Sunday, September 9, 2007

Past Life Regression ...

There was a front page article on the ToI. The article deals with PLRT. For the uninitiated, thats Past Life Regression Therapy. PLRT was pioneered by Dr. Brian Weiss, with his trailblazing book, Many Lives, Many Masters ... There are more books he has written illustrating the concept.

I think this is an excellent thing to happen. Though, my concern is ... This is more of a fad, just as a lot of others before this. And, somehow, this will fade away with time, as the next fad, the next "flavour of the month" coming along. Whats the problem what that, you might ask. No problem, at all. Except that this is an excellent opportunity for humanity to look at the concept of Reincarnation anew.

Most people in India, especially professing to Hinduism, would stutter the concept of reincarnation, of the soul casting off a body, and taking on a new one, just as we take off our clothes, and wear new ones, as though by rote. And, that, I believe is whats missing. This is something we seem to believe and repeat simply because our Grandparents told us about this, and so did our Parents, and to deny this seems to be a sort of a travesty ...

Today, the world is changing. And, believe you me, some of the changes are phenomenal. We can already do, leave alone imagine, things which were nothing more than a crazy fancy of a science-fiction writer, maybe a century ago. Whether it be the War of the Worlds, or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or Around the World in 80 Days. Monsieur Phileas Fogg would be considered a leisure traveller in today's travel scenario. We have already made huge inroads into space, studied the origins of the universe as we know it today, made great movements towards understanding the concept of time, and to a certain extent, of changing the very concept of time, at least in relation to human existence.

Researchers have already been able to simulate the Out of Body Experience for people in a laboratory setting. This has gone to prove that the mind can believe that it can traverse the body. Question is ... Can this only be a belief of a mind tricked into believing this, or can this be something which can be made a real physical/mental phenomenon. Why I say mental phenomenon, is because while the physical phenomenon this might represent may be easier to achieve, from a spiritual perspective, I think the mental phenomenon of the "being" surviving without the body, is more important.

Why? I would think thats evident ... A "being" that can survive without the body, would be the being that is the being which moves from one body to another, since this "being" would then be the central phenomenon of existence, at least for those of us who are not inclined spiritually. And, for those who are, this would be the next step in understanding the relationship between the "being" and the world. And, in the light of this, the concept of the Past Life Regression gains far more importance that we are according it today. By no means is the concept devoid of critics, but the only argument I have for the critics is this ...

Every generation makes the mistake of assuming the finality of its knowledge ... Einstein!

OK ... So, I dont remember the exact quote. Anyone who could tell me the exact quote?

All I say here is, lets now assume that things which have no proof cannot exist. Gravitation did exist before there was Mathematics. So did Black Holes. Is it not possible that Reincarnation is a fact, even though there is no "scientific" proof? Does this not submit to a very narrow definition of Science?

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