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For quite some time a friend of mine has been encouraging me to read a book by Michael Newton called the Journey of Souls. My friend calls this reading a life-altering experience and was hoping it would have similar inspirational effect on me. Well, finally I got myself into it and with some effort, I finished the book.
The author is a certified master hypnotherapist, who is practicing a special brand of hypnosis where the client is somehow directed to recall, what is thought to be, past life experience. The practice is referred to as regression hypnosis. From his experience on hundreds of subjects Newton thinks he unveiled a whole new dimension of existence: a spirit world. This claim comes from conversations with his clients, who are in a superconscious state during the sessions. They report about their past lives and, more importantly, about the experience of their soul between death and rebirth. This latter is the real subject of the book. The 29 selected cases are meant to represent different aspects of “in-between life” from the reception of a newly arriving soul by certain committees to aberrant souls that do not want to leave their earthly capsule and to preparations for the next life experience.
I was trying really hard to read the book with an open mind, leaving behind any preconceived ideas I may have had about reincarnation. I was told by my friend that the book provides scientific evidence for the perpetuality of our soul that circles from earthly life to spirit life to reincarnated life in a never ending loop. Well, after the first 10 pages I had to conclude that there was no scientific evidence: one either believes in reincarnation and then the book makes sense or does not believe in rebirth and then… who knows what this book means to him/her.
Finally, I decided to finish the book as if I were reading the Bible. I do not believe that the spirit world exist but I found many passages that made me pause and think about general existential questions that was approached very differently in the book. Just like my reading of the Bible: nice fairy tale with good number of deep thoughts worth contemplating on.
Although the number of cases that Newton’s spirit world creation is based on is impressively high, the method he obtained his information is not scientifically verifiable. In fact the report of the clients about their in-between spirit life was eerily reminiscent of movies, sci-fi books, paintings, etc. that the clients were likely exposed to. It is plausible that subconsciously they may have incorporated this earthly experience into the description of their soul-journey.
Out of curiosity, I checked which medical schools incorporated regression hypnosis into their curriculum. It turns out that in the USA not a single university teaches this technique although other forms of hypnosis is among the accepted therapeutic modalities. My conclusion is that the neat spirit world that Newton created from the reports of his clients is simply question of faith and not a scientific truth.
It is not the least of my intention to turn God fearing believers into atheists since, strictly speaking, atheism is as much question of faith as any religion. There is no prove for or against religions since the very essence of all superior “Being” is that they are beyond our comprehension and our scrutiny. – I say this being aware that a few well-intending humans, e.g. Moses, and far more charlatans, Jim Jones for one, have claimed that they were in talking terms with God -.
Similar to the religious followers, I envy those who believe in reincarnation. I do not intent to falter their hope in a next life; a reassuring thought indeed. However, the book of Newton did not prove to me that reincarnation and the in-between soul-life are based on facts.
It is a pity, because my recent interest in Buddhism generated a great deal of excitement for me toward reincarnation and related subjects. During my recent trip to Bhutan I talked to people who claim to have reincarnated from certain, known historical characters. They provided information that apparently would not have been available to anyone, but the particular person they once were. In one instance, the reincarnated person described blue prints of a monastery that was not available to any contemporary individual but when they found the documents, they were accurately depicted by the reincarnated monk. In Buddhism the significant reincarnations, e.g. the Dalai Lama, are verified by certain procedures. These are fascinating facts! Would they stand scientific scrutiny??... I do not know.
I would not hesitate however to claim that Newton’s book has no scientific ground. For some, it could be a good, even a fascinating reading; for me, it felt programmatic, contrived, and mostly plain boring with a few sparks nonetheless.
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I meant to post sooner but I was buried under an avalanche of schoolwork. Thankfully, I'm finally done and have a bit of free time.
ReplyDeleteConcerning hypnosis: I've always been very interested in ideas of spirituality because of a vaguely terrifying experience I had when I was thirteen or fourteen.
It happened when I was a freshmen in high school. One morning when I was taking a test, I felt a terrible pain at the base of my skull. It was so bad my mother had to come to school to pick me up. I got an MRI--just to be safe--and the doctor who looked examined me told us that there was an "aberration." He said he couldn't be sure, but he thought it was a brain tumor.
A couple of weeks later, I went to a different doctor who took another MRI and said that he thought it was MS.
Two weeks after that, my family went to the third and final doctor, a guy named Dr. Adler at the NYU Medical Center. He's supposedly one of the top neurosurgeons in the country (although it seems like it might be difficult to judge that).
Anyway, he told us that what the other doctors had seen was merely a swelling in the membrane caused by a slight fever. He said, "It's the kind of thing that happens hundreds of times in your life. People just don't get MRI's all that often."
We were all very relieved, of course, especially after the four weeks when we were all convinced I was living under a death sentence. That month was a rough time for my family (although they did a good job hiding it from me, and I was so consumed by my own narcissistic worry/fear that I didn't take too much notice of anyone else), and a strange period for me.
It wasn't during that month that I became very interested in reincarnation and other forms of spirituality. Zen Buddhism attracted me the most of all because it seemed the most closely related to the material world (by which I mean Zen Buddhists often try to contemplate various forms of nature rather than abstract notions of "God" or "Love"). Taoism also seemed to provide a helpful perspective. The only things I objected to were things that were TOO hopeful, TOO positive. Even at fourteen, I knew it was wrong to promise any sort of false hope.
(I had to separate this into two posts. Even the computer thinks I'm long winded. Imagine how your poor daughter suffers!)
ReplyDeleteOnce I was told that I didn't have a tumor, I was able to dissect and analyze my interest in spirituality from a less emotional vantage point. I realized that whenever I think about spiritual ideas--faith, reincarnation, karma--I always viewed them on the same plane as philosophical ideas. The idea of reincarnation struck me as no more valid than Hegel's theory of history.
At first I thought this was a sort of negative value judgment to make, but I've come to believe that most abstractions serve more or less the same purpose. People can devote themselves to "God" or "the State" or even "charity, good works, the poor and the Peace Corps." The thing that we respond to is the sense of purpose and community that is so difficult to come by on our own. As long as whatever narrative a person chooses (although I hesitate to say that...I don't know if these things are any more a choice than one's sexual orientation) to believe doesn't harm anyone, than so be it.
I think the only time these different narratives/belief systems become harmful is when they: 1. Inspire violence or hatred. or 2. Purposefully breed some sort of ignorance.
And that's where I think the Michael Newton book might err on the side of "moral wrongness" (if I can make such a judgment; and I just got my bachelor's degree so what the hell!). It seems like the man's willfully ignoring science and logic, while claiming that these things can be proven.
That's the important distinction. Kierkegaard always admitted that the leap of faith was just that, an illogical leap based not on fact but intuition and (most importantly) hope. If a writer acts as though his own ideas of spirituality can be proven without offering any scientific validity, then whatever he's suggesting turns into little more than snakeskin oil.
Timea and I put our heads together for 1/2 of your Christmas gift, and I think it'll have some bearing on this conversation. I'm also sending home 2 books for you to read (whenever you get a chance, no rush) that I think show a form of spirituality that might be closer to our Westernized, skeptical hearts.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
-Callan
Hello Callan,
ReplyDeleteI tried to send you a personal e-mail but lost the address due to an i-phone glitch. Then, I tried to leave a response on your blog - thought the topic of reincarnation would go well with one of your drop-dead gorgeous recepies -... but, no space for comments there. So, this is what is left: a comment on your comment on my comment about Newton's book.
I enjoyed reading your reflection on my little piece. You kept me on the edge of my seat with the big scare in your early adolescence and boosted some of my long held believes about spirituality.
Just as you stated, I also strongly hold that belief should not hurt anyone! You also found the two main dangers of unchecked faith that leads to blind conviction: hatred and ignorance. These are the 2 elements of extremism that became the curse of our time - incidentally, I have a blog entry here about this subject -. But, let's not steer too far away from your conclusion about Newton's book. Your verdict is that he committed the second form of harm of a belief system: "breeding ignorance", as you said. I have no misgiving about this statement at all.
Thanks for remembering our conversation, and advising Timea, accordingly, on the Tolsztoj book. Last night I started reading it and as an attestation of the sheer inspirational power of Tolsztoj, I already posted a new blog entry on this side. Don't ask me what is the direct link between "A Confession" and my post but believe me, there is some connection.
I wish you good progress with finalizing your book project!
Cheers:
Laszlo Hopp