The Life Between Lives - Dr. Michael Newton

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by majinrevan

YouTube - Friendly Fire: Life Before Life (featuring Dr. Jim B. Tucker)

Children between the ages of two and three?! No chance they are being prompted for past life stories, oh no. Especially not in India.

For instance, there was a little girl who recalled the life of someone who got his fingers chopped off as he was being murdered, and then was born with very deformed fingers.

Wait a minute? The girl recalled the story and then was born with deformed fingers? He must mean that she was first born with deformed fingers and then told a story about someone with missing fingers. This is surprising?

... findings in quantum physics ...

Of course.

~~ Paul

[majinrevan666]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

Children between the ages of two and three?! No chance they are being prompted for past life stories, oh no. Especially not in India.

And after they've pulled off this ingenious feat? (whoever "they" are)

1)Prompt children to invent past life stories
2)?
Which then leads to
3)? (profit?)

Wait a minute? The girl recalled the story and then was born with deformed fingers? He must mean that she was first born with deformed fingers and then told a story about someone with missing fingers. This is surprising?

The surprising part is that the child's story is then verified.

Of course.

You can't just make snide remarks whenever someone attempts an explanation of the phenomenon while assiduously asking for a mechanism for it.

[Danny_D]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

Of course culture comes into it: The culture of the afterlife. It's Friday evening. If I was in the mood I could watch "Ghost Whisperer" followed by "Medium."

Only in a general sense. Theres recurring details in the reports, such as:

-How the "elders" (a group of old souls, NOT god) interview every soul after a life on earth in a non-judgmental manner

-How souls leave some of its energy in the spirit realm when they come here on earth

-How souls can choose their next body and study their upcoming lives

-Energy restoration when soul return back from a life on earth

These kinds of ideas dont float around in modern society.
Atleast I've never heard of them till I read the book. Have you?

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

As I'm sure many parapsychologists have. Time to start developing theories.

Yes, and I would love to hear your theory.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by majinrevan

And after they've pulled off this ingenious feat? (whoever "they" are)

1)Prompt children to invent past life stories
2)?
Which then leads to
3)? (profit?)

There is no need to assume bad intentions on the part of the parents. If you talk to your children about past lives, do you have bad intentions?

The surprising part is that the child's story is then verified.

I know I sound like a broken record, but it's only surprising if it's highly improbable. How much did they search for a deceased man with chopped-off fingers?

Annual report of the Commissioner of ... - Google Books

You can't just make snide remarks whenever someone attempts an explanation of the phenomenon while assiduously asking for a mechanism for it.

I can if the person just name-drops QM.

~~ Paul

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by Danny

Only in a general sense. Theres recurring details in the reports, such as:

-How the "elders" (a group of old souls, NOT god) interview every soul after a life on earth in a non-judgmental manner

-How souls leave some of its energy in the spirit realm when they come here on earth

-How souls can choose their next body and study their upcoming lives

-Energy restoration when soul return back from a life on earth

These kinds of ideas dont float around in modern society.
Atleast I've never heard of them till I read the book. Have you?

I've heard of the first and third ones, but that may be because I spent a few years in the TM movement.

The question is: How common are these specific remarks and what is the context as far as older people suggesting these ideas? In that transcript I linked to, for example: "Antoinette then asked me to go to my soul group."

Yes, and I would love to hear your theory.

My theory is that it's a giant cold reading exercise. But I leave it to the parapsychologists to work on theories of reincarnation. I am not suggesting they all quit and become talk show hosts.

~~ Paul

[Ariannel]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

Okay, then give me a really good example to study. I already tried one of Stevenson's books. We looked at the cop's story, except that we have no original material to study. I do think the fact that he never mentioned that the artist translated The Hunchback of Notre Dame was an important piece of missing information.

I'll try to keep an open mind, even if it doesn't involve corroborating evidence of the afterlife or a probability calculation. I'm willing to purchase any book you suggest.

Excellent! I'm truly happy that you're willing to at least give it a look.

Even though I love Dr. Michael Newton, I wouldn't suggest starting with him for the reason that majinrevan666 mentioned. I would suggest reading Dr. Brian Weiss: Many Lives, Many Masters. It's the book that I started with and it really moved me. He isn't preachy or new agey or "woo-woo"-y. Neither is he a scientist trying to offer a scientific explanation for his experience with his patient. He's just a therapist who came across a truly extraordinary case and wanted to share what he found.

Why do people always take "humans don't make great witnesses" to this absurd extreme? It's really different when my son tells me he saw an ambulance in the center of town versus him telling me that he was Albert Einstein in his previous life. But when it comes to scientific investigation, yes, we should all be skeptical of the anecdotes.

I understand that but there is a difference with being skeptical of anecdotes when doing a scientific investigation and saying "People can be liars in real life so why should I believe what they say under hypnosis?"

[David Bailey]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

I can if the person just name-drops QM.

~~ Paul

QM totally changes the nature of reality from something concrete, to something that only makes sense as an equation (which is usually so complicated that in can only be solved in gross approximation) - remember the old advice to students, "Don't bother to try to figure out what it means, just calculate!"

Of course people relate these phenomena to QM, they know of it, whether they understand the math or not.

David

[majinrevan666]

Originally Posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos

There is no need to assume bad intentions on the part of the parents. If you talk to your children about past lives, do you have bad intentions?

Give me an example of how such "prompting" would occur.
Just so you know, the book I mentioned deals with explanations of fraud
too, so don't think that your suggestions don't require a well thought out
explanation.

I know I sound like a broken record, but it's only surprising if it's highly improbable. How much did they search for a deceased man with chopped-off fingers?

I don't know about this particular case.
There are many other cases in which the identity is validated and the coincidence hypothesis is absurd.

I can if the person just name-drops QM.

Have you considered the possibility that QM really does provide a piece of
the puzzle?

[FastEddieB]

About anecdotes involving prior lives, birthmarks and the like:

I think they smack of folk tales and mythology. Let's deal with contemporary, documented cases where recordings or transcripts can be analyzed for "leakage" or suggestion or other "materialistic" explanations.

About invoking QM:

All sorts of weird QM effects exist in the world of the very small, i.e. individual photons and the like. They tend to "smooth out" in the macro world.

Invoking QM to explain "woo" makes as much sense as invoking fairies, spirits or God. Until there's at least some mechanism invoked, it remains wishful thinking.

I think QM belongs more in a discussion of free will than in a discussion of past lives.

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Originally Posted by Ariannel

Even though I love Dr. Michael Newton, I wouldn't suggest starting with him for the reason that majinrevan666 mentioned. I would suggest reading Dr. Brian Weiss: Many Lives, Many Masters. It's the book that I started with and it really moved me. He isn't preachy or new agey or "woo-woo"-y. Neither is he a scientist trying to offer a scientific explanation for his experience with his patient. He's just a therapist who came across a truly extraordinary case and wanted to share what he found.

The Amazon reviews lead me to believe that this book will drive me crazy. It sounds anecdotal without any research to verify the stories. But I'll give it a shot ... 1-clicked!

I understand that but there is a difference with being skeptical of anecdotes when doing a scientific investigation and saying "People can be liars in real life so why should I believe what they say under hypnosis?"

Why should I? But I'm not saying that they are lying, merely inventing stories as part of the social contract that dictates what they are supposed to do under hypnosis.

I don't know anything about this guy, but:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...ogId=453575495

~~ Paul