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The
Reincarnation
Principle
revisited |
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Vinícius
Lousada |
"By the law of
the plurality of
existences, [spiritism]
opens a new
field to
philosophy; man
knows where he
comes from,
where he goes,
for what purpose
he is on Earth.
It explains the
cause of all
human misery, of
all social
inequalities; it
gives the very
laws of nature
as the basis of
the principles
of universal
solidarity,
fraternity,
equality and
freedom that
used to be
seated only in
theory. Finally,
it sheds light
on the most
arduous
questions of
Metaphysics, of
Psychology and
of Moral.1
A spiritist
knowledge
A term coined by
Allan Kardec2
and a teaching
taught by the
Spirits, as
informers of the
scientific
research carried
out by the
master from
Lyon:
reincarnation
refers to the
Spirit’s return
to life in a
body.
Allan Kardec
explains that in
the spiritist
vocabulary this
return of the
Spirit to bodily
life can take
place in a short
or long period
of time after
death, either on
Earth or on
other planetary
abodes and
always in the
human body due
to the fact that
the Spirit does
not retroact in
its evolutionary
ascent nor does
it retrograde to
subhuman phases.
Nonetheless, at
each
reincarnation
the spirit can
evolve faster or
slower,
according to the
pace of its
personal effort
in the field of
development of
its intellect
and of its
morality, and it
may, in a sense
even be
temporarily
stationary.
From a life
experience (a
bodily
experience) to
another, the
spirit can
alternate its
social, ethnical
and cultural
condition, with
a view to its
progress through
the different
learning
processes that
can be obtained
in the diversity
of material
circumstances
that are
presented to it.
This is all
according to its
choices whilst
in the spirit
world which, in
their turn,
generate tests
relevant to the
growth that is
assigned to the
spirit to
perform, or
still,
atonements that
consist in
educative
mechanism of
mistaken sowing
(past mistaken
actions) carried
out in the past
(either in this
life or past
lives).
A psychiatrist
and his
reincarnation
discovery
The American
M.D. Dr. Brian
Weiss, who dealt
with his
patients by
conventional
methods of
psychotherapy,
was surprised by
the intervention
of spirits in
bodily life and
the plurality of
existences when
Catherine, one
of his patients,
spontaneously
began recalling
past-life
traumas that
would be
connected with
the emotional
turmoil she
faced in the
present life.
However, Weiss's
scepticism was
challenged by
the mediumship
of his patient
who, in a
trance, made
narratives about
life beyond the
particular facts
of her
therapist, in
particular,
about her father
and son, both
disembodied.
This unique
experience he
details with
property in his
best seller
"Many Lives,
Many Masters."
Since then Brian
Weiss’s life has
never been the
same. The M.D.,
post-graduated
from University
of Columbia and
Yale Medical
School and
emeritus
president of
Mount Sinai
Medical Centre
in Miami; has
dedicated his
life to the cure
of his patients
through
past-lives
therapy, besides
being also busy
with the
formation of
other
professionals
and carrying out
national and
international
seminaries.
Findings in past
lives therapy
I will try to
summarise
hereafter some
of the learning
by Brian Weiss
through the
application of
past-lives
therapy whilst
he was trying to
heal his
patients.3
However, it is
wise to
highlight that
the technique
used by Mr Weiss
to take his
patients to the
memory of their
past lives is
hypnosis, which
incidentally is
daughter branch
of the magnetism
of Mesmer and
which has been
accepted
academically
since the 19th
century when was
disseminated by
Mr. Broca 4.
Meditation is
similarly a
resource used by
Mr Weiss to help
his patients to
access to
memories of
past-lives. It
is to do with a
means to cause
the mind to
focus and
activate the
information from
the
subconscious,
with a view to
overcome the
conflicts that
mortify those
who seek this
therapy. Puerile
purposes are
never the
guidance for Mr
Weiss actions.
In this process,
the patient is
not sleeping and
by being
conscious they
make use of
their capacity
to discern
without losing
control. The
memories emerge
under the
conduction of
the therapist
and are
manifested to
the patient as a
film or mnemonic
fragments.
The patient can
be awakened at
any moment.
And, so Mr Weiss
(2009) sumarizes
the regression:
Regression
therapy is the
mental act of
returning to an
earlier time,
whatever that
time, in order
to rescue
memories that
can negatively
influence the
patient's
current life and
are probably the
source of his
symptoms.
(...)
Mr. Weiss
identified
regression as
the key of
conquest of
complete cure in
45% of his
patients.
In other cases
he did not
identify this
need.
It is been
verified in 300
of his patients
that it is
possible to
explore in a
deeper manner
the unconscious
through
regression
therapy
associated to
hypnosis.
Equally he warns
that the
emotional load
that surfaces in
regressions
demands that the
therapy be
carried out by
professionals
with due
formation in the
Field of mental
health in order
to duly help the
patient to
elaborate the
utilization of
the experienced
past-life
experience.
Mr Weiss
discovered that
the past-life
experiences
accessed by his
patients are
presented in two
patterns: the
classic ones
-with richness
of details about
that life and
its events and
in a flow of
key-moments
where the
subconscious
intertwines
memories of
moments more
important and
relevant of the
past-life
experiences that
are able to
elucidate the
hidden trauma,
favouring the
cure.
The main
hypothesis of
this type
consists in the
finding that the
simple act of
recalling or
reliving a
trauma from a
very remote past
results in
emotional cure,
such as occurs
in conventional
therapy. It is
understood that
there is a
notorious
possibility that
the cure agent
is in the
consciousness of
the soul that
never dies and
in the
understanding of
the deep causes
of the
psychological
conflicts and
illnesses.
Among the
knowledge found
by Mr. Weiss
through the
memory that
overflows the
deep unconscious
of his patients
or through
dialogue with
the Spirits
guides (whom Mr
Weiss names as
masters in his
works), we find
the immortality
of the soul,
reincarnation,
the
communicability
between those
who departed to
the beyond and
those who live
in the physical
world, a fact
which
incidentally is
very much
present in
spiritual
experiences
lived by
terminally-ill
patients or by
those who
transit in near
death state, or
by others during
sessions with
the therapist or
still, in a
particular way
in moments of
meditation or
therapeutic
visualizations.
Past-life
therapy has
demonstrated
efficacy in
cases of chronic
pain, allergies,
asthma, stress,
anxiety,
depression,
immune
deficiencies,
ulcers,
gastritis, and
may improve
cancerous
tumours or
lesions; besides
promoting peace,
joy and a will
to live. For the
therapist, the
spiritual
element of past
life therapy -
the assurance of
immortality -
has great
healing power by
moving away the
fear and
suffering from
the patient.
The family ties
are woven on
account of
encounters that
the successive
lives foster,
because,
according to his
findings, we are
reborn several
times in the
same groups and
the likes or
dislikes are
originated in
these healthy or
unhealthy
cohabitations
which are lost
in the aftermath
of time. The
subconscious
recognition of
the family
gatherings of
the past takes
place
spontaneously in
disgust or
attraction for
today’s
affection.
The conditioning
of karma is
relative,
because we are
subjects of our
choices by free
will. We are not
determined by
genetic factors
or by karmic
ones, even
though our
actions in some
way constrain
our spiritual
evolution, and
in this case,
past-life
therapy seems to
strengthen the
patient's will,
avoiding being
the plaything of
his own
inclinations.
The difficulties
and obstacles
overcome at each
reincarnation
makes the
individual to
progress
spiritually and
the most
distressing
circumstances
should be seen
as "likely
chances to
progress and not
to delay."
(Weiss, 2009,
page 82).
It is worth
noting that past
life therapy
opens a path to
spirituality, in
the deepest
sense, in
patient care and
provides the
possibility of a
natural dialogue
about death and
diseases (mental
or physical)
between the
doctor, patients
and relatives.
Another
knowledge
pertinent to Mr.
Weiss’ findings
is in the
presence of
spirit guides,
the good spirits
responsible for
guiding the
individuals in
the present
reincarnation,
whose ties of
affinity may be
structured
already in
previous lives.
Also equally,
the guide can
manifest through
experienced
mediums or
himself, through
daily meditation
or visualization
exercise,
spiritual
practices that
help the patient
in mental
concentration.
Certainly if the
reader is a
spiritist, he
will be thinking
that Brian Weiss
does not bring
anything new, as
we have gathered
this knowledge
from the
writings of
Allan Kardec.
However, we
found Mr Weiss’
written
production of a
significant
convergence with
Kardecian
thought, which
ultimately
reinforces not
only the present
spiritist
philosophy, as
well as the
opening - albeit
timid – of other
fields of
knowledge to the
spiritual
dimension of the
human being. The
fruitful
discoveries of
Mr. Weiss asked
the sensible and
unprejudiced
researcher a
closer contact
with the
phenomena of
this order and
an
epistemological
curiosity that
transcends their
preconceived
truths.
And what about
forgetfulness of
the past?
In his dialogue
with a sceptic,
in What is
Spiritism?,
Allan Kardec
addresses the
problem of
forgetting the
past which is
the subject of
objection by the
interviewer to
the principle of
reincarnation.
And, in this
sense, the
thinker of the
Spiritist
Doctrine
explains: "If in
every one of
one’s
experiences a
veil hides the
past from the
spirit, with
this the spirit
loses nothing of
it’s
acquisitions,
just forgets the
manner by which
it conquered."
5
There is an
oblivion of the
past to the
present
consciousness of
the spirit, the
purpose of which
is to enable the
spirit new
learning, from
the acquired
knowledge and
experiences
typed in its
psyche without
being attached
to these
experiences,
opening to the
spirit the
horizons of the
intellect and of
the morality
guided by the
immense
possibilities
latent in his
come-to-be.
Reincarnated,
human beings
bring
intuitively and
in their innate
ideas that which
was acquired in
science and
morality, but
details of past
experiences are
hidden deep in
the unconscious
so that the
individual does
not attach
themselves to
them, with the
risk of walking
in a vicious
circle, away
from the field
of the learning
process that
should be
undertaken. If
everyone
remembered
everything, we
would live in
chaos because
with our limited
view of the
world we would
perpetuate
prejudices,
useless
disputes,
hatreds, and for
sure, we would
demand in the
present life the
rights which
were granted in
the past, such
as social class,
ethnic and
religious
values;
taking root even
more in our
being illusions
that bind us to
suffering in
successive
lives.
However, on
identifying the
forgetfulness of
the past as a
tool of God’s
solicitude for
the sake of his
children,
Spiritism never
made a dogma
from it. As a
progressive
doctrine, there
is no
prohibitive
limitation on it
in that sense,
quite the
contrary, as
Spiritism tends
to absorb the
scientific
progress in
different
fields, as
intended by
Kardec,
Spiritism is
dialogical in
relation to the
contributions
that are
verified by more
accurate and
current
scientific
method.
Moreover, the
memory of past
lives is a
possibility of
human beings
because when
these extra
cerebral
memories are
accessed and
brought to the
conscious, they
translate into
transpersonal
experiences that
speak deeply to
the soul on its
immortality and
spiritual
progressivity.
This emergence
of memories of
past lives has
been the target
of records by
several
researchers such
as Albert Rocks
(1837-1914),
Hernani G.
Andrade
(1913-2003),
Professor.
Hamendra Nath
Banerjee
(1929-1985) and
Dr. Ian
Stevenson
(1917-2007).
This phenomenon
deserves study,
be it by those
who are
interested in
the subject and
wish to make it
the object of
their research
or by those who
realise the
richness of the
dialogue of the
Spiritist
Science with the
contemporary
research on
reincarnation.
Past-lives
memory, in
short, is a fact
that contributes
to the spread of
the principle of
reincarnation
and corroborates
with the
psychological
therapy that
uses
reincarnation as
a tool for the
relief of human
suffering. To
oppose them with
the weapons of
prohibition or
speeches in
favour of a
culture of fear,
which have
nothing to do
with Spiritism,
is so naive as
to deny them for
being unaware of
them. Here, as
in other
matters, common
sense is always
welcome.
Notes:
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