JRT Topic: Past-life Experiences

Bernie, the Buffalo Soldier and Me: Whose Life Is It Anyway? – Thomas G. Shafer (Is.17)

Thomas G. Shafer, MD

In this article, Dr. Shafer discusses his recollections of two of his past lives and then goes on to offer opinions and speculation, largely based on Jewish Hassidic thought, regarding the actual nature of the eternal existence of the soul, the reason for successive incarnations and the role of Past-Life Therapy in the process of spiritual evolution.

Bernie was born in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Creighton University wouldn’t take him because he was Jewish but he did get a scholarship to study engineering at the University of Omaha. And the one thing he wanted to do more than anything else in life was to fly P-38 Lightnings.

He did become an aviation cadet but an … Read the rest

1 December 1999

Ancient Egyptian Mythology: A Model for Consciousness – Janet Cunningham (Is.16)

Janet Cunningham, Ph.D.

Drawing upon esoteric texts and her knowledge of ancient initiation rites, Dr. Cunningham discusses the diverse ways in which the ancient Egyptians conceptualized the “body.” As she shows us, they recognized not one but a number of interacting “bodies,” each having its unique purpose and necessary to the individual. She suggests that this model is of practical use to past-life therapists today.

Abstract

 Esoteric teachings throughout time have referred to subtle bodies. The ancient Egyptians have given us clues, through writing, art, and symbols, of their belief in bodies that are separate and independent. This concept can be used as a model in exploring the various experiences of clients in past-life regression and other transpersonal and … Read the rest

1 December 1998

Energy, Information, and Past Lives Within Consciousness: An Integration – Daniel Weiss Miller (Is.16)

Daniel Weiss Miller, Ph.D.

Dr. Miller, Chairperson of the APRT’s Research Committee, is in the forefront of the field of Consciousness Studies and is developing new models of consciousness. Here he suggests a constantly changing, homeodynamic integration of energy, information, and memory (including past-life memories) that has survival value and that may work well or badly.

Definitions and Basic Dynamics

Reformulating our ideas about how information and energy contribute to the complex, dynamic activity of consciousness can help us to understand their relationship to current memory, past-life therapy and mind-body medicine. What follows may help to clarify how and why this three-legged stool — information, energy, and consciousness — fit so well together to explain the somewhat mysterious functioning … Read the rest

1 December 1998

Bridges to the Unconscious Living Images: A Case Study – Zelda G. Knight (Is.16)

Zelda G. Knight, Ph.D.

In 1995, Dr. David Edwards presented an article in the Journal in which he discussed the case of “Marian” and her processes of healing and growth through spiritual emergence (Edwards, 1995a). From the perspective of transpersonal psychology, Dr. Edwards’ colleague, Dr. Zelda Knight, now adds to our knowledge of “Marian,” focusing on two of her past lives that involved traumatic sacred initiation rites and the effect they have had on her insights and growth. On page 99 of this issue of the Journal, Dr. Janet Cunningham discusses similar difficult initiation rites, those of the ancient Egyptians.

Introduction

Transpersonal psychology has developed a particular approach to psychotherapy – transpersonal psychotherapy – which seeks to incorporate and … Read the rest

1 December 1998

“And if the Body were not the Soul, What is the Soul?” – Dianne Seaman (Is.16)

Dianne Seaman

Dianne Seaman is no stranger to the Journal’s pages. Her article in last year’s Journal was a discussion of the relationships between astrology and the “new” physics, and she was invited to continue those explorations for this issue. However, as she says, synchronicity happens, and the personal experiences she shares with us below took center stage. Dianne has given us a heartening account of those experiences, and the good people who “happened” to come into her life when she needed them, to help her heal.

“And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?”

I chose this quote from Walt Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric” for the title because it so succinctly captures the … Read the rest

1 December 1998

When a Fetus Dies Unborn – Alice Givens (Is.14)

by Alice Givens, Ph.D.

Alice Givens calls our attention to the importance of prenatal experiences from past lives. Although many therapists explore the prenatal experience of the present life, Givens finds that a trauma endured as a fetus in a past life, especially a prenatal death, may have equally powerful consequences. She discusses her findings and presents several cases in illustration.

I first learned about the soul that kept returning to the same mother while working with Malcomb. He came to see me because his business and family were falling apart. He said he worked all the time but nothing was effective. He fought with his business partners and his wife and nothing was going right. Everything he had … Read the rest

1 December 1996

“Anything Else But” Past Lives – Robert T. James (Is.14)

by Robert T. James, J.D., C.Ht.

Robert James Fights Back! In this well-researched article, James discusses the “Anything Else But” syndrome, a mental state that seems to afflict many critics of all things parapsychological, including past-life regression work. He makes some solid criticisms of his own in this astute analysis of some of our critics’ own research. Let the critics beware!

In a recent talk given in Colorado, Dr. John Mack (1995), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and author of the controversial book Abductions: Human Contact with Aliens (Mack, 1994), commented on the vigorous efforts on the part of his detractors to find that the alien abduction phenomenon is due to a cause other than that the … Read the rest

1 December 1996

Verifiable Past Lives: Readily Available? – Robert T. James (Is.13)

by Robert T. James, J.D., C.Ht.

In the Journal, VII, 1 (1993), Dr. James presented the “first wave” of his research on the prevalence and types of past-life phenomena among the general population. In the paper below, he continues that research with a new group of subjects and includes new data about the kinds of past-life experiences reported. There are surprising connections between some of Dr. James’ findings and those of Ms. Lamb as reported elsewhere in this issue of the Journal.

Introduction

In 1991-92, prior to conducting the research I wish to report on in this article, I worked with 107 healthy, adult subjects, conducting a general research project investigating the phenomenon that most people, when in a … Read the rest

1 December 1995

The Role of Neurological Differences in Facilitating Past-Life Experiences – David Ritchey (Is.11)

by David Ritchey, Ph.D.

In this paper, it is argued that a difference in neurological structuring, labeled “anomalous cerebral dominance” by neurologist Norman Geschwind, facilitates the experiencing of alternate states of consciousness and of other lives. It is suggested that all of reality, including the human brain, is organized holographically and that what quantum physicist David Bohm speaks of as the “implicate order” is the source of other-life experiences. Both this article and the Goldberg article which follows present some innovative theories linking the experiencing of past lives with the speculations of quantum physics.

Introduction

Alternate states of consciousness (ASC’s) play a significant role in the experiencing of past lives, whether those experiences occur deliberately in the structured environment … Read the rest

1 December 1993

Regressed Past Lives and Survival After Physical Death: Unique Experiences? – Robert T. James (Is.11)

by Robert T. James, J.D.

After completing a written survey inquiring into demographics and religious beliefs, 104 adult subjects were separately hypnotized in an attempt to regress them to past lives. Eighty-one subjects did regress to what seemed to be past lives. The results were subjected to a Multi-variate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and to other statistical analyses. In this article Dr. James presents a summary of some of his findings.

Introduction

Whether or not we survive physical death and are reborn again would seem to be two of the most important questions we can ask ourselves. Indeed, the reports from every known society indicate that our ancestors seemed to concern themselves with such questions as far back as … Read the rest

1 December 1993