Many Lives, Many Masters by Weiss - Essay Example

? Critical Book Review The discussion on the ability of human soul to continue existing after the death of the body has been going on for years based on the explanations of various religious and philosophical explorations. Reincarnation and karma are part of this explanation that shows the soul as being able to move from one form to another across periods in history, cultures and beings. There have been a number of investigations in this area done both scientifically and using both religious and some philosophical arguments in order to prove that the human soul is able to transcend the flesh and therefore continue to exist in different forms, times and space although there have also been a number of skeptics whose work has concentrated on discrediting those who claim to have the supernatural ability to contact with the spirits. This essay presents a critical review of Many Lives, Many Masters in order to investigate the area of reincarnation as explored by Dr. Weiss through his session with his patient Catharine. The covers some of the proofs presented by doctor Weiss in order to confirm his changed beliefs on reincarnation followed by an analysis of both the strengths and weaknesses of the authors argument before making suggestions on future investigations into the area and ending with a brief conclusion. This book by Weiss (1988) shades more light in the area that has garnered widespread discussion thorough his sessions with a 27 year old Catherine during the 1980 as he seeks assist her overcome her deep-seated anxiety, panic attacks and phobias. As a graduate from the Yale University School of Medicine where he also went through his residency in psychiatry in addition to serving as Chairman of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Dr. Weiss is a psychiatrist trained in the scientific methods of dealing with psychological problems that his patients present during his sessions. Therefore, based on his original training as a psychiatrist doctor Weiss had always followed the conservative paths of his profession and was a skeptic when it came to exploring other methods of psychological healing but that was prior to meeting Catharine who changed his views on reincarnation of the human soul. The sessions between Dr Weiss and Catharine lasts for over 18 months where the doctor applies conventional techniques to cure her problems without success. However, doctor Weiss attempts a series of hypnotic trance states on Catherine; she begins recalling past life memories that could be attributed to be the factors causing her symptoms which effectively lead to her cure within a few months. At the initial stages of the hypnosis, Catharine doubted the ability of the technique to dig out the answers she was searching for given that she did not believe in reincarnation but after a number of such sessions, Catharine realized she acted as a medium for secrets of life and death from spirits that had evolved over many lives and could not only talk about Catharine’s past lives but also about her doctor’s life. Dr. Weiss uses his sessions with Catharine to reveal how much he learned about life and the nature of human soul which is able to live after death of the body. Through Catherine's disclosures under hypnosis, the doctor reveals incidents that occurred in some of the 86 lives Catharine had lived on earth as a unique soul that was born across different times and places where she confers with masters that helped her to see the lesson learned from the life just lived. Catharine’s revelations are guided by the masters who according to what Weiss (1988) presents are the sages at the highest plane spiritual evolution and are capable of offering lasting wisdom teachings that extend back into all the history of humanity and traditional cultures. The masters state the purpose of living, according to Catharine’s revelation as being to learn and grow through seeing the spark of God in others and ourselves as the guiding principle for the survival of the soul and continued cycle of rebirth and spiritual evolution. Weiss (1988) seeks to explore the possibility that human soul can exist in different physical forms at different times and places through treatment of his patient Catherine. The doctor bases his evidence on the ability of the soul to live across time and space on a number of occurrences that happens during his time with Catharine both in her normal life and when she is in hypnotic trance states. Weiss (1988) discovers Catharine’s phobia and nightmares have causes beyond her current situation and therefore uses regression analysis to glimpse at events within the span of her childhood years for insights into her problems but is shocked when Catharine relates experience that suggests another lifetime. Weiss (1988) uses the intuitions Catherine had during their sessions together to test the accuracy of what Catharine was going through by observing the intuitions against real time events. With Weiss’s hypnosis Catharine was able to prove her father wrong when she was able to pick the winner in every race therefore dispelling her father’s doubts about her spiritual progress under Dr. Weiss. Although the doctor tried to keep a professional distance in his treatment of Catharine, part of the messages that the masters gave where meant for the doctor and not the patient where they revealed things that happened in the doctors past like the death of his son due to heart defect. In the book, Weiss (1988) develops an explanation of current state of human life based on the past life exploits as seen from development and unhappiness in Catharine’s current life. Based on events that happened in Catharine’s other lives, the doctor uncovers the reasons for her fear of water, unexplained choking, anger towards her father in addition to the explanation why she cannot leave her romantic relationship although it causes her pain. Even as the author presents a number of evidence to show that his patient was there through all that happened in different historical periods and regions, there are some areas that would have been improved to increase the accuracy of information given. The book raise a number of questions that touches on the credibility of information Catharine provides one of them being how she knew the dates of the events she was encountering while in hypnotic trance. She was able to tell for example that she was in 1536 B.C. However, this can be explained partly by the fact that in most of these revelations she was observing what was going on as a bystander. In Catharine’s account of the person she was in her other lives, she explains events as a bystander instead of taking the body or consciousness of the person in that time. Therefore, her explanations is based on observing the situation as herself and commenting on the scene as she sees but not taking part as an integral member of the society. Further, the author does not tie Catharine down to specifics about the past lives for example as a Nazi pilot, she should have indicated her name, the battle she was in, the destination of her flight and the name of her commanding officer are some of the areas the doctor should have searched for further proof of the events that Catharine described. Further, Weiss (1988) does not compile his work on the ability of human soul to live multiple lives based on more than one subject since he limits his conclusions to observation of Catharine as the only subject. Any reliable investigation should be able to base their findings on multiple subjects in the investigation of hypnotherapy before making any claim that can be generalized to a larger population. Although Dr. Weiss verifies his findings by testing information given by Catharine against events like that of the races and in the death of his child, comparisons to other subject would also have gone a long way in confirming his findings on reincarnation. Comparison of Catharine’s encounter with the masters against any such encounters by other subjects would have gone a long way in confirming his theory. Consequently, further studies about the masters and other spiritual concepts that Dr. Weiss uncovers in his session with Catharine needs to be conducted answer some of the questions that arise from the current study by Weiss (1988). Such areas that new study could cover include whether the masters were the same for every soul or if every soul had their own masters. Further, future studies into the area of reincarnation can also cover more ground in order to explain how Catharine was able to observe the events as they happened and tell the dates while at the same time feel the pain and other feelings such as chocking of the person she was in the life revealed to her. Even as further studies can help build Dr. Weiss case on reincarnation, the doctor seems to have dropped a purely scientific approach in his efforts to heal Catharine from the her anxiety, panic attacks and phobias and has therefore leaned towards the belief in spirituality which makes it difficult to prove his findings based on a purely scientific ground. Given that matters of spirituality are based on the subjective experiences of an individual, scientific proof becomes inadequate in dealing with such matters as it will require every individual to personally go through the experiences that Catharine underwent so as to prove the accuracy of information given. From the foregoing, the exploration of spirituality calls for an open mind into how the discipline of science can be used together with the religious and philosophical views. Although most people who lack belief of the spiritual world might find it difficult to believe the possibility of the soul continuing to exist and living across time and space, some scientific investigations have increasingly pointed to the chances that this phenomenon might actually be true. Such findings as the one presented by doctor Weiss confirm the truth of reincarnation and adds to what those in most religions have always believed to exist. Reference Weiss, B. L. (1988). Many lives, many masters: The true story of a prominent psychiatrist, his young patient, and the past-life therapy that changed both their lives. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. Read More