The Big Book of the Soul: Our Many Lives as Holographic Aspects of the Source by Ian Lawton

Reviewed by Thelma Freedman, Ph.D.
In JRT Issue 23, 2009

 

This is a book focused on reincarnation itself rather than past-life therapy. Let me say at the outset that it is an excellent history of reincarnation beliefs as they emerge from a wide assortment of channelers, meditators, past-life therapists, and past-life “subjects” (Lawton’s word); some going back centuries. It should be a required text in any training program for past life therapists. It contains an excellent bibliography and reference list, and a thorough index. It also contains the best analysis of the work of Ian Stevenson that I have ever read, as well as examinations of the work of other “pioneers,” as Lawton rightly calls our founders.

But of course I have a complaint. Chapter 4 is titled “Past-Life Therapy: Background, research studies, emotional dynamics.” This has a good ring to it but as it turns out, the “research studies” are the stories told by various people reporting past lives or the stories told by channelers or other psychics. There is little real “research” in this book, unless you accept the past life stories told by clients or channelers or psychics as research. I find this a serious omission, as there has been a considerable amount of objective research done. For example: Lucas, who used an early brain scanner (the Mind Mirror) and found that the person reporting a past life was in an alpha state (as some of the therapist guides were, too); Cunningham, on people who have experienced an OBE (out-of-body experience); James, on the link between healthy adults and the ability to report a past life; Cladder, on incorporating past life reports into a larger and more conventional treatment for phobias; van der Maesen’s two studies, one on Tourette’s Syndrome and the other on hallucinated voices (Lawton does mention van der Maesen); or Freedman, on past-life reports and phobias. These studies were all true research – complete with a guiding hypothesis, a way of measuring results, and standards for selecting the participants (not “subjects” anymore, thanks to the APA and the US Government Standards for Research with Human Participants).

Much of this book suffers from an excess of gullibility. An editor I know refers to such books as “Gee Whiz” books – which probably needs no translation. But despite these caveats, as I said above, the book gives such a good history of past-life regression that it almost overcomes my objections. As I said, the focus is not on the therapy, but upon the reality of reincarnation. Lawton carries it into the field of quantum physics and Karl Pribram’s holographic model, which takes courage as well as brainpower, and he does it well, as far as I can tell (since I have the courage but not the brainpower to be sure).

Nevertheless, I return to my initial statements – anyone in the field of past-life therapy and/or research should read this book – it gives us our history, which turns out to be fascinating.

It also carries an important message: – that (like it or not) we are our own gurus.