Mitakshara Medhi
It has been well-established, now, that the mind-body problem has been the crux of debate for both Psychology and Philosophy, since time immemorial. Different schools of thought have differing stance on the existence of a ‘mind’ and how it interacts with the body. What if, in this equation, one was to add the variable of the timeless soul? For the ‘rational’ mind, the concept of something so abstract and immeasurable is out of bounds for a thought. Similar apprehensions had taken over Dr. Brian Leslie Weiss, when he had stumbled upon the mysteries of past life.
Dr. Brian Weiss, having studied at Columbia University, graduating from Yale University School of Medicine in 1970, and completing an internship in internal medicine at the New York University Medical Centre, was completely hardwired into the American system of psychology. This system, widely accepted worldwide, is based on empirical, objective and fact-based methods of research and therapy. So, it was only natural that when one of his patients, Catherine (as named in his first book, Many Lives, Many Masters, 1988) accidentally regressed back to her past life, he was quick to dismiss it. This had happened during one of the hypnotic sessions.
“During her therapy session the week previously, we had used hypnosis for the first time. Catherine had remembered several childhood traumas with considerable detail and emotion. Usually in therapy, when forgotten traumas are remembered with their accompanying emotions, a process called Catharsis, patients begin to improve. Catherine’s symptoms remained severe, however…….Carefully, I took Catherine back to the age of two, but she recalled no significant memories. I instructed her firmly and clearly: “Go back to the time from which your symptoms arise.” I was shocked by her response.” (Excerpt: Only Love Is Real, Page 11-12.)
Needless to say, he had considered that past life recollection as figments of imagination, when two things happened – first, her problems started disappearing.
“Incredibly, her lifelong fear of gagging, or choking virtually disappeared after this one session. I knew that imagination or fantasy could not cure such deeply embedded, chronic symptoms. Cathartic memory could.” (Excerpt: Only Love Is Real, Page 12.)
Second, she was contacted by the highly evolved souls, who talked of Weiss’s life – the death of his father and son – something which Catherine had absolutely no way of knowing. Thus, began his journey of past life regression therapy, whereby he had helped more than 4000 patients with it till date.
So, what is so significant about the past life experiences? What causes a person to heal from extreme grief? The answer to this is the concept of soulmate. Through all his past life sessions, one thing became clear to Dr. Weiss – the souls that are most close to us in this life, has been there with us in our previous lives, and will continue to be there in our future ones as well. For example, if I am deeply attached to my brother in this life, chances are that his soul and mine have been connected since time immemorial, albeit in different forms. Maybe in my previous birth I was his mother, maybe prior to that we were best friends, or cousins. The relations may change. But the soulmates don’t. This fact has helped his patients come to terms with death of family members or near and dear ones; just the hope that this is not a finality, that the ones we love are destined to be with us forever, throughout time, works wonders in our lives.
Such was the case of Elizabeth and Pedro in Dr. Weiss’s third book “Only Love Is Real”. Elizabeth had lost her mother, while Pedro was depressed after his brother’s untimely demise. Both had difficulties establishing romantic relationships with others. Although both the patients met Dr. Weiss at different times, he soon realised that their past life tales resembled each other. It seemed possible that both were soulmates. However, one ground rule of psychotherapy – the ethics of patient confidentiality – had stopped Dr. Weiss from taking any steps to unite them. His dilemma reached a peak as their therapies were nearing an end, and they were set to shift to different countries. However, destiny, according to him, had played its cards at the nick of time.
“Never worry about meeting soulmates. Such meetings are a matter of destiny. They will occur. After the meeting, the free will of both partners reigns. What decisions are made or not made are a matter of free will, of choice. The less awakened will make decisions based on the mind and all of its fears and prejudices. Unfortunately, this often leads to heartache. The more awakened the couple is, the more likelihood of a decision based on love. When both partners are awakened, ecstasy is within their grasp.” (Excerpt: Only Love Is Real, Page 159.)
Dr. Brian Weiss
It may still be difficult, almost ridiculous, for many of us to believe in this concept. Dr. Weiss reiterates that ironically, our “rationality” is exactly what makes us believe that this illusion of the world is real, and the reality of the timeless soul is something woven out of fantasy. Our ‘logical’ conscious mind puts so many blocks on our path to reach the ultimate truth that we are quick to dismiss it. Dr. Weiss also states that it is not important to know if past lives indeed exist. What is vital is the acknowledgement that recalling of these events has improved the conditions of many of his patients. Even while conducting the hypnotic sessions, he almost always mentions that it does not matter if the events seem like a dream, or a story. The only necessity is to let the mind flow and recollect what it wants to recollect. His sessions have also been uploaded on Youtube for the general public to try it out themselves.
Finally, it is essential to bring out the real meaning behind the title of the book and this article. Love, here, does not refer to simply romantic kinds. For what is romantic love of soulmates in this lifetime, may have had a different relationship in the previous one. Keeping this in mind, the following excerpt best describes the rationale behind the statement.
“A patient of mine, a Catholic attorney, had just finished recalling a European lifetime in the late Middle Ages. He had remembered his death in that lifetime, a lifetime filled with greed, violence and deceit….Suddenly he found himself standing in a hell-like environment, amidst fires and devils. This surprised me. Although I had encountered thousands of past-life deaths in my patients, no one had ever had an experience with hell…..Finally a spiritual figure, whom he identified as Jesus, appeared and walked over to him. This was the first being who even noticed him.“Don’t you realise that this is all illusion?” Jesus said to him. “Only Love is Real!”” (Excerpt: Only Love Is Real, Page 50.)
Have an experience of Dr. Brian Weiss’ past-life psychoanalysis session with the Doctor himself!