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Eternal Lives, Eternal Deaths
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Foreword
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Foreword
Seven years ago, I began to collect everything I had known about reincarnation. For a long time, I had been studying those religious teachings – particularly Buddhism – that seemed to be based on empirical knowledge rather than dogmatic beliefs. I scanned accounts of children who remembered having lived before. Most of all, I drew on my experience as a hypnotherapist, working with clients who sometimes spontaneously regressed into what appeared to be past lives. Initially, these remembrances occurred unexpectedly, usually in search of an answer to the clients’ most burning questions. At last, I began conducting a study with clients and colleagues who were willing to systematically undergo at least a dozen past life regression and future life progression sessions, in search of karmic patterns. We wanted to understand how present-life experiences connected to issues of the past and possibilities of the future. We hoped that by studying these patterns, we could gain deeper insights into who we are and what our purpose in life might be.
Though initially my quest was driven by intellectual curiosity and a certain fascination with the occult workings of the universe, soon it became apparent that reincarnation indeed deserved serious study. There was too much suggestive evidence, too much therapeutic benefit, and too much potential for spiritual development to be ignored. At the same time, it revealed that we currently lack the framework to study this topic academically. We lack a scientific system for the study of subjective phenomena. Our current, mainstream materialist paradigm requires objective observations and measurability, along with other criteria that can only be meaningfully applied as long as consciousness is not part of the equation. Phenomena that indicate a fundamental role of consciousness, such as life after death, reincarnation, out-of-body and near-death experiences require not just an open mind for us to study them but a new framework and a new methodology: a new paradigm.
A new, consciousness-based paradigm is currently emerging but it will take time for its growing and ripening process to unfold. This book is offered as a contribution to its development; yet, it may take a generation or more of consciousness researchers before we have created a fully mature framework. Meanwhile, the study of consciousness-related topics such as reincarnation will still be of exploratory, qualitative, and speculative nature. Hence, the present study is conducted at the outer territories of the academic realm, where the wilderness of poetry begins. Trying to avoid the quagmires of superstition, dogmatic belief, and the trappings of spiritual materialism, we scout forward into the unknown, in search of treasures. In therapy, success shall be measured by the potential of the approach to alleviate suffering and increase resilience, resourcefulness, and happiness. In the new paradigm the success of a theory shall be measured similarly, by its potential to transform our consciousness and lift it up to higher levels of existence.
In this book, we will explore the foundations of a consciousness-based paradigm and the possibilities it opens up for reincarnational research, both in theory and in therapeutic practice.
In Chapters 1 and 2 we will embark on a quest for a new paradigm, in search of new assumptions and a new methodology for a systematic study of all things related to consciousness.
In Chapter 3, we will present the worldview that emerges from the new thinking, taking into account a multitude of spiritually relevant experiences that indicate life before life, and rebirth after death. We will take a look at an introductory case study, conducted through a dozen hypnotherapy sessions that aimed to find the karmic issues of the past, meant to be transformed in the present, in order to find the highest possible path in the future.
In Chapter 4, we delve into the methods of reincarnation therapy to induce remembrance as well as techniques to achieve healing transformation.
In Chapter 5, we take a deeper dive into the evolutionary patterns in past life regressions, both on the individual and the collective level. Here, we will focus on the spiritual lessons and transformational potential inherent in the evolutionary nature of consciousness, as it matures along distinct stages, described through the traditional seven chakras of the energy body.
We will visit the shadow realm in Chapter 6, undertaking the bravest enquiry that opens up for integration all previously rejected psychic materials, whether it be for trauma, wrongdoing, or unacknowledged talent.
Finally, in the last chapter, we will open our minds to the expansion of consciousness, as it may unfold if we adopt the reincarnationist worldview, expanding our notions of time, reality, and meaning.
Even though we will dive deep into the past and set course towards the future, ultimately, all the effort is about being more aware in the present. Like one of my clients wisely remarked: ‘I don’t want to do regressions in a future life and think I could have done things differently.’ Increased awareness about our actions and the consequences of our actions catalyses the changes within ourselves. We are the walking, breathing, thinking, and feeling alchemical furnaces where internal lead is turned into gold. We will discover a world that changes as our consciousness expands. May this work be of benefit to all sentient beings.
Though initially my quest was driven by intellectual curiosity and a certain fascination with the occult workings of the universe, soon it became apparent that reincarnation indeed deserved serious study. There was too much suggestive evidence, too much therapeutic benefit, and too much potential for spiritual development to be ignored. At the same time, it revealed that we currently lack the framework to study this topic academically. We lack a scientific system for the study of subjective phenomena. Our current, mainstream materialist paradigm requires objective observations and measurability, along with other criteria that can only be meaningfully applied as long as consciousness is not part of the equation. Phenomena that indicate a fundamental role of consciousness, such as life after death, reincarnation, out-of-body and near-death experiences require not just an open mind for us to study them but a new framework and a new methodology: a new paradigm.
A new, consciousness-based paradigm is currently emerging but it will take time for its growing and ripening process to unfold. This book is offered as a contribution to its development; yet, it may take a generation or more of consciousness researchers before we have created a fully mature framework. Meanwhile, the study of consciousness-related topics such as reincarnation will still be of exploratory, qualitative, and speculative nature. Hence, the present study is conducted at the outer territories of the academic realm, where the wilderness of poetry begins. Trying to avoid the quagmires of superstition, dogmatic belief, and the trappings of spiritual materialism, we scout forward into the unknown, in search of treasures. In therapy, success shall be measured by the potential of the approach to alleviate suffering and increase resilience, resourcefulness, and happiness. In the new paradigm the success of a theory shall be measured similarly, by its potential to transform our consciousness and lift it up to higher levels of existence.
In this book, we will explore the foundations of a consciousness-based paradigm and the possibilities it opens up for reincarnational research, both in theory and in therapeutic practice.
In Chapters 1 and 2 we will embark on a quest for a new paradigm, in search of new assumptions and a new methodology for a systematic study of all things related to consciousness.
In Chapter 3, we will present the worldview that emerges from the new thinking, taking into account a multitude of spiritually relevant experiences that indicate life before life, and rebirth after death. We will take a look at an introductory case study, conducted through a dozen hypnotherapy sessions that aimed to find the karmic issues of the past, meant to be transformed in the present, in order to find the highest possible path in the future.
In Chapter 4, we delve into the methods of reincarnation therapy to induce remembrance as well as techniques to achieve healing transformation.
In Chapter 5, we take a deeper dive into the evolutionary patterns in past life regressions, both on the individual and the collective level. Here, we will focus on the spiritual lessons and transformational potential inherent in the evolutionary nature of consciousness, as it matures along distinct stages, described through the traditional seven chakras of the energy body.
We will visit the shadow realm in Chapter 6, undertaking the bravest enquiry that opens up for integration all previously rejected psychic materials, whether it be for trauma, wrongdoing, or unacknowledged talent.
Finally, in the last chapter, we will open our minds to the expansion of consciousness, as it may unfold if we adopt the reincarnationist worldview, expanding our notions of time, reality, and meaning.
Even though we will dive deep into the past and set course towards the future, ultimately, all the effort is about being more aware in the present. Like one of my clients wisely remarked: ‘I don’t want to do regressions in a future life and think I could have done things differently.’ Increased awareness about our actions and the consequences of our actions catalyses the changes within ourselves. We are the walking, breathing, thinking, and feeling alchemical furnaces where internal lead is turned into gold. We will discover a world that changes as our consciousness expands. May this work be of benefit to all sentient beings.