Many Lives, Many Masters
Feb. 26th, 2009 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloWe are immortal spirits. We come to earth again and again to learn. Death is an illusion. Our ultimate destiny- far, far down the line- is to return to the Source- which is Love.
That's what I believe. Pretty much. Actually I more than believe it. I'm pretty damn sure it's true.
Unlike other supernatural claims- that Jesus was born of a Virgin and rose from the dead, that the Koran was dictated to Mohammed by God himself- it's an theory that can be tested.
As it has been by the guy who wrote the book I read yesterday- Many Lives, Many Masters. He's called Weiss. He stumbled on his evidence whilst using hypnotherapy in an entirely mainstream hospital practice. He was taking a patient back to uncover the source of a deep psychological wound- and suddenly found she was telling him about a life in pre-classical Greece. After that one thing led to another. He could be lying, but I don't think he is.
I'm the 20th person to have read this particular copy of Dr Weiss's book since October '06. I know because it's a library book and it's got 20 stamps in it. It's had an interesting life. At one point it travelled to Blackpool and back on the Inter-Library loan scheme. It's well thumbed, and I'd guess- by the way the pages have acquired a Marcel Wave- that someone- at some stage- read it in the bath.
But if there's such an appetite for what this book is saying- and lots of people are conversant with its thesis- how come its ideas remain buried, hidden? How come you never hear them being discussed in the media? How come its not even honoured with attack?
Weiss has his own theory. The doctrine of reincarnation- widely believed across cultures in ancient times- has been suppressed because it sidelines the priestly hierarchies. If we make our own karma and all go back to God in the end, what exactly is the point of those keys that St Peter has dangling at his belt?
The truth is ignored because it isn't backed by the big religious corporations. It doesn't serve power.
That's what I believe. Pretty much. Actually I more than believe it. I'm pretty damn sure it's true.
Unlike other supernatural claims- that Jesus was born of a Virgin and rose from the dead, that the Koran was dictated to Mohammed by God himself- it's an theory that can be tested.
As it has been by the guy who wrote the book I read yesterday- Many Lives, Many Masters. He's called Weiss. He stumbled on his evidence whilst using hypnotherapy in an entirely mainstream hospital practice. He was taking a patient back to uncover the source of a deep psychological wound- and suddenly found she was telling him about a life in pre-classical Greece. After that one thing led to another. He could be lying, but I don't think he is.
I'm the 20th person to have read this particular copy of Dr Weiss's book since October '06. I know because it's a library book and it's got 20 stamps in it. It's had an interesting life. At one point it travelled to Blackpool and back on the Inter-Library loan scheme. It's well thumbed, and I'd guess- by the way the pages have acquired a Marcel Wave- that someone- at some stage- read it in the bath.
But if there's such an appetite for what this book is saying- and lots of people are conversant with its thesis- how come its ideas remain buried, hidden? How come you never hear them being discussed in the media? How come its not even honoured with attack?
Weiss has his own theory. The doctrine of reincarnation- widely believed across cultures in ancient times- has been suppressed because it sidelines the priestly hierarchies. If we make our own karma and all go back to God in the end, what exactly is the point of those keys that St Peter has dangling at his belt?
The truth is ignored because it isn't backed by the big religious corporations. It doesn't serve power.
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evidence
Date: 2009-02-26 06:17 pm (UTC)we find personally attractive. Or most
easily do so.
I do not find reincarnation attractive,
though it works nicely for me in a ghost
story by russell kirk or two included in
a fine anthology 'watchers at the strait gate'.
I do not find it attractive and perhaps for
that reason find it exceedingly unconvincing.
I recall reading in colin wilson's 'mysteries"
and enthusiastic discussion of a set of cases
in india collected by a mr stevenson was it?
and it sounded in some way interesting although
mr wilson is only critical as among occultists
rather than by a general stanard of scholarship
perhaps.
a bit after that I found a study of these cases
published by Penguin which completely demolished
every instance(I am forgetting on what grounds
etc but very solidly it seemed).
past life regression in its results would also
seem to be amenable to more than one line of
explanation... and certainly in its cases that
I have seen often is the most absurd fantasy
although again I have not looked into this
deeply at all and it can also be on the grounds
of finding the idea unattractive.
But I do think again that what one easily accepts
as evidential is what one is drawn to perhaps.
Re: evidence
Date: 2009-02-26 08:01 pm (UTC)I think you're right about the Indian researcher being called Stevenson. In India- where the idea of reincarnation is mainstream- there are many cases of very young children remembering "past lives". Like you, I've read some of this material- also the sceptical response.
Some regressions are clearly fantastical. There are far too many ancient Egyptian priestesses out there.
Weiss's subject- Catherine- mainly remembers lives of servitude- nothing very glamorous or exciting. Whatever else may be going on in her case, I believe we can rule out wishful thinking.
flight of an eagle
Date: 2009-02-26 08:20 pm (UTC)or perhaps it was in a magazine by
a gnostic bishop of some sort and he
was giving his autobiography, yes it
comes back it was a series in him
magazine,called flight of an eagle,
the first event he remembered
was at the time of Jesus when he was he
jewish girl about to be raped by a roman
soldier but an angel came down and stood
between them telling the roman he could
not do that. I think a bit later in the
episode he was present albeir as a
supernumeray at the Last Supper.
Re: flight of an eagle
Date: 2009-02-26 08:39 pm (UTC)Yes, as soon as I learn that the reincarnated soul was present at the Crucixifion- or some other world-historical event- I switch off.
where I accept in some sense reincarnation
Date: 2009-02-26 09:04 pm (UTC)1) that one can speak of the whole human
race from beginning to end as the journey
of 'The Adam'(plural in hebrew. in J document
including eve no doubt).
2. that as the Pope is the presence
of the Fisherman whose ring he wears
and who watches by the river...
so the Dalai Lama is a single continuous
historical presence.
It seems that just as there are of course
some Christians who believe, finding it
attractive, in a more literal transmigration
so there are Buddhists who do not...
My friend Lex Hixon who walked at once multiple
paths being a sunni sheikh and an advaita
teacher and zen practioner and eastern orthodox
and buried by the dalai lama did not believe in it...
his wife in india recently met the supposed
reincarnation of lex but does not herself take
it literally just as a nice compliment.
Re: where I accept in some sense reincarnation
Date: 2009-02-27 11:44 am (UTC)Your friend Lex is an inspiration to me. Here am I wrestling with the problem of being an Anglican and a Pagan and an irreligious sceptic- and he managed to master all those different religious disciplines. I wonder how he coped?
no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 02:58 pm (UTC)the hippie culture etc and to Christianity
rather later after a number of other things
I think he had the sort of mind that can
accept a 'clouded moon' as beautiful
also he was perhaps a little 'rich' rather
than poor in the sense of having money but
also having a great many experiences and
so on collected...a bit of a collector also
of people.
also he said he was 'a lover of the lovers of
God' and for him an intense sense of the
centrality of God was perhaps also the
organizing principle.
I do think that something like this is important
although obviously in terms of each psychology
and spiritual way because otherwise it becomes
simply a construct we must attempt rather than
an acceptance of the guidance of God through
all the bits and pieces we have assembled and
shored up against our ruin etc.