'..In other endeavors, humility about how little I know has encouraged me to listen more carefully and more wisely.'
'If we become increasingly humble about how little we know, we may be more eager to search.'
- Sir John Templeton
'I believe strongly that therapists must have open minds. Just as more scientific work is necessary to document death-and-dying experiences, such as Catherine’s, so is more experiential work necessary in the field. Therapists need to consider the possibility of life after death and integrate it into their counseling. They do not have to use hypnotic regressions, but they should keep their minds open, share their knowledge with their patients, and not discount their patients’ experiences.''Nothing in my background had prepared me for this. I was absolutely amazed when these events unfolded.
I do not have a scientific explanation for what happened. There is far too much about the human mind that is beyond our comprehension. Perhaps, under hypnosis, Catherine was able to focus in on the part of her subconscious mind that stored actual past-life memories, or perhaps she had tapped into what the psychoanalyst Carl Jung termed the collective unconscious, the energy source that surrounds us and contains the memories of the entire human race.
Scientists are beginning to seek these answers. We, as a society, have much to gain from research into the mysteries of the mind, the soul, the continuation of life after death, and the influence of our past-life experiences on our present behavior. Obviously, the ramifications are limitless, particularly in the fields of medicine, psychiatry, theology, and philosophy.
However, scientifically rigorous research in this area is in its infancy. Strides are being made to uncover this information, but the process is slow and is met with much resistance by scientists and lay people alike. 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 to look at these satellites because the existence of these moons conflicted with their accepted beliefs. 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.
This book is my small contribution to the ongoing research in the field of parapsychology, especially the branch dealing with our experiences before birth and after death. Every word that you will be reading is true. I have added nothing, and I have deleted only those parts that were repetitious. I have slightly changed Catherine’s identity to ensure confidentiality.
It took me four years to write about what happened, four years to garner the courage to take the professional risk of revealing this unorthodox information.
Suddenly one night while I was taking a shower, I felt compelled to put this experience down on paper. I had a strong feeling that the time was right, that I should not withhold the information any longer. The lessons I had learned were meant to be shared with others, not to be kept private. The knowledge had come through Catherine and now had to come through me. I knew that no possible consequence I might face could prove to be as devastating as not sharing the knowledge I had gained about immortality and the true meaning of life.
I rushed out of the shower and sat down at my desk with the stack of audio tapes I had made during my sessions with Catherine. In the wee hours of the morning, I thought of my old Hungarian grandfather who had died while I was still a teenager. Whenever I would tell him that I was afraid to take a risk, he would lovingly encourage me by repeating his favorite English expression: “Vat the hell,” he would say, “vat the hell.”
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I believe strongly that therapists must have open minds. Just as more scientific work is necessary to document death-and-dying experiences, such as Catherine’s, so is more experiential work necessary in the field. Therapists need to consider the possibility of life after death and integrate it into their counseling. They do not have to use hypnotic regressions, but they should keep their minds open, share their knowledge with their patients, and not discount their patients’ experiences.
..
"... Wisdom is achieved very slowly. This is because intellectual knowledge, easily acquired, must be transformed into ‘emotional,’ or subconscious, knowledge. Once transformed, the imprint is permanent. Behavioral practice is the necessary catalyst of this reaction. Without action, the concept will wither and fade. Theoretical knowledge without practical application is not enough.
..
The last example I will cite was a message to other psychiatrists. I awakened about six in the morning from a dream where I was giving a lecture, in this instance to a vast audience of psychiatrists.
"In the rush toward the medicalization of psychiatry, it is important that we do not abandon the traditional, albeit sometimes vague, teachings of our profession. We are the ones who still talk to our patients, patiently and with compassion. We still take the time to do this. We promote the conceptual understanding of illness, healing with understanding and the induced discovery of self-knowledge, rather than just with laser beams. We still use hope to heal.
"In this day and age, other branches of medicine are finding these traditional approaches to healing much too inefficient, time-consuming, and unsubstantiated. They prefer technology to talk, computer-generated blood chemistries to the personal physician-patient chemistry, which heals the patient and provides satisfaction to the doctor. Idealistic, ethical, personally gratifying approaches to medicine lose ground to economic, efficient, insulating, and satisfaction-destroying approaches. As a result, our colleagues feel increasingly isolated and depressed. The patients feel rushed and empty, uncared for.
"We should avoid being seduced by high technology. Rather, we should be the role models for our colleagues. We should demonstrate how patience, understanding, and compassion help both patient
and physician. Taking more time to talk, to teach, to awaken hope and the expectation of recovery—these half-forgotten qualities of the physician as healer— these we must always use ourselves and be an example to our fellow physicians.
"High technology is wonderful in research and to promote the understanding of human illness and disease. It can be an invaluable clinical tool, but it can never replace those inherently personal characteristics and methods of the true physician. Psychiatry can be the most dignified of the medical specialties. We are the teachers. We should not abandon this role for the sake of assimilation, especially not now.”
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The book is now completed, but the story goes on. Catherine remains cured, without any recurrence of her original symptoms. I have been very careful about regressing other patients. I am guided by the patient’s particular constellation of symptoms and by his or her refractoriness to other treatments, by the ability to be easily hypnotized, by the patient’s openness to this approach, and by an intuitive feeling on my part that this is the path to take. Since Catherine, I have done detailed regressions to multiple past lives in a dozen more patients. None of these patients was psychotic, hallucinating, or experiencing multiple personalities. All improved dramatically.'
- Dr. Brian Weiss,
Many Lives, Many MastersContext (Haptopraxeology)(To Heal, Teal)(Reinventing Organizations) - '..the realms of body, emotions, relationships, nature, and spirit..' - ‘..returning to psychology’s original meaning as the study (or revealing) of soul or spirit.’Feeling & Analyzing -
Affective Human Action - Management & Organization in The Third Millennium'Human action originates change.' - 'Repress change, and you repress all that it means. Repressing it is sheer hubris..'(Haptonomy - Affectivity) - Praxeology as the Method of the Social Sciences - (Affective) Phenomenology of the Social World'..ancient poems, and biblical narratives that warn us about the abuse of power by those place in positions of authority and privilege.'(Haptopraxeology)(Bazaarmodel - To Heal - Teal) - Holacracy '..to fully harness the power of every human sensor..' - 'A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.'(To Heal)(Reinventing Organizations) - '..news about what happening in the space of organizations going Teal.'(Teal)(Reinventing Organizations) - 'Planting the seeds of new possibilities..'(Global Healing 2020 - 2050) - (Global Scale-Up Ocean Cleanup 2020) - 2018: Start Pacific CleanupHolistic education - '..educating the whole child as its major priority..'(Nobel Prize Lecture) The Pretence of Knowledge - By Friedrich August von HayekThe Pretence of Knowledge - Economics and Moral Courage'...the limits of knowledge...'