On Conscious Living radio on Sunday night, we talked about past lives and the work of Dr Brian Weiss. After graduating as a medical doctor from Yale and Columbia, Weiss practiced as a psychiatrist for many years in Miami. In 1980 he saw a new patient - Catherine - who opened his eyes to the notion of past lives and reincarnation. Under hypnosis Catherine was able to recall many details of her past lives, and then revealed information to Dr Weiss about his deceased son through what she referred to as 'the space between lives.' Catherine's revelations were able to be validated and changed the course of Dr Weiss' professional life. He details his experience and Catherine's story in his first book, Many Lives, Many Masters.
His later works include fascinating stories about spontaneous healing after past life regressions: one person overcoming a severe allergy to a spice that previously caused anaphylaxis, another person healing unexplained back pain that she had for years, and another recovering from the skin condition psoriasis. Of course, there is no way to scientifically prove the existence of reincarnation, but surely we cannot dismiss these instances of spontaneous healing.
This week on the radio we talk about the work of another psychiatrist, Dr Ian Stevenson. He was chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine from 1957 to 1967, Carlson Professor of Psychiatry from 1967 to 2001, and Research Professor of Psychiatry from 2002 until his death in 2007. Stevenson became known internationally for his research into reincarnation. He travelled extensively over a period of forty years, investigating three thousand cases of children around the world who claimed to remember past lives. His view was that certain phobias, connections, unusual abilities and illnesses could not be explained by heredity or the environment. He connected birth marks on children to 'past life memories' they recalled where they incurred certain injuries that led to their death.
It makes me wonder: are we born with karma? Do we have pre-arranged life lessons and 'assignments' to fulfil? Where does our consciousness originate from? Do we all have multiple lives in a multiverse where time is not chronological but spherical?
I'd love to hear from you if you have a view on this, or if you have ever had a past life regression. There are so many possibilities!
