原文: Past Life Regression: Evidence of Life after Death?

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Dr. Michael Newton was a traditional psychotherapist opposed to past life regression work when a client spontaneously entered what seemed like a past life regression.

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The man had complained about a persistent pain in his side that doctors couldn’t diagnose or treat. In the regression, the man found himself in the battle of Somme of World War I  on the British side. He was dying of a bajonet wound. Newton, a keen scholar of martial history immediately asked him to look at the division patch on his arm. The client could describe it correctly. That was the clincher for Newton. But was it proof a past life?

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I’m in two minds about past life regression because on one hand I have reservations about the validity of so-called past life experiences. On the other hand, I’m happen to be one of the people who may have had a past life experience. (I’ll tell you about it further down).
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Past life regression

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This is a form of therapy where people allegedly access previous lives in the course of hypnosis. It’s a controversial form of treatment and there are two main questions one could ask. One is: are these really previous lives? The other: is this therapeutic intervention useful?

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Are past life regression memories real?

They certainly feel real to the person experiencing them and seem convincing to therapists who evoke them. Whilst I have some reservations about the validity of this therapy, it’s fair to say that there are respected psychotherapists and psychiatrists amongst the PLR (Past Life Regression) therapists, as well as people whos qualifications are more doubtful.

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One of the leading developers of PLR therapy was Brian L. Weiss, M.D., the Chairman Emeritus of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami. The well-known psychotherapist Dr. Michael Newton explains why he became a PLR therapist in this video.

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I’m not sure whether past life regression is a useful tool for well-being and mental health. I would hate to see people whose psyche is already fragile burdened with more life-times of trauma. To heal the wounds of this life seems to be more than enough for many people.
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Prof. Ian Stevenson’s work, whom I introduced in my article on reincarnation, is often quoted by therapists as supporting evidence for the validity of Past Life Regression. Actually, he was dead set against it. In an article he voiced strong concerns:

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The subconscious parts of the mind are released from ordinary inhibitions and they may then present in dramatic form a new “personality.” If the subject has been instructed by the hypnotist–explicitly or implicitly–to “go back to another place and time” or given some similar guidance, the new “personality” may appear to be one of another period of history. Such evoked “previous personalities” may be extremely plausible both to the person having the experience and to other persons watching him or her…

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In my experience, nearly all so-called previous personalities evoked through hypnotism are entirely imaginary and a result of the patient’s eagerness to obey the hypnotist’s suggestion. It is no secret that we are all highly suggestible under hypnosis. This kind of investigation can actually be dangerous. Some people have been terribly frightened by their supposed memories, and in other cases the previous personality evoked has refused to go away for a long time.

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From his response I can’t help thinking that he would have been delighted with a current book title, ‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Past Life Regression’!

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I think we need to consider the fact of False Memory Syndrome [FMS] when discussing past life regression. Here is an example False Memory Syndrome from Kathleen Flannery’s article on FMS. She relates:

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In the mid-nineties, a sniper’s shots echoed through an American playground. Several children were killed and many injured. A 1998 study of the 133 children who attended the school by psychologists Dr. Robert Pynoos and Dr. Karim Nader, experts on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among children, yielded a very bizarre discovery. Some of the children who were not on the schools grounds that day obstinately swore they had very vivid personal recollections of the attack happening.

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Prof. Elisabeth Loftus, a leading researcher of False Memory Syndrome, explains in an interview:

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Psychological studies have shown that it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between a real memory and one that is a product of imagination or some other process.

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Consequently, it could be that what we experience as ‘past life memories’ are actually images fabricated by our brain and stitched together by our mind. Prof. Sam Wang explains how our brain lies to us in a recent NY Times editorial.

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Some people are particularly vulnerable and susceptible to hypnosis. In some cases, it’s quite clear that the therapist has primed the client for particular experiences. The following is from a woman’s description of a Past Life Regression therapy session:
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Upon reaching the bottom of this very special staircase, I found myself in what my Regression Therapist called the Hall of Wisdom. This hall had many doors and openings. My Regression Therapist advised me in advance that this “Hall” looked different depending upon the individual being regressed.
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I think you can see in this description that the client was obligingly fulfilling the therapist’s expectations!
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I was struck by this woman’s experience of the ‘great hall of wisdom’ because it echoed an experience of mine. Some fifteen years ago I had this vision or deep dream during meditation:
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I found myself in an ancient temple. I had the body of a man. I was kneeling on a huge flagstone near one of the great pillars. By the faint light of lamps I could see an ornate coffered ceiling high above me. At the other end of the huge temple people in robes were lighting fires in big bowles. They were preparing for my ceremony and I was waiting to be called.

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Even now I can recall minute details of the ceiling and the temple This is very different from night dreams  that fade in time. My experience has remained undimished and feels significant.
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Was this a past life regression?
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I interpreted it as a makyo, a Zen expression for ‘mysterious vision’ -which is not seen as a past life experience. According to my teacher Robert Aitken, Roshi, a true makyo experience has three characteristics:
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A sense of the ancient,
A religious drama in which the dreamer is chosen or confirmed as a disciple,
A sense of encouragement.
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What was this experience? Why does it feel so significant even years later? Was my mind just playing tricks, or did I really glimpse a past life?

What do you think?

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Have you ever had odd experiences like this? Or have you heard of some first-hand? Please share them with us in the comments.

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Related article:  Is there Life after Death?

PS. I’ve had a hard time determining the ‘Best Commenter’ for June. There were so many brilliant comments! However, I finally decided that the winner is John Rocheleau. His indepth comments and his interaction with others in Is there Life after Death? moved the discussion to a new level.

I‘ll be looking for the ‘Best Commenter’ in July. I’ll take into account:

• An insightful answer - something that others can learn from
  
• Engagement with other commenters
• Active participation in the discussion

译文: 前世回归：是死亡后生命存在的证据吗？

迈克尔·牛顿博士是一个传统的精神治疗医师，他反对前世回归这项工作，就是顾客在无意识状态下进入一种似乎是回归到前世的状态。

一位男士抱怨他身上的一种顽固的疼痛，这种疼痛是医生不能诊断或治疗的。在回归治疗中，这位男士发现自己在第一次世界大战时位于英国旁的索姆河战役中悲惨地死去。他死于一个刺刀的刀伤。牛顿作为一个敏锐的战争历史学者立即让他看看手臂上的军队补丁，而他能正确地将其进行描述。这对牛顿来说是很有力的理由，但这就是前世生活的证据吗？

关于前世回归我犹豫不决，一方面因为我保留所谓的“前世经历”的正确性；而另一方面，我碰巧是那个人可能已经经历过前世的人。（我将会更多的告诉你关于这样的事）

前世回归

这是据人们所说的去过前世的催眠状态过程中进行的一种治疗方法。它是一个有争议的疗法，并且有两个人人都可以问的主要问题。一个问题是：这些的都是真实的前世吗？另一个问题是：这些治疗干预有用吗？

前世回归的记忆真实吗？

他们当然能感受到他们的经历了人的真实性，并让唤起前世回归的治疗师们看起来信服。虽然我对这一疗法的正确性有所保留，但公平地说有进行PLR（前世回归）疗法的临床医学家中的尊敬的精神治疗医师和精神病学家在，还有谁更有怀疑的资格。

布莱恩·L·韦斯医学博士（迈阿密西奈山医疗中心精神病学的名誉退休主席）是PLR疗法的一个主要发起人之一，知名的精神治疗医师迈克尔·牛顿博士解释了为什么他成为这一录象里的一个PLR治疗师。

我没有把握认为前世回归对于幸福和健康是否有用，我不愿意看到人们已经脆弱的心灵负担更多的几世生活的创伤，要治愈这一世生活创伤对大多数人来说似乎是够多的了。

伊恩·史蒂文森教授的研究常作为支持前世回归正确性的证据而被引用，她是在我的文章中关于转世部分被引用的。在一篇文章中他强烈关注：

大脑里潜意识的部分从普通压抑中被释放出来，并且他们可能会戏剧性地出现形成一个新的“人”。如果这些潜意识被催眠师明确地或含蓄地引导进入“回到另一地点和时间”或者一些类似的引导，这个新的“人”可能看起来是另一个历史时期的人。如此，被唤起的“前世人”对于有此经历的人或是看着他或她的人都可能是极其地真实合理的。

根据我的经验，几乎所有所谓的前世人是由完全虚构的催眠术以及患者渴望听从于催眠师建议的结果引起的。我们在高度的催眠状态下没有什么秘密。这种调查可以是很危险的，有些人被其想象出的的记忆吓坏，在其他情况下被唤起的前世的这个人会在很长一段时间里拒绝离开。

从他的反应，我不禁会认为他看了当前正流行的一本名为“前世回归之傻瓜完全指南”的书会感到高兴！

我认为在讨论前世回归时需要考虑虚妄记忆综合症[FMS]的事实。这里有一个来自凯萨琳里的关于FMS文章的虚妄记忆综合症的例子。她提到：

在九十年代中期，一个狙击手的枪声回响在美国的一个游乐场里，几个小孩被杀死了并且大多数儿童受了伤。1998年擅长于儿童创伤后精神紧张症的心理学家罗伯特派斯博士和卡里姆内博士对133个入学儿童进行研究，取得了一个很奇怪的发现。那天有些孩子在学校，没有理由使他们倔强的发誓，他们对这起袭击事件的发生有着非常清晰的记忆。

虚妄记忆综合症的一位主要研究员伊利莎白·图斯教授，在一次访问中进行了解释：

心理学的研究表明几乎不可能说出一个真实记忆与一个想象力的产物或其他过程的产物之间的差异。

因此，我们所经历的像“前世的记忆” 实际上可能是由我们的大脑编织和拼凑在一起的画面。山姆王教授在近期的纽约时报记者问中对我们的大脑是怎样对我们说谎进行了解释。

有些人特别脆弱，容易进入催眠状态。在某些情况下，这是很显然地，治疗师为了特别的经历而引入顾客。下面是来自一位女士关于前世回归治疗的描述：

在到达这个非常特别的楼梯底部的时候，我发现自己在我的回归治疗师所称的"智慧大礼堂”里，这个礼堂有很多门及开。我的回归治疗师建议我继续前进，这个“礼堂”看起来不同取决于个人回归。

我想你能看到描述中的客户乐于履行治疗师的期望！

我对这位女士“智慧大礼堂”的经历着迷，因为它与我的一次经历相似。那是15年前的一些事了，在沉思术中我看到过这样的景象异象或深度睡眠：

我发现自己在一个古老的寺庙里，我是一个男人，跪在一个巨大柱子旁的一个巨大的石板上。借着微弱的灯光，我可以看到在我的上面有华丽的方格天花板。在这个巨大寺庙的另一端，人们穿着长袍点火在大保龄球上点火，他们正为我准备着庆典，而我正等待着被召唤。

即使是现在我还能记得天花板和这个寺庙的微小细节，这些与随着时间褪色的夜晚的梦境非常不同。我的经历仍然没有减退并且感受很深刻。

这就是前世的回归吗？

我将它解释为“makyo”，一个佛教禅宗关于“神秘景象”的术语，不能把它认为是一种前世经历。根据我的老师罗伯特·Aitken·Roshi的看法，一个有真正“makyo”经历的人有三个特征：

一种古老的意义；

一个宗教性的传奇剧，在那个梦里是被选择或被确定为一个弟子；

一种鼓励的信念。.

这种经历是什么？为什么这种感觉即使在数年后依然如此深刻？只是我的大脑在开玩笑？还是我真的看到过前世？

你认为是怎样的呢？.

你有过这样的古怪的经历吗？或者你有没有听说过一些第一手的事情? 请在评论里与我们分享。

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