SOUL IMMORTALITY KARMA REINCARNATION part 3

In 1980, successful psychiatrist Brian L Weiss took on a new patient named Catherine, a young woman with a laundry list of symptoms. "She feared water, feared choking to the extent that she could not swallow pills, feared airplanes, feared the dark, and she was terrified of dying.” She also suffered from insomnia, light, fitful sleep and recurring nightmares.

When 18 months of standard treatments, beginning with delving into her childhood, produced only modest improvement, Weiss began hypnosis. The astonishing results are the basis of his hugely popular 1988 book, ‘Many Lives, Many Masters.’

Catherine slid into deep hypnosis easily, and then seamlessly into a previous life! Prior to this, neither she nor Dr. Weiss had believed in reincarnation, but both soon recognized that her descriptions were totally real. Reliving lives and deaths, as both male and female figures in the near and distant past, she/they learned of the causes of some of her current challenges, and gradually, she began to overcome them, becoming healthier and more alive, and more and more psychic as well.

At each session, Catherine would dive into a past life, and Dr. Weiss would wait for significant events and life challenges, eliciting connections with familiar figures from her current life. Often, he would have her go to the death of that lifetime and ask her for lessons learned, both for general soul knowledge and for reference to her life 'today’.

One awakening began when Catherine was 'floating’ right after a death, and described, “I am aware of a bright light. It’s wonderful; you get energy from this light.” Minutes later, she continued, but in a huskier, louder voice:

"Our task is to learn. To become God-like through knowledge. We know so little. You are here to be my teacher. I have so much to learn. By knowledge we approach God, and then we can rest. Then we come back to teach and help others.”

Weiss was spellbound, as this was not only Catherine’s first foray into the realm between lives but was spoken through her by another being! "She later identified Masters, highly evolved souls not presently in body, as the source.”

Later, Dr. Weiss asked her what lessons she had to learn in order to progress in her lifetime. The Master spoke through her; “That we must share our knowledge with other people. That we all have abilities far beyond what we use… That you should check your vices before you come to this point. If you do not, you carry them with you to another life.”

Raised as a pragmatic scientist, Weiss found himself fending off doubts, reeling from the continuous onrush of undeniable truths. The next time the Master spoke through her, any remaining doubts were wiped out. “What she said next left me breathless, pulling the air from my lungs.” It began:

“Your father is here, and your son, who is a small child. Your father says you will know him because his name is Avrom, and your daughter is named after him.” His father’s death is described, then his son Adam’s, who died after 23 days of an extremely rare heart condition.

“He made a great sacrifice for you out of his love. His soul is very advanced… His death satisfied his parents debts. Also, he wanted to show that medicine could only go so far, that its scope is very limited.”

Stuff that nobody knew. Stuff that couldn’t even be looked up. Weiss’ life would never be the same again.

Nor would Catherine’s, as she channeled the observations of several Masters with lessons for her and Dr. Weiss and soon after, for us readers. And fears she once had were fading away as she learned that they were based on life and death events from previous lives.

Weiss posed a question about whether we choose the time/place of our births and deaths. A different Master answered, which the doctor described as “the voice of a poet”:

“Yes, we choose when we will come into our physical state and when we will leave. We know when we have accomplished what we were sent down here to accomplish… when you have had the time to rest and re-energize your soul, you are allowed to choose your re-entry back into the physical state.”

The Masters clearly understood not only the good that Dr. Weiss was doing for Catherine, which they acknowledged, but that he would continue his good work with many other patients and eventually with a vast readership, so many of their lessons were mostly for him.

The 'poet’ Master revealed to him, “Patience and timing… everything comes when it must come. A life cannot be rushed, cannot be worked on a schedule as so many people want it to be… But life is endless, so we never die… time is not as we see time, but rather in lessons that are learned… Everything will be revealed to you in time, but you must have a chance to digest the knowledge that we have given to you already.”

Please note: the ellipses in this section represent pauses, where the speaker is trying to find appropriate words for hard-to-describe occurrences.

Another time, the 'other’ Master offered, "You were correct in assuming this is the proper treatment for those in the physical state. You must eradicate the fears from their minds… They must first be put into a level very, very deep. Deep within their soul, where the ideas are created, that is where you must reach them… You know so much more than the others… they don’t have the knowledge that you have… continue… You must get rid of the fear. That will be the greatest weapon you have.”

Weiss pondered his growing awareness set against peoples’ fears. Surely, they would feel reassured if they knew life is endless; safer if they knew their Guardian Angels really exist. More reluctant to engage in evil, violence, greed, injustice if they knew the reality of karma.

"But how to reach people with this knowledge? Most people recite prayers in their churches, synagogues, mosques or temples, prayers that proclaim the immortality of the soul. Yet, after worship is over, they go back into their competitive ruts, practicing greed and manipulation and self-centeredness. These traits retard the progress of the soul. So, if faith is not enough…”

Ah, yes… “Patience and timing… everything comes when it must come.”

Still, Weiss’ appreciation for his sessions with Catherine, and additionally, for the wisdom and insights he received from the Masters, is more and more apparent as the book progresses. He cites increased joy in life, being less serious, less judgmental, more peaceful. With well-documented knowledge that he is on a righteous path for helping many, many others.

Weiss began regressing other patients, soon numbering in the thousands. He and his wife, Carole, opened the Omega Institute near Rhinebeck NY, teaching 'an intensive course on past-life regressions’, and beginning workshops that went worldwide.

Through these regressions, patients came face to face with childhood wounds, emotional and physical pain, grief, trauma, as well as wondrous reunions, myriad karmic lessons, and knowledge of universal spiritual truths that many never even suspected exist.

“Many of my patients and the people who have attended my workshops are able to remember events not only from their childhood but also from when they were in their mothers’ wombs, from that mystical state when they were in between lives, and from past lives.”

In his 2012 book, ‘Miracles Happen’, we get a huge dose of individual stories, chronicled by Dr. Weiss and his daughter, Amy, a fiction writer, certified hypnotherapist and award-winning nature photographer, that span the full range of regressions noted above. They come from sessions at the Institute, workshops - where often, two-thirds of the attendees successfully regress to past lives - and from instructive CDs for home use.

It’s really wonderful reading, poignant and insightful.

Just one such story, as a tease, so you’ll all read the book:

Jeannette lost a dear friend Joe, several years back, to suicide. After initially feeling guilt and anger, Joe started 'visiting’ her, first in dreams, then with a strong energy presence and words of love. She began to soften. He told her that he was 'progressing’, and leaving for another dimension, where his 'job’ would be greeting the souls who had just died from AIDS.

In a group workshop, Jeannette felt Joe’s energy and love. That afternoon, she volunteered to be hypnotized by Dr. Weiss. They discussed her morning session, where she outlined her full history with Joe, though referring to him only as 'a friend’. Weiss reassured her that she should feel no guilt, only the love her friend had pledged. Jeannette felt 'a layer of sadness lifted.’

A couple days later, a fellow attendee sought her out and asked if she was Jeannette. When she said 'yes’, the woman said she had received a message and was (paraphrasing) "compelled to find Jeannette and relay it, from Joe. He says he loves you.”

Dr. Weiss: "Our bodies and our minds are the masks our real self – the soul– wears in the physical world. When we die, we remove the masks and we rest in our natural state. There is no disappearance, no oblivion. We simply take off our masks, our clothes, and our outer coverings, and we return home, to the spiritual realms. Here we are renewed and restored. Here we reflect on the lessons of the life that we have just left. Here we are reunited with our soul companions across the centuries. Here we plan our next lifetime on the earth. When the time and circumstances are right, we don new masks – a baby’s body and brain – and return to the physical state. With a refreshed energy and outlook, we continue learning our spiritual lessons until the need to reincarnate is no longer necessary. Then we can continue to help people from the other side.

“We are all the same. We have been all races, all religions, all colors, both sexes, and many nationalities, because we have to learn from all sides. Leaving our bodies behind us when we die means that we leave behind their skin colors, their genders and their identifying features. We are souls, and souls do not possess such outer and transient characteristics. If everyone were to grasp this concept, racism would instantly disappear.”

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Michael Newton, author of ‘Journey of Souls’ and several other excellent books, is, for me, the other 'giant’ in the past-lives regression and especially the 'life between lives’ arena, delving into and answering the questions of what actually happens to our souls when we die.

A counselor and hypnotherapist, he "specialized in behavior modification for the treatment of psychological disorders.” Newton stayed away from past-life regression until he worked with a man who had chronic pain on his right side, and who, per Newton, "used imagery of being stabbed to recreate his torment. Searching for the origins of this image, I eventually uncovered his former life as a WWI soldier who was killed by a bayonet in France, and we were able to eliminate the pain altogether.”

"I stumbled upon a discovery of enormous proportions. I found it was possible to see into the mind’s eye of a hypnotized subject who could report back to me of life between lives on Earth.”

And so began a wondrous new career element: chronicling all the stages of a great many souls, from the moment of death to life in the womb of their next mother!

What we get in this very special book, his first of several, is 29 early case studies, in which the subject is hypnotized and taken back to any death, and asked to describe what they see, feel and experience as their soul journeys into the spirit realm. What we get are compelling parts from each, chosen to show timelines of similar 'events’, adding up to the totality of what we all go through in the afterlife.

We start with the familiar bright white light, followed by a 'tunnel’, described as hollow and dim, with another light at the end, which gets larger as they drift through it. Two prevailing thoughts are: still remembering a connection to Earth, but no longer able to see it, and realizing they are not dead, but alive again in a very familiar place.

Newton: "The most common type of reaction I hear is a relieved sigh followed by something on the order of, 'Oh, wonderful, I’m home again in this beautiful place…’ My subjects are full of exclamations about rediscovered marvels of the spirit world… combined with euphoria that all their worldly cares have been left behind, especially physical pain.”

Many describe soothing music or vibrations and have memories of scent and taste. One subject offered this: “I am looking at a beautiful ice palace… it’s enormous… like bright, sparkling crystals… the space is infinite… so majestic… and peaceful.” Again, ellipses are pauses.

The first 'person’ the soul meets can be a family member or soulmate or their spirit guide. Spirit guides are our Guardian Angels, our personal mentors and allies who have been with us since our first incarnation. All beings in the afterlife have the ability to alter their vibration to a form that makes it easier for the incoming soul to recognize them.

There are hugs of "two masses of bright light swirling around each other” and gradually, interactions with more family and friends of many lifetimes … "expressing love… connecting… it makes us happy.”

Newton: "A curious phenomenon about the spirit world is that important people in our lives are always able to greet us, even though they may already be living another life in a new body.” !!! (Remember Gary Zukav’s description that the soul only sends part of itself to Earth.)

There are fascinating descriptions of gatherings with family and friends and guides. And of individual and group lessons with various teachers.

And meetings with Councils of Elders, who gently and patiently evaluate all just-finished incarnations. Newton: “The Elders are bathed in bright light and the whole setting has an aura of divinity. A subject put it this way, ‘when we are taken into the presence of these superior beings who exist in such a high spiritual realm, it validates our feelings about the source of creation.’”

Newton describes cluster groups: "intimate old friends who have about the same awareness level… closely united for all eternity… often composed of like-minded souls with common objectives which they continually work out with each other.” Groups can be seen forming a circle, with "thought rhythms so harmonized they bring forth a form of singing… gracefully subtle dancing can also take place when souls whirl around each other in a mixture of energy, blending and separating in exotic patterns of light and color.”

One subject importantly describes the death of a long-time 'group member’, and in so doing, debunks completely the whole idea of the 'Hell’ contrived in the monotheistic religions: "He… had hurt a girl… terribly… and did not return to the group… he went directly to a place where he was alone with the teacher (not punished – ‘regenerated’)… after a while… not long… he returned to Earth again as a woman… where people were cruel… physically abusive… it was a deliberate choice… my friend needed to experience that… to appreciate the damage he had done to the girl.”

Newton: "The price we pay for our misdeeds… revolves around the laws of karma. Perpetrators of harm to others will do penance by setting themselves up as future victims in a karmic cycle of justice.”

(So really, could this be the extent of karmic protocol for the Rump’s afterlife? Maybe isolation, a harsh review of a very butchered life mission producing extended, tearful self-examination, and a hasty next incarnation as a poor minority girl in an evil dictatorship?)

There is a cleansing ‘shower of vapor-like warm energy’, removing any imprints of the previous body and mind, and a counseling session about the recent incarnation with one’s guide of countless lifetimes.

Another interesting scenario, with yet another black mark for the church: suicide is basically shrugged off, a modicum of disappointment at worst, and suicide to escape chronic pain gets an accepting nod within the spirit world. Similarly, and predictably, homosexuality et al is brushed off as well, eliciting no censure whatsoever. More zeroes for dogmatic invention!

A noteworthy discovery is the gradual change of color vibration of souls as they evolve; from shades of white to yellow to gold to light blue to darker, even purplish-blue seen in 'masters.’

"Around the intermediate level of learning, souls demonstrating special talents (healing, teaching, creating, etc.) are permitted to participate in specialty groups for more advanced work while still remaining with their cluster group.”

And here is an insightful gem that sums up the whole Spirit realm:

"Every soul has a spiritual higher power linked to its existence. All souls are part of the same essence generated from one oversoul. This intelligent energy is universal in scope and so we all share in divine status. If our soul reflects a small portion of the oversoul we call God, then our guides provide the mirror by which we are able to see ourselves connected to this Creator.”

Eventually, every soul must prepare to split off again, ready to send out a portion of itself to return, joining a chosen fetus to form a unique personality, for yet another sojourn on Earth:

“While our spiritual environment is hard to leave, as souls we also remember the physical pleasures of life on Earth with fondness and even nostalgia. When the wounds of a past life are healed and we are again totally at one with ourselves, we feel the pull of having a physical expression for our identity. Training sessions with our counselors and peer groups have provided a collaborative spiritual effort to prepare us for the next life… the soul must now assimilate all this information and take purposeful action based on three primary decisions:

1. Am I ready for a new physical life?

2. What specific lessons do I want to undertake to advance my learning and development?

3. Where should I go, and who shall I be in my next life for the best opportunity to work on my goals?”

There are so many more revelations, all I can say is read these books! Stories unfold about life in the womb, including the soul’s choice of when to join the baby, about the whys and wherefores of choosing to be born with physical and mental challenges, dying in childhood, and coached 'road signs’ for finding loved ones and soulmates in a new Earth life. Also, the many types of past life causes of a current life’s fears, pains and phobias, plus interests and relationships, past lives on other planets, and so much more; it’s truly boggling!

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When I first started believing in reincarnation, my main references were the eastern texts and commentaries on thousands of years of accepted truths, resonating with me to become a core belief. Reading Weiss’ 'Many Lives, Many Masters’ was a powerful confirmation, but even more, an eye-opening account of the truth of one soul mirroring every soul’s journey through millennia of incarnations.

Karma as a universal truth wasn't believable until it meshed with previous and future lives to represent the fullness of the soul’s journey of learning and growing through numerous incarnations, leading to eventual enlightenment.

The soul itself was woefully misrepresented in monotheism, though it was acknowledged to be immortal, and it did join the fetus and cohabit with the body until death. The problem was, is, invented paths of the afterlife, assigning heaven, purgatory and hell in a cacophony of bad guesses for routes of the soul.

As we have seen, some said the soul could be waved on immediately to a wonderful heaven or horrible hell as a permanent residence. For some, souls travelled to heaven, were evaluated and sent back to Earth to await final judgment. Others had all souls lying for millennia in the grave awaiting Judgment Day. For me, this is a particularly horrid guess - that grand, immortal souls would be idle for millennia! Some allowed a purgatory, where, after attempts to purify a soul were completed, a repentant soul could await a hoped-for heaven and a hopeless soul might be obliterated.

Of course, none of these are even close to the actual journey of souls. For me, the expanded truths of reincarnation came from Newton’s aptly named 'Journey of Souls’, because it added the full depth of a well-ordered afterlife to the equation.

A great many fascinating truths emerge about all the phases of souls’ 'time’ spent in the afterlife: from the confirmation of near-death-experience accounts of the 'pure white light’ and of being greeted by a loved one, to the presence of our forever Guardian Angels and family and friends of many lifetimes. From the universal expression of joy in 'being home again in this wonderful place’ to the constructive evaluations of the 'Council of Elders’ and the presence of wondrous teachers and masters, color-coded, to non-corporeal music, dance and hugs and the purity of a spiritual realm consisting only of resplendent, immortal souls.

The cosmos is truly as vast as we could possibly imagine; and despite religions forever trying to lock us in to myth and dogma, the truths of karma and reincarnation, established thousands of years ago, have surged into ascendancy for the current generation to witness and learn from.

May we learn much from these truths, and strive in this lifetime to be helpmates to our fellow beings and to raise our consciousness to ever-higher levels, knowing that the goal is one day to merge with our souls.