Hi Vanitas,
I enjoyed your post ... alternative suggestions put in a polite manner (quite a novelty at ATS) ... thank-you. I'll try to give my response to the
points you raised.
1. I can assure you that my conclusions where neither jumped to nor picked out of thin air ... a lot of laborious research was carried-out before I
allowed myself to believe that my flashbacks were from another lifetime.
PLR, has become increasingly popular over the last few years, but when I had my experience such things were still unacceptable (work of the devil type
stuff), lol, to most people. So it wasn't like I was blindly following the trend of the day ... or jumping on the bandwagon in an effort to make
money.
On the contrary, I finished writing 'The Cornish Burning' in 1994, and have never even tried to get it published (although I might get around to it
one day), because overall it was written as a private account ... for me to refer to as and when more evidence (for/against) surfaced.
Likewise, it is not for the purpose of promoting my abilities as a PLRT, in an effort to make my fortune ... because my clients pay whatever they can
afford ... or what they feel is a fair price for my services.
2. If someone was able to provide me with another explanation for my experience, that I could take on board with more conviction than that, that I
currently hold (in favour of it being past-life recall) ... I would happily accept that I was wrong. There is absolutely no useful or productive
purpose in holding on to an out-moded philosophy or theorem.
I am quite logical person when need be. I studied Natural Earth Sciences at University (quite a while ago admittedly), the point being ... all
scientific fields require the ability to amend and re-amend an hypothesis until it becomes a theory ... and a theory until it becomes a factual
dynamic ... which of course can still be altered if/when new data is discovered. It's just that I gag and retch at the dogmatism that arises, from
die-hard logic (and so avoid it whenever possible ... by choice).
3. 'Assumption' that past-lives exist ? ... you say there is no evidence
I beg to differ on that point (but that's just me)
I feel there
is a multitude of evidence to back-up the high-probability that the human soul/psyche experiences multiple lifetimes in various guises ... certainly
on a personal level ... the research that I carried-out points to that being the case.
However, I have entertained the possibilities surrounding 'Ancestoral Memory' and certainly wouldn't rule it out completely. I think it may well be
the case in some accounts ... but not all, in fact I'd estimate well below half of cases experienced.
4. I think there might be a little confusion and misconception involved with some of your points in reference to PLRT. I have had many clients who
have been sceptical when they come for their session (I think that's a healthy opinion to come into my office with) ... and often remain so after
their session (as I said to a previous poster, I'm not in the business of converting folk). But the remarkable element here, is in the fact that
believer of not ... the benefits of the excercise are accessible to all.
Those who think the details they have revealed are no-more than a fantasy created by their imagination ... attain the same beneficial results to their
problems, as those who believe with certainty, they have lived before in a different time and place.
I think the reason for this is determined by which hemisphere of the brain is most dominant in the individual undertakeing the regression. There
doesn't have to be a great divide between believers and non-believers ... the importance lies in benefits received (at least that's what's
important to me as a therapist and human-being).
For the moment at least (and for the last 15yrs), nothing has caused me to doubt that my experience was genuine memory from a previous lifetime ...
but as I said before, nothing is written in stone and we should maintain flexibity in order to develop and grow.
At the end of your post you seemed to imply that I was shallow/naive enough to pick a conclusion (for my experience), that was attractive to me as an
individual (maybe because of current popularity in the subject), and suggested it was not a wise investment.
I thank you for the advise you offered ... but if you knew me, you would understand that you are way off the mark. And as for my personal experience
of 'past-life recall' ... my life has improved tenfold in every direction. But if someone were to prove me and my research wrong tomorrow ... yes I
would be disappointed ... but I would not have a single regret for myself or the hundreds of people that I've helped via Past-life Regression
Therapy, over the previous decade.
I hope this information helps you to understand the perspective I'm coming from ... and why I believe we have experienced numerous other lifetimes
besides the one we are experiencing right now. Woody