Brian Weiss and Reincarnation

[seeker_of_God]

I’ve read before the writings of Brian Weiss. He was a psychiatrist who did hypnotherapy to help people to recover from their issues.

With one particular patient, basically she went back to a supposed lifetime thousands of years ago. He found that allowing her to go through this “past life” actually healed her issue, and subsequently used this same method with other patients, who had other past life experiences.

How would you respond to this kind of claim? It seems to have at least clinical support. He says that as a doctor, he cannot find any other explanation for these past lives, as if they were not real, then remembering them would not help the patients so much.

How would you respond?

 

[Rob_in_Oregon]

I think it’s one of St. Paul’s writings: “It is appointed unto man to die once, and after death is the judgement.” Christianity and reincarnation are not compatible.

There was a psychologist a few years ago who asked a patient, who was under hypnosis, some leading questions about whether her father had abused her when she was a child. The patient came up with a wild story about horrible abuse. The father was convicted in court based upon this evidence, and did time in jail. The remarkable thing about it? The abuse NEVER HAPPENED! The patient made it all up, the result of prodding by the shrink. The patient admitted as much years later.

People recalling past lives are delusional, or just mentally ill. Either that, or Christianity is wrong. I don’t mean to ridicule someone with emotional problems, but let’s be practical. There’s a lot of really weird stuff that goes on by some people in the mental health profession, even though many psychologists are very sensible.

 

[Abba]

I’ve read before the writings of Brian Weiss. He was a psychiatrist who did hypnotherapy to help people to recover from their issues.

With one particular patient, basically she went back to a supposed lifetime thousands of years ago. He found that allowing her to go through this “past life” actually healed her issue, and subsequently used this same method with other patients, who had other past life experiences.

How would you respond to this kind of claim? It seems to have at least clinical support. He says that as a doctor, he cannot find any other explanation for these past lives, as if they were not real, then remembering them would not help the patients so much.

How would you respond?

Hello,

I have not read any of the books by Brian Weiss. In order to respond to your post I listened to him a bit in a video in Youtube : youtube.com/watch?v=xTnAqDPBsoY

I often wondered about the possibility of reincarnation before coming closer to the Church. This is actually one of Plato’s problems. Now, I am clear and understand the teachings of the Catholic Church in this matter and I recognize her teachings as true. Absolutely - true. So, there has to be other explanations for these supposedly inexplicable ‘memories’. As there are people there will be explanations. I would think that each individual case is different. It could be attributed to a personality disorder, perhaps in alpha wave a distortion of past experience caused by present pressures or secret desires ( distractions and pressures such as from the ‘hypnotist’ or the very desire to want to have had a past life could influence the ‘memory’).

I don’t see how what he claims can be considered as offering ‘clinical support’ for the existence of past lives. He mentioned that dreams and deja vu could be signs/proofs of a past life. I consider it more plausible for them to be caused by a combination of experiences, feelings and the person’s psychological state of mind.

If a person has had multiple past lives, this would mean that many souls are sharing the incarnated body including the soul whose first body it is. I think this conception diminishes the human dignity of the person and it would be a tremendous violation of my person if other souls could incarnate in my body even if they incarnated at conception along with the person whose first body it is. This would mean that everyone is sharing their body with other souls. Our judicial system would be in quite a bind if society came to accept reincarnation as an established ‘scientific’ fact. Who would have committed a crime?

It seems to me that Brian Weiss is hurting his patients more than helping them by putting such disruptive thoughts in their mind.

Hebrew 9:27-28, we read: “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many…”

:twocents:

 

[Phil_Marinus]

over the decades there has been superficial Evidence to support this Theory …
By Superficial Evidence I mean to say… Vague snippets of information which could be correct… a bit like joining the dots… and claiming it to be absolute proof…
I too have seen Documentaries which shed light on this subject, and they can seem convincing… But Really !
Is it Possible ? Well… I doubt it,but in this world anything is possible I Guess …
there is also superficial Evidence to say the are Parallel Universes, or indeed a number of Universes… But how can such things be proven to be Undeniably correct…
Best leave these things alone… But then… is it a sin to Question, to poke and prod and wonder how and why ?

 

[thistle]

I’ve read before the writings of Brian Weiss. He was a psychiatrist who did hypnotherapy to help people to recover from their issues.

With one particular patient, basically she went back to a supposed lifetime thousands of years ago. He found that allowing her to go through this “past life” actually healed her issue, and subsequently used this same method with other patients, who had other past life experiences.

How would you respond to this kind of claim? It seems to have at least clinical support. He says that as a doctor, he cannot find any other explanation for these past lives, as if they were not real, then remembering them would not help the patients so much.

How would you respond?

There is no such thing as reincarnation.

The Church teaching on this:

CCC 1013 Death is the end of man’s earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When “the single course of our earthly life” is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once." There is no “reincarnation” after death.

 

[Michael57]

Hypnosis is notorious for implanting false memories.

Scientific American 1997



Try the CCC…

 

[Michael57]

There is no such thing as reincarnation.

The Church teaching on this:

CCC 1013 Death is the end of man’s earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him so as to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When “the single course of our earthly life” is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once." There is no “reincarnation” after death.

This one!

 

[Back2Church]

I think false memories being implanted by the hypnotist is one explanation. The hypnotists questions might trigger the creation of a false memory, as well. Ever had a dream where a ringing telephone was a central element, only to wake up and realize it was because the phone was actually ringing? These people in a state of hypnosis are close to being in the dream state, so any sounds or ideas they hear could very likely trigger an entire scenario of ideas.

But then we have those cases which supposedly are “confirmed” because the person reports information he couldn’t possibly have known about a deceased person, but the information is later verified as being accurate. Some people might scoff at this, but it’s not too far fetched to suppose that they aren’t remembering a past life, but are rather being fed memories from an outside source. Namely, demons.

Demons are pure spirit, they are vastly intelligent, and they never forget. It’s possible they could feed someone information of a person they observed long ago in the form of a memory. It’s also no small coincidence that the majority of those claiming to have past life experiences are those with psychological problems or those heavily into new age and occult spirituality. I think this is a much more plausible answer than the idea that a soul gets reborn over and over again as different people.

 

[cjforJesus]

I think memories of past lives can best be explained by the influences of demons.

 

[Dorothy]

I think memories of past lives can best be explained by the influences of demons.

 

[Jeanne1184]

I gravitate toward the possibility of reincarnation and Grace as outlined in the NT.

It seems unlikely that major religions could have held the belief of reincarnation so strongly for thousands of years and it be completely imaginary.

I see the possibility of reincarnation being true for anyone not Baptized (infant or adult) under the Covenent of Grace. When baptized, perhaps we are freed from the intrusive memories and patterns of past lives - and their idea of karma.

The Archon who currently rules this world would have to have some scheme to deal with death. Since his rule is perfect adherence to the 10 Commandments and the offer of Paradise is out of the question, recycling would be useful as well as a form of punishments/dubious rewards (if the same god who promises 72 virgins, etc.)

Greek mythology speaks of a ‘pool of forgetfulness’ for those being recycled. Perhaps it doesn’t ‘take’ completely for some; bleed-through.

I’ve often wondered about the mediation practices of Buddhists - the embracing of ‘no-thought’ and emptiness. We are to become aware of our emptiness and ask it be filled with Light. To discover emptiness and just embrace it feels like a step is missing.

Christianity is contemplation, question, check motives, repent, confess…

I was watching American Religious Town Hall the other day and it was quite a surprise to hear the rabbi on the panel say that Jews do not believe in a ‘hereafter’. That the goal was to do good works here without expectation of reward for those good works. The Torah is silent about the an afterlife. I’m stunned all over again thinking about it now. It’s odd that the Jews and atheists would have that in common.

Just because I haven’t had the experience of past-life memories, near-death and white-light experiences, or apparations doesn’t make them untrue, for me. I suppose I could ask the Holy Spirit for clarity on this issue, but I suspect the answer would be along the lines of, “No matter. Just give your testimony of Me to as many as I place in your path so that they, too, may know My Peace.”

Oh. In the NT, Jesus cast out the spirits that were “Legion” and I suspect that other single spirits that were cast out didn’t leave the person without other buddies of the departed spirit.

There’s a curious saying of the older writings when speaking of some babies/young chldren, “He’s an old soul.” Stuff like that gives me pause. Perhaps Einstein was an ‘old soul’, eh? Maybe if you go around enough times, you end up specializing in some area.

 

[Dorothy]

In the past, without Divine Revelation, people saw crops be planted, harvested, and then the seeds from the produce planted again. So they used their minds that the same thing must happen to them.

We believers in our Lord Jesus Christ have had Divine Revelation. The precious Blood of Jesus is enough for one life for us.

 

[thistle]

I gravitate toward the possibility of reincarnation and Grace as outlined in the NT.

It seems unlikely that major religions could have held the belief of reincarnation so strongly for thousands of years and it be completely imaginary.

I see the possibility of reincarnation being true for anyone not Baptized (infant or adult) under the Covenent of Grace. When baptized, perhaps we are freed from the intrusive memories and patterns of past lives - and their idea of karma.

The Archon who currently rules this world would have to have some scheme to deal with death. Since his rule is perfect adherence to the 10 Commandments and the offer of Paradise is out of the question, recycling would be useful as well as a form of punishments/dubious rewards (if the same god who promises 72 virgins, etc.)

Greek mythology speaks of a ‘pool of forgetfulness’ for those being recycled. Perhaps it doesn’t ‘take’ completely for some; bleed-through.

I’ve often wondered about the mediation practices of Buddhists - the embracing of ‘no-thought’ and emptiness. We are to become aware of our emptiness and ask it be filled with Light. To discover emptiness and just embrace it feels like a step is missing.

Christianity is contemplation, question, check motives, repent, confess…

I was watching American Religious Town Hall the other day and it was quite a surprise to hear the rabbi on the panel say that Jews do not believe in a ‘hereafter’. That the goal was to do good works here without expectation of reward for those good works. The Torah is silent about the an afterlife. I’m stunned all over again thinking about it now. It’s odd that the Jews and atheists would have that in common.

Just because I haven’t had the experience of past-life memories, near-death and white-light experiences, or apparations doesn’t make them untrue, for me. I suppose I could ask the Holy Spirit for clarity on this issue, but I suspect the answer would be along the lines of, “No matter. Just give your testimony of Me to as many as I place in your path so that they, too, may know My Peace.”

Oh. In the NT, Jesus cast out the spirits that were “Legion” and I suspect that other single spirits that were cast out didn’t leave the person without other buddies of the departed spirit.

There’s a curious saying of the older writings when speaking of some babies/young chldren, “He’s an old soul.” Stuff like that gives me pause. Perhaps Einstein was an ‘old soul’, eh? Maybe if you go around enough times, you end up specializing in some area.

Hebrews 9:27 Just as it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment,

 

[seeker_of_God]

Thanks for the responses.

What would you say to someone who did believe in reincarnation, though? Someone like that won’t accept the explanation of demons. How can one tell, without the presupposition of the Church’s truthfulness, which side is correct?

 

[Dorothy]

Thanks for the responses.

What would you say to someone who did believe in reincarnation, though? Someone like that won’t accept the explanation of demons. How can one tell, without the presupposition of the Church’s truthfulness, which side is correct?

It is my understanding that belief in Reincarnation began when peoples observed planting, harvest, and seed time.
From this they applied it to their spirituality.

If they do not accept Divine Revelation, I don’t see how they can be convinced without the grace of God. God’s revelation offers us eternal life and the saving Blood of Jesus.

w

 

[seeker_of_God]

It is my understanding that belief in Reincarnation began when peoples observed planting, harvest, and seed time.
From this they applied it to their spirituality.

If they do not accept Divine Revelation, I don’t see how they can be convinced without the grace of God. God’s revelation offers us eternal life and the saving Blood of Jesus.

w

True enough. I apologize. My mind is philosophical, so I like to explore what is really true. It is hard for me to change my way of thinking to remove reincarnation and the like from it, since I believed in it for so many years. I keep falling into it, and do not know how to be freed from it. I’ve confessed it before, but still it happens again and again.

 

[Abba]

Thanks for the responses.

What would you say to someone who did believe in reincarnation, though? Someone like that won’t accept the explanation of demons. How can one tell, without the presupposition of the Church’s truthfulness, which side is correct?

I would address the reasons for the belief. What are the reasons the person has for believing in reincarnation? Are they, for instance, the ones Brian Weiss believes justify the belief in reincarnation? As mentioned, he considers that deja vu and some dreams can be understood as caused by past lives and considers them as proofs for the existence of past lives.

If I dreamed that I was walking in the wall of China, yet, have never been to China; am I to believe that that dream is a memory from one of my past lives as Weiss would claim? If I meet a stranger and instantly deeply relate to the stranger; am I to believe that it is because I knew this stranger in a past life? There can be more logical explanations to these than past lives.

I think that it takes a greater leap of faith to believe in past lives due to the unjustified reasons provided to do so; than to believe in the existence of God and in Our Lord Jesus Christ. and the teaching of the Catholic Church.

 

[Abba]

True enough. I apologize. My mind is philosophical, so I like to explore what is really true. It is hard for me to change my way of thinking to remove reincarnation and the like from it, since I believed in it for so many years. I keep falling into it, and do not know how to be freed from it. I’ve confessed it before, but still it happens again and again.

Oooh, I thought you were writing about a friend.

I appreciate philosophical minds very much. I appreciate how you want to eliminate reincarnation from the possibilities of things - logically. It’s good to be analytically and use your mind as you grow in your faith. God gave us a brain to use it and expects us to use it.

It is a pity that so many people end up believing in so many different things that are not true just because exactly they did not take the time to understand what they were being told. The more they move forward blindly without exercising the valor to question and come to understand the more they get trapped in the web of many sects and erroneous beliefs. Once in the web their thoughts revolve around the teachings which they accepted without a logical understanding. It is as having been trapped in a web and the longer they stay and continue the harder it gets for them to get out of the web.

So, hat’s off to you. :tiphat:

 

[seeker_of_God]

Oooh, I thought you were writing about a friend.

I appreciate philosophical minds very much. I appreciate how you want to eliminate reincarnation from the possibilities of things - logically. It’s good to be analytically and use your mind as you grow in your faith. God gave us a brain to use it and expects us to use it.

It is a pity that so many people end up believing in so many different things that are not true just because exactly they did not take the time to understand what they were being told. The more they move forward blindly without exercising the valor to question and come to understand the more they get trapped in the web of many sects and erroneous beliefs. Once in the web their thoughts revolve around the teachings which they accepted without a logical understanding. It is as having been trapped in a web and the longer they stay and continue the harder it gets for them to get out of the web.

So, hat’s off to you. :tiphat:

Thank you. My spiritual journey began when I was 10 years old, when my older cousin told me about Wicca. I studied neo-Paganism, the occult, Hinduism, Buddhism, the new-age, and various denominations of Christianity. It was a steadily narrowing funnel that took me, I think inevitably, to the Catholic Church, where I was confirmed in 2010. But like I said, it is still hard to get rid of those past thoughts and beliefs.

 

[Abba]

Thank you. My spiritual journey began when I was 10 years old, when my older cousin told me about Wicca. I studied neo-Paganism, the occult, Hinduism, Buddhism, the new-age, and various denominations of Christianity. It was a steadily narrowing funnel that took me, I think inevitably, to the Catholic Church, where I was confirmed in 2010.

Whaoh, what a journey! How blessed you are to have found your way. Congratulations!

But like I said, it is still hard to get rid of those past thoughts and beliefs.

I understand. I never left the Church but, in my teenage years I started seeking truth. I wanted to intellectually find the truth. Not just believe because I was born and raised a Catholic. I considered how the Greeks and the Egyptians really believed in their Gods and now they are all gone from the actively thoughts of people. I did not want to be a Christian or have the Catholic faith and have it turn out to be the same in 500 years. I figured I only have one life to live and I wanted to live it in truth. I explored and learned about many different religions and they only confirmed my Catholic faith.

I think those thoughts and beliefs are still there because you need to come to understand and recognize that they are erroneous. It’s part of the journey for moving forward.

I think there are steps that cannot be forced and time plays a role. Time and actively seeking understanding and prayers. I went through this step as I mentioned. I came to the understand that you are seeking now and I can tell you that it is worth seeking. You will get rid off a luggage and will be freer to move forward with your spirituality growth. And in doing so, you come closer to God and come to know Him more.

What I can suggest to you is to take a comprehensive approach - that is, seek a coherent understanding. Consider the whole theory of reincarnation - do all the pieces fall together to make a coherent whole? On the other hand, seek a coherent understanding of the Catholic faith and note how the piece of ‘reincarnation’ does not fit in a coherent whole and is not in harmony with truth.

Peace