Many Lives, Many Masters

Rating:
Summary: Very highly recommended
Review: Trained in the scientific method, Dr. Brian Weiss graduated from the Yale University School of Medicine where he also completed his residency in psychiatry. Currently Chairman of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Dr. Weiss had always followed the conservative paths of his profession; that is, until remarkable patient entered his office and profoundly changed his life both professionally and privately.

Catherine arrived at the Department of Psychiatry seeking relief from chronic fears and anxieties. Eighteen months of intensive psychotherapy did not eliminate Catherine's anxiety and panic attacks. Using hypnotherapy to regress Catherine to the beginning of early trauma, Dr. Weiss had unexpected results. Catherine spontaneously moved beyond her birth into this life to account previous lives. Their resulting explorations of Catherine's previous lives not only healed her anxiety disorder, but resulted in spiritual lessons for Dr. Weiss.

Between the recounting of various lives, Catherine would pause and wait. In those quite moments while she would wait for the next lifetime, another voice would come forward. The voice of the Masters, those who guide souls from one lifetime to another, began speaking to Dr. Weiss, sharing knowledge, for "by knowledge we approach God." The voice of the Masters, over the following months, imparted to Dr. Weiss his role as teacher. The result was a complete spiritual transformation that eradicated all of his fear of death and dying.

Brian L Weiss's MANY LIVES, MANY MASTERS has sat on my shelf for the better part of a year. I went looking this morning for the book I planned to review today, and couldn't find it. I later realized that the cats knocked it between bed and the nightstand. On impulse, I picked up this book instead; only a few pages in I realized why. In the devastating aftermath of this country's grief, finding answers and comfort is difficult, even for those far removed from the personal tragedy. Within the Weiss' words lie comfort, an understanding of the divine plan and the lessons we come to this planet to learn. Weiss' spiritual awakening touched my heart profoundly in the wake of the terrorist bombing, as the voices of the Masters remind us, no tragedy is pointless. Within the event lie important lessons. Very highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: This book is GOLD
Review: I echo the following words written by another reviewer. This book is an absolute masterpiece. I, who cannot read a book in less than 3 months had this one finished within 24 hours. Don't let the bad reviews steer you wrong, as those who are skeptical will always remain skeptical, and I am not even sure why they bother reading anything as insightful as this. This book will change your life-it will make you a more loving person, less fearful of dying and will make you see the forest for the trees.

Rating:
Summary: Heavenly Truth
Review: Indeed we need to polish the 1000-facet diamond deep in our heart. Get rid of greed, resentment, ignorance...etc. These and other evil aspects of human character make the originally harmonious world upside down. From gun shootings to genetic alteration /manipulation to lawsuits within families. We never learn the lessons. That is why we keep coming back to this world to learn again and again through sufferings. Until one day we have perfected our inner-selves we may never return to God's Kingdom. God has been waiting for us for a long time."Masters" are sent to teach us a way to end the cycle of reincarnation, provided we learn the lessons and never repeat the wrong doings. Otherwise, we will have to work out the karma and repay the karmic debt in the cycle of reincarnation. Do we remember Dr. Weiss's first son? So we must learn the lessons, realize our shortcomings and correct them, and perform a lot of good deeds and merits to 1. pay for the karmic debts that follow us in the cycle of reincarnation, 2.store the wealth in Heaven.I love reading this book because it speaks of Heavenly Truth. I thank the person who introduced this valuable book to me. It has enlightened me a lot. I hope you will find the same. "So you choose what life you will have. In the next phase, you are responsible for the life you have. You choose it."pp.172-173. Dr. Weiss has demonstrated professionalism in writing this book. I don't know about other countries' privacy acts, but in North America disclosure of patient's medical record without written consent can result in huge lawsuit payments. Therefore, the ID of the patient must be protected. Science can really go so far. Science is based on some documented data gathered by human beings who have limited ability. People generally think somethings that human beings cannot prove is not considered science. But, how many things in this world that science cannot give us answers? A lot. Can we prove the existence of other living things on other planets? That is still a speculation only although the possibilty is there. So far the earth is the only habitable planet from our stand-point. It so happened that Catherine lived only on the planet earth and nowhere else,simple because groups of souls tend to reincarnate together.Science depends on our ability to find data, and if our ability is so limited, then can we completely trust what we found? We must realize that new theories are replacing old theories each day. Can you see wind? We can see grass bending in the wind no doubt. Yet the wind exists and we cannot see it. We express love, but which anatomical part of the body does it orignate from? Something the scientists cannot prove does not mean it does not exists. That would be our inability to find the existence of that thing.One must be humble and open-minded in read this book in order to gain some insight. Human beings still have a lot to learn in the universe. Our knowledge of things this world is very little and limited. We can land on other planets but we still cannot produce a seed that can germinate. I mean to create the DNA sequence, not cloning. I should say at least not yet. I like the book because it is a true acount of what had happened, not some biased opinions of the author. I highly recommand this book to everyone

Rating:
Summary: BELIEVE IT OR NOT
Review: I FOUND THE BOOK TO BE VERY RIVETING. JUST BECAUSE MANY BELIEVE THAT THE BOOK BRINGS OUT A MESSAGE THAT IS TOO SPIRITUAL OR CHEESY, IT DOESN'T MAKE IT ILLOGICAL OR FAKE. WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT? WHY IS IT SO HARD TO BELIEVE? ABOUT THE " B.C." ISSUE. I CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE REASON AS TO WHY SHE WOULD RECOLLECT PAST DATES IN B.C FORM IS DUE TO THE FACT THAT IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER HER CONSCIOUS STATE IN SOME DEGREE WAS CROSSED WITH HER PAST LIFE STATE, GIVING HER THE LOGIC OF BOTH WORLDS. YOU SEE THE SAME SITUATION OCCUR WHEN SHE IS ABLE TO RECOLLECT THAT HER PRESENT NIECE FOR EXAMPLE, WAS HER DAUGHTER IN A PAST LIFE. HOW WAS SHE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE HER DAUGHTER AS HER PRESENT NIECE? THE SAME ANSWER APPLIES HERE. I TRULY BELIEVE THAT THIS BOOK ANSWERED MANY OF MY QUESTIONS. IM NOT LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO HANG ON TO AND HELP ME LIVE LIFE DAY TO DAY. INSTEAD IM OPENING MY EYES TO SOMETHING THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN AROUND BUT I NEVER KNEW. (THE TRUTH) I BELIEVE THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU THINK TWICE ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHATS YOUR REASON FOR BEING HERE IN THIS WORLD.

Rating:
Summary: Honest beauty
Review: The beauty of this book goes beyond the subject matter. The beauty of this book is not the list of achievements in the world of science and medicine of the author, letting you know exactly what background he comes from. The beauty of this book is not its lucidity, or its conciseness, or its poetic completeness in less than two hundred pages.

The beauty of this book is the heartfelt honesty of the writer you will feel on each and every page. Whatever your take on the subject matter, this man easily transcends the work of Shirley McClaine and much of his own antecedents who have studied the subject in depth and scientifically by giving you his heart and soul in its context, such that is all but impossible to doubt that this is the actual experience he has had--just as he describes it. Read it as a novel if you have to, but read it because it is true to him, and it will be true to you, changing you almost equally.

This book touched me deeply.

Rating:
Summary: Been there, done that, would do it all again.
Review: I was raised--and still am--Roman Catholic, in a spiritually open-minded family. I have long believed that reincarnation is likely, since it seems to me that a soul cannot achieve enlightenment in one lifetime (especially since some lifetimes only last a few years or even a few days). I have also suffered from Panic Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder for nearly twenty years. During that time, I have paid thousands of dollars to six psychotherapists (all certified and licensed), but I experienced virtually no relief from my symptoms.

This book was first recommended to me in February of last year. I ignored the recommendation. It was recommended to me again in October and I still refused to pay attention. Two days later, a relative of mine--who could not possibly have known about the recommendation--was handing me the book while explaining that a new acquaintance gave it to him two days earlier. I'm rather analytical, but this seemed beyond the realm of pure coincidence. Even after reading the book, it took me six months to decide to find a licensed hypnotherapist.

To date, I have been seemingly regressed to former lives a total of seven times. I often ask my therapist (who is also a Certified Social Worker) for his assessment of the validity of my past life experiences. In his professional opinion, my experiences are genuine because my emotional responses and physical sensations tend to be more intense, as if I am actually recalling--or reliving--traumatic events. (He HAS concluded that I am not suffering from any delusional mental illness.) He also acknowledges that even if my experiences are imagined, they are symbolic and therefore have therapeutic value. While "in state", I'm often not aware of names, dates and places, and although some skeptics would use this to discount my experiences, I know that this information is relatively unimportant, given my purpose. I am not undergoing this therapy in order to locate my former headstones, but rather to enable my healing in this lifetime.

Even though I wondered occasionally why Dr. Weiss pursued certain lines of questioning, I never felt that the information was contrived in any way. I found him to be an intelligent professional and a gifted writer. (It would be important for a reader to keep in mind that this was Dr. Weiss' first experience with facilitating past life regression.)

Without attempting to address every aspect of reincarnation, and refusing to defend every word in the book, I would offer the following thoughts:

There are various depths of hypnosis, but most often the subject remains aware of current surroundings, dialogue with the therapist and linear time. If I found myself in a lifetime that predated Christ, I believe I would report the date as "B.C." It seems as though Catherine was unaware of dialogue while in state, but that doesn't necessarily mean she became unaware of a discernable timeline. I find it difficult to refute her experiences or Dr. Weiss' veracity based on her references to certain dates as "B.C."

It makes sense that our memories of past lives would be suppressed in a current lifetime in order to enable us to pursue a path of greater discovery. That is, if in a past life I lost a beloved spouse in a tragic accident, and if I were fully aware of that in this lifetime, I might be inclined to remain closed to others who would broaden my soul's experience. I might search only to duplicate that former relationship, or I might shrink from close love relationships to avoid the pain of loss. If my past life experiences are genuine, then I am even more respectful of God's intelligence in suppressing them and also making them accessible with some effort.

Skeptics may circle this book like hungry wolves. I only wish I could remember who it was that said, "For those who believe, no proof is necessary; for those who do not believe, no proof is enough." It doesn't matter to me that some may liken my recovery to a placebo effect; to me, it only matters that at last I am seeing ANY effect. I happen to believe. And I happen to be healing.

I would recommend this book and past life regression to any open-minded sufferer of Panic Disorder or Anxiety Disorder, although I believe anyone with a major unresolved issue would benefit from both the book and the therapy. (But I would personally recommend locating a LICENSED hypnotherapist.) Without the motivation this book has provided, I might never have explored this form of therapy, and I might not be experiencing this long-awaited healing.

Rating:
Summary: 1 of my favorites
Review: This book changed the way I think about eternal life. Whether this is true or not, who knows? It is a great way to view things. Maybe people would not treat people so poorly if they believed some of this. It was very uplifting whether true or false. Definetly a book to recommend if the subject comes up in conversation.

Rating:
Summary: Great Insight!
Review: This was a wonderful and insightful book written in a very honest and open way. I have read all of his books and they have all made me sit back and rethink why we are all here and what our true purpose is. I strongly suggest it for anyone interested in the topic of reincarnation or past lives.

Rating:
Summary: So cheesy it's funny
Review: Shrink hypnotizes patient, makes her believe she's reliving past lives, and sells the story to the gullible public. On one hand, it's despicable; on the other the hand, it's so cheesy it's funny.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent start for curious skeptics
Review: I began this book expecting to be immediately turned off by obtuse, flaky writing typical of a great deal of metaphysical writings on the subject of reincarnation. The academic and intellectual background of the author gives the testimony a convincing element of honesty. I have suggested this book to many as an interesting introduction to considering reincarnation, and for others to consider those messages and concepts delivered through the sessions. It has given me a great deal of food for thought and should be read by many, especially those who feel that aetheism and organized religion lack enough answers and truth.