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Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives
The true story of a prominent psychiatrist, his young patient, and the past-life therapy that changed both their lives. As a traditional psychotherapist, Dr. Brian Weiss was astonished and skeptical when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks. His skepticism was eroded, however, when she began to channel messages from the space between lives, which contained remarkable revelations about Dr. Weiss' family and his dead son. Using past-life therapy, he was able to cure the patient and embark on a new, more meaningful phase of his own career.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1988
About the author
Brian L. Weiss
52 books2,224 followersAs a traditional psychotherapist, Dr. Brian Weiss was astonished and skeptical when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her recurring nightmares and anxiety attacks. His skepticism was eroded, however, when she began to channel messages from "the space between lives," which contained remarkable revelations about Dr. Weiss's family and his dead son. Using past-life therapy, he was able to cure the patient and embark on a new, more meaningful phase of his own career.
A graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, Brian L. Weiss M.D. is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.
Dr. Weiss maintains a private practice in Miami. In addition, Dr. Weiss conducts national and international seminars and experiential workshops as well as training programs for professionals.
(from the author's webpage)
A graduate of Columbia University and Yale Medical School, Brian L. Weiss M.D. is Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.
Dr. Weiss maintains a private practice in Miami. In addition, Dr. Weiss conducts national and international seminars and experiential workshops as well as training programs for professionals.
(from the author's webpage)
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September 23, 2012This is one of the worst books I've ever read - parading as a scientific analysis when it is nothing of the sort.
Dr Weiss has conducted his research without scientific protocols or peer review, yet as a "scientist", Dr Weiss should have the skills and resources necessary to have conducted his "investigation" properly and scientifically. The fact that he chose not to has, I believe, discredited his book as a work of fairy tale-like fiction.
Rather than a conventional review, I will go through some of the claims made in the book, page by page, and show how it's full of nonsense.
Page 27-28 – In regressing under hypnosis an anonymous patient called Catherine to a “past life”, Dr Weiss claims that Catherine can “vividly” see that, “The year is 1863 BC”. Yet this date could not have existed at that time, so how could Catherine possibly have seen it? In later hypnosis sessions, Catherine was only able to reveal the date of her past life if she could “see or hear” it: so it makes a complete nonsense of history to be able to “see” a date that didn’t exist contemporaneously.
Page 28 – In another hypnosis session, Catherine claimed that her daughter from 1863 BC, called Cleastra, was her niece in the present time called Rachel. Why didn’t Dr Weiss question Catherine more closely about this astonishing claim? It could simply have been the result of Catherine’s vivid imagination. How precisely did she know? No details, scientific basis or substance are provided; it was just presented by Dr Weiss as a fact.
Page 29 – Catherine states now that she is in the year AD 1756 and her name is Louisa. Why no surname mentioned? With a surname in more modern time such as the 18th Century, the existence of such a person could be verified. Throughout the book, Catherine never states and is never asked for a surname. Neither is any specific address given or asked, which could be factually verified.
Page 30 – Dr Weiss asks Catherine if he appeared in her past life. Yes, she replies, Dr Weiss was her teacher in the year 1568 BC. Again, no questioning on how Catherine could presume that. It is accepted and presented as fact by Dr Weiss, without challenge. Again, a contemporaneously non-existent date is presented, when dates of more modern times could not be revealed as Catherine claimed she could not “see” them.
Page 36 – Dr Weiss claims that reincarnation was mentioned in the Bible, but it had been deleted early on. Where is the source? For a doctor who claims to have written many scientific journals, this is one book written in a most unscientific way. Dr Weiss does not provide a list of sources or references to support any of the claims he makes in this book.
Page 42 – Now Catherine claims that the man who killed her in 1473 was her current boyfriend, called Stuart. Again, no questioning by Dr Weiss on exactly how she came to this conclusion. Also, Dr Weiss did not give Catherine’s verbatim account, even though Dr Weiss claimed to have written down or recorded her words. This was a critical commentary by Catherine, and Dr Weiss should have quoted her directly.
Page 43 – Catherine claims that her mother in a previous, undated life is the same mother she has now. Again, no precise details are provided. No mention of when or where this happened. It’s all skipped over. No clear description of the mother then and her mother now. It’s all accepted without question. This amazing revelation is all over in one paragraph and not mentioned again. Where is the close questioning by the scientist that Dr Weiss is supposed to be?
Page 43 – Dr Weiss states, “According to most writers, groups of souls tend to reincarnate again and again...” Most writers? Maybe Dr Weiss could claim that most writers who write about reincarnation, but surely not most writers generally? It’s this type of imprecise writing that makes Dr Weiss’s book not one of scientific scrutiny and discovery, but a book of imprecise narration. Again, no source to back up his claim about “most writers...”
Page 43 - Dr Weiss states, “I felt the need to apply the scientific method, which I had rigorously used over the past fifteen years in my research, to evaluate this most unusual material emerging from Catherine’s lips.” Good idea. Yet, nowhere in the book does Dr Weiss apply any scientific methods to evaluate the claims made by his patient, Catherine. He only ever makes lip service to scientific methods.
Page 44 – Dr Weiss wrote that, following the hypnosis sessions, Catherine gained “psychic powers”. However, Catherine’s father (in her present life!) expressed doubt about Catherine’s new powers. Dr Weiss wrote, “To prove to him that it was true, she took him to the race track. There, before his eyes, she proceeded to pick the winner of every race.....she took all the money that she had won and gave it to the first poor street person she met on the way out of the track.” Where is the source and independent verification for this story? If true, it should have been easy to check and prove the truthfulness of this account. By not doing so, by not even explaining why he could not do so, Dr Weiss has demeaned the intelligence of every one of his readers.
Page 44 – Dr Weiss states, “This was tangible proof.... I could not deny her psychic abilities.” Dr Weiss calls this one, unverified account of winning at the races as “tangible proof” of psychic abilities. Whatever happened to Dr Weiss’s scientific training? This was not proof at all.
Page 46 – Under hypnosis, Catherine is “regressed” to an unknown date in history to a town she thinks is called “Brennington”. Dr Weiss states, “Here she (Catherine) said some words I could not identify. Whether they were Gaelic or not, I have no idea.” Dr Weiss had no idea? He had recorded the sessions. Surely it would have been easy for him to identify whether the words spoken by Catherine were Gaelic or not, and if he could not, to explain precisely why. The lack of precision, detail, or questioning in Dr Weiss’s writings undermine his title of Doctor.
Page 47 – Dr Weiss wrote of Catherine, “She had never heard of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Yet she was relating similar experiences to those described in these writings. This was a proof of sorts.” A proof of sorts? This was not proof of anything. How could Dr Weiss ascertain that Catherine had never heard of the Tibetan Book of the Dead? His scientific training should have taught him that it is impossible to prove a negative. To put forward this as proof, again makes a mockery of true scientific discovery.
Page 54 – Dr Weiss states that, under hypnosis, Catherine tells him things about his own father and his son, that could not possibly have been known by Catherine. This might be impressive if it was independently verified.
There is no way of telling whether the entire book is a complete work of fiction, and if it is, then of course it would be easy for Dr Weiss to make up anything to try and impress the gullible reader. After all, the existence of Catherine is not proven. She could be a person made up. We don’t know her full name. Why has she not come forward to confirm what Dr Weiss has written about her? This book has made a lot of money. Who knows what was the true motive of Dr Weiss to write it?
Page 57 – Dr Weiss refers to “thousands of cases recorded in the scientific literature” of children miraculously being able to speak foreign languages “to which they had never been exposed.” Again, no source for Dr Weiss’s claims. Not even one book is sourced to show that there has been any scientific study, let alone thousands, about children who speak languages that they have not been taught. I challenge Dr Weiss to provide the so called scientific studies to which he so casually refers.
Page 66 – another hypnosis session in which Catherine is regressed to a town in Wales called something like “Hamstead” when Catherine was a man called “Christian” – again, no surname ever stated. Dr Weiss says, “She could not see a year.” How was it that she could not see a year? It seems that Catherine was only able to tell the year if she could see it written down, but that was impossible for the times she could date from BC. This seems so nonsensical. Then Dr Weiss quotes Catherine as saying, “It’s a port, a seaport in Wales. They’re talking British.” British? There was, and is, no such language as British. Perhaps the people around her were talking Welsh or English, but not British. Why didn’t Dr Weiss question this?
Page 82 – Under hypnosis Catherine described a wedding in a past life. Dr Weiss asks her if there was anything in the newspaper about the wedding, because if there was, he could have looked up the date. “No,” replies Catherine, “I don’t believe they have newspapers there.” Dr Weiss writes, “Documentation was proving difficult to come by in this lifetime”.
This was a nonsensical statement for Dr Weiss to write, as if giving credence to the idea that there was documentary evidence to support any of the other past lives described by Catherine. In fact, Dr Weiss did not provide any documentary evidence at all in his book to support any of the pasts lives described by Catherine.
Page 88 – Dr Weiss writes that he was “driven to pursue the experience with Catherine in a careful, scientific manner” and to look at the information “objectively”. In the book, Dr Weiss makes several references for the need to explore everything in a scientific manner and with objectivity, but nowhere did he do this. This is an old trick. By mentioning the need for scientific scrutiny and repeating often that he is a scientist, to the vulnerable reader, this could seem the same as conducting peer reviewed, empirical, repeatable scientific experiments. But Dr Weiss did no such thing, he just wrote about its importance, without doing it. Dr Weiss did not follow any scientific principles in his study of Catherine.
Page 106 – Dr Weiss simply states that he knows Catherine’s information to be true “intuitively” and “my bones also knew”. This is the best he has to offer. It’s not the same as scientific evidence.
Page 116-117 – Under hypnosis, Catherine describes herself as a 35-year-old German pilot in the Second World War shot down in France. Again, no specific detail is garnered by the questioning of Dr Weiss that could have proved beyond doubt whether such a pilot actually existed; such as what was the pilot’s full name and rank and squadron? This hardly seems the work of a true scientist.
Page 117–118 – Dr Weiss writes, “During this entire process with Catherine, I had been reluctant to discuss her revelations with other professionals. .. I had not shared this remarkable information with others at all.” A true scientist would insist on sharing his data with other professionals to discuss and verify. By not allowing the data to be independently scrutinised, we only have Dr Weiss’s word for what happened between him and “Catherine” and we only have his interpretations of the results. This is simply not good enough. No drug testing, no murder trial, not even a newspaper story, should ever rely upon one unverified source as evidence.
Page 129 – Dr Weiss lists a number of people who had “psychic experiences” without naming them or providing any verification or proof. A chairman of a hospital department whose dead father protects him; a professor whose dreams provide the answers to his research experiments; a “well-known doctor” who knows who is phoning him before he picks up the phone (yeah, isn’t that ‘Caller Display’?!), a woman who’d never been to Rome before but, when she visited, knew every street as if she had previously lived there. This is all gossip; the fact that Dr Weiss is prepared to quote such examples without providing any substance means that he does not adhere to scientific principles at all. This is the case throughout the book, only lip service is made to science, as if that is good enough to make the book scientific, which of course it is not.
Page 159 – during the hypnosis sessions, Dr Weiss states that Catherine speaks the voice of “masters”, sort of gods who control the spirit world and are the well of all wisdom. Of course, Dr Weiss accepts this without question. One master, named by Dr Weiss as the “poet Master”, provided a summary of all wisdom as follows, “Everything must be balanced. Nature is balanced. The beasts live in harmony. Humans have not learned to do that. They continue to destroy themselves. There is no harmony, no plan to what they do. It’s so different in nature. Nature is balanced. Nature is energy and life..and restoration. And humans just destroy. They destroy nature. They destroy other humans. They will eventually destroy themselves.”
This is all just reactionary, doom laden nonsense aimed to appeal to the least sophisticated of human thinking. “The beasts live in harmony”? The animal world is vicious, involving wanton and brutal killing for food, sex, territory and power... animals destroy each other and can often be very damaging to the rest of nature. Look at the damage caused by locusts, for example, or ants, or foxes. Humans are animals too, so we cannot be expected to be any different or, actually, any better. Yet... how many animals have invented courts and parliaments to resolve differences, create laws and govern ourselves in a civilised manner? How many animals stop at traffic lights?
What animals make plans for industry, transport, schools, hospitals and libraries? The standard of living of the average ant hasn’t ever improved..yet humans have made huge strides to improve their way of life. If describing humans as being worse than animals is wisdom that Dr Weiss believes truly comes from “masters” of the universe, then it doesn’t seem so wise or enlightened to me.
Page 199 – Dr Weiss describes how Catherine had gone to see a psychic astrologer called Iris Saltzman. According to Dr Weiss, Saltzman confirmed all of what Catherine had revealed under hypnosis. This is hardly scientific validation. How does Weiss know what really happened at that session with Saltzman? How does he even know it even happened at all?
Page 203 – Dr Weiss describes how progress is going to be made in proving past-life memories. He writes, “The important strides that are going to be made in this field will be made using scientific methodology. In science, a hypothesis, which is a preliminary assumption made about a series of observations, is initially created to explain a phenomenon. From there, the hypothesis must be tested under controlled conditions. The results of these tests must be proved and replicated before a theory can be formed. Once the scientists have what they think is a sound theory, it must be tested again and again by other researchers, and the results should be the same.” I say, hear hear! But throughout his book, Dr Weiss has not used any of the scientific methods he claims to subscribe to.
In fact, his methods were so unscientific, that the so called “evidence” he has presented to the world would have to be excluded from any scientific report, as being a complete sham and the opposite to true scientific discovery.
Page 203 – Dr Weiss quoted several scientists who had published “detailed, scientifically acceptable studies” to support reincarnation. For example, the work of Dr Joseph Banks Rhine, a pioneer of parapsychology. Yet, despite the requirement agreed by Dr Weiss for experiments to be “repeatable”, Dr Rhine’s results could never be duplicated and several of his assistants were accused of fraud. Dr Weiss named Dr Ian Stevenson as another scientist who had proved reincarnation. Yet Dr Stevenson was on record as recognising a “glaring flaw” in his researches: “the absence of any evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death and travel to another body”.
Page 217-218 - Dr Weiss explains that after Catherine he has regressed under hypnosis 12 other patients. He recounts a Jewish housewife who ran a 19th Century brothel in New Orleans (surely verifiable, but no substance provided) and who has “even more of a facility for accurately predicting future events”. Dr Weiss claims, “I am still the scientist. All of her material must be scrutinized, evaluated and validated”. Yet, so far, Dr Weiss has failed to do that with any of the material he has presented. At least at the beginning of his book, on page 10, Dr Weiss admits, “I do not have a scientific explanation for what happened.”
In reading “Many Lives, Many Masters”, I had an open mind and was prepared to consider any evidence provided. I am disappointed that a doctor should write an account in such an unscientific manner and without any evidence to offer, when much could have been offered to either validate or disprove what happened.
For example, why not release the recordings of the sessions with the patient? Or at least, prove that the patient really existed? How are we to know that this wasn’t simply a work of fiction? It’s impossible to tell from what has been written. It could have all been made up, only first names have been used. Dr Weiss made no attempts to verify the astounding claims made by his patient, Catherine.
Dr Weiss, on page 11, argues that, “throughout history, humankind has been resistant to change and to the acceptance of new ideas. Historical lore is replete with examples. When Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the astronomers of that time refused to accept or even look at the satellites...So it is now with psychiatrists and other therapists, who refuse to examine and evaluate the considerable evidence being gathered about survival after bodily death and about past-life memories. Their eyes stay tightly shut.”
It is disingenuous of Dr Weiss to compare his discoveries with that of Galileo or to claim that there is “considerable evidence” to prove life after death. Galileo’s discoveries were proved by real evidence. So far, there is no similar scientifically validated or accepted evidence to prove life after death or past-life memories. To try to suggest that such “evidence” equates with the discoveries of Galileo is simply quasi-science aimed to hoodwink unquestioning and unscientific members of the public.
Just because “Catherine” spoke her words under hypnosis, why should they be considered any more valid or believable than if she had simply told a story whilst wide awake? Her stories seemed imaginative fiction to me; I could not tell them apart from many other made-up stories I have read or heard, but it doesn’t make them true. People have been telling stories ever since we could talk. There was nothing truly special in the stories of Catherine. All her historical references, which were quite vague anyway, could have been remembered from school lessons or documentaries or other books she had read, or simply from her imagination.
Dr Weiss only claimed to know Catherine in the privacy of his consulting room, he didn’t really know her personally or in the “outside” world. How could Dr Weiss know if she had hidden or even open talents as a story teller? Also, I’ve been hypnotised many times, there’s nothing really that special about it, I knew exactly what I was saying during hypnosis and could remember it all afterwards.
As I wrote at the beginning of my review: Dr Weiss has conducted his research without scientific protocols or peer review, yet as a "scientist", Dr Weiss should have the skills and resources necessary to have conducted his "investigation" properly and scientifically. The fact that he chose not to has, I believe, discredited his book as a work of fairy tale-like fiction.
Review Copyright 2012 Jon Danzig
Dr Weiss has conducted his research without scientific protocols or peer review, yet as a "scientist", Dr Weiss should have the skills and resources necessary to have conducted his "investigation" properly and scientifically. The fact that he chose not to has, I believe, discredited his book as a work of fairy tale-like fiction.
Rather than a conventional review, I will go through some of the claims made in the book, page by page, and show how it's full of nonsense.
Page 27-28 – In regressing under hypnosis an anonymous patient called Catherine to a “past life”, Dr Weiss claims that Catherine can “vividly” see that, “The year is 1863 BC”. Yet this date could not have existed at that time, so how could Catherine possibly have seen it? In later hypnosis sessions, Catherine was only able to reveal the date of her past life if she could “see or hear” it: so it makes a complete nonsense of history to be able to “see” a date that didn’t exist contemporaneously.
Page 28 – In another hypnosis session, Catherine claimed that her daughter from 1863 BC, called Cleastra, was her niece in the present time called Rachel. Why didn’t Dr Weiss question Catherine more closely about this astonishing claim? It could simply have been the result of Catherine’s vivid imagination. How precisely did she know? No details, scientific basis or substance are provided; it was just presented by Dr Weiss as a fact.
Page 29 – Catherine states now that she is in the year AD 1756 and her name is Louisa. Why no surname mentioned? With a surname in more modern time such as the 18th Century, the existence of such a person could be verified. Throughout the book, Catherine never states and is never asked for a surname. Neither is any specific address given or asked, which could be factually verified.
Page 30 – Dr Weiss asks Catherine if he appeared in her past life. Yes, she replies, Dr Weiss was her teacher in the year 1568 BC. Again, no questioning on how Catherine could presume that. It is accepted and presented as fact by Dr Weiss, without challenge. Again, a contemporaneously non-existent date is presented, when dates of more modern times could not be revealed as Catherine claimed she could not “see” them.
Page 36 – Dr Weiss claims that reincarnation was mentioned in the Bible, but it had been deleted early on. Where is the source? For a doctor who claims to have written many scientific journals, this is one book written in a most unscientific way. Dr Weiss does not provide a list of sources or references to support any of the claims he makes in this book.
Page 42 – Now Catherine claims that the man who killed her in 1473 was her current boyfriend, called Stuart. Again, no questioning by Dr Weiss on exactly how she came to this conclusion. Also, Dr Weiss did not give Catherine’s verbatim account, even though Dr Weiss claimed to have written down or recorded her words. This was a critical commentary by Catherine, and Dr Weiss should have quoted her directly.
Page 43 – Catherine claims that her mother in a previous, undated life is the same mother she has now. Again, no precise details are provided. No mention of when or where this happened. It’s all skipped over. No clear description of the mother then and her mother now. It’s all accepted without question. This amazing revelation is all over in one paragraph and not mentioned again. Where is the close questioning by the scientist that Dr Weiss is supposed to be?
Page 43 – Dr Weiss states, “According to most writers, groups of souls tend to reincarnate again and again...” Most writers? Maybe Dr Weiss could claim that most writers who write about reincarnation, but surely not most writers generally? It’s this type of imprecise writing that makes Dr Weiss’s book not one of scientific scrutiny and discovery, but a book of imprecise narration. Again, no source to back up his claim about “most writers...”
Page 43 - Dr Weiss states, “I felt the need to apply the scientific method, which I had rigorously used over the past fifteen years in my research, to evaluate this most unusual material emerging from Catherine’s lips.” Good idea. Yet, nowhere in the book does Dr Weiss apply any scientific methods to evaluate the claims made by his patient, Catherine. He only ever makes lip service to scientific methods.
Page 44 – Dr Weiss wrote that, following the hypnosis sessions, Catherine gained “psychic powers”. However, Catherine’s father (in her present life!) expressed doubt about Catherine’s new powers. Dr Weiss wrote, “To prove to him that it was true, she took him to the race track. There, before his eyes, she proceeded to pick the winner of every race.....she took all the money that she had won and gave it to the first poor street person she met on the way out of the track.” Where is the source and independent verification for this story? If true, it should have been easy to check and prove the truthfulness of this account. By not doing so, by not even explaining why he could not do so, Dr Weiss has demeaned the intelligence of every one of his readers.
Page 44 – Dr Weiss states, “This was tangible proof.... I could not deny her psychic abilities.” Dr Weiss calls this one, unverified account of winning at the races as “tangible proof” of psychic abilities. Whatever happened to Dr Weiss’s scientific training? This was not proof at all.
Page 46 – Under hypnosis, Catherine is “regressed” to an unknown date in history to a town she thinks is called “Brennington”. Dr Weiss states, “Here she (Catherine) said some words I could not identify. Whether they were Gaelic or not, I have no idea.” Dr Weiss had no idea? He had recorded the sessions. Surely it would have been easy for him to identify whether the words spoken by Catherine were Gaelic or not, and if he could not, to explain precisely why. The lack of precision, detail, or questioning in Dr Weiss’s writings undermine his title of Doctor.
Page 47 – Dr Weiss wrote of Catherine, “She had never heard of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Yet she was relating similar experiences to those described in these writings. This was a proof of sorts.” A proof of sorts? This was not proof of anything. How could Dr Weiss ascertain that Catherine had never heard of the Tibetan Book of the Dead? His scientific training should have taught him that it is impossible to prove a negative. To put forward this as proof, again makes a mockery of true scientific discovery.
Page 54 – Dr Weiss states that, under hypnosis, Catherine tells him things about his own father and his son, that could not possibly have been known by Catherine. This might be impressive if it was independently verified.
There is no way of telling whether the entire book is a complete work of fiction, and if it is, then of course it would be easy for Dr Weiss to make up anything to try and impress the gullible reader. After all, the existence of Catherine is not proven. She could be a person made up. We don’t know her full name. Why has she not come forward to confirm what Dr Weiss has written about her? This book has made a lot of money. Who knows what was the true motive of Dr Weiss to write it?
Page 57 – Dr Weiss refers to “thousands of cases recorded in the scientific literature” of children miraculously being able to speak foreign languages “to which they had never been exposed.” Again, no source for Dr Weiss’s claims. Not even one book is sourced to show that there has been any scientific study, let alone thousands, about children who speak languages that they have not been taught. I challenge Dr Weiss to provide the so called scientific studies to which he so casually refers.
Page 66 – another hypnosis session in which Catherine is regressed to a town in Wales called something like “Hamstead” when Catherine was a man called “Christian” – again, no surname ever stated. Dr Weiss says, “She could not see a year.” How was it that she could not see a year? It seems that Catherine was only able to tell the year if she could see it written down, but that was impossible for the times she could date from BC. This seems so nonsensical. Then Dr Weiss quotes Catherine as saying, “It’s a port, a seaport in Wales. They’re talking British.” British? There was, and is, no such language as British. Perhaps the people around her were talking Welsh or English, but not British. Why didn’t Dr Weiss question this?
Page 82 – Under hypnosis Catherine described a wedding in a past life. Dr Weiss asks her if there was anything in the newspaper about the wedding, because if there was, he could have looked up the date. “No,” replies Catherine, “I don’t believe they have newspapers there.” Dr Weiss writes, “Documentation was proving difficult to come by in this lifetime”.
This was a nonsensical statement for Dr Weiss to write, as if giving credence to the idea that there was documentary evidence to support any of the other past lives described by Catherine. In fact, Dr Weiss did not provide any documentary evidence at all in his book to support any of the pasts lives described by Catherine.
Page 88 – Dr Weiss writes that he was “driven to pursue the experience with Catherine in a careful, scientific manner” and to look at the information “objectively”. In the book, Dr Weiss makes several references for the need to explore everything in a scientific manner and with objectivity, but nowhere did he do this. This is an old trick. By mentioning the need for scientific scrutiny and repeating often that he is a scientist, to the vulnerable reader, this could seem the same as conducting peer reviewed, empirical, repeatable scientific experiments. But Dr Weiss did no such thing, he just wrote about its importance, without doing it. Dr Weiss did not follow any scientific principles in his study of Catherine.
Page 106 – Dr Weiss simply states that he knows Catherine’s information to be true “intuitively” and “my bones also knew”. This is the best he has to offer. It’s not the same as scientific evidence.
Page 116-117 – Under hypnosis, Catherine describes herself as a 35-year-old German pilot in the Second World War shot down in France. Again, no specific detail is garnered by the questioning of Dr Weiss that could have proved beyond doubt whether such a pilot actually existed; such as what was the pilot’s full name and rank and squadron? This hardly seems the work of a true scientist.
Page 117–118 – Dr Weiss writes, “During this entire process with Catherine, I had been reluctant to discuss her revelations with other professionals. .. I had not shared this remarkable information with others at all.” A true scientist would insist on sharing his data with other professionals to discuss and verify. By not allowing the data to be independently scrutinised, we only have Dr Weiss’s word for what happened between him and “Catherine” and we only have his interpretations of the results. This is simply not good enough. No drug testing, no murder trial, not even a newspaper story, should ever rely upon one unverified source as evidence.
Page 129 – Dr Weiss lists a number of people who had “psychic experiences” without naming them or providing any verification or proof. A chairman of a hospital department whose dead father protects him; a professor whose dreams provide the answers to his research experiments; a “well-known doctor” who knows who is phoning him before he picks up the phone (yeah, isn’t that ‘Caller Display’?!), a woman who’d never been to Rome before but, when she visited, knew every street as if she had previously lived there. This is all gossip; the fact that Dr Weiss is prepared to quote such examples without providing any substance means that he does not adhere to scientific principles at all. This is the case throughout the book, only lip service is made to science, as if that is good enough to make the book scientific, which of course it is not.
Page 159 – during the hypnosis sessions, Dr Weiss states that Catherine speaks the voice of “masters”, sort of gods who control the spirit world and are the well of all wisdom. Of course, Dr Weiss accepts this without question. One master, named by Dr Weiss as the “poet Master”, provided a summary of all wisdom as follows, “Everything must be balanced. Nature is balanced. The beasts live in harmony. Humans have not learned to do that. They continue to destroy themselves. There is no harmony, no plan to what they do. It’s so different in nature. Nature is balanced. Nature is energy and life..and restoration. And humans just destroy. They destroy nature. They destroy other humans. They will eventually destroy themselves.”
This is all just reactionary, doom laden nonsense aimed to appeal to the least sophisticated of human thinking. “The beasts live in harmony”? The animal world is vicious, involving wanton and brutal killing for food, sex, territory and power... animals destroy each other and can often be very damaging to the rest of nature. Look at the damage caused by locusts, for example, or ants, or foxes. Humans are animals too, so we cannot be expected to be any different or, actually, any better. Yet... how many animals have invented courts and parliaments to resolve differences, create laws and govern ourselves in a civilised manner? How many animals stop at traffic lights?
What animals make plans for industry, transport, schools, hospitals and libraries? The standard of living of the average ant hasn’t ever improved..yet humans have made huge strides to improve their way of life. If describing humans as being worse than animals is wisdom that Dr Weiss believes truly comes from “masters” of the universe, then it doesn’t seem so wise or enlightened to me.
Page 199 – Dr Weiss describes how Catherine had gone to see a psychic astrologer called Iris Saltzman. According to Dr Weiss, Saltzman confirmed all of what Catherine had revealed under hypnosis. This is hardly scientific validation. How does Weiss know what really happened at that session with Saltzman? How does he even know it even happened at all?
Page 203 – Dr Weiss describes how progress is going to be made in proving past-life memories. He writes, “The important strides that are going to be made in this field will be made using scientific methodology. In science, a hypothesis, which is a preliminary assumption made about a series of observations, is initially created to explain a phenomenon. From there, the hypothesis must be tested under controlled conditions. The results of these tests must be proved and replicated before a theory can be formed. Once the scientists have what they think is a sound theory, it must be tested again and again by other researchers, and the results should be the same.” I say, hear hear! But throughout his book, Dr Weiss has not used any of the scientific methods he claims to subscribe to.
In fact, his methods were so unscientific, that the so called “evidence” he has presented to the world would have to be excluded from any scientific report, as being a complete sham and the opposite to true scientific discovery.
Page 203 – Dr Weiss quoted several scientists who had published “detailed, scientifically acceptable studies” to support reincarnation. For example, the work of Dr Joseph Banks Rhine, a pioneer of parapsychology. Yet, despite the requirement agreed by Dr Weiss for experiments to be “repeatable”, Dr Rhine’s results could never be duplicated and several of his assistants were accused of fraud. Dr Weiss named Dr Ian Stevenson as another scientist who had proved reincarnation. Yet Dr Stevenson was on record as recognising a “glaring flaw” in his researches: “the absence of any evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death and travel to another body”.
Page 217-218 - Dr Weiss explains that after Catherine he has regressed under hypnosis 12 other patients. He recounts a Jewish housewife who ran a 19th Century brothel in New Orleans (surely verifiable, but no substance provided) and who has “even more of a facility for accurately predicting future events”. Dr Weiss claims, “I am still the scientist. All of her material must be scrutinized, evaluated and validated”. Yet, so far, Dr Weiss has failed to do that with any of the material he has presented. At least at the beginning of his book, on page 10, Dr Weiss admits, “I do not have a scientific explanation for what happened.”
In reading “Many Lives, Many Masters”, I had an open mind and was prepared to consider any evidence provided. I am disappointed that a doctor should write an account in such an unscientific manner and without any evidence to offer, when much could have been offered to either validate or disprove what happened.
For example, why not release the recordings of the sessions with the patient? Or at least, prove that the patient really existed? How are we to know that this wasn’t simply a work of fiction? It’s impossible to tell from what has been written. It could have all been made up, only first names have been used. Dr Weiss made no attempts to verify the astounding claims made by his patient, Catherine.
Dr Weiss, on page 11, argues that, “throughout history, humankind has been resistant to change and to the acceptance of new ideas. Historical lore is replete with examples. When Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the astronomers of that time refused to accept or even look at the satellites...So it is now with psychiatrists and other therapists, who refuse to examine and evaluate the considerable evidence being gathered about survival after bodily death and about past-life memories. Their eyes stay tightly shut.”
It is disingenuous of Dr Weiss to compare his discoveries with that of Galileo or to claim that there is “considerable evidence” to prove life after death. Galileo’s discoveries were proved by real evidence. So far, there is no similar scientifically validated or accepted evidence to prove life after death or past-life memories. To try to suggest that such “evidence” equates with the discoveries of Galileo is simply quasi-science aimed to hoodwink unquestioning and unscientific members of the public.
Just because “Catherine” spoke her words under hypnosis, why should they be considered any more valid or believable than if she had simply told a story whilst wide awake? Her stories seemed imaginative fiction to me; I could not tell them apart from many other made-up stories I have read or heard, but it doesn’t make them true. People have been telling stories ever since we could talk. There was nothing truly special in the stories of Catherine. All her historical references, which were quite vague anyway, could have been remembered from school lessons or documentaries or other books she had read, or simply from her imagination.
Dr Weiss only claimed to know Catherine in the privacy of his consulting room, he didn’t really know her personally or in the “outside” world. How could Dr Weiss know if she had hidden or even open talents as a story teller? Also, I’ve been hypnotised many times, there’s nothing really that special about it, I knew exactly what I was saying during hypnosis and could remember it all afterwards.
As I wrote at the beginning of my review: Dr Weiss has conducted his research without scientific protocols or peer review, yet as a "scientist", Dr Weiss should have the skills and resources necessary to have conducted his "investigation" properly and scientifically. The fact that he chose not to has, I believe, discredited his book as a work of fairy tale-like fiction.
Review Copyright 2012 Jon Danzig
October 24, 2018
Half a "Stay Away, Stay Away" Star (The lowest rating I have ever given a book that I completed.)
Worst Read of 2015
This was wretched but I had to read it to the end. Believe it or not it was worse than the Celestine Prophecy (remember that one!!)
I decided I just have to have a little fun and rewrite the title of this book:
" Many Lies, Much Malarky: The Fairy Tale of a Narcissistic Psychiatrist, His Duped Patient, and the Past Life Bullshit That Made the Doctor Millions of Dollars".
Worst Read of 2015
This was wretched but I had to read it to the end. Believe it or not it was worse than the Celestine Prophecy (remember that one!!)
I decided I just have to have a little fun and rewrite the title of this book:
" Many Lies, Much Malarky: The Fairy Tale of a Narcissistic Psychiatrist, His Duped Patient, and the Past Life Bullshit That Made the Doctor Millions of Dollars".
January 3, 2009
Wow! This book was INCREDIBLE!!! It's now one of my favorites; I read it in only two days! I would totally recommend it to anybody, adults and older kids. It's about a woman who goes to a therapist to get help with her anxiety and phobia problems. The therapist (whose point of view the book is told from) then hypnotizes her to find the source of her phobias, and the woman starts telling him accurate details about her past lives! There is even more to the book, but I won't give it away. This book is AMAZING and although it may sound weird at first, it totally changes the way you think about life, and the fear of death. I still cannot believe that it is a TRUE STORY!!!!! Please read this book!! It's easy to understand, and you will learn so much from it!!!
August 5, 2020
Estoy releyendo este libro y lo recomiendo a todos, pero no en cualquier momento.
Sé que hay gente que tacha a este libro de su lista porque no creen que sea real lo que se cuenta, y la historia se cuenta como si fuera real (sí, yo también lo pongo en duda, claro). Supongo que se sienten engañados. Pero este libro me ha ayudado cada vez que lo he leído, me ha hecho sentir bien, ver las cosas desde otra perspectiva, ¿qué más da que no sea real? Tampoco existe la magia (que yo sepa, a lo mejor existe como los espectros de la luz que no podemos ver 🤣) y yo releo Harry Potter porque me gusta la historia y lo que transmite. Con este libro me pasa igual. Y he leído muchos otros libros que se escriben como si fueran reales aunque no lo sean, y nadie los ha mandado a la hoguera.
Otra cosa es cuándo leerlo: para mí, el momento de leerlo siempre ha sido cuando he sufrido alguna pérdida o cambio grande en mi vida, sea referente a personas o a cosas. No creo que sea un libro para leer en cualquier momento de tu vida como cualquier otra novela. Por eso, lo estoy releyendo ahora y, de nuevo, me está sirviendo. Porque, ¿qué más da lo que diga el libro, si tiene partes que sean verdad o mentira, si es de autoayuda o de terror, si es un ensayo o una novela? Lo que importa es lo que te haga sentir.
Sé que hay gente que tacha a este libro de su lista porque no creen que sea real lo que se cuenta, y la historia se cuenta como si fuera real (sí, yo también lo pongo en duda, claro). Supongo que se sienten engañados. Pero este libro me ha ayudado cada vez que lo he leído, me ha hecho sentir bien, ver las cosas desde otra perspectiva, ¿qué más da que no sea real? Tampoco existe la magia (que yo sepa, a lo mejor existe como los espectros de la luz que no podemos ver 🤣) y yo releo Harry Potter porque me gusta la historia y lo que transmite. Con este libro me pasa igual. Y he leído muchos otros libros que se escriben como si fueran reales aunque no lo sean, y nadie los ha mandado a la hoguera.
Otra cosa es cuándo leerlo: para mí, el momento de leerlo siempre ha sido cuando he sufrido alguna pérdida o cambio grande en mi vida, sea referente a personas o a cosas. No creo que sea un libro para leer en cualquier momento de tu vida como cualquier otra novela. Por eso, lo estoy releyendo ahora y, de nuevo, me está sirviendo. Porque, ¿qué más da lo que diga el libro, si tiene partes que sean verdad o mentira, si es de autoayuda o de terror, si es un ensayo o una novela? Lo que importa es lo que te haga sentir.
August 19, 2013
I didn't buy what Weiss was saying in this book, BECAUSE he didn't give me a reason to. I couldn't shake the feeling that this book was total BS, because there was absolutely nothing else to back up Weiss's claims except Weiss himself. He claims that there are other writings, etc, that support what he is saying, but if you're going to write a book about a topic like this, YOU HAVE TO CITE YOUR SOURCES. That was my main problem with this book. There were no references or citations at all. "According to most writers, people are reincarnated in groups"- who is "most writers"? Can you actually give an example? "Reincarnation was present in the Old and New Testament until religious leaders removed the mention because it caused people to be less concerned with their souls"- where are you getting this information? For all we know, (and as I have to admit, I pretty strongly suspect), Weiss is just making up whatever information he needs to back his claim. I just think it was not possible for me to take this book seriously at all if Weiss expects us to basically just take his word for it.
January 16, 2014
One indication that past life regression through hypnosis is nonsense is reflected multiple times in this book. The hypnotist asks the hypnotized patient what year the memories that she is now experiencing are from, and she replies something like, "1568 B.C." Even if one believes that reincarnation is real (and it may be) and that people can remember past lives through hypnosis (which may not be impossible), it is impossible to have a memory of date like 1568 B.C. Our current calendar didn't exist then, and whatever date the regressed patient may have known about way back then would have been completely untranslatable by the patient into a date in our modern calendar system.
I'm not saying that the patient is outright lying. I'm just saying that what the patient is relating to the hypnotist has nothing to do with fact.
I'm not saying that the patient is outright lying. I'm just saying that what the patient is relating to the hypnotist has nothing to do with fact.
July 30, 2017
Life or lives
That I'll always wonder,
Above the hills or
Shallows downunder.
I'll remember you,
Regardless of my rebirth.
It's the body that goes on in a cycle,
For the soul, it's just another miracle.
February 14, 2009
I have to agree with what all of my friends have said about this book - it is amazing and you cannot put it down - a read it in a few hours - but the information in it will stay with me for a lifetime (and maybe longer!). Everyone should read this book! All those times you have felt a connection with people and not known why - or have realized that you have impacted someone's life in an amazing, yet unintentional way - it will all start to be clear to you. This is a wonderful book that will make you fear death less, and understand life's purpose. It is a true story, so not a hokey Oprah book. Give it a try - it won't take much of an investment of your time, but will be well worth it!
January 5, 2009
Pretty fascinating read. Is it true? I'd like to think so, but who knows...
I recommend it as a feel-good page turner for the spiritually inclined.
I recommend it as a feel-good page turner for the spiritually inclined.
March 24, 2007
AMAZING is the world. Well this book is about Dr. Brian Weiss of Yale who's a very logical person untill he met catherine, the patient who was depressed, tried to hypnotised her into her childhood so as to know the cause of trauma , how she goes beyond that....into many of her pervious lifetimes, how the events in our present life are predefined according to our past lives , how we have to understand/conqiure negative feelings in our life for our spiritual growth, the immense peace nd love soul experiences once it leaves the body nd goes to the MASTERS(gods or whatever), how our soul reviews present lifetime nd tells the masters the lessons it has learnt, how it decides the souls it will interact in next life according to karma, how souls immensely in love in one life time reincarnates together in many-2 next lifetimes , how our most hatefull enemy will keep on giving us company in many lifetimes if v can't really forgive them and understand the limitation of their mind, why are people fat :) lol ....and above all that ONLY LOVE IS REAL.
All the other books by Dr. weiss spreads this philosophy further through the case history of many patientsand their previous lifetimes.
All the other books by Dr. weiss spreads this philosophy further through the case history of many patientsand their previous lifetimes.
Read
August 16, 2015Dnf therefore no rating.
Look, I have no issues with the idea of reincarnation (and yes, even the Bible mentions it) but something about this book just isn't clicking for me. I think it's the mentioning of BC dates, when a concept of BC itself, would have no meaning to someone who lived in those times. I'm not saying it's contrived, but it all feels too 'neat' for me.
Look, I have no issues with the idea of reincarnation (and yes, even the Bible mentions it) but something about this book just isn't clicking for me. I think it's the mentioning of BC dates, when a concept of BC itself, would have no meaning to someone who lived in those times. I'm not saying it's contrived, but it all feels too 'neat' for me.
November 11, 2012
No matter your views on reincarnation, this book is a beautiful, impressionable read. It left me feeling open to possibilities and more at peace about human suffering (which I was really struggling with at the time I read this). It reinforced that I do not have all the answers and I am not meant to have all the answers, which was a relief and a welcomed concept I hadn't completely felt before. It reinforced my belief that we are meant to open ourselves as we move through life, take in lessons, apply them and share them with others. I didn't feel like I had to believe all that was written here for it to open me a little more and leave me feeling a deeper sense of connectedness, less judgement and more compassion for others and for myself. The beautiful message I gained from this book was, "We are okay. Even in the midst of all of our suffering, we are okay."
November 16, 2020
Un psiquiatra que obtiene su especialidad en Yale haciendo tratamientos con sesiones de hipnotismo y regresiones a vidas pasadas. ¿ A que suena intrigante?
Un libro muy interesante y de esos que te cambian el chip tremendamente.
Es increíble como en 175 páginas puedes aprender y comprender tanto.
Realmente todos necesitaríamos leerlo
Un libro muy interesante y de esos que te cambian el chip tremendamente.
Es increíble como en 175 páginas puedes aprender y comprender tanto.
Realmente todos necesitaríamos leerlo
December 8, 2013
Sorry Darlene & John...
It took too long to get me to shake my initial impression of the ego centrism of Dr. Weiss. I'm certain he is a nice guy, a competent doctor, and a compassion human being. But, as I stated in our discussion while I was reading, my interpretation is that the book feels more about him than anything else. Take the title for example, it starts, "The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist...", I'm sure he is but I didn't feel it needed to be called out. His questions were leading and he seemed more curious about whether he was there in her past life than anything else. Some of the questions he asks are inane (e.g. after asking about how her life was (in previous life), he finds out she was poor and lost her son. Dr. Weiss asks, "Do you miss him?").
In the end we finally find out some of the good messages from the Masters which I thought very good but it was all too little too late to save this one for me.
I recommend that readers seek out Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives if interested in this topic.
It took too long to get me to shake my initial impression of the ego centrism of Dr. Weiss. I'm certain he is a nice guy, a competent doctor, and a compassion human being. But, as I stated in our discussion while I was reading, my interpretation is that the book feels more about him than anything else. Take the title for example, it starts, "The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist...", I'm sure he is but I didn't feel it needed to be called out. His questions were leading and he seemed more curious about whether he was there in her past life than anything else. Some of the questions he asks are inane (e.g. after asking about how her life was (in previous life), he finds out she was poor and lost her son. Dr. Weiss asks, "Do you miss him?").
In the end we finally find out some of the good messages from the Masters which I thought very good but it was all too little too late to save this one for me.
I recommend that readers seek out Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives if interested in this topic.
March 17, 2019
خشمگینم. علاوه بر اینکه جواب سوالمو نگرفتم فکر میکنم به شعورم هم توهین شده. و مسلما با این حس نوشتن ریویوی بی طرفانه کار مشکلیه.
اینکه در درجه اول چرا اصلا طرف همچین کتابی رفتم، دلیل کاملا شخصیای داره.
دنبال چیز عمیقی بودم که جواب چرای مداومم باشه، چیزی که کمی، فقط کمی قانعم کنه و تشویقم کنه برم دنبال بیشتر یاد گرفتن تا مجبور نباشم با بعضی حس ها تا آخر عمرم زندگی کنم. بعضی موضوعات میدونم جای فکت و بحث علمی ندارن، باید از دام ذهن رها بشی و با جان و روح حس کنی، اما آقای نویسندهی مثلا دکتر، کتاب شما حتا سطحیترین لایهی روح منو هم نتونست لمس کنه.و این مطلقا ربطی به داشتن یا نداشتن اعتقاد نداره. من با ذهن باز سراغ کتاب شما اومدم و شما با کتاب شدیدا عامیانه و خرافیتون به شعور من توهین کردید.
عمیقا متاسفم به حال مراجعینتون.
من نه روانپزشکم، نه متخصص متافیزیک، نه نویسنده.
اما حتا من هم میتونم مثل شما و چه بسا بهتر، مزخرفات رو بریزم توی چرندیات، جلدش کرده، یک اسم و سینوپسیس تاثیرگذار انتخاب کنم و تقدیمش کنم به ... به....... پوفففف
پس کی دست برمیدارید؟ کی بس میکنید؟
کم کم دارم به این نتیجه میرسم که انگار هرچی شارلاتانتر، مشهورتر و موفقتر!
این فرمول پنهان موفقیته که شماها ترویجش میکنید!
نتیجههای لامصب شما فقط توی همون کتاباتون یا سرزمینهای دور پیدا میشه! ما که در دنیای بیرون از کتاب هرگز ندیدیم!
کاش به جای این کتاب، آدامس خرسی میخریدم
اینکه در درجه اول چرا اصلا طرف همچین کتابی رفتم، دلیل کاملا شخصیای داره.
دنبال چیز عمیقی بودم که جواب چرای مداومم باشه، چیزی که کمی، فقط کمی قانعم کنه و تشویقم کنه برم دنبال بیشتر یاد گرفتن تا مجبور نباشم با بعضی حس ها تا آخر عمرم زندگی کنم. بعضی موضوعات میدونم جای فکت و بحث علمی ندارن، باید از دام ذهن رها بشی و با جان و روح حس کنی، اما آقای نویسندهی مثلا دکتر، کتاب شما حتا سطحیترین لایهی روح منو هم نتونست لمس کنه.و این مطلقا ربطی به داشتن یا نداشتن اعتقاد نداره. من با ذهن باز سراغ کتاب شما اومدم و شما با کتاب شدیدا عامیانه و خرافیتون به شعور من توهین کردید.
عمیقا متاسفم به حال مراجعینتون.
من نه روانپزشکم، نه متخصص متافیزیک، نه نویسنده.
اما حتا من هم میتونم مثل شما و چه بسا بهتر، مزخرفات رو بریزم توی چرندیات، جلدش کرده، یک اسم و سینوپسیس تاثیرگذار انتخاب کنم و تقدیمش کنم به ... به....... پوفففف
پس کی دست برمیدارید؟ کی بس میکنید؟
کم کم دارم به این نتیجه میرسم که انگار هرچی شارلاتانتر، مشهورتر و موفقتر!
این فرمول پنهان موفقیته که شماها ترویجش میکنید!
نتیجههای لامصب شما فقط توی همون کتاباتون یا سرزمینهای دور پیدا میشه! ما که در دنیای بیرون از کتاب هرگز ندیدیم!
کاش به جای این کتاب، آدامس خرسی میخریدم
December 17, 2016
As someone who has psychic abilities herself, and has always had one foot in this world and one foot in the other, I have to sadly say that I was very disappointed by this book. My biggest problem with it was that I didn't find it believable at all!
Now I have no doubt that Dr. Weiss is a brilliant and accomplished psychiatrist. He and his patient Catherine spent much time together while she underwent past life regression therapy (Catherine was under hypnosis by Dr. Weiss) to cure anxiety and other psychological issues. In the end, Dr. Weiss does cure Catherine of her ailments. However, the meat of this book is supposed to be the experiences revealed of her past lives and I found none of her accounts believable. Her recounts all sounded the same, the details were so basic and bland, anyone could have used the same details to describe the times from a previous era-- for instance people wearing togas and sandals for the Greco Era, and bonnets for the colonial days. We need details to believe, intricate details!!! And sadly, I didn't find the kinds of details that would make me believe that she truly lived and recounted past lives. I am surprised this book was a bestseller.
The spiritual beings called "the Masters" that Catherine seems to act as a medium for seemed too far fetched and fabricated. They seemed like characters out of a movie, almost too stereotypically New Age-like to be believed. I apologize if I keep repeating myself, but I just didn't believe any of it, and attributed their experience to the mysteries of the mind, not the soul. Perhaps their intense togetherness (Dr. Weiss and Catherine) created some psychological relief. What may have cured Catherine was Dr. Weiss's determination to make her better, his love and care for her!
However, I am not giving up on this author. I will read another book of his to give him another chance. Just as a book can't be judged by its cover, an author should not be judged solely by one book!
Meanwhile, my dear Goodreads friends, if you wish to read this book, please borrow from a friend or take it out of the library. You may love it, but you may not, and if you're like me, you won't want to keep it on your bookshelf.
Now I have no doubt that Dr. Weiss is a brilliant and accomplished psychiatrist. He and his patient Catherine spent much time together while she underwent past life regression therapy (Catherine was under hypnosis by Dr. Weiss) to cure anxiety and other psychological issues. In the end, Dr. Weiss does cure Catherine of her ailments. However, the meat of this book is supposed to be the experiences revealed of her past lives and I found none of her accounts believable. Her recounts all sounded the same, the details were so basic and bland, anyone could have used the same details to describe the times from a previous era-- for instance people wearing togas and sandals for the Greco Era, and bonnets for the colonial days. We need details to believe, intricate details!!! And sadly, I didn't find the kinds of details that would make me believe that she truly lived and recounted past lives. I am surprised this book was a bestseller.
The spiritual beings called "the Masters" that Catherine seems to act as a medium for seemed too far fetched and fabricated. They seemed like characters out of a movie, almost too stereotypically New Age-like to be believed. I apologize if I keep repeating myself, but I just didn't believe any of it, and attributed their experience to the mysteries of the mind, not the soul. Perhaps their intense togetherness (Dr. Weiss and Catherine) created some psychological relief. What may have cured Catherine was Dr. Weiss's determination to make her better, his love and care for her!
However, I am not giving up on this author. I will read another book of his to give him another chance. Just as a book can't be judged by its cover, an author should not be judged solely by one book!
Meanwhile, my dear Goodreads friends, if you wish to read this book, please borrow from a friend or take it out of the library. You may love it, but you may not, and if you're like me, you won't want to keep it on your bookshelf.
December 24, 2019
Many Lives, Many Masters, Brian L. Weiss
Brian Leslie Weiss (born November 6, 1944) is an American psychiatrist, hypnotherapist, and author who specializes in past life regression. Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives (1988).
عنوانها: استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ استادان بیشمار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان ال. وایس؛ زندگیهای بسیار استادان بسیار: داستان واقعی از یک روانپزشک...؛ زندگیهای بسیار، استادان بسیار؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و چهارم ماه دسامبر سال 2000 میلادی
عنوان: استادان بیشمار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان ال. وایس؛ مترجم: مژگانبانو مومنی؛ تهران: روزبهان، 1378؛ در 208 ص؛ شابک 9645529522؛ موضوع: تناسخ - سرگذشتنامه - از نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20 م
عنوان: زندگیهای بسیار استادان بسیار: داستان واقعی از یک روانپزشک...؛ اثر: برایان ال. وایس؛ مترجم: مجید واعظین؛ تهران: نگارستان کتاب: نشر آویژه، 1379؛ در 215 ص؛ شابک: 9646652131؛
عنوان: زندگیهای بسیار، استادان بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان لسلی ویس (وایس)؛ مترجم: مهوش مفید؛ تهران: شریف، 1381؛ در 232 ص؛ شابک: 9645649250؛
عنوان: استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان ال. وایس؛ مترجم: زهره زاهدی؛ تهران، جیحون، چاپ اول و دوم 1382؛ در 229 ص؛ شابک: 9646534104؛ چاپ پنجم 1384؛ چاپ ششم 1385؛ چاپ دیگر: قم، صبح صادق؛ 1393؛ در 231 ص؛ شابک: 9786007221099؛ چاپ دوم و سوم 1394؛ چاپ چهارم 1395؛ چاپ ششم 1396؛ چاپ هفتم 1397؛
استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ حاصل هیپنوتیزم یکی از بیماران دکتر «وایس» به نام «کاترین» است. نویسنده در این کتاب به مراحل بهبود «کاترین» پرداخته است، «کاترین» در هر مرحله از بهبودی خود، مرحله ای از زندگیهای پیشین خود را، به یاد میآورد، و حالات و تجربیات خود را در طول هیپنوتیزم، برای دکتر «وایس» شرح میدهد. در پایان شاهد بهبودی کامل «کاترین» خواهیم بود. استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار شامل 16 فصل است. در فصل اول از این کتاب «کاترین» خود را در یک خانواده ی محافظه کار کاتولیک مییابد، در این بخش از زندگی، «کاترین» مملو از ترسهای مختلفی نظیر ترس از آب، ترس از هواپیما و ترس از تاریکی است. در فصل سوم «کاترین» خود را در قالب یک مستخدمی شلخته و کثیف در خانه ای سلطنتی میبیند. در فصل ششم «کاترین» خود را در قالب بچه فقیری میبیند، که برای کار به یک خانه ی زیبا و پر از گل آمده است. در فصل نهم «کاترین» خود را در قالب یک خلبان جنگی میبیند، که با نیروهای انگلستان در حال جنگ هستند. در فصل دوازدهم بیماری «کاترین» به طور کامل از بین رفته، و در حالت هیپنوتیزم خود را در قالب بک کشاورز فقیر میبیند. نقل نمونه متن: («من میدانم که برای هر چیز دلیلی وجود دارد، شاید در لحظه وقوع یک رویداد روشنبینی و بصیرت درک علت را نداشته باشیم، اما به یاری گذشت زمان و بردباری بر ما روشن خواهد شد»؛ «هیپنوتیزم ابزار شگفتآوری است که به بیمار کمک میکند حوادث فراموش شده در گذشته های دور را به خاطر آورد. هیچ راز و رمزی ندارد. فقط قرار گرفتن در وضعیت تمرکز فشرده است». «طبق نوشته اغلب محققین، ارواح تمایل دارند که در گستره چندین زندگی به صورت گروهی، مکررا به جسم بازگردند و به سرنوشتشان عمل کنند، دیونی ��ا که به دیگران و به خودشان دارند ادا کنند و درس را بیاموزند». «درمانگر باید یک لوح سفید باشد، تابلوی نانوشته ای که بیمار بتواند احساسات، افکار و رفتارهایش را روی آن منعکس کند. آنگاه درمانگر میتواند اینها را تحلیل و بررسی کند و میدان ذهن بیمار را وسعت بخشد». «کسانی که به دستورات مذهبی عمل میکنند، از همه ما نزدیکتر شده اند، چون آنها پیمان پاکدامنی و اطاعت بسته اند، آنها بسیاری چیزها را کنار گذاشته اند، بیآنکه چشمداشتی داشته باشند. بقیه ما در قبال رفتارهایمان خواهان پاداش و جایزه ایم... درحالیکه پاداشی در کار نیست، نه آن پاداشی که مورد نظر ماست. پاداش در انجام خود آن کار است، منتها انجام بی چشمداشت، انجام بدون خودخواهی». «به یاد مکالمات اتفاقی و کماهمیتی افتادم که هنگام جراحی، زمانی که بیمار بیهوش بود، در میگرفت. با یاد شوخیها، کلمات رکیک، مجادله ها و بداخلاقیهای جراحان افتادم، بیماران در سطح ناخودآگاهشان چه شنیده بودند؟ چه مقدار از آن مکالمات ثبت شده و پس از بیداری بر افکار و احساسات، ترسها و اضطرابهای بیمار تأثیر گذاشته بود. حرفهایی که در طول جراحی گفتهشده بود تا چه حد بر مرحله پس از جراحی بیمار در اتاق ریکاوری تأثیر مثبت یا منفی گذاشته بود»؛) ا. شربیانی
Brian Leslie Weiss (born November 6, 1944) is an American psychiatrist, hypnotherapist, and author who specializes in past life regression. Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives (1988).
عنوانها: استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ استادان بیشمار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان ال. وایس؛ زندگیهای بسیار استادان بسیار: داستان واقعی از یک روانپزشک...؛ زندگیهای بسیار، استادان بسیار؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و چهارم ماه دسامبر سال 2000 میلادی
عنوان: استادان بیشمار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان ال. وایس؛ مترجم: مژگانبانو مومنی؛ تهران: روزبهان، 1378؛ در 208 ص؛ شابک 9645529522؛ موضوع: تناسخ - سرگذشتنامه - از نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20 م
عنوان: زندگیهای بسیار استادان بسیار: داستان واقعی از یک روانپزشک...؛ اثر: برایان ال. وایس؛ مترجم: مجید واعظین؛ تهران: نگارستان کتاب: نشر آویژه، 1379؛ در 215 ص؛ شابک: 9646652131؛
عنوان: زندگیهای بسیار، استادان بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان لسلی ویس (وایس)؛ مترجم: مهوش مفید؛ تهران: شریف، 1381؛ در 232 ص؛ شابک: 9645649250؛
عنوان: استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ نویسنده: برایان ال. وایس؛ مترجم: زهره زاهدی؛ تهران، جیحون، چاپ اول و دوم 1382؛ در 229 ص؛ شابک: 9646534104؛ چاپ پنجم 1384؛ چاپ ششم 1385؛ چاپ دیگر: قم، صبح صادق؛ 1393؛ در 231 ص؛ شابک: 9786007221099؛ چاپ دوم و سوم 1394؛ چاپ چهارم 1395؛ چاپ ششم 1396؛ چاپ هفتم 1397؛
استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار؛ حاصل هیپنوتیزم یکی از بیماران دکتر «وایس» به نام «کاترین» است. نویسنده در این کتاب به مراحل بهبود «کاترین» پرداخته است، «کاترین» در هر مرحله از بهبودی خود، مرحله ای از زندگیهای پیشین خود را، به یاد میآورد، و حالات و تجربیات خود را در طول هیپنوتیزم، برای دکتر «وایس» شرح میدهد. در پایان شاهد بهبودی کامل «کاترین» خواهیم بود. استادان بسیار، زندگیهای بسیار شامل 16 فصل است. در فصل اول از این کتاب «کاترین» خود را در یک خانواده ی محافظه کار کاتولیک مییابد، در این بخش از زندگی، «کاترین» مملو از ترسهای مختلفی نظیر ترس از آب، ترس از هواپیما و ترس از تاریکی است. در فصل سوم «کاترین» خود را در قالب یک مستخدمی شلخته و کثیف در خانه ای سلطنتی میبیند. در فصل ششم «کاترین» خود را در قالب بچه فقیری میبیند، که برای کار به یک خانه ی زیبا و پر از گل آمده است. در فصل نهم «کاترین» خود را در قالب یک خلبان جنگی میبیند، که با نیروهای انگلستان در حال جنگ هستند. در فصل دوازدهم بیماری «کاترین» به طور کامل از بین رفته، و در حالت هیپنوتیزم خود را در قالب بک کشاورز فقیر میبیند. نقل نمونه متن: («من میدانم که برای هر چیز دلیلی وجود دارد، شاید در لحظه وقوع یک رویداد روشنبینی و بصیرت درک علت را نداشته باشیم، اما به یاری گذشت زمان و بردباری بر ما روشن خواهد شد»؛ «هیپنوتیزم ابزار شگفتآوری است که به بیمار کمک میکند حوادث فراموش شده در گذشته های دور را به خاطر آورد. هیچ راز و رمزی ندارد. فقط قرار گرفتن در وضعیت تمرکز فشرده است». «طبق نوشته اغلب محققین، ارواح تمایل دارند که در گستره چندین زندگی به صورت گروهی، مکررا به جسم بازگردند و به سرنوشتشان عمل کنند، دیونی ��ا که به دیگران و به خودشان دارند ادا کنند و درس را بیاموزند». «درمانگر باید یک لوح سفید باشد، تابلوی نانوشته ای که بیمار بتواند احساسات، افکار و رفتارهایش را روی آن منعکس کند. آنگاه درمانگر میتواند اینها را تحلیل و بررسی کند و میدان ذهن بیمار را وسعت بخشد». «کسانی که به دستورات مذهبی عمل میکنند، از همه ما نزدیکتر شده اند، چون آنها پیمان پاکدامنی و اطاعت بسته اند، آنها بسیاری چیزها را کنار گذاشته اند، بیآنکه چشمداشتی داشته باشند. بقیه ما در قبال رفتارهایمان خواهان پاداش و جایزه ایم... درحالیکه پاداشی در کار نیست، نه آن پاداشی که مورد نظر ماست. پاداش در انجام خود آن کار است، منتها انجام بی چشمداشت، انجام بدون خودخواهی». «به یاد مکالمات اتفاقی و کماهمیتی افتادم که هنگام جراحی، زمانی که بیمار بیهوش بود، در میگرفت. با یاد شوخیها، کلمات رکیک، مجادله ها و بداخلاقیهای جراحان افتادم، بیماران در سطح ناخودآگاهشان چه شنیده بودند؟ چه مقدار از آن مکالمات ثبت شده و پس از بیداری بر افکار و احساسات، ترسها و اضطرابهای بیمار تأثیر گذاشته بود. حرفهایی که در طول جراحی گفتهشده بود تا چه حد بر مرحله پس از جراحی بیمار در اتاق ریکاوری تأثیر مثبت یا منفی گذاشته بود»؛) ا. شربیانی
January 26, 2016
The events & experiences recounted in this book are incommunicable, and if communicated, are unbelievable.
To me, this seems like yet another book, maybe it's the pioneering book, or one of the, which almost completely borrows from East, and presents the information as some sort of divine revelations coming from enigmatic sources. Many Lives, Many Masters is an account of Dr.Weiss' (really, just Dr.Weiss') experiences with his patient Catherine, who under hypnosis is able to remember her past lives which go up to 86. During this process, Catherine receives spiritual messages, not just for the Dr. and herself, but for the mankind through some "Masters", sometimes inspired by their presence and directly at others. Very soon Dr.Weiss changes from a doctor helping his patient to an overambitious individual, desperate to make some discovery, or to establish some celestial contact.
Catherine's Lives--Broken Fragments:
Each life recounted by Catherine, offers nothing but a few lines about certain incidents that took place in that particular lifetime. These lives seem to be very cleverly and systematically constructed, and the revelations come as they would in a fiction- piece by piece. No substantial details are provided for any of Catherine's lives, none which could have verified even a single lifetime. Page after page, Catherine makes repetitive or very restricted observations during her hypnotic state, limited to smells, sounds and visions of her immediate surroundings. Also, the divisions of her lives and the effect they come to have on her present life is rather fictionally structured. After a while Catherine is able to go into minute details and yet, she's unable to give any important information at all.
The experience of Death:
The experience of death is not uncommon in Catherine's hypnotic state, and it remains the same always, as it should. It has been described rather conveniently, with the soul descending up in bright light. A luminous floating soul is the most convenient image Dr. Weiss could have conjured up.
The East:
Psychology-
In talking about a period which he calls in-between, described as a state between life and death, where the traits for the next life are pre-determined, Dr.Weiss borrows heavily from the Eastern psycholgical concept of traits. The Eastern thought already believes in somewhat pre-determined traits, which shape our lives, form an integral part of the karmic cycle. According to this thought, these traits which are in fluid form, propel us from birth to birth throughout our cosmic cycle.
Philosophy-
In this book, Dr.Weiss puts up a case for reincarnation, he's concerned with this life only in relation to the previous ones or the future ones.He uses the Eastern karmic cycle concept, which maintains that debts of one life must be paid in the next in an unbreakable cycle of reincarnation, and the only way to break out of this and attain a place into the higher order is- wisdom. This can be found both in Buddhist and Hindu concepts of "nirvana".
So it seemed to me, that Dr.Weiss just sold Eastern thought as some heavenly messages to his Western audiences. He presents every detail as a plain fact, and nowhere the information is analyzed or scrutinized as you'd expect from a man of science. My biggest disappointment is that, there's absolutely no discussion between Dr.Weiss and Catherine. There's no thought coming from Catherine in her conscious state! I mean, WTF?
To me, this seems like yet another book, maybe it's the pioneering book, or one of the, which almost completely borrows from East, and presents the information as some sort of divine revelations coming from enigmatic sources. Many Lives, Many Masters is an account of Dr.Weiss' (really, just Dr.Weiss') experiences with his patient Catherine, who under hypnosis is able to remember her past lives which go up to 86. During this process, Catherine receives spiritual messages, not just for the Dr. and herself, but for the mankind through some "Masters", sometimes inspired by their presence and directly at others. Very soon Dr.Weiss changes from a doctor helping his patient to an overambitious individual, desperate to make some discovery, or to establish some celestial contact.
Catherine's Lives--Broken Fragments:
Each life recounted by Catherine, offers nothing but a few lines about certain incidents that took place in that particular lifetime. These lives seem to be very cleverly and systematically constructed, and the revelations come as they would in a fiction- piece by piece. No substantial details are provided for any of Catherine's lives, none which could have verified even a single lifetime. Page after page, Catherine makes repetitive or very restricted observations during her hypnotic state, limited to smells, sounds and visions of her immediate surroundings. Also, the divisions of her lives and the effect they come to have on her present life is rather fictionally structured. After a while Catherine is able to go into minute details and yet, she's unable to give any important information at all.
The experience of Death:
The experience of death is not uncommon in Catherine's hypnotic state, and it remains the same always, as it should. It has been described rather conveniently, with the soul descending up in bright light. A luminous floating soul is the most convenient image Dr. Weiss could have conjured up.
The East:
Psychology-
In talking about a period which he calls in-between, described as a state between life and death, where the traits for the next life are pre-determined, Dr.Weiss borrows heavily from the Eastern psycholgical concept of traits. The Eastern thought already believes in somewhat pre-determined traits, which shape our lives, form an integral part of the karmic cycle. According to this thought, these traits which are in fluid form, propel us from birth to birth throughout our cosmic cycle.
Philosophy-
In this book, Dr.Weiss puts up a case for reincarnation, he's concerned with this life only in relation to the previous ones or the future ones.He uses the Eastern karmic cycle concept, which maintains that debts of one life must be paid in the next in an unbreakable cycle of reincarnation, and the only way to break out of this and attain a place into the higher order is- wisdom. This can be found both in Buddhist and Hindu concepts of "nirvana".
So it seemed to me, that Dr.Weiss just sold Eastern thought as some heavenly messages to his Western audiences. He presents every detail as a plain fact, and nowhere the information is analyzed or scrutinized as you'd expect from a man of science. My biggest disappointment is that, there's absolutely no discussion between Dr.Weiss and Catherine. There's no thought coming from Catherine in her conscious state! I mean, WTF?
September 3, 2013
Dr. Brian Weiss is very convincing about the whole reincarnation business. I too want to believe all this as it makes me feel good about life when I start believing that there is no such thing as death and we'll be living forever and never be destroyed. When I read the book I too started believing in it and do want to continue to believe in reincarnation, but there is something at the back of my mind that asks me for more evidence before blindly believing in this.
What I feel is that the patient looses consciousness under hypnosis and visualizes things that they've seen in the past or want to see. It could be just like a dream where our memories form visuals for us.
If Dr. Weiss ever reads this, I would like to ask him to perform his experiments on blind people.
Send them in their past lives and see if they can actually SEE(VISUALS) in their past lives.
The blind do not see things in their dreams. They can only hear things. But if there is anything like people going into their past lives, then they too can see things, as the probability of them being blind in their past lives is rare.
What I feel is that the patient looses consciousness under hypnosis and visualizes things that they've seen in the past or want to see. It could be just like a dream where our memories form visuals for us.
If Dr. Weiss ever reads this, I would like to ask him to perform his experiments on blind people.
Send them in their past lives and see if they can actually SEE(VISUALS) in their past lives.
The blind do not see things in their dreams. They can only hear things. But if there is anything like people going into their past lives, then they too can see things, as the probability of them being blind in their past lives is rare.
August 16, 2020
Estoy plenamente segura de que seguiré viviendo cuando deje este plano y seguiré aprendiendo. No le temo a lo que viene.
Comprendamos que la vida no es sólo lo que tenemos a la vista. La vida va más allá de nuestros cinco sentidos. Seamos receptivos a los conocimientos y experiencias novedosos. «Nuestra misión es aprender, llegar a ser como Dios mediante el conocimiento.»
Comprendamos que la vida no es sólo lo que tenemos a la vista. La vida va más allá de nuestros cinco sentidos. Seamos receptivos a los conocimientos y experiencias novedosos. «Nuestra misión es aprender, llegar a ser como Dios mediante el conocimiento.»
October 13, 2014
I cannot quite put into words my utter detestation for the book, it's author, and all or most of mankind! Given to skepticism all my life I was always weary of any mention of this book. I would always argue that since this book has been around for a good long time and since we are yet to discover all that much compelling evidence about reincarnation, there's probably a snag somewhere. Which is why until recently I never thought about actually reading it.
Let me first tell you what caused me to overcome my inhibition. Someone very close to me is suffering from a bad bout of depression. One I was talking with her about the kind of psychiatrist she visits, she said that what she really needs is a session with Dr. Brian Weiss, that only he had the power to cure her. She has a masters in math, so I allow myself to be taken in. I immediately download the book on my kindle (it only costs about $2), get me a packet of chips, and set my teeth to it.
Let me stress here - I approached the book with a totally open mind. In fact, since none of us could afford a session with Dr. Weiss even if we sold a kidney apiece, I was very keen to actually learn something from it, so that maybe I could actually use it on her to good effect. I was suitably impressed when Dr. Weiss opened the narrative with his brilliant curriculum vitae and what a strong scientific mind he has. And I have nothing against the whole idea of reincarnation either. In fact, whenever I happen to find a show on it on the discovery channel or some such place, I would make sure to watch it.
When he began to describe in some detail he hypnotised Catherine for the first time, I was immediately fascinated and copied the entire thing in a note for reference. It was the 1853 BC thing that killed it for me. Why, Dr. Weiss? Had you merely said AD, maybe I would have been disenchanted a wee bit later. But you really couldn't wait, could you, glutton that you are? And then, as soon as the session ends, you immediately feel the need to inform the readers that you find that ape-shit baloney completely believable, even though you are the oh-so-scientific!
I am understandably shaken, but I decide to wait for the scientific explanation that would soon follow. So, I bite the bullet (or gulp down two beers) and resume with the book. But, after reading some twenty more pages of it, it seems that it goes only one way - downhill. Just when Catherine starts to choke as she recalls her throat being slit in a boat by none other than her current abusive boyfriend, I decide that enough is enough and that it will never get any more scientific than an episode of Monty Python.
That night, I was so livid that I barely remember what I did. I faintly recollect having plonked my kindle down hard on the cheap coir mattress that is my bed and wishing Dr. Weiss' immediate demise and reincarnation with his face glued to his butt. But then, next morning when I regained my composure, I began to wonder - what wrong did Dr. Weiss really do? Or, if a fault had been committed, who exactly was the perpetrator of it? Is Dr. Weiss a scientific man? Yes, and I couldn't agree more. Is Dr. Weiss a good psychiatrist? He's an excellent one! He knows exactly what people want, and he gives it them by the truckloads. When he starts to talk about Catherine, he knows that his readers are immediately going to start judging her, so he wastes no time in telling us how beautiful Catherine is. And then, since he knows that not everyone is taken in by mere good looks alone, he at once jumps to how Catherine is abused in the hands of her own father, which is now getting a little old, really. But then, a better construct for garnering sympathy has seldom been engineered, and he is certain that he has the rapt attention of everyone present.
From here follows a tale so bizarre as to put a pot-headed hippie to shame. Some stories are straight, some circular, and still others, elaborately ornate. This one is shaped somewhat like a Klein bottle. I did not stick around for the greater part of it, but I do believe that for once Twilight is a better love story! Even the end is pure genius - when it comes to squeezing out the tears from your hapless readers there is nothing more potent than the murdered child - the child of the tormented female protagonist of unearthly beauty. Dr. Weiss could count his dollars even before the whole of his plot hatched!
And yet, as I write this scathing review, I feel that something is not quite right. And that feeling of inadequacy comes from the mention of the 1853 BC. If he wished his readers to seriously believe what he wrote, why did he feel compelled to make such a blatant and obvious fib about something so unrelated to the rest of the story? If Catherine heard the dates in the wind, surely the wind would know better than to stick to the Gregorian calendar? Or the utter nonsensical notion that someone in 1853 BC would know that the year as 1853 BC (for chirssake)! My best guess is that this is Dr. Weiss' plea for absolution. He is telling his readers - look, this here is absolute horsecrap, and if you choose to believe in it, so much the worse for you. For whatever that happens to you henceforth, the entire liability is yours, not mine! I actually respect Dr. Weiss for this honest admission of guilt, and this is why I struggle to find fault with him.
Then who is to blame? Why, mankind, of course! Right now, it's more fashionable than ever before to turn atheist all of a sudden. When people look at the less developed nations and the religious extremism and mania that ties them, they are shocked and disgusted. This piece of fiction here just gives a perfect insight into how the whole thing works - why men and women ever since civilisation happened have found it easier to believe in bearded beings of the sky, ten armed goddesses, or men giving birth to women out their ribs than, say, when you die, you stay dead, or that the earth is round. Or why somebody like Hitler can dupe an entire nation into killing 6 million for no good reason. People always find it so much easier when their is somebody to think their thoughts out for them, and nothing beats the sheer comfort of knowing that whatever mistakes you made, or howsoever bad your life turned out to be is the result of others, or forces beyond your control.
In a way, I owe a lot to this book. Having been an atheist most of my life, I have often been bothered by doubts such as what if it's all true what they say about god and religion, or can so many people all throughout history be wrong? This book reinstates my confidence in what I stand for, the right to thwart the attempts at deceit by other people an organisations, since this book is one of the best depiction of the way these powers work. And no, it does absolutely nothing to dissipate my interest in reincarnation, and once I finish posting this I will search for afterlife and rebirth on YouTube and binge-watch anything and everything remotely relevant.
Let me first tell you what caused me to overcome my inhibition. Someone very close to me is suffering from a bad bout of depression. One I was talking with her about the kind of psychiatrist she visits, she said that what she really needs is a session with Dr. Brian Weiss, that only he had the power to cure her. She has a masters in math, so I allow myself to be taken in. I immediately download the book on my kindle (it only costs about $2), get me a packet of chips, and set my teeth to it.
Let me stress here - I approached the book with a totally open mind. In fact, since none of us could afford a session with Dr. Weiss even if we sold a kidney apiece, I was very keen to actually learn something from it, so that maybe I could actually use it on her to good effect. I was suitably impressed when Dr. Weiss opened the narrative with his brilliant curriculum vitae and what a strong scientific mind he has. And I have nothing against the whole idea of reincarnation either. In fact, whenever I happen to find a show on it on the discovery channel or some such place, I would make sure to watch it.
When he began to describe in some detail he hypnotised Catherine for the first time, I was immediately fascinated and copied the entire thing in a note for reference. It was the 1853 BC thing that killed it for me. Why, Dr. Weiss? Had you merely said AD, maybe I would have been disenchanted a wee bit later. But you really couldn't wait, could you, glutton that you are? And then, as soon as the session ends, you immediately feel the need to inform the readers that you find that ape-shit baloney completely believable, even though you are the oh-so-scientific!
I am understandably shaken, but I decide to wait for the scientific explanation that would soon follow. So, I bite the bullet (or gulp down two beers) and resume with the book. But, after reading some twenty more pages of it, it seems that it goes only one way - downhill. Just when Catherine starts to choke as she recalls her throat being slit in a boat by none other than her current abusive boyfriend, I decide that enough is enough and that it will never get any more scientific than an episode of Monty Python.
That night, I was so livid that I barely remember what I did. I faintly recollect having plonked my kindle down hard on the cheap coir mattress that is my bed and wishing Dr. Weiss' immediate demise and reincarnation with his face glued to his butt. But then, next morning when I regained my composure, I began to wonder - what wrong did Dr. Weiss really do? Or, if a fault had been committed, who exactly was the perpetrator of it? Is Dr. Weiss a scientific man? Yes, and I couldn't agree more. Is Dr. Weiss a good psychiatrist? He's an excellent one! He knows exactly what people want, and he gives it them by the truckloads. When he starts to talk about Catherine, he knows that his readers are immediately going to start judging her, so he wastes no time in telling us how beautiful Catherine is. And then, since he knows that not everyone is taken in by mere good looks alone, he at once jumps to how Catherine is abused in the hands of her own father, which is now getting a little old, really. But then, a better construct for garnering sympathy has seldom been engineered, and he is certain that he has the rapt attention of everyone present.
From here follows a tale so bizarre as to put a pot-headed hippie to shame. Some stories are straight, some circular, and still others, elaborately ornate. This one is shaped somewhat like a Klein bottle. I did not stick around for the greater part of it, but I do believe that for once Twilight is a better love story! Even the end is pure genius - when it comes to squeezing out the tears from your hapless readers there is nothing more potent than the murdered child - the child of the tormented female protagonist of unearthly beauty. Dr. Weiss could count his dollars even before the whole of his plot hatched!
And yet, as I write this scathing review, I feel that something is not quite right. And that feeling of inadequacy comes from the mention of the 1853 BC. If he wished his readers to seriously believe what he wrote, why did he feel compelled to make such a blatant and obvious fib about something so unrelated to the rest of the story? If Catherine heard the dates in the wind, surely the wind would know better than to stick to the Gregorian calendar? Or the utter nonsensical notion that someone in 1853 BC would know that the year as 1853 BC (for chirssake)! My best guess is that this is Dr. Weiss' plea for absolution. He is telling his readers - look, this here is absolute horsecrap, and if you choose to believe in it, so much the worse for you. For whatever that happens to you henceforth, the entire liability is yours, not mine! I actually respect Dr. Weiss for this honest admission of guilt, and this is why I struggle to find fault with him.
Then who is to blame? Why, mankind, of course! Right now, it's more fashionable than ever before to turn atheist all of a sudden. When people look at the less developed nations and the religious extremism and mania that ties them, they are shocked and disgusted. This piece of fiction here just gives a perfect insight into how the whole thing works - why men and women ever since civilisation happened have found it easier to believe in bearded beings of the sky, ten armed goddesses, or men giving birth to women out their ribs than, say, when you die, you stay dead, or that the earth is round. Or why somebody like Hitler can dupe an entire nation into killing 6 million for no good reason. People always find it so much easier when their is somebody to think their thoughts out for them, and nothing beats the sheer comfort of knowing that whatever mistakes you made, or howsoever bad your life turned out to be is the result of others, or forces beyond your control.
In a way, I owe a lot to this book. Having been an atheist most of my life, I have often been bothered by doubts such as what if it's all true what they say about god and religion, or can so many people all throughout history be wrong? This book reinstates my confidence in what I stand for, the right to thwart the attempts at deceit by other people an organisations, since this book is one of the best depiction of the way these powers work. And no, it does absolutely nothing to dissipate my interest in reincarnation, and once I finish posting this I will search for afterlife and rebirth on YouTube and binge-watch anything and everything remotely relevant.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2019
I have always been interested in reincarnation and past lives. When I first read this book it gave me a sense of knowing that what I always thought- was true. This book just proves over and over again how we never truly die.
August 17, 2017
واقعا کتاب بسیار جالب و خوبیه و به نظرم میشه به این روانپزشک راجع به صحبت هاش اعتماد کرد. اگر یک مقدار شک و شبهه دارید راجع به حضورتون در این دنیا و دنیاهای دیگه این کتاب رو بخونید. انسان همیشه در پی راهی برای فناناپذیری بوده غافل از این که ما از ازل فناناپذیر بودیم. هرچند هزارتا تئوری راجع به این موضوعات هست و همه شون جالب و هیجان انگیزن.
July 3, 2021
First for Effort. To entertain. Second because I am kind just like that.
For starters, I thought it was another psychology book. Then I realized it was more of a spiritual book. And then it became religious. That's when I dropped it.
It was entertaining fiction at best. Thank you and have a nice day.
For starters, I thought it was another psychology book. Then I realized it was more of a spiritual book. And then it became religious. That's when I dropped it.
It was entertaining fiction at best. Thank you and have a nice day.
May 31, 2021
Un libro que desee con el alma a los 10 años. Todas esas historias de otras vidas que narraban, sobre todo los actores de mi país, se me presentaban como la posibilidad de ser diferentes versiones de mí misma, eso me fascinaba. No podía detener mis fantasías en la selva semidesnuda, bailando en la corte, teniendo un novio artista, recogiendo arroz o siendo pitonisa; muriendo tranquilamente o en un acto heroico. Me enloquecía esa idea. Sin embargo, y pese a que mi familia es muy liberal con esos asuntos, no me regalaron el libro. Luego vino la primera comunión, la adolescencia y la universidad, y esa fiebre por ver las películas de mi existencia, fue lentamente cubierta por el polvo.
La reencarnación no es un tema que me afane en la actualidad. No obstante, me animé a leer este libro del doctor Brian Weiss, gracias a la reseña que hizo Laura Quijano en el canal de El grimorio, la cual además de ser una muy buena reseña, me recordó el libro como una deuda con mi infancia.
En Muchas vidas, muchos maestros, el ya reconocido psiquiatra e hipnotizador, para esos tiempos, Brian Weiss, describe su primer caso de regresión (el cual sucede por accidente) a vidas pasadas. Y lo hace mostrando no solo las vidas y las “entre vidas” de la paciente, sino también la forma en que él estaba viviendo su propio proceso de entendimiento y asimilación de esta idea. Me gustó mucho el lenguaje del doctor, que muestra sus dudas a la luz de la propia incredulidad del lector, porque sus dudas son nuestras propias dudas. Lo leí en tarde y media, me encantó. A partes iguales me sentí acompañada y acompañando.
En mi caso, más allá de mi niña interior o de el propósito de abrir mi mente a nuevas ideas, me reconforta que el libro alumbra la creencia que tenemos muchos de la vida después de la muerte.
Hay unos días en los que creo rotundamente en la reencarnación, hay otros en los que creo que vida solo hay una ¿Quién sabe?En un curso de milagros dice que: “En última instancia, la reencarnación es imposible”. Un curso de milagros tiene algunas cosas que me hacen clic, pero lo que más agradezco de todo el material que se puede encontrar, es eso: que se pueda encontrar, que lo podamos leer y tener nuestros propios procesos y caminos de fe o de creencias.
La reencarnación no es un tema que me afane en la actualidad. No obstante, me animé a leer este libro del doctor Brian Weiss, gracias a la reseña que hizo Laura Quijano en el canal de El grimorio, la cual además de ser una muy buena reseña, me recordó el libro como una deuda con mi infancia.
En Muchas vidas, muchos maestros, el ya reconocido psiquiatra e hipnotizador, para esos tiempos, Brian Weiss, describe su primer caso de regresión (el cual sucede por accidente) a vidas pasadas. Y lo hace mostrando no solo las vidas y las “entre vidas” de la paciente, sino también la forma en que él estaba viviendo su propio proceso de entendimiento y asimilación de esta idea. Me gustó mucho el lenguaje del doctor, que muestra sus dudas a la luz de la propia incredulidad del lector, porque sus dudas son nuestras propias dudas. Lo leí en tarde y media, me encantó. A partes iguales me sentí acompañada y acompañando.
En mi caso, más allá de mi niña interior o de el propósito de abrir mi mente a nuevas ideas, me reconforta que el libro alumbra la creencia que tenemos muchos de la vida después de la muerte.
Hay unos días en los que creo rotundamente en la reencarnación, hay otros en los que creo que vida solo hay una ¿Quién sabe?En un curso de milagros dice que: “En última instancia, la reencarnación es imposible”. Un curso de milagros tiene algunas cosas que me hacen clic, pero lo que más agradezco de todo el material que se puede encontrar, es eso: que se pueda encontrar, que lo podamos leer y tener nuestros propios procesos y caminos de fe o de creencias.
May 23, 2018
Absolutely do not listen to the reviews that say this book isn’t worth reading. But in order to really get the best experience from it, you have to empty your cup of beliefs and go into it like a child. Otherwise your dogma will veil your ability to learn what this book has to offer.
This isn’t a fantasy story, this is a recounting of true events that were recorded, of a patient with significant mental and emotional distress recalling over a dozen past lives under hypnosis. As she goes through her various past deaths, her present phobias resolve—which were due to traumas from her previous lives. But the most fascinating aspect is that when she “dies” under hypnosis she goes to the waiting place between physical bodies, and there a master soul speaks through her, and shares knowledge of the soul.
If you take what the masters say at face value, this book is THE explanation for why we are here. Empty your cup, pick up this book, and stay open minded as you read.
This isn’t a fantasy story, this is a recounting of true events that were recorded, of a patient with significant mental and emotional distress recalling over a dozen past lives under hypnosis. As she goes through her various past deaths, her present phobias resolve—which were due to traumas from her previous lives. But the most fascinating aspect is that when she “dies” under hypnosis she goes to the waiting place between physical bodies, and there a master soul speaks through her, and shares knowledge of the soul.
If you take what the masters say at face value, this book is THE explanation for why we are here. Empty your cup, pick up this book, and stay open minded as you read.
January 21, 2020
Um médico receitou-me este livro pois dizia (e diz) que eu devo fazer psicanálise.
É escrito por um psiquiatra americano, que usou com uma paciente um método de retroceder a vidas passadas.
Nada tenho contra psiquiatras freudianos, mas penso que a psicanálise é para ricos. Os ricos têm problemas individualizados, os pobres partilham o mesmo Diazepam.
Por simpatia, classifico com duas estrelas, e, naturalmente, não me vou sujeitar a esta terapia.
É escrito por um psiquiatra americano, que usou com uma paciente um método de retroceder a vidas passadas.
Nada tenho contra psiquiatras freudianos, mas penso que a psicanálise é para ricos. Os ricos têm problemas individualizados, os pobres partilham o mesmo Diazepam.
Por simpatia, classifico com duas estrelas, e, naturalmente, não me vou sujeitar a esta terapia.
July 9, 2007
anyone wanting to meditate about life, ponder the timeline of mortality or just in for a ride with an open mind
Life is delicate. This time here on earth is limited and should be enjoyed without regret or self-doubt. There are possibly many lives before this one. I believe that what we know in this life is built on from the last. The life experiences we gain and meant to occur for us to proceed in the next life and the lessons not learned will carry over. Basically I learned a lot about myself. What I believe makes sense to me. I read the book in 2004 so I'm definately planning on reading it again with an additional/fresh review.
Life is delicate. This time here on earth is limited and should be enjoyed without regret or self-doubt. There are possibly many lives before this one. I believe that what we know in this life is built on from the last. The life experiences we gain and meant to occur for us to proceed in the next life and the lessons not learned will carry over. Basically I learned a lot about myself. What I believe makes sense to me. I read the book in 2004 so I'm definately planning on reading it again with an additional/fresh review.
August 16, 2019
نویسنده کتاب، دکتر برایان ال.وایس روانپزشکی است که توانست با استفاده از گذشته درمانی و هیپنوتیزم بیمار خود را که فردی به نام کاترین بود درمان کند. کاترین دارای کابوس های تکرار شونده و حملات اضطرابی بود. در واقع وایس با ادغام مفاهیم روان درمانی سنتی با کشف ناخودآگاه معنوی توانست گام جدیدی در حیطه روان درمانی بر دارد.
به نظرم کتاب جالبی بود و با توجه به بازه زمانی محدودی که در اختیار داشتم برای خوندنش اما لذت بردم.
به نظرم کتاب جالبی بود و با توجه به بازه زمانی محدودی که در اختیار داشتم برای خوندنش اما لذت بردم.
July 11, 2018
CHÚNG TA CÓ KIẾP TRƯỚC HAY KHÔNG?
Cách đây khá lâu, khi ngồi nói chuyện với một số bạn quan tâm đến tâm linh, bạn chia sẻ nhỏ với mình là trong lúc thiền tĩnh tâm, bạn đã thấy được một vài kiếp trước của mình. Lúc đó, dù rất quý và rất đánh giá cao bạn về sự hiểu biết, mình cũng thầm nghĩ là: cái này hình như là...sai sai. Lúc đó, với mình có 1 kiếp nào đó rồi luân hồi vào 1 kiếp sau là điêù không có gì đáng để xem xét có tin hay không.
Cho đến gần đây, được sự chia sẻ của một chị khác, mình đã đọc quyển Ám ảnh từ kiếp trước.
Đại loại quyển sách này là câu chuyện của một nhà trị liệu tâm lý có chuyên môn cao. Khi có 1 bệnh nhân đến tìm ông, ông đã sử dụng tất cả các cách mà ông từng trị bệnh cho người khác, nhưng đều không thành công. Cuối cùng, ông quyết định sử dụng thuật thôi miên sâu để tìm hiểu thời thơ ấu của cô ấy, nhằm tìm ra nguyên nhân gây nên bệnh của cô. Nhưng không ngờ, trong khi thôi miên sâu, điều cô ấy chia sẻ với ông không phải là những ký ức của thời thơ ấu. Thay vào đó, cô ấy kể cho ông nghe các kiếp trước của cô ấy ra sao. Tổng cộng cô ấy đã trải qua 86 kiếp trước khi đến với kiếp sống hiện tại.
Những gì khám phá ra là một chấn động với ông ấy - một người suốt đời chỉ quan tâm đến những minh chứng khoa học. Bằng chuyên môn của mình, ông đánh giá cô ấy không bị chứng hoang tưởng mà tưởng tượng ra các đời kiếp của mình. Và một điều làm ông ngạc nhiên là bằng cách lôi những kiếp trước của mình (có liên quan đến triêụ chứng bệnh) thì cô ấy dần khoẻ.
Có những thông điệp mà qua việc thôi miên và trò chuyện với cô ấy, ông khám phá ra:
- Có 7 tầng linh hồn
- Không phải là có một tâm lý/linh hồn trong một cơ thể vật lý, mà là có nhiều cơ thể vật lý cho một linh hồn.
- Mỗi lần linh hồn chúng ta quay trở lại với 1 cơ thể vật lý, nghĩa là chúng ta còn "nợ" một cái gì đó mà mình chưa giải quyết triệt để trong kiếp sống đó. Chúng ta phải quay trở lại, học lại bài học cuộc sống, hiểu biết hơn.
- Khi chúng ta đạt đến một cấp độ hiểu biết sâu hơn, linh hồn chúng ta sẽ nâng lên 1 cấp độ. Trong quá trình đó, sẽ có những linh hồn khác trưởng thành hơn chúng ta sẽ dẫn dắt chúng ta
- Những gì chúng ta có ở hiện tại bị ảnh hưởng từ các kiếp trước mà ta đã trải qua, nó giải thích cho việc tại sao có những người rất tài năng lúc nhỏ.
- Với những mối quan hệ trong một kiếp, chúng ta lại tiếp tục gặp nhau trong các kiếp khác, với một mối quan hệ khác, cũng chỉ để "trả nợ" cho nhau.
- Do đó, những gì chúng ta gặp phải trong hiện tại, đều có những lý do sâu xa từ quá khứ. Chấp nhận nó để rút ra bài học là điều giúp chúng ta sớm giải thoái, thay vì phủ nhận nó.
Tất cả những điều này có mới không? Không hề mới. Chúng ta nghe hoài nghe hoài và nhìn nó bằng con mắt của người hiểu biết nhìn mấy người mê tín dị đoan ^^.
Những gì chia sẻ bên trên cũng rất phù hợp với 1 số quyển sách khác, cũng với những người viết có trình độ hiểu biết khoa học cao và có uy tín trong lĩnh vực của họ.
Sau quyển này, mình đã lên mạng, và tìm mua tổng cộng 4 quyển khác cùng 1 chủ đề này; nghĩa là rất nhiều người (xem như) đã có cùng trải nghiệm.
Như vậy, đó là 1 dạng triết lý mà chỉ một số ít người có cơ duyên tiếp nhận (cũng như Đức Phật giác ngộ, hay người nào đó thay Đức Chúa viết nên Kinh Thánh), hay nó là từ 1 ai đó "điên khùng" tạo ra và những người còn lại chỉ đơn giản là copy từ một nguồn để tạo dấu ấn cho bản thân?
Mình không biết.
Nhưng thế giới này còn quá nhiều điều bí ẩn, và con người quá nhỏ bé.
Chỉ có điều là, so với 2 năm trước, mình đã nhanh chóng từ chối những thông tin kiểu này, thì nay, mình chấp nhận có thể có những điều như thế, mà mình đến giờ chưa đủ nhân duyên để chứng thực. Nhận thức của mình đã chuyển từ việc "không" thành "có hay không?".
Vậy chấp nhận việc này thì có lợi lộc gì không? Mình tin là có. Cũng như tôn giáo, nếu người ta tin có 1 đấng tối cao có thể phán xét mình, người ta sẽ sống tốt hơn. Bởi vì luật pháp có thể có kẽ hở nhưng một quyền lực siêu nhiên thì áp dụng đều hết cho tất cả mọi người.
Chỉ khác là, khi xưa người ta theo tôn giáo và sa đà vào cúng bái, thờ phụng, nghi lễ. Còn nay, sự hiểu biết này như một kiểu tôn giáo có cơ sở, để người ta biết chấp nhận cuộc sống hơn, sống trọn vẹn cho nó, biết tìm cách giải quyết các vấn đề của mình (thay vì quay lại 1 kiếp nữa để giải quyết),...
Biết đâu đấy.
Cách đây khá lâu, khi ngồi nói chuyện với một số bạn quan tâm đến tâm linh, bạn chia sẻ nhỏ với mình là trong lúc thiền tĩnh tâm, bạn đã thấy được một vài kiếp trước của mình. Lúc đó, dù rất quý và rất đánh giá cao bạn về sự hiểu biết, mình cũng thầm nghĩ là: cái này hình như là...sai sai. Lúc đó, với mình có 1 kiếp nào đó rồi luân hồi vào 1 kiếp sau là điêù không có gì đáng để xem xét có tin hay không.
Cho đến gần đây, được sự chia sẻ của một chị khác, mình đã đọc quyển Ám ảnh từ kiếp trước.
Đại loại quyển sách này là câu chuyện của một nhà trị liệu tâm lý có chuyên môn cao. Khi có 1 bệnh nhân đến tìm ông, ông đã sử dụng tất cả các cách mà ông từng trị bệnh cho người khác, nhưng đều không thành công. Cuối cùng, ông quyết định sử dụng thuật thôi miên sâu để tìm hiểu thời thơ ấu của cô ấy, nhằm tìm ra nguyên nhân gây nên bệnh của cô. Nhưng không ngờ, trong khi thôi miên sâu, điều cô ấy chia sẻ với ông không phải là những ký ức của thời thơ ấu. Thay vào đó, cô ấy kể cho ông nghe các kiếp trước của cô ấy ra sao. Tổng cộng cô ấy đã trải qua 86 kiếp trước khi đến với kiếp sống hiện tại.
Những gì khám phá ra là một chấn động với ông ấy - một người suốt đời chỉ quan tâm đến những minh chứng khoa học. Bằng chuyên môn của mình, ông đánh giá cô ấy không bị chứng hoang tưởng mà tưởng tượng ra các đời kiếp của mình. Và một điều làm ông ngạc nhiên là bằng cách lôi những kiếp trước của mình (có liên quan đến triêụ chứng bệnh) thì cô ấy dần khoẻ.
Có những thông điệp mà qua việc thôi miên và trò chuyện với cô ấy, ông khám phá ra:
- Có 7 tầng linh hồn
- Không phải là có một tâm lý/linh hồn trong một cơ thể vật lý, mà là có nhiều cơ thể vật lý cho một linh hồn.
- Mỗi lần linh hồn chúng ta quay trở lại với 1 cơ thể vật lý, nghĩa là chúng ta còn "nợ" một cái gì đó mà mình chưa giải quyết triệt để trong kiếp sống đó. Chúng ta phải quay trở lại, học lại bài học cuộc sống, hiểu biết hơn.
- Khi chúng ta đạt đến một cấp độ hiểu biết sâu hơn, linh hồn chúng ta sẽ nâng lên 1 cấp độ. Trong quá trình đó, sẽ có những linh hồn khác trưởng thành hơn chúng ta sẽ dẫn dắt chúng ta
- Những gì chúng ta có ở hiện tại bị ảnh hưởng từ các kiếp trước mà ta đã trải qua, nó giải thích cho việc tại sao có những người rất tài năng lúc nhỏ.
- Với những mối quan hệ trong một kiếp, chúng ta lại tiếp tục gặp nhau trong các kiếp khác, với một mối quan hệ khác, cũng chỉ để "trả nợ" cho nhau.
- Do đó, những gì chúng ta gặp phải trong hiện tại, đều có những lý do sâu xa từ quá khứ. Chấp nhận nó để rút ra bài học là điều giúp chúng ta sớm giải thoái, thay vì phủ nhận nó.
Tất cả những điều này có mới không? Không hề mới. Chúng ta nghe hoài nghe hoài và nhìn nó bằng con mắt của người hiểu biết nhìn mấy người mê tín dị đoan ^^.
Những gì chia sẻ bên trên cũng rất phù hợp với 1 số quyển sách khác, cũng với những người viết có trình độ hiểu biết khoa học cao và có uy tín trong lĩnh vực của họ.
Sau quyển này, mình đã lên mạng, và tìm mua tổng cộng 4 quyển khác cùng 1 chủ đề này; nghĩa là rất nhiều người (xem như) đã có cùng trải nghiệm.
Như vậy, đó là 1 dạng triết lý mà chỉ một số ít người có cơ duyên tiếp nhận (cũng như Đức Phật giác ngộ, hay người nào đó thay Đức Chúa viết nên Kinh Thánh), hay nó là từ 1 ai đó "điên khùng" tạo ra và những người còn lại chỉ đơn giản là copy từ một nguồn để tạo dấu ấn cho bản thân?
Mình không biết.
Nhưng thế giới này còn quá nhiều điều bí ẩn, và con người quá nhỏ bé.
Chỉ có điều là, so với 2 năm trước, mình đã nhanh chóng từ chối những thông tin kiểu này, thì nay, mình chấp nhận có thể có những điều như thế, mà mình đến giờ chưa đủ nhân duyên để chứng thực. Nhận thức của mình đã chuyển từ việc "không" thành "có hay không?".
Vậy chấp nhận việc này thì có lợi lộc gì không? Mình tin là có. Cũng như tôn giáo, nếu người ta tin có 1 đấng tối cao có thể phán xét mình, người ta sẽ sống tốt hơn. Bởi vì luật pháp có thể có kẽ hở nhưng một quyền lực siêu nhiên thì áp dụng đều hết cho tất cả mọi người.
Chỉ khác là, khi xưa người ta theo tôn giáo và sa đà vào cúng bái, thờ phụng, nghi lễ. Còn nay, sự hiểu biết này như một kiểu tôn giáo có cơ sở, để người ta biết chấp nhận cuộc sống hơn, sống trọn vẹn cho nó, biết tìm cách giải quyết các vấn đề của mình (thay vì quay lại 1 kiếp nữa để giải quyết),...
Biết đâu đấy.
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