I am sure, as you hear me say this, you do not really believe me, or even believe that I believe it myself. But nevertheless it is true.… You are free to believe me or free to disbelieve, but please take my word on it that I am not joking; this is very serious, a matter of importance. I am sure that at the very least you will agree that for me even to claim this is in itself amazing. Often people claim to remember past lives; I claim to remember a different, very different, present life. I know of no one who has ever made that claim before, but I rather suspect that my experience is not unique; what perhaps is unique is the fact that I am willing to talk about it.

—FROM A SPEECH GIVEN BY PHILP K. DICK IN FRANCE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1977