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352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
We are all souls.This one simple sentence in the book clarifies where it's coming from. The author may be a psychiatrist, but this book is not science. it's religion and mysticism.
In medicine, we have a saying: “When you hear hoof beats, don’t look for zebras.” This means that you should look for horses—or, in other words, the most probable explanation—before considering a more exotic possibility. There are several ways to account for the occurrence of shared past-life memories, but they are zebras. For example, the memories could be attributed to the collective unconscious, Carl Jung’s concept that at some deeper level everybody knows everything, even if we have forgotten how to access that bank of infinite knowledge. The Amer- ican psychic Edgar Cayce, as well as others, has written about the akashic records, which is similar to the collective unconscious in that it is a knowledge of all things. But the most realistic explanation—the horse—is that these are simply actual past lives.Weiss here clearly puts up a straw man argument. While the argument is correct - that one should look for the most logical explanation (Occam's Razor) - the conclusion is not. That people have past lives is not the most logical explanation.
The author Paolo Coelho writes: “Life is the train, not the station.” On our soul’s journey home to a state of infinite love and wisdom, a journey filled with mystery and miracles, we rest, recuperate, and reflect at the stations, in between lifetimes, until it is time to board again: another train, another body. There is only one home and eventually we will all return there, sooner or later. It is a place of bliss. This book will help you find its shores.Well, there you have it.
Of course, truths really do not need research support. They exist above and beyond scientific confirmation, because science is constrained by the limitations of its measuring devices. It cannot prove what it cannot yet measure. When the appropriate tools are developed, the truths will be there, waiting to be discovered. Truths are independent and are unaffected by the beliefs of humans.Dr. Weiss, if and when science discovers the "appropriate" tools and "measures" reincarnation, I will happily accept it. Until then, I will call it pure bovine excrement.
.The awareness that we have had multiple lifetimes, separated by spiritual interludes on the other side, helps to dissolve the fear of death and to bring more peace and joy into the present moment.To put it bluntly - reincarnation is a placebo belief, to ward off the fear of death. It is this fear that charlatans who peddle nonsense tap into. Beware.