Trying To Make Sense Of It All (III)

I am currently reading Richard Dawkin's, "The God Delusion" and it is an enthralling book. More people should read it whether they be religious zealots in whose case it may even strengthen their faith (if that is possible), or atheists who will feel vindicated. Anyone "in between" will likely feel they have gained additional insight to justify their own slant.

But The God Delusion is not the topic of this post. Instead, it is another book called, "Journey of Souls" by Dr Michael Newton which I am re-reading at the same time, that I am using to try make sense about what has bothered me since Jeannie's demise in July last year. The two books are virtually at opposite ends of the spectrum. The basic premise of the latter book is that we each have a spirit (soul) which came from somewhere else and will return there after our body dies. The conceptual framework of this premise is presented through a series of 29 actual case studies of subjects placed under hypnosis and their superconscious mind accessed by Dr Michael Newton. His study spanned a period of 30 years but most of the 29 cases are from the relatively recent few years. He maintains that our deep-seated memories offer a set of past experiences which are too real and connected to be ignored.

I believe the hypothesis expounded by Michael Newton is congruent with my own belief system. Since reading it for the first time, I have felt this great urge to "dissect" this book to extract the main assertions in a more orderly and abbreviated form that allows me to use in my conscious thought. The best way I felt was to summarize the whole book as it is written. This post is a work in progress (until I complete the exercise) in that direction. As I complete summarizing each chapter, a link will be added to the respective chapter title in the contents table below.

It has been my long held opinion that in the ultimate analysis, uncertainty is the biggest cause of unhappiness in humans. Uncertainty about the after-life is also a big reason why people turn to the religions of the world. I am not a God fearing man but thoughts about the nothingness of death which will end all associations with family and friends are still dreadful to me. Somehow, to me, spending an eternity in a religious hell or heaven does not seem plausible. For many years, the thought of dying did make all my earthly goals seem futile; if death were to end everything about us, then life indeed would be meaningless. However, Michael Newton's postulation provides new significance.

Many works of the genre deal with near death experience (NDE) where people who have temporarily died and then came back to life to tell about seeing a long tunnel, bright lights, and even encounters with friendly spirits. The pioneering findings of Dr Raymond Moody (Life After Life) was a landmark work yet Journey of Souls (JOS) outstrips it by far. JOS is an intimate journal about the spirit world; it describes what transpires for souls before they finally return to Earth in another life. Life Between Lives (LBL) so to speak.

The contents of the book are in 15 Chapters as follows:

1. Chapter One..................DEATH AND DEPARTURE
2. Chapter Two..................GATEWAY TO THE SPIRIT WORLD
3. Chapter Three................HOMECOMING
4. Chapter Four.................THE DISPLACED SOUL
5. Chapter Five..................ORIENTATION
6. Chapter Six...................TRANSITION
7. Chapter Seven................PLACEMENT
8. Chapter Eight.................OUR GUIDES
9. Chapter Nine.................THE BEGINNER SOUL
10. Chapter Ten..................THE INTERMEDIATE SOUL
11. Chapter Eleven...............THE ADVANCED SOUL
12. Chapter Twelve...............LIFE SELECTION
13. Chapter Thirteen.............CHOOSING A NEW BODY
14. Chapter Fourteen............PREPARATION FOR EMBARKATION
15. Chapter Fifteen...............REBIRTH

..............To be continued