why don’t we remember past lives?

Some kids do, but the memories fade as they get older.

I can think of a number of potential problems if everyone remembered their past lives.

Let’s be conservative and imagine we all remembered our last ten births.

1. The emotional baggage would be enormous. Sometimes just one life is overwhelming for a person. Imagine remembering all the hurt, deception, love, lost love, conflict, successes and failures for ten births.

2. We could become attached to the wrong identity. If in a previous birth we were very successful and in this one we aren’t, we may identify with an identity that no longer exists. It would make, “Do you know who you are talking to?” a difficult question to answer.

3. Previous relationships could interfere with present ones. How many parents, children and siblings do you want to keep track of? Ten births’ worth is a lot, especially if the relationships weren’t always very sweet.

4. Previous enemies could become present targets, so how is a legal system going to handle charges brought by someone for something that happened four births ago? Since everyone can remember their past ten births chasing down the relevant witnesses would be a nightmare.

5. We might ‘discover’ that our present family isn't our "real" family because our previous parents where much wealthier and kinder than our present ones. So a kid might show up on the doorstep of a successful couple asking to be taken in as their child because previously they were. “Yes dear, we know you were, but you died.” “Well I’m not dead now, so what’s the problem?”

6. Memories could conflict with each other. In one birth you are a patriotic soldier, in another you are a loving mother, in another you were a mechanic, in another a prostitute, how can anyone juggle ten different identities and focus on this life?

7. There would be an enormous verification problem of the memories as it would be hard to know how true they are and if someone was mistaken or deliberately lying.

8. Inheritance would be very complicated. If the original owner of something comes back after dying and claims what he previously spent his life building, what are his rights?

9. Criminal cases would also be complicated. Many people who were murdered would be able to clearly identify their murderer. What happens when a six year old boy accuses a fifty year old man of raping and killing them when they were a sixteen year old girl?

10. Military and other dangerous secrets could pop up if the reincarnated person has become disillusioned with his former life, but still has knowledge that potentially could destabilize a company or government. Is he still bound by any NDAs he had previously signed?

11. There’s a lot of trauma even in one life, multiply that by ten and a person could have a crushing psychological burden to carry.

12. Much of the fun in life comes from doing things for the first time. If we are already well aware what it’s like to fall in love, have sex, hold our first baby, buy our first car, home, business, whatever, it’s likely to take some of the shine off the moment.

12. Dwelling on who we, and others, were previously would be a massive distraction from the purpose of the human form of life which is to understand we are not any of those previous identities but spirit souls, part and parcel of Krishna and we don’t belong in any material body with any identity based on it.

If we could remember past lives it would provide great fodder for Monty Python. With their hallmark wit they would take reincarnation and treat it as normal with all the bored, routine clerical work that would be needed to asses claims from previous lives.

CLERK: Previous incarnations?
MAN: Ten.
CLERK: Any elephants?
MAN: Two.
CLERK: You'll need the PBE form.
MAN: I haven't got a PBE form.
CLERK: Well, you can't possibly be reincarnated as an elephant without a Previous Birth Elephant form.
MAN: But I've already been reincarnated ten times.
CLERK: Yes, but that was before the regulations changed. Without a PBE form how will we know what you were doing for two of them?

JUDGE: This is a murder charge relating to the defendant's sixth incarnation?
LAWYER: Yes, M’lord.
JUDGE: Any relevance to the seventh?
LAWYER: Only in sentencing, M’lord. He's much better behaved now.
JUDGE: Good. Ten years.
LAWYER: Current-life years or previous-life years?
JUDGE: Don't be difficult.
LAWYER: Just checking because an appeal was upheld in Crown versus Johnson against his fourth incarnation conviction since in his second incarnation he was unfairly imprisoned for five years.

JUDGE: What has that got to do with this case?

LAWYER: We claimed five years' credit.

JUDGE: For imprisonment in his second incarnation?

LAWYER: Yes, M'lord.

JUDGE: He was a different person.

LAWYER: That's precisely what the prosecution argued.

JUDGE: And?

LAWYER: They lost.

JUDGE: Why?

LAWYER: Well the judge in his case was actually his eighth incarnation but didn’t recuse himself.

JUDGE: I see.