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Special Portuguese Spanish    

Year 6 - N° 273 – August 12, 2012

VINÍCIUS LOUSADA
vlousada@hotmail.com
Bento Gonçalves, RS (Brasil) 

Translation
Renata Rinaldini - renatarinaldini@hotmail.com

 

The Reincarnation Principle revisited

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:

1.      Revista Espírita, agosto de 1865. O que ensina o Espiritismo.

2.      Instruções Práticas sobre as Manifestações Espíritas. Vocabulário Espírita. REENCARNAÇÃO

3.      WEISS, Brian. A cura através da terapia de vidas passadas. Rio de Janeiro: Sextante, 2007.

4.      Vide Revista Espírita Revista Espírita de Janeiro de 1860 - O Magnetismo perante a Academia.

5.      KARDEC, Allan. O que é o Espiritismo. 55. Ed. Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2007, p. 127.



 


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